Israel Active

The National Library of Israel has begun publishing oral histories from the Sephardi Voices initiative, the first digital collection that documents and preserves the life stories of Jews who lived in Arab and Islamic countries. It includes video and audio clips of interviews, plus archive photographs.

Israeli charity Boomerang supports 500 of the 3,000 lone soldiers discharged from the IDF each year with job searching, training, health issues, equipment etc. It recently launched its “Misheli” project to support 1,000 more ex-soldiers and to set up a Call Center helpline service.

46+ heads of state and their entourages attended the fifth World Holocaust Forum, “Remembering the Holocaust, Fighting Antisemitism,” at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. It commemorates the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp at the end of World War II.

Mordechai, a volunteer MDA first responder, was traveling to his own wedding with his ambulance driver friend, when they noticed two vehicles had crashed. Despite being in wedding suits, they immediately administered first aid until an ambulance arrived to take the injured to hospital.

A 13-year-old Israeli boy went out with his family ​​in Caesarea after recent downpours. He saw a stone slab uncovered by heavy rainfall and (from his school archaeology studies) recognized Greek letters. Israel’s Antiquity Authority identified it as a Byzantine burial inscription for the grave of “Anastasius”.

Over 80% of Israel’s $20 billion food industry is kosher. Most of Israel’s 1,800 food processing facilities produce kosher food. Multi-nationals like Nestlé, Unilever, Danone and Pepsi Co. partner with Israeli food companies such as Osem and Strauss. Most exports go to the EU.

Israeli cities have been celebrating the world-wide completion of Daf Yomi (a page a day) study of the Talmud. The program takes 7.5 years. Thousands attended the Siyum HaShas (end of Talmud) ceremony at Jerusalem’s International Conference Center.

The birthday of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, father of modern spoken Hebrew, is also Hebrew Language Day in Israel.  This year, on 16th Jan, the Academy of the Hebrew Language, together with Tnuva, have printed groups of Hebrew words on the side of milk cartons.

The charity Lone Soldier Center caters for the physical and social needs of around 7,000 IDF soldiers who came to Israel without their parents. It had been operating a Jerusalem club in the basement in Yafo Street. It now moves to much larger premises, able to host many more for Shabbat meals.

Israel’s Northern city of Safed (Tzfat) and its cobbled alleyways have been the center of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah since the 16th century. Modern technology, however, has finally caught up with it, as its popularity with tourists has resulted in an upgrade to its roads and its first traffic light.