Finding Jewish history under Jerusalem
Newsletter supporter and blogger Sharon visited the Sifting Project in Jerusalem’s Zurim Valley and experienced the excitement of discovering artifacts and remains from over 3,000 years of Jewish settlement in Jerusalem. She also photographed many of the city’s excavations.
Dates where once only desert
Moshav Naama is one of 21 communities in the Jordan Valley that produces Medjoul dates. 35 years ago, the whole area was desert. Then Jewish farmers used drip irrigation and purified wastewater to turn the valley into an oasis of date orchards, reviving a crop that thrived there in biblical times.
Another huge Indian rally to support Israel
Following on from a similar event in Feb 2018 , over 10,000 Hindus united in a major rally in Kolkata, India to denounce terrorism and show support for Israel. Flooded roads and bumper-to-bumper traffic prevented many more from attending the rally.
The last Jews of South Sudan make Aliya
Happy ending to an amazing and traumatic 30-year journey for Suzi Makoriel and her 3 children. They finally arrived in Israel after being kidnapped in Sudan on the way from Ethiopia to Israel. After a 10-year separation, Suzy was re-united with her own mother.
Cancer survivors to wed
University students Eliav Marland and Etti Davidov will marry this coming week. They met thanks to cancer charity Zichron Menachem having both recovered from cancer treatment. A lovely story to celebrate Tu b’Av (15th of Av) - the Jewish traditional day of romance.
Holocaust survivor celebrates with 400 descendants
Holocaust survivor Shoshana Ovitz celebrated her celebrated her 104th birthday at the Western Wall in Jerusalem together with 90% of her descendants - over 400 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren.
Cleaning up the holy city
The Jerusalem municipality has instigated several sanitation reforms in order to improve the environment and quality of life in the capital. These include garbage disposal on Saturday night, additional cleaning companies, removing abandoned vehicles and cleaning historic buildings.
Photographic history of Temple Mount
A new exhibit “The Mount” at the Tower of David Museum offers the public a unique glimpse at 180 years of photographs of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. They document the history of the most holy Jewish site from 1839 to recent times.
Hundreds start new lives in Israel
242 new immigrants (Olim) from the US and Canada have just arrived in Israel. They came on the 60th charter flight organized by NGO Nefesh b’Nefesh and the Jewish Agency. They included the 60,000th Oleh to be funded by NbN since the NGO began work in 2002.
Abramovich helps turn back the desert
Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich has made a large donation to KKL-JNF to help afforestation, forest rehabilitation and fight desertification in the Negev. The gift will also fund a new forest dedicated to Lithuanian Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust.