Israel Active

Israel’s “ingathering of the exiles” has resulted in many different cultures and cuisines. Israeli charity Colel Chabad has recognized this and ensures that the food they provide to the poor relates to the recipients’ ethnicity and culture.

The International Mineralogical Association (IMA) has recognized and approved a new mineral found in one of stones of Israeli gem miner Shefa Yamim. Named Carmeltazite, the mineral was found on Mount Carmel in a Carmel Sapphire.

When a 10-year-old terminal cancer sufferer requested to be taken to the Kotel (Western Wall), it was thought impossible. The car had to take him right up to the wall; his immune system meant no crowds; organizing police and medics. But NGO Ezer Mizion made it happen.

Michael Derek Tanju was saved by IDF soldiers when (age 14) he was shot by Egyptian soldiers while crossing into Israel in 2008. A refugee from Sudan, he fell in love with his host families and those who supported his conversion to Judaism and becoming a citizen of the Startup Nation.

The Chabad organization is well known for caring for Jews globally, but it also works in Israel. Rabbi Cohen and the students of Hebron Chabad visit every local IDF outpost, checkpoint and base before Shabbat and Jewish holidays to support the soldiers emotionally, spiritually and materially.

Israel’s December rainfall was double the average for the month and the wettest in the past 30 years. During the past week, the level of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) rose 15cm in just 48 hours. The rain was also responsible for exposing two 1700-year-old Roman statues in the ground at Beit She’an.

Honduras will be moving ahead with plans to open its Israel embassy in Jerusalem, and Israel will upgrade its Honduran consulate to a full-fledged embassy. Israel will provide Honduras help on cyber security, water and agriculture technology and import Honduran coffee.

I reported previously on the Tiferet Israel synagogue in Jerusalem. It was one of the largest synagogues in the old city, until the Jordanian Arab legion cynically destroyed it in 1948. 90-year-old Simcha Mandelbaum, who prayed there as a boy, launched its reconstruction.

Students at the Reali Middle School in Haifa have translated more VeryGoodNewsIsrael newsletter articles into Hebrew for the benefit of Hebrew-readers.

Hadassah-WIZO received a $6.5 million endowment - the largest endowment fund gift in the organization’s 100-year history.