Israel Active

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.

Hashomer Hachadash brings volunteers from all over the world to help Israeli farmers by protecting their livestock and fields. See Ayelet Kaufman, Director of Hashomer Hachadash’s overseas program on ILTV.

Reservists on Duty (RoD) combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity on US college campuses. Its Minorities Group, comprised of Arabs, Druze, Muslims, Bedouins, Christians and even some Palestinian Arabs. Arab-Israeli citizens speaking positively about Israel makes a big impression.

A 2000-year-old ring with a solitaire gem stone was uncovered recently in archaeological excavations in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem. It was found in a mikvah (ritual bath) on the Pilgrimage Road that dates to the time of the second Temple period.

Thanks to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), 330 Olim (new immigrants) have landed in Israel from the Ukraine. The IFCJ has brought about 4,800 Olim to Israel this year alone (750,000 in 20 years). The immigrants include Jews from 29 different nations.