Israel Active

When Yisrael Amar’s grandmother collapsed, he was so impressed by the response from United Hatzalah that he started its paramedic training course. One of his first lessons was how to treat a choking victim. Shortly afterwards, his daughter choked on some plastic and Amar knew what to do.

It’s amazing what you can find in your own backyard in Israel. One family in the Galilee town of Eilabun discovered a 2000-year-old labyrinth of caves under their house that was used for storage by the Jewish residents of Eilabun during the Roman occupation.

Israel’s 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Jewish state begins on 18th Apr with 70 Hours of Celebrations. Torch lighting, global singing, folk dancing, fireworks and parties. The overall theme is “Heritage of Innovation”. It will link modern and Biblical; earthly and Heavenly.

President Rivlin welcomed new foreign Ambassadors to Israel from the EU, Italy, Denmark and Nigeria. EU Ambassador Giaufret’s son was born in Israel during previous service. And Italian Ambassador Benedetti is an academic who initiated the translation of the Talmud into Italian.

Readers who are interested in the events and individuals crucial to the founding and development of the Jewish State are recommended to enroll (free) in the online Zionism University (Zionism U). It replaces the site Zionism 101 and contains resources to over 40 excellent short videos and other materials.

As promised, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu brought Moshe Holtzberg with him on his trip to India. Moshe visited the site from where he was rescued as an infant by his Indian nanny from the terrorists who killed his parents nine years ago. His nanny (now Israeli) keeps in close contact with Moshe.

When two United Hatzalah EMTs came to Netanya to give a presentation to WIZO, they were interrupted after only 5 minutes by having to respond to a call nearby.  They managed to revive a 77-year-old man who had no pulse. They returned to the WIZO hall to a standing ovation.

When a distressed mother phoned the dispatch service of United Hatzalah in Israel about her sick son in Monsey, New York, they didn’t hang up on her. Instead they contacted NYC paramedics and arranged his transfer to a hospital where he had successful surgery.

Eliezer Ben Yehuda was born on the 21st Tevet 160 years ago. Chiefly due to his efforts, biblical Hebrew was revived from its over 3000-years-old roots into today’s spoken Hebrew language - Ivrit. Another modern miracle.

When a baby born with Wiscott-Aldrich disorder was given just five years to live, Israeli charity Ezer Mizion found a perfect match on their bone marrow database. Two years after the successful transplant, Ezer Mizion brought donor Lior to meet his stem cells recipient for the first time. And the shy little boy ran to the “stranger” and kissed him!