Israel Active

Haifa Egged bus driver Ataf Tatur found a wallet containing $20,000 in a bag left on his bus.  Ataf and the Egged branch director called the owners who came to collect the bag.  An Egged spokesperson said "This is the accepted norm in Egged, and it is what we expect from those behind the wheel".

Jerusalem’s "Modest Fashion Day" was Israel's first major fashion show for Orthodox Jewish women who require conservative outfits. Israeli models hit the catwalk in front of hundreds of Orthodox women and fashionistas, wearing long sleeves and dresses down to their ankles.

Harry Goldstein of North London Friends of Israel (NLFoI) says that the way to support the Jewish State is to be visible.  NLFoI members stand in busy shopping streets or local festivals, with leaflets, literature and Israeli flags. They make a strong statement - that they are ordinary, local people.

Nefesh B’Nefesh is holding its annual Israel Aliya Mega Event on Sun 26 Feb at John Jay College in Manhattan. Some 1,500 potential Olim are expected to attend, making it the biggest Aliya event of its kind. Additional Aliyah Fairs will be held in Toronto, Montreal and Los Angeles.

Ambassador Yoram Ettinger describes how the unshakable social, cultural, legal and political bonds between the US and Israel are cemented on a long history of America’s recognition of Jewish religious leaders, texts and Judeo-Christian values.

Archaeologists discovered two 1,800-year-old Hebrew inscriptions carved into a limestone column capital in the Druze Galilee village of Peki’in, It reinforces Peki’in’s link to Beka - a Talmud-era center of Jewish scholarship where Shimon bar Yochai hid from the Romans.

One-hundred and two members of India’s Bnei Menashe community have arrived in Israel, marking the latest group of so-called “lost” Jews to make Aliyah.  Members of the Bnei Menashe community trace their roots from Jews banished from ancient Israel to India in the 8th century BC.

Israel’s National Library has purchased 8,000 or so texts at Sotheby’s from the Valmadonna Trust collection. They include a 1491 Lisbon Bible; a 1556 Prague Passover Haggadah and the 16th Century Plantin Polyglot “King’s Bible” in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Aramaic and Syriac.

KKL-JNF held its first Latin American Youth Leadership Conference in Israel. It brought together young volunteers and professionals from Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador and Cuba to see the wide scope of KKL-JNF projects in Israel.

Gershon Veroba’s first new solo album of original songs in nearly a decade, includes a song titled "Ani Yisrael" (I am Israel). Veroba said, “Israel is part of us. It’s ultimately where we’re from and where we live, no matter what our backgrounds have been or where our houses are."