Birthright-style tour for business people
AlmaLinks, a group focused on promoting ties between the global Jewish business community and Israel, has started sponsoring its own Birthright-style trip, bringing business executives to Israel to meet their local counterparts. Its first Diaspora delegation visited Israel in September.
Nov 20 is Global Day of Jewish Learning
Israeli Rabbi Adin Steinsalz established the Global Day of Jewish Learning in 2010 to mark the completion of his 45-year project to produce his commentary on the Talmud. This year, on Nov 20, he invites everyone to join in on-line.
ICEJ sponsors new wave of Ethiopian Aliya
The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) is sponsoring the first wave of renewed Ethiopian Aliya. It has given $500,000 for flying in 523 Ethiopian Jews, plus another 104 Jewish immigrants due to make Aliya soon from France and the Ukraine. Please see video.
Jerusalem’s Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue to be rebuilt
The 144-year-old Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City was destroyed by the Jordanian army in the 1948 War of Independence. Now the Israeli government has approved funds to restore it to its former splendor.
Halleluya
Leonard Cohen, who passed away last week aged 82, was a firm supporter of Israel and visited several times. Arab Christian Lina Mahoul won the “Voice of Israel” in 2013 with his song “Hallelujah”. The videos are from concerts in London and in front of 50,000 fans at the Ramat Gan stadium in Tel Aviv in 2009.
Israelis pray for Syrians
On the eve of Yom Kippur, some 1,500 Israelis gathered in Beersheba, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, the Golan Heights and other places, to pray for the people of war-torn Syria.
That “Bayt al-Makdis” inscription
Readers asked me for a photo of the Arabic inscription mentioning the Beit Mikdash (Jewish Temple) that was discovered in the wall of the Mosque of Umar in Nuba, near Hebron. This article shows the inscription that proves early Moslems knew the origin of the Dome of the Rock.
The day the Dead Sea scrolls were recovered
Hebrew University Professor Eliezer Sukenik purchased the Dead Sea scrolls from an antiquities dealer in Jerusalem on Nov 29 1947. As he was examining them that evening, his radio was broadcasting the UN vote on the partition of Palestine. What amazing timing!
The stone that beat the Romans
In the Western Wall (Kotel) is a 2000-year-old stone that measures 40 feet long by 12 feet high by 14 feet deep. It weighs 600 tons - the equivalent of two 747 jumbo jets including passengers and luggage. The Romans tried to destroy it, but couldn’t – and it is still there today.
What the Waqf allowed Israel to dig up
With minimal publicity, the Islamic Waqf has permitted the Israel Antiquities Authority to conduct limited scientific excavations on Temple Mount over the past decade. At a conference at Hebrew University, archaeologists presented new details of olive pits, animal bones and pottery fragments dating to the time of the First Temple.