Ironic venue for Balfour conference
The venue for the Conference “100 Years since the Balfour Declaration” was the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem. The hotel is sited on the earlier Palace Hotel – built by the anti-Semitic Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al Husseini. It was also the site of the 1936 Peel Commission.
“People, Book, Land” reaches UK Parliament
The UK House of Commons is hosting the UNESCO travelling exhibition, “People, Book, Land: The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People with the Holy Land.” The exhibit explores the Jewish People’s eternal link to the Land of Israel.
The tomb of Ibn Ezra
A grave has been unearthed in the Israeli town of Tzfat with the Hebrew inscription "the elderly sage, the doctor Avraham Ben Ezra". The biblical commentator was said to have immigrated from Spain to Israel at the end of his life in 1164, but his grave has never previously been located.
The gateway to the Mishna
The northern Israeli town of Beit She’arim is where the Mishna (Oral Law) was compiled during Roman times. The town’s name means “House of Gates”. Archaeologists from the University of Haifa were therefore amazed to discover a massive gateway during recent excavations at the site.
250 Ukrainian Jews arrive for Pesach
Right before Passover, 230 new immigrants from Ukraine landed in Ben Gurion Airport on the Freedom Flight organized by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. They included four Holocaust survivors, and over 40 children.
No Oleh alone for Seder
I reported previously on the NGO KeepOlim, dedicated to helping Olim to remain in Israel. KeepOlim’s “No Oleh Alone Program for Pesach” is designed to provide any Israeli immigrant, who wants to attend a Seder in Israel, with a willing and suitable host.
Connecting diaspora Jewish girls with Israel
The Naale/Elite Academy brings Jewish teenage girls from around the world for a free high school matriculation program in top Israeli religious educational institutions all over Israel. Naale is fully subsidized and supervised by the Israeli Ministry of Education.
The land of (soy) milk and (date) honey
The World Zionist Organization is using Israel’s vegan culture to cultivate connections between Israel and the rest of world Jewry and non-Jewry. It recently ran vegan workshops for attendees of Berlin’s first-ever, weeklong Jewish food festival, Nosh Berlin.
Party benchers with a difference
Israeli startup Let’s Bench allows party organizers to print personalized Grace After Meals benchers (birkonim) (booklets and cards) for their celebrations. Family photos can be incorporated throughout.
Temple menorah at UNESCO
Israel’s Foreign Ministry is placing a replica of the Second Temple menorah (candelabra) on permanent display at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris. The statue, similar to that on Rome’s Titus Arch, will also include a written explanation in English, French, Hebrew and Arabic.