Israel Active

Freja Berggren studies at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. She writes her reflections as a non-Jewish Swedish student in Israel. It is certainly not what she expected from International media coverage.

A record 1500 young French Jews will be arriving to Israel this summer on the Taglit-Birthright Israel program to learn about the Jewish state and their Jewish heritage. This compares to only 83 in 2013 and 940 in 2014.

The Friends of Zion Museum has opened in Jerusalem. It uniquely portrays the story of the support for the Jewish people and Israel by non-Jews; from the first Christian Zionists of the 19th century who encouraged Theodor Herzl, to those who helped to establish the State of Israel in 1948.

Rivka Ravitz, 39, is Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s Chief of Staff and has been Reuven’s aid for 16 years. She holds degrees in Computer Science and Politics and a PhD in Public Policy. She also challenges stereotypes, as she is an ultra-orthodox Jew and a mother of eleven children.

The Western Wall (Kotel) was full of worshippers for a festive prayer service to honor Jerusalem Day. It was attended by several Chief Rabbis and featured singer Yitzhak Meir. Thousands of revelers later danced at the Kotel, celebrating the re-unification of the city in the 1967 Six Day War. And (TY Michelle) Jerusalem’s emergence as a Tech Hub has made the city into a link between history and destiny.

Yitzik Crombie and Racheli Ganot have launched a first of its kind tech incubator as part of their Haredi Hi-Tech Forum. The incubator specifically targets the Haredi community - much of which lives below the poverty line - and its goal is to bring the high-tech to Bnei Brak.

For the first time, the global Jewish learning movement Limmud reached the White City. The two-day event provided the normally secular city of Tel Aviv with 130 sessions, 120 presenters and seven musical performances.

Israel is the ultimate place to celebrate Shavuot. Next year why not stay on a Moshav where you can enjoy folk dancing, horse prancing, kite flying, a cow beauty pageant and the food! Also on Voice of Israel you can learn why Shavuot is a night of revelation.

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has opened its “pivotal moments in civilization” exhibition, featuring the world’s oldest copy of the Ten Commandments. The 2000-year-old Dead Sea Scroll containing the famous text had never been previously on display in Israel.

Invoking the Torah commandment, not to take the mother bird with its chicks, Tel Aviv airport authorities halted flights for 30 minutes when a nest with five hatched falcons was discovered in a navigational antenna. As the worried adult birds circled overhead, the baby falcons were carefully removed and taken to the nearby Ramat Gan Safari to be raised and then returned to the wild.