Israel Active

Over the last seven weeks, the Emergency Volunteers Project (EVP) has brought volunteer emergency first responders from various locations in the United States to help out where they were most needed – southern Israel.

Excavations at Tel Kabri, near Nahariya in Northern Israel have revealed a 3,600-year-old palace storeroom full of wine jars.  Two further storerooms will be excavated in 2015 and may provide a glimpse of the agriculture of the Land of Israel at the time that the Israelites entered it.

Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 7000-year-old copper awl in Northern Israel during excavations of Tel Tsaf. It is the oldest known find of a metal object made by humans.

(Thanks to Hazel) In the biggest pro-Israel, anti-terrorist rally in recent years, an estimated 20,000 gathered in Kolkata, India in a show of solidarity with Israel.

Lone soldiers leave their Diaspora homes to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Most men become combat soldiers. Some women also fight in combat, while most serve as instructors in army technology, or deal with the press and plan missions that hopefully will never need to be carried out.

Israeli children are foregoing their summer vacation plans in favor of helping children in the bomb shelters in Ashdod, helping senior citizens, volunteering at hospitals, contributing to public diplomacy and collecting care packages for the soldiers on the front.

A hoard of coins from the fourth year of the Jewish Revolt against Rome - minted months before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE – was unearthed during the expansion of Route 1, the major highway connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Observant Israeli farmers may be making the desert bloom, but every 7 years they must let the land of Israel rest. So in the months before the Jewish New Year it is a very busy time. Here is what Shoshana and Yoni Rappeport have been doing in their Argan tree plantation.

With roughly 1.75 million members, Christians United for Israel (CUFI) calls itself the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States. At their annual summit in Washington, CUFI leader David Brog said, “we have to speak out and be a voice for Israel”.

A mosaic depicting a non-biblical battle scene has been uncovered in a 5th century CE synagogue in Northern Israel. It features a group of soldiers and elephants clad in armor. It might be a depiction of Alexander the Great meeting Jewish high priest Jaddua (Simon the Just).