But they work hard too
The latest OECD study shows that Israelis work an average of 2000 hours per year. That’s 20% longer than the average British worker and 40% longer than a typical German. Israelis are top of the league for reading books and attending cultural events.
Israel’s Golden Age
Please read this heart-warming vision of Israel by David Siegel - the Israeli Consul for the South Western United States.
US emigration reversed
More people made Aliya from the USA in 2011 than left Israel for American shores. 4,070 US-born Jews came to live in Israel during 2011, compared with 3,850 going in the other direction.
“Go South, old man”
There are job opportunities in Israel for “old hacks” like me. But I would need to move to Southern Israel. Some 1,100 jobs were offered to southern Israel residents aged 45 and above, at a special job fair held in Dimona. More than 70 employers took part in the event.
Environmental Ambassadors
A new program creating young environmental ambassadors through the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem is training several hundred third- through sixth-graders to be stewards of Jerusalem’s ecological future.
World record attempt – at giving blood
Menachem Steinmetz, a 65-year-old man from Rishon Lezion, has given of himself, quite literally, by donating more than 272 units of blood to Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical response service, over the course of 41 years. The world record is 314 units and Menachem plans to continue donating until he gets to 70 years old.
Huge surge in Aliya of young professionals
Immigration to Israel has increased in recent years, however one key fact has almost been hidden. According to data from Nefesh B’Nefesh, over 1,300 singles and young professionals between the ages of 18 and 30 made Aliyah in 2011 alone – a 250% increase over the last five years. Excellent career opportunities have made moving to the Jewish State a much easier decision.
Learning under fire
It is truly incredible that, thanks to organisations like AMIT, the academic performance of Israeli students in the South continues to improve despite the terrorist missiles from Gaza. In Sderot, 85% of students matriculate into universities when they finish high school, while the national average is only 62%.
The clock is still ticking
Half of David Salomons’ collection of nearly 200 unique watches and clocks was stolen in 1983 but almost all have since been returned to the Jerusalem Museum of Islamic art. This video shows some of the beautiful items recovered.
Feathered visitors to the Western Wall
The annual migration of the swifts is well underway. Several hundred of the aerial acrobats nest in the cracks between the stones of the Kotel – providing an exciting spectacle to their international audience.