Israel Active

The San Diego Jewish Academy (SDJA) has just welcomed 95 students from the Israeli region of Sha’ar Hanegev, which suffered severely from the Oct 7 2023 Hamas onslaught. The Israelis receive respite and the San Diego students build connections to Israel.

Before Oct 7 2023, Sivan Shefer founded “Dialog with Animals”, just 4 miles from Gaza, training dogs and their handlers to treat people with disabilities. She now runs “Dialog for Life” – one of 15 initiatives of the Restart NGO, designed to help wounded IDF soldiers restart their lives. (self-explanatory video)

Ishay Ribo performed to thousands at Madison Square Gardens (see previously). But he is just as at home playing to the wounded and their families in hospitals, or traveling to numerous military bases, and even funerals to use his talent for good.

94-year-old Holocaust survivor Sir Frank Lowy gave a powerful and emotional Thanksgiving Day speech to ex-hostages and their friends. The Israeli-Australian multibillionaire drew from his life experiences to give them strength and resilience. (see previously).

Ari Spitz was Israel’s most severely wounded soldier (see previously). Despite losing both legs and an arm, he was able to walk out of Sheba Medical Center (Tel HaShomer Hospital’s) rehabilitation department with three prosthetic limbs. Even non-Hebrew speakers can see how brave he is.

12-year-old Dafna was hiking with her family near the ancient site of Tel Qana in Hod Hasharon. She picked up an unusual find a beetle-like stone that has since been identified as a 3,500-years-old Egyptian scarab amulet. Dafna was awarded a certificate of excellence for good citizenship.

The National Library of Israel has unveiled a set of photographs of Jewish paratrooper Hannah Senesh (Szenes) to mark 80 years after her execution by the Nazis. In 1944, Senesh was deployed into Nazi-occupied Europe to rescue Hungarian Jews from death camps. She became a Zionist icon.

The National Library of Israel now houses the late U.K. Chief Rabbi's personal archives. It was Jonathan Sacks who said visiting foreign dignitaries should be taken to the National Library before the Holocaust museum. “Let us show the world not only how Jews died but how Jews live,” he wrote.

In 2020 the Marcus Foundation donated $20 million for the RootOne initiative that subsidizes trips to Israel organized by BBYO, NCSY, NFTY, USY and Ramah (see previously). This month the foundation donated a further $60 million, making a total of $140 million in grants since 2020.

Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts are on view in the United States in a travelling exhibit of artifacts from the Israel Antiquities Authority. They include a 1st century sheet of the Great Psalms Scroll, from Qumran Cave 11, written in Hebrew script still in use today. Also recent finds and new technology.