Israel Active

This week, the Real Jerusalem Streets stretched from Israel’s capital to Sderot to show the unity of Israelis. The Kotel (Western Wall), Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s funeral, wedding photos at the Botanical Gardens, and new buildings for the many people wanting to live in restored Sderot.

A five-year-old girl from Kiryat Gat was released from Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon after falling eight floors and only suffering minor bruising and scratches. She had woken in the night, climbed out onto the balcony and fell into bushes, eight floors below. The parents plan to celebrate the miracle.

The National Library of Israel has received the original version of the Moss Haggadah. The 1980’s masterpiece, by renowned Judaica artist David Moss, is a large-format, handwritten and hand-illuminated rendition of the classical Passover seder liturgy in a traditional style.

Philanthropists Debbie and Michael Flacks have donated $5 million to Colel Chabad to erect a new center dedicated to promoting community service and acts of kindness. The 10-story “Flacks Chessed Tower” will be located next to Jerusalem’s Machaneh Yehudah open-air market.

Miri and her fiancé Roy are both IDF reserve officers and had to postpone their wedding several times due to the war. When they finally fixed the date, they pleaded on Instagram for help getting Miri’s paralyzed, holocaust-survivor grandfather Kim to attend. Thanks to Israel’s Wish Ambulance, he got there.

Rhoda’s great-niece Chana Koenig shows typical Israeli resilience by making gourmet chocolates (without preservatives) in Nahariya, northern Israel. For the last 11 months, she has endured near-incessant aerial attacks by Hezbollah from exploding UAVs and rocket fire. (link in article is incorrect) (link here is correct)

Angie Jacobs and Naomi Frankel write about their experiences as volunteers on Kibbutzim, Moshavim, Army bases, children’s homes and more. They really made a difference.

In Nov, cardiothoracic anesthesiologist Dr. Eugene Rapaport volunteered for two weeks at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center, treating some unique injuries and diverse patients. Then in June he realized his dream and made Aliyah through Nefesh b’Nefesh. A fascinating article.

Israel’s Technion Institute held a hackathon, attended by 140 science students, who worked with mental health experts to develop solutions to improve mental resilience. The winning team developed a technology to treat post-traumatic stress disorder through cooking, using a virtual reality headset.

Rony Ben-Zvi Elimelech is completing her doctorate at Israel’s Technion Institute. She is also a mother of two boys, ages 6 years and 16 months, and chief executive officer of Wisemama, which supports women who are combining parenthood and academic studies. Then she was called up for reserve duty.