Israel Producing Gold 'Ten Commandments' Medallions

Israel Producing Gold 'Ten Commandments' Medallions

For the first time, Israel will be producing a set of gold coins commemorating the Ten Commandments

 

By David Lev

Israel National News 

First Publish: 3/7/2013

 

Ten Commandments medallion

 

Israel Coins and Medals Corporation

 

For the first time, Israel will be producing a set of gold coins commemorating the Ten Commandments. The Israel Coins and Medals Corporation has released a set of ten medallions, with a very high gold content level - .999 pure – that will feature symbolic graphical renditions of the Ten Commandments.

Each of the ten medallions features a work of art that describes the particular Commandment, along with the relevant passage from the Biblical Book of Exodus, where the Ten Commandments are listed. The opposite side of each coin shows a renditions of the Tablets of the Law, upon which the Bible tells us G-d inscribed the Ten Commandments. The logo of the Corporation, as well as its gold content, is also inscribed.

For Jews, the entire Torah is seen as the Word of G-d, but the Ten Commandments have always held a higher status due to the fact that they were revealed directly by G-d Himself to the Jewish people, who had just left Egypt. The Ten Commandments have a special place in the heart of the Jewish people, and indeed in the hearts of religious and secular people around the world.

Only 10,000 sets will be produced. Each coin has a diameter of 13.92 millimeters and a weight of 1.244 grams. The set is priced at NIS 6,490 (about $1,750).

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/165977

Israel Thwarts Locust Swarms from Egypt

CBNNews.com

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JERUSALEM, Israel -- At daybreak Wednesday, Israel's Ministry of Agriculture continued spraying locust swarms that invaded from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Monday.

 

Teams of ministry workers saturated the swarms with pesticide from the air and ground after aerial mapping pinpointed their locations.

The ministry instructed farmers to seal their greenhouses and keep authorities alerted to any infestation.

Negev residents were advised to stay indoors with their windows closed and blinds down.

Crops maturing in protected environments were unharmed by the invasion, but some potato farmers in the Negev reported serious losses. Small numbers of the insects were spotted in other parts of the country.

Arab farmers in the Gaza Strip also reported damage to their crops. Hamas, the Palestinian faction

controlling Gaza, advised residents Wednesday to keep their windows closed.

Authorities say a shift in the wind that brought the locusts from Egypt, coupled with a cold front, will deter more swarms from invading Israel.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Agriculture said it had the situation under "full control" and the locusts did not represent "danger or harm to people and plants."

In anticipation of a possible invasion, the ministry issued a "locust alert" Monday, asking farmers and citizens to be on the lookout for the insects and report any infestations immediately.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2013/March/Israel-Thwarts-Locust-Swarms-from-Egypt-/

Are the Locusts Returning? The Plague of Locusts of 1915 Was of Biblical Proportions

Are the Locusts Returning?
The Plague of Locusts of 1915 Was of Biblical Proportions

Israel Daily Picture

 

 

A fig tree before the locust plague hit (Library of Congress)

The same fig tree after the locust plague hit

News accounts today report a plague of locusts in Egypt and sightings of locusts along Israel's border. 

The photographers of the American Colony in Jerusalem conducted an extensive photographic study of the locust plague of 1915 including the life cycle of the insects, the devastation, and attempts to eradicate. 

A year ago we presented here a photo essay on the photo collection.  Click here to view the whole article.


The aftermath of the plague



 Team waving flags tries to push a swarm of locusts into a
trap dug into the ground.  The Turkish governor demanded
that every man deliver 20 kilo (44 pounds) of locusts

The pictures presented here were hand colored by the American Colony Photographic Dept.

http://www.israeldailypicture.com/2013/03/are-locusts-returning-plague-of-locusts.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IsraelsHistory-APictureADaybeta+%28Israel%27s+History+-+a+Picture+a+Day+%28Beta%29%29

Israel's Hula Valley: A Bird Watcher's Paradise

By Julie Stahl and Chris Mitchell

CBN News Jerusalem Bureau

Friday, March 01, 2013

 

 

 

AGAMON HAHULA, Israel -- About half a billion birds migrate through Israel's Hula Valley twice each year. It's a paradise for bird watchers, who come by the thousands to one of the world's major migration routes.

 

"This is one of the richest sites in the world for bird-watching," Omri Boneh, with the Jewish National Fund, told CBN News.

"Israel is a sort of junction between three continents and birds that are essentially trying to avoid high mountains [and] great expanses of water, they funnel through very specific flyways," Ben-Gurion University Prof. Reuven Yosef said.

Some of these migrating birds fly 2,000 miles in just three to five days without a meal. They fly from Europe to Asia to Africa. For some, Israel is the halfway point -- part of a 3,700-mile stretch from Syria to Mozambique.

The Bible mentions the bird migration as part of a metaphor:

Even the stork in the sky knows her seasons; and the turtledove and the swift and the thrush (crane) observe the time of their migration. (Jeremiah 8:7 NASV)

Some 400 species of birds stop for refueling, and a fraction even winter here, including 30,000 to 45,000 cranes.

Listening to them talk, one can understand why King Hezekiah said he "chattered like a crane." In fact, it's not just noise. Experts say crane parents and chicks can actually recognize each other's voices.

Twenty years ago, there were hardly any cranes here because the natural swamps were drained for farmland. The ground didn't work well for agriculture, so experts restored part of the lake.

"And the answer was essentially to give it back to nature and so the project has gone sort of in a circle and we're back to trying to renovate, trying to sort of reproduce what existed here in the past," Prof. Yosef said.

That and a special feeding project brought the cranes back, along with the visitors.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for us to educate people about birds, about nature," Boneh explained. "I think that you don't need to be a bird lover when you are coming here, but you are definitely a bird lover when you are going out of this site."

Visitors to the Agamon Hahula Reserve can ride the safari wagon into the midst of the cranes. Guides say there's no place else in the world to see so many cranes in such a small area.

Bird watchers come from all over the world to see the phenomenon.

"I don't even care if you like birds, you have to experience this and come and see thousands and thousands and thousands of cranes," Joan Goodman, from Washington, D.C., said.

"I'm an amateur birder," Phil Waldman from Southern California, said. "If you're a birder, I don't think there's a better place you could find to come to see the variety of species, as well as the atmosphere and the beauty of the place; [it] is unrivaled in any place in the world."

For now, these cranes are getting ready for the long flight back to Russia or Finland for the summer. But they'll be back next year, along with the bird lovers.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2013/March/Israels-Hula-Valley-A-Bird-Watchers-Paradise/

Locust swarm of biblical proportions plagues Egypt

Monday, March 04, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  

 

 

 

 

An estimated 30 million locusts are currently plaguing southern Cairo, as Egyptian official struggle to find a way to dispose of a swarm the size of which they could not have predicted.

 

Locusts swarm Egypt every year, but typically in manageable numbers. The size of this year's swarm came as a complete surprise, and is reportedly causing enormous damage.

Egypt's military is deploying whatever means at its disposal to deal with the problem, but the country might have to wait until predicted strong winds later this week carry the swarm away toward Saudi Arabia.

News of the swarm comes just weeks before the biblical festival of Passover, when Jews and many Christians commemorate the divinely-guided exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt.

A major component of the Exodus story is God's afflicting of Egypt with 10 plagues, one of which was a locust swarm of exaggerated size.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23707/Default.aspx?hp=readmore

US senators to Israel: We have your back

By JPOST.COM STAFF

03/01/2013 15:05

Jerusalem Post

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham announces resolution to support Israel's right to defend itself against a nuclear Iran.

US Senator Lindsey Graham Photo: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

 

A bipartisan group of United States senators are introducing a resolution to support Israel's right to defend itself when it comes to a nuclear-capable Iran, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said at a press conference Friday.

"No one wants another conflict in the world, militarily, but we also do not want a nuclear-capable Iran. It would create an arms race in the Middle East and would put Israel and our own nation in great peril," said Graham.

Graham acknowledged US President Barack Obama's initiative to put a stop to Iran's nuclear ambitions, and said "the people who want to destroy Israel very much have us in their cross-hairs too... since America has no better friend in the Middle East than Israel."

Ahead of Obama's visit to Israel this month, Graham labeled the initiative as an effort by republicans and democrats to tell Israel "we have your back."



Graham presented the resolution as a statement of support in the event that Israel acts in self defense against Iran. "This is not a green light for Israel to do anything other than defend itself. If the Israeli people have to act in self defense against existential threat of nuclear capable iran, we will be there," stated Graham.

"Every senator that votes for this resolution is telling the world, Iranians, Israelis, that in the event this day comes, we are going to be with the state of Israel, politically, economically, militarily to help them defend themselves against a threat that presents great danger not only to Israel but to the world, and to the US," he added.

Graham concluded his remarks with a message to the international community, saying "when it comes to the concept of standing with Israel in times of great peril, when we say we have your back we mean it, and when you [Obama] say it to Israel, you have our blessing."

http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=305028