Ethiopia's last Jews prepare for 'Promised Land'

Ethiopia's last Jews prepare for 'Promised Land'

Members of Falah Mura say they feel frozen in limbo, not quite at home in Ethiopia, eager to become Israeli, and suffering from long separation from family members who have already left

AFP

Published:  01.12.13, 07:29 / Israel Jewish Scene

It was one of the most daring operations in Ethiopian history: Israel's 1991 airlift of Ethiopian Jews, when nearly 15,000 people were crammed into a series of non-stop flights lasting 36 hours.

Clutching only a few belongings, in planes with seats removed to make more space, they left a nation their ancestors had called home for two millennia for a land they knew only from scripture.

Homecoming

Israeli ambassador visits her Ethiopian hometown / Itamar Eichner Nearly three decades after immigrating to Israel, Belaynesh Zevadia returns to her village in Ethiopia, this time as Israel's ambassador Full story

More than two decades later, some 2,000 descendants and relatives of those Israel had identified as original Jews are set to join them in the Holy Land.

All that's left of Ethiopia's Jewish population, called the Falash Mura, or "wanderers" in Ethiopia's Amharic language – is expected to move to Israel over the next 18 months, the end of an ancient chapter of Ethiopian history.

"It is God's promise to us to go to the Promised Land and fulfill his prophecy... but that doesn't change the fact that I am Ethiopian," said Gasho Abenet, 25.

Ethiopia's remaining Falash Mura live in Gondar in the north of the country, supported by the Jerusalem-based organization The Jewish Agency for Israel, where many have waited for years to complete bureaucratic hurdles and win approval to move.

Many say they feel frozen in limbo, not quite at home in Ethiopia, eager to become Israeli, and suffering from a long separation from family members who have already left.

"Once... you're in this halfway status of being internal refugees, you're certainly better off in Israel than being internal refugees in Ethiopia," said Steven Kaplan, professor of religion and African studies at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.

Many Jews in Ethiopia – a small minority in a country where officially 62% are Christian and 34% are Muslim – say they have been misunderstood and even discriminated against.

Housing rents are arbitrarily hiked, some say, and many report name-calling from those who do not understand or accept Judaism.

"It is difficult to live here in Ethiopia as an Israelite because we get insulted," 22-year-old Amhare Fantahun said.

For Gasho, it means never feeling fully at home in the land of his birth.

"The life that we are living here is a nightmare, we can never settle," he said, donning a black and white skullcap and a Star of David pin.

Disputed roots

Despite their feeling of apparent transience, the history of Judaism in Ethiopia dates back about 2,000 years.

The precise roots are disputed: Some say Ethiopia's ancient Jews – called Beta Israel, or "House of Israel" – are descendants of Jewish nomads who travelled first to Egypt, then on to Ethiopia.

Others say they are direct descendants of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon.

The Falash Mura, descendants of the Beta Israeli – many of whom were forced to convert to Christianity in the 18th and 19th centuries – have observed a unique interpretation of Judaism for generations.

Practices include separating menstruating women from men and burying their dead in Christian cemeteries. They must learn Rabbinic law and Hebrew before moving to Israel.

In skullcaps and draped in prayer scarves, they gather every week in Gondar's makeshift synagogue, a corrugated iron shed painted the blue and white of Israel's flag, chanting verses from the Torah in Ethiopia's Amharic language.

The push to transport Ethiopia's Jews to Israel began in the 1980s, under Ethiopia's brutal Communist dictator Mengistu Hailemariam, who used Ethiopia's Jews as pawns and tried to trade them for weapons from Israel.

Many left Ethiopia illegally, travelling by foot to Sudan, where 20,000 people were eventually flown to Israel in Operation Moses in 1985, the precursor to the 1991 airlift from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The airlift, known as Operation Solomon, came as Mengistu lost his grip on power.

There are about 130,000 Jews of Ethiopian descent in Israel today. By March 2014, the immigration of Ethiopia's Jews to Israel is expected to finish, closing an ancient chapter of Ethiopia's history.

Under Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie, departure for Israel was blocked as he said the country would lose a key cornerstone of its heritage.

"Haile Selassie said, 'If we did that we would lose one of the key elements in the Ethiopian tapestry. They represent a tradition that we all think we're descended from,'" said Stephen Spector, author of a book about the airlift.

New chapter

But for Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia Belyanesh Zevadia – who was born in Ethiopia and lived in Israel for 28 years – the end of the returns to Israel merely marks a new chapter in relations between the two countries.

"Maybe (we are) losing the culture, the Jewish culture," she said. "But there are so many of them coming back and investing here... so we are building the bridge between the two countries."

Gasho said the heritage lives on in other ways too, even though most of the Falash Mura have left the country.

"We Jewish who are living here in Ethiopia, we taught our wisdom and knowledge," he said. "Our culture is well understood throughout the community... learning, metallurgy, handcraftsmanship, it is all passed on," Gasho added.

At Addis Ababa's transit centre, where the Falash Mura gather before boarding a flight to Israel, new shoes and clothes are passed around as children play table tennis and table football under the beating afternoon sun.

Despite not knowing what to expect when they reach Israel, there is a sense of happiness from those about to leave Ethiopia for good.

"I am going to miss Ethiopia, of course, but this is life, so I have to go to Israel, and that is the path decided for me," said Malefeya Zelelu, 84, who waited in Gondar for 14 years before being approved to leave.

"I am now going to be an Israelite," he added, smiling widely.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4329630,00.html

Breaking Down Israeli Elections: Will Netanyahu Win?

By Chris Mitchell

CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief

Thursday, January 10, 2013

 

 

 

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israelis like Americans two months ago are being bombarded by political ads, including messages with an edge for the young generation.

 

Instead of a two-party system, more than 30 jam Israel's political landscape. They compete for 120 seats in Israel's parliament.

Whoever wins the most seats must hammer together a coalition of 60 or more players to form the next government.

Like the United States, Israeli parties fall into the left or right. Dominating the right is the joint party of current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Leiberman called Likud-Beiteinu. On the left of the spectrum is the Labor Party.

The potential spoiler of this campaign is Naftali Bennett and his Jewish Home Party. So far he's hurting Netanyahu by appealing to concerns the current prime minister may give up land to appease U.S. and European leaders.

Bennett recently explained his biblical view of the land of Israel to CBN News.

"You know we had a state in this very land 3,000 years ago, 2,000 years ago and now we have it again. That is profoundly important from a Jewish and biblical standpoint," he said.

The latest poll shows Netanyahu's party still leading with 34 seats, Labor with 21, and Bennett's Jewish Home Party at 15 seats.

But as many as 30 percent of Israelis say they're undecided.

"The Israeli voter is an emotional voter and he decides 'X' and then he goes on his way to the election and he may change his mind," Israeli Yaacov Peri said.

That is why Netanyahu could face trouble.  

"I think Labor now has a chance at getting a blocking bloc of 60, we would be able to tilt the whole balance of Israeli politics and we are not far away from that," Isaac Herzog, with the Labor Party, said.

The Likud party maintains the country needs to stay the course.

"Mr. Netanyahu needs, in my opinion needs, in the interest of the country to stay in the lead. We are facing very, very powerful challenges in the near future," Likud member Yitzhak Hanegbi, said.

It's likely Netanyahu will remain prime minister. But whoever leads Israel will face economic challenges at home, growing danger throughout the Middle East, and the often unwelcome presence of world opinion.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2013/January/Breaking-Down-Israeli-Elections-Will-Netanyahu-Win/

Israel works to prevent anti-Semitism in Asia

Sunday, January 13, 2013 |  Yossi Aloni, Israel Today  

 

 

Hitler has become an iconic figure in Asia in recent years, and his book Mein Kampf is being sold in bookstores across the continent. Israel has decided to work against that trend by inviting educators from India, Korea, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia to guide them in Holocaust studies.
  For the first time a group of 20 school principals and teachers from India recently arrived in Israel to learn about the Holocaust at the International School at Yad Vashem (Israel's national Holocaust memorial and museum).

Dressed in traditional garb, the Indian guests were taught about the true horrors of the Holocaust as a background for ethics and history lessons at schools and universities in their own country. Some of the participants represented school systems that oversee the education of over two million students all the way from kindergarten to university.

The Indian delegation was invited by the Foreign Ministry's Department for Combating Anti-Semitism and by Yad Vashem, both of which hoped the visit would spark increased study of the Holocaust throughout Asia.

This month will also see the first visit by a group of 23 educators from New Zealand. Recently, a group of 20 teachers from Australia and another delegation from Singapore arrived for background lessons on the Holocaust.

"This demonstrates how the topic of the Holocaust remains of interest and is still relevant to the 21st century," said Gideon Baker, director of the Department for Combating Anti-Semitism.

"In 2013, we will expand the study of the Holocaust to countries that have not yet studied the subject in any organized manner, such as South Korea and Cyprus, as well as establish mobile training teams in India," Baker added.

There is no anti-Semitism in India. Mein Kampf sells in local bookstores and there is general admiration of Hitler as being a "strong man," but the public is mostly ignorant about who Hitler truly was and what he did to six million Jews. "Precisely for this reason it is important to teach the Holocaust in this country," said Baker.

Asia in general does not have an anti-Semitism problem. But Nazi symbols are widely used and Hitler is often idolized without true understanding of what this means to the Jews.

Israeli diplomats in Asia say that this phenomenon most often occurs as a result of ignorance and with no hostile intentions. "A lot of people in Asia are aware of what happened in Europe in general. Unfortunately, many people think that Hitler was a hero, not a monster, so it is important to strengthen the memory of the Holocaust," explained the Foreign Ministry.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23617/Default.aspx

Salvation is Your Name - Joshua Aaron video

You Are Holy (Joshua Aaron & Family)

Jewish filmmakers rack up Oscar nominations

Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’ leads the way with 12 nods

By Times of Israel staff

January 10, 2013

 

 

'Lincoln' director Steven Spielberg was nominated for an Academy Award for best director on Thursday, January 10, 2012. (photo credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Jewish filmmakers will be represented in strong numbers at February’s Academy Awards, the nominations for which were announced Thursday in Los Angeles.

 

Films featuring Jewish talent figured prominently in most of the major categories, with Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” leading the way with 12 nods.

 

In addition to the director himself, the biopic about the US president netted nominations for its half-Jewish leading man, Daniel Day-Lewis, and for its Jewish screenwriter, Tony Kushner.

 

Alan Arkin, who won an Oscar for supporting actor six years ago for “Little Miss Sunshine,” may win again in the same category, having been nominated this time for his role as a Hollywood insider in “Argo,” the Ben Affleck-directed thriller set during the Iran hostage crisis.

 

Competing against Day-Lewis in the best actor category will be another performer with a Jewish mother — Joaquin Phoenix, nominated for his work in the scientology-inspired drama “The Master.”

 

While most eyes will be on Spielberg among the nominated directors, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” filmmaker Benh Zeitlin is also likely to draw some attention — the 30-year-old, who’s Jewish on his father’s side, is among the youngest nominees ever in the category.

 

Among the potential best actress winners, Naomi Watts isn’t Jewish, but her date will be — actor Liev Schreiber, who accompanied the star of “The Impossible” to Israel for a family vacation in 2009, where they planted a tree for the Jewish National Fund. (The couple also attended the Israel Film Festival in New York in 2011.)

 

Mega-producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein also have reason to celebrate, with two of their company’s films — “Django Unchained” and “Silver Linings Playbook” — racking up a total of 13 thumbs-up, including one for each in the best picture field.

 

As we’ve noted elsewhere, it was a good year to make a film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with two Israeli entries remarkably earning nominations among the five picks for best documentary.

 

One interesting absence: films about the Holocaust, a subject that comes up so often at the Oscars that it’s become something of an industry joke.

 

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-filmmakers-rack-up-oscar-nominations/

 

It's Snowing in Jerusalem Today

It's Snowing in Jerusalem Today
-- A Reminder of Snows in Jerusalem almost 100 Years Ago

 

Jerusalem under blanket of snow. View from the Christian
Quarter showing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Mosque
of Omar on the Temple Mount and Mt. of Olives. (circa 1900)

Strong rain, winds and snow storms are hitting the Middle East this week.

After several years of drought, record rains have fallen on Israel presenting the possibility that the Sea of Galilee, Israel's "national reservoir," may fill by the end of winter.  Just this week the sea rose 60 centimeters (2 feet), and many areas in the country already received one-third of their average rainfall.

British soldiers at the Western Wall (1921)

Galilee and Golan mountains are covered with snow, and Jerusalem residents anticipate a city covered in white tomorrow morning.

We present here old pictures of snow in Jerusalem from the Library of Congress collection. Some of the pictures were presented here last winter, but we've also added new ones found among the 22,000 pictures in the Library of Congress.



Children of the "American Colony" (1921). These pictures were
hand-colored and found in a family album.



Children of the "American Colony"
playing in the snow (1921)



"Snow-balling" on Jaffa Road in
Jerusalem (1942)

Australian soldiers and Arabs "snow-balling," possibly in
Bethlehem (1942)

http://www.israeldailypicture.com/2013/01/its-snowing-in-jerusalem-today-reminder.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IsraelsHistory-APictureADaybeta+%28Israel%27s+History+-+a+Picture+a+Day+%28Beta%29%29

PHOTOS: Jerusalem of Gold becomes Jerusalem of White

Thursday, January 10, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  

 

 

 

Jerusalem of Gold became Jerusalem of White overnight, treating local residents to a thick blanket of snow measuring well over 12 inches in many places.

Schools and public transportation were cancelled, and the streets of the Holy City rang with the gleeful cries of thousands of children, and not a few adults who found they are still very much children at heart.

Snow also covered numerous other towns across Israel. Most of northern Israel experienced heavy snow, and even higher peaks in the Negev desert, such as the small town of Mitzpe Ramon, woke to a winter wonderland.

Speaking of the north, all the rain and snow is causing the Sea of Galilee to rise by unprecedented amounts every hour.

Experts agree that if the current snow storm is followed by another month or two of good rain, the lake, which is Israel's main fresh water reservoir, could fully refill by the end of the winter season.

But not all the news has been positive. There has been widespread flooding damage, and a handful of people have lost their lives after being caught in flash floods.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the focus of prayers now must be that the heavy winter precipitation remains a blessing to Israel and does not become a detriment.

 

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23615/Default.aspx

Auschwitz Records 1.43 Million Visitors in 2012

Auschwitz Records 1.43 Million Visitors in 2012

The Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp memorial and museum registered 1.43 million visitors in 2012, a record number in its 65-year history.

 

By Rachel Hirshfeld

First Publish: 1/8/2013, Israel National News

Jewish delegation at Auschwitz

Israel news photo: Flash 90

 

The Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp memorial and museum in southern Poland registered 1.43 million visitors in 2012, a record number in its 65-year history, officials said Friday.


For several years now, the grounds of the former Nazi death camp have registered record numbers of visitors. In 2011, there were 1.4 million visitors from across the world, triple the number of a decade before.


In a statement announcing the new figure, director Piotr Cywinski said that in the last decade Auschwitz has become a "fundamental memorial" for all of Europe.


“It reflects the actual meaning of the history of the Shoah and the drama of concentration camps in the history of contemporary Europe and understanding its appearance today,” he said. “The growing educational dimension of this place indirectly shows us also the challenges that our societies face today."


Poland had the most visitors with 446,000, followed by Great Britain (149,000 visitors), the United States (97,000), Italy (84,000), Germany (74,000), Israel (68,000), and other countries.


While the record numbers of tourists visiting the site is essential for Holocaust education, it is straining the site's barracks and other structures, most of which were built of wood and never intended to last long.

Efforts are currently under way to preserve the site and maintain it in as close a state as possible to when it was liberated by Soviet troops in January 1945.


The Nazis murdered at least 1.1 million people at Auschwitz-Birkenau (some claim the figure is much higher), most of whom were Jews, but the victims also included Polish political prisoners, Romani (gypsies), homosexuals and others.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163990

‘Frankenstorm’ Lashes Israel

‘Frankenstorm’ Lashes Israel

Israel’s answer to “Superstorm Sandy” closed Tel Aviv’s major highway, and that’s only a preview. Heavy snow predicted.

 

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

First Publish: 1/8/2013, Israel National News

 

View of a car damaged by a large tree had blown down onto a parking car by strong wind in Tel Aviv,

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Israel’s answer to “Superstorm Sandy” closed the Ayalon, Tel Aviv’s major highway Tuesday morning, and the worst is yet to come, with several inches of snow possible in Jerusalem and lesser amounts at levels as far west as the Carmel ridge near Haifa.

The Ayalon was shut down for more than an hour, for the first time in 21 years, after waters flooded the major route through the metropolitan area, casing huge traffic jams on alternate routes.

Train service from Hadera, northeast of Netanya, was cancelled because tracks and passenger platforms were flooded, and some train service in Tel Aviv also was shut down.

Gale force winds ripped trees to the ground Monday, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of Israelis, including massive areas of Judea and Samaria.

Four inches of rain fell on the southern port of Ashdod by Tuesday morning, and up to several inches drenched some northern areas.

In a rare meteorological event for Israel, several weather fronts converged at once over the country.
Israelis’ dream of snow --- real snow and not just a dusting that sends everyone to panic – may be realized as temperatures continue to plummet and an unusually lengthy and intense storm pounds Israel from the Lebanese border to Eilat.

Snow already has piled up on the Hermon slopes, with a foot of white stuff already having accumulated on the lower slopes and more than two feet on the higher levels. Snow may begin falling on Jerusalem at night, with colder temperatures making accumulations of up to five inches possible by Wednesday night.

Weather buffs reported that maps show the snow will reach much lower levels for the first time in eight years.

The “bad weather” is great news for everyone who likes to drink water. This winter’s higher than average rain, coupled with the flow of desalinated water that has reduced the pumping of water from the Kinneret, has raised the lake’s level to the highest in years.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163974

Christian pastor Nadarkhani freed from jail in Iran after Christmas Day arrest

By Lisa Daftari

Published January 07, 2013

FoxNews.com

• 
  Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been freed - yet again - from an Iranian prison.

Youcef Nadarkhani, the Iranian Christian pastor who had been re-arrested on Christmas Day after serving nearly three years in prison for renouncing Islam, was released today, according to individuals close to the pastor and his family.

Nadarkhani, 35, had been held since Christmas Day at Lakan Prison in Rasht, the facility where he was imprisoned from 2010 to 2012 in a case that made international headlines.

Although he initially faced possible execution, he had been freed in November, with just 45 days left on a downgraded sentence issued after Fox News and other media outlets drew attention to his plight. But when he was arrested, an Iranian judge said he must finish his sentence.

"Given its persecution of Pastor Youcef because of his Christian faith, it was particularly cruel to imprison him on Christmas Day."

- Joint letter from U.S. Reps Joe Pitts and Keith Ellison

When Nadarkhani, an active member in Iran's Evangelical community, was acquitted of apostasy in September and subsequently freed, it was seen as a major victory for the grassroots campaign that had embraced his cause. But the arrest on Christmas Day was a bitter blow for the married father of two young children and his supporters.

Last week, after FoxNews.com reported the latest arrest of Nadarkhani, U.S. Congressmen Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), and Keith Ellison, (D-Minn.), released a joint letter blasting the regime.

"We were heartbroken to learn that the government of Iran has thrown Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani back in jail," read the letter, released on Jan. 4. "Given its persecution of Pastor Youcef because of his Christian faith, it was particularly cruel to imprison him on Christmas Day."

Nadarkhani's trouble with the regime in Tehran began in 2006, when he applied for his church to be registered with the state. According to sources, he was arrested at that time and then soon released.

In 2009, Nadarkhani went to local officials to complain about Islamic indoctrination in his school district, arguing that his children should not be forced to learn about Islam. He was subsequently arrested.

After his initial release, Nadarkhani wrote a public letter thanking all those who helped release him. In November, he traveled to London to speak at a national human rights conference thanking those who advocated on his behalf.

Nadarkhani's attorney, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, has been imprisoned and remains in Iran's notoriously brutal Evin Prison, where his health is rapidly deteriorating and he is being denied proper dental care, according to his family. He has been jailed for advocating Nadarkhani's case and other human rights cases.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/07/christian-pastor-nadarkhani-released-form-iranian-prison/#ixzz2HPerBiyI

Rare Manuscripts Document Ancient Jewish Community

CBNNews.com

Monday, January 07, 2013

Israel's National Library unveiled a cache of rare ancient Hebrew manuscripts discovered in caves in northern Afghanistan. The area is a Taliban stronghold.

The collection gives an unprecedented look into the lives of Jews living in ancient Persia. It includes biblical interpretations, financial records, and personal transactions from that time.

"This is the first time that we have actual physical evidence of Jewish life and Jewish culture in the area of Iranian culture in the 11th century," Haggai Ben-Shammai, academic director of Israel's National Library, said.

The library purchased 29 out of hundreds of documents. They are believed to have been found in caves used as hideouts recently by Taliban insurgents.

Aviad Stollman, curator of the library's Judaica collection, said that though more would be learned later with further research, the find already revealed much about the mysterious community.

"They were Jews living a thousand years ago in this place. I think that is the most exciting part," he said.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2013/January/Afghan-Manuscripts-Document-Ancient-Jewish-Community/

Heavy winter storms slam Israel

Heavy winter storms slam Israel

Monday, January 07, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  

Israel this week is being hit by heavy thunderstorms and meteorologists are predicting further stormy weather and even snow in the Jerusalem area.

While the rain is welcome, the storms sweeping across the land have caused massive damage. Flooding and property damage, closed roads, hail damage, the closure of a major sewage system in the Tel Aviv area. Talk in the Israel media is of further chaos.

But many are trying to see the positive side of the weather situation: Thanks to the heavy rain the water level of the Sea of ​​Galilee is rapidly on the rise. Only three more meters and the lake will be full.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23610/Default.aspx

NY boy builds basketball court for Beersheba kids

NY boy builds basketball court for Beersheba kids

By DANIELLE ZIRI

01/03/2013 Jerusalem Post

13-year-old Daniel Klosk donates bar mitzvah money to transform derelict basketball court in Yud Alef neighborhood.

DANIEL KLOSK Photo: Ilan Halperin/UJA-Federation of New York

 

Kids from Beersheba’s tough Yud Alef neighborhood had their derelict basketball court at Rimonim Elementary School transformed into a brand new one this week thanks to 13-year-old Daniel Klosk from New York.

Klosk, who recently celebrated his bar mitzva, decided to donate the money gifted to him to build the new facility, through the UJAFederation of New York’s Give a Mitzvah-Do a Mitzvah program, which enables those celebrating bar and bat mitzvas to create their own project in accordance with their interests and hobbies.

The neighborhood is mainly home to immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union.

Klosk is a major basketball lover, and today he plays for New Renaissance, a nationally ranked team of the Amateur Athletic Union in New York. Last August, he won the title of Most Valuable Player of the 6th-Grade Game at the J.E.M. All Star Classic.

“I have been very fortunate to have had the best coaches and the best facilities to play in and I wanted them to have the same things I had,” Klosk told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

He and his family flew to Israel with a group of 40 people from New York and attended a ceremony on Sunday morning in Beersheba where they dedicated the new basketball court.

“The kids were all jittery,” Klosk said. “It was amazing to see that they were so enthusiastic.

We had a little assembly and as soon as I cut the ribbon and the balloons flew, all the kids started running to the court.”

After speeches, the ceremony ended with a friendly basketball game between the visiting kids from New York and local youngsters the same age.

“It was a great feeling to see them happy,” he added. “I made a permanent connection with them, despite our language barrier.”

Klosk’s donation also covers advanced basketball lessons by a seasoned basketball coach twice a week and new team uniforms.

“I thought it’s important to give the kids in the neighborhood not only a new basketball court, but also the opportunity to enjoy the experience of learning and playing competitively on a real basketball team, with a real basketball coach,” Klosk said. “I hope that this basketball training will give the kids the inspiration, ability and motivation to successfully overcome their daily challenges.”

Klosk’s older sister inspired him to donate his bar mitzva money as she had done so before him. Her donation went to a few places including a teen shelter just outside Tel Aviv.

During last spring break, he and his family flew to Israel to explore options for his donation.

“I am so proud of them for wanting to do this,” Klosk’s mother, Tricia Kallett, told the Post. “I think it is important for our family to give to others, they have seen this since they were little and I think it’s also given them great joy.

“Seeing the kids interact just showed me how we are all one big community, whether we are in New York or in Israel,” she added.

“It was a wonderful experience,” Klosk’s father, Craig, continued. “It was more than just the actual physical presence of the court, it was about building a permanent connection between us and them.”

 

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=298236

 

 

Israel to plant grove in memory of Sandy Hook victims

Israel to plant grove in memory of Sandy Hook victims

Sunday, January 06, 2013 | Israel Today Staff

 

Noah Pozner

 

A special grove that will be planted as part of a new environmental and commercial area in the southern city of Beersheva will be named in memory of the 26 children and teachers who were mercilessly gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, CT last month.

The Zionist women's organization Hadassah came up with the idea for the grove, and to date has collected enough donations for the Jewish National Fund to plant 3,300 trees in the grove.

Hadassah in turn got the idea from Veronique Pozner, mother of little Noah Pozner (pictured), who was the only Jewish victim of the school shooting. When asked how sympathizers could honor her son, Mrs. Pozner reportedly told them to plant trees in Israel.

Hadassah President Marcie Natan told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that she wanted to honor not just Noah, but all those killed in the tragedy.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23608/Default.aspx


 

'Lost Tribe's' Return to Israel Fulfilling Prophecy?

By Chris Mitchell

CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief
Thursday, January 03, 2013

TEL AVIV - A "lost tribe" has come home to Israel and the return could be part of biblical prophecy. 

CBN News was at Ben Gurion Airport when more than 50 members of the Bnei Menashe tribe made history.

The group was just the first of a long-awaited migration. Nearly 2,000 tribe members live in Israel, but five years ago the government stopped their return.

"I feel like I'm home," one tribe member said.

Another told CBN New they were, "excited, overwhelmed. And unexplainably, you know, feeling in my heart. I feel like crying. I'm emotional, total loss for words."

A recent decision now permits all the Bnei Menashe, about 7,000, to return.

"The ten tribes may have been lost to us for many centuries, but they were never lost in terms of their identity," Michael Freund, with Shavai Israel, told CBN News.

Freund worked for years to help bring about this moment. He said he believes the Bnei Menashe return fulfills of biblical prophecy. 

"The prophet Isaiah says 'al tera qui ka ani,' which means 'fear not for I am with you, God says," Freund explained. "'Me israch avi zerecha,'" which translates 'from the east I will bring your descendants.'"

"These are the descendants of Israel and they are coming back from the east," he said. "It is as if the headline of today was written by Isaiah the prophet 25 or 2,600 years ago. It's a phenomenal thing."

The Assyrian Empire exiled the tribe of Manassah almost 3,000 years ago.  Although they settled in northeast India, tribe members kept their Jewish roots for more than 2,000 years.

Several Christian organizations helped bring them home.

"In fact, the Hebrew prophets said when God gathered His Jewish people back from all the ends of the earth in the last days that there would be Gentiles helping and bringing them back," David Parsons, with the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, told CBN News.

"He said, 'I'll beckon to the Gentiles.' And so we have this invitation from God Himself to be involved in this Aliya," he said.

Another 300 tribe members are scheduled to arrive in January, with thousands more yet to come.

 http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2013/January/Lost-No-More-Bnei-Menashe-Tribe-Returns-to-Israel/

Apple reportedly looking to buy Israeli map app Waze

iPhone maker may see local startup as solution to mapping woes; company wants $750 million, but Apple offering $400-$500 million, according to reports

By Michal Shmulovich January 3, 2013

Times of Israel

 

Apple is rumored to be looking into buying the Israeli satellite navigation application Waze, which has become a worldwide hit thanks to its melding of crowd sourcing and traffic mapping.

A possible offer stands at about $400-$500 million, industry insiders speculated — but the successful startup, which offers maps, driving directions and real-time traffic reports to mobile users, is estimated to be worth closer to $1 billion, according to the Calcalist financial newspaper.

US-based tech blog TechCrunch reported that Waze is seeking $750 million, and negotiations could take time.

An Instagram color-corrected photo of a driver using Waze in the Philippines. (photo credit: CC-BY raramaurina,Flickr)

Waze, founded in 2009, uses satellite signals and reports of members to generate maps and real-time traffic data that it then offers to smartphone users around the world.

Waze’s image data improves as more users — the number now hovers around 30 million, according to the firm — join the network. The app displays users’ information anonymously (unless they choose to identify themselves), and suggests quicker, alternative routes to drivers, as well as warning of potential hazards like traffic accidents and police activity.

Neither company has confirmed the reports of a takeover.

Waze has raised a total of $67 million so far from a series of investors. Its revenues in 2012 were $1 million, mostly from location-based ads, which integrate mobile advertising and the ability to pinpoint consumers.

Waze also caught the eye of other technology giants, like Facebook, which was reportedly considering acquiring the app.

In September, Apple dropped its contract with Google, which had previously supplied the data for the iPhone’s own map app. However, customers complained about Apple’s proprietary map software, claiming it was an inferior version of Google’s, causing Google Maps to be reinstated as a downloadable, external app in December. Within 48 hours of its release as a free app in December, Google Maps for iPhone was downloaded over 10 million times, according to The Telegraph.

According to YNet News, Waze said there was a spike in the download of its app after Apple CEO Tim Cook, in an unusual move after the launch of iPhone 5, suggested that customers download rival mapping services, like Waze, until Apple had a chance to improve its own maps.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/apple-reportedly-looking-to-buy-israeli-map-app-waze/

UK textbook publisher apologizes for erasing Israel

Thursday, January 03, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  

 

 

Earlier this week, Israel Today reported on a textbook used to teach English as a second language in the UK that contained a map of the Middle East upon which Israel was nowhere to be found.

In place of Israel, the entirety of the Holy Land was labeled as "Occupied Palestine" on a map found in the book "Skills in English Writing - Level 1".

A number of Israel Today readers contacted the publisher, Garnet Publishing, demanding an explanation. Garnet spokesman Dr. Nicky Platt responded by posting the following statement to the publisher's website:
"In the last few days we have had a number of enquiries about a map of Israel included in Skills in English Writing – Level 1. Unfortunately the map was mislabelled ‘Occupied Palestine’.

This was a serious editorial error and was subsequently corrected. The book in question has not been in print for several years. Please accept our sincere apologies for any offence caused but rest assured that this was a genuine mistake and in no way reflects any Garnet Education policy."

In a personal response to one of our readers, Dr. Platt insisted that Garnet Publishing is "taking this matter extremely seriously, and will ensure that such an error is not repeated in the future."

To demonstrate that Garnet is serious, Dr. Platt forwarded a scanned page from a newer book in the same subject area that shows a map of the Middle East with Israel correctly labeled (see above).

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23602/Default.aspx

Update on a Jerusalem House --

Update on a Jerusalem House --
My, How You've Grown

New Talbieh neighborhood
(circa 1925)

Last month we posted a feature on the "Newer Jerusalem suburbs. Talbieh. A Christian Arab community" along with a picture from the Library of Congress collection.

An enlargement of the one-story house in the picture on the right

The Talbieh neighborhood is adjacent to the Jewish neighborhood of Rehavia.  After World War I, the land was sold by the Greek Patriarch to Arab Christians who built homes. British Mandate maps from the 1940s show approximately 90 homes, some residences for foreign consuls.  In the 1930s several Jewish families also moved into the neighborhood.

After the 1947 UN Partition vote, Arab and Jewish tensions grew. Residents in the Arab and Jewish enclaves in each other's areas left, many expecting to eventually return.  Such was the case with the Arabs of Talbieh.


The one-story house grew a second story by 1941 when the
building was converted to the Lady MacMichael British Red
Cross Convalescent house for British officers


We focused in our earlier feature on the one-story house and identified it as situated at the corner of what is today Jabotinsky and Yitzhak Elhanan Streets across from the Inbal Hotel. 

Entrance to the MacMichael House





Aerial photo of Talbieh (circa 1935) The road going from
the bottom left to the top right is Jabotinsky Street today. Note
the two-story building on the corner

We recently found more pictures of the building in the Library of Congress files, pictures taken at the beginning of World War II when the building was converted into a convalescent house for British officers.

 After the British left Palestine in 1948 and the 1949 armistice agreement, the State of Israel became the guardian of the building and made it available for private residence.

Click on pictures to enlarge.  Click on caption to view the original photo.

The 5-story house today on the the corner of Jabotinsky Street,
once Emir Abdullah Street. (Credit: Google Maps, Street View)

http://www.israeldailypicture.com/2013/01/update-on-jerusalem-house-my-how-youve.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IsraelsHistory-APictureADaybeta+%28Israel%27s+History+-+a+Picture+a+Day+%28Beta%29%29

  

  



A side view of the 5-story house

How Christians Lose Credibility With Israelis

Tuesday, January 01, 2013 |  Aviel Schneider

Israel Today  

 

 

When Israel is forced into military action such as Operation “Pillar of Cloud” in Gaza, the churches are always quick to respond.

For Israelis, outlandish condemnations by mainstream Church leadres send a clear message that Christians are opposed to the Jewish state. There is no differentiation between Catholics and Protestants; from an Israeli point of view they are speaking for all Christians.

Many Israelis are unaware of the worldwide support for Israel among born-again Christians who stand on God’s Word and promises to the Jewish people. Negative statements against Israel by senior clergy are reminiscent of Church history and cause all Christians to lose credibility in the eyes of the Jews. And once lost, such credibility is difficult to win back.

The full article appears in the January 2013 issue of Israel Today Magazine
Click Here to subscribe and read it now

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23600/Default.aspx

Israel Now Has 6 Million Jews

Israel Now Has 6 Million Jews

The number of Israeli Jews passed the emotional 6 million mark in November, and the total population will pass 8 million in February.

 

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, Israel National News 

First Publish: 12/31/2012

 

Aliyah Revolution banner

Nefesh B'Nefesh

The number of Israeli Jews passed the emotional 6 million mark in November, and the total population will pass 8 million in February, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.


The Jewish population represents 75.4 percent of the total, of which Arabs are 20.6 percent, representing a continuing trend of a higher Jewish birth rate and a lower Arab birth rate.

The other four percent of the Israeli population includes Christians, other faiths and 319,000 people who call themselves Jewish but are not recognized as such according to Jewish law. Almost all of them are from the former Soviet bloc.

As January 1 approached, the total population was 7,981,000, 1.8 per cent higher than the previous year.
The figures do not temporary residents and foreign workers.

New immigrants account for a smaller increase in the number of Jews, with only 16,500 having come on “aliyah” in 2012.

North American aliyah was about 4,000, including those who already were in Israel and took out Israeli citizenship, Nefesh B’Nefesh spokeswoman Yael Katsman told Arutz Sheva Monday. She said the numbers are rising, and that the expectation is that the trend will continue in 2013.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163726

Analyst: Palestinians know Israelis don't want to kill them

Sunday, December 30, 2012 |  Israel Today Staff  

For all the talk of an alleged Israeli-perpetrated "holocaust" against the Arabs of the region, a recent survey demonstrated that the vast majority of Palestinians know full well that Israelis don't want to kill them.

The survey was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research among a sampling of Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews.

Israeli respondents were asked what they believed the long-term goals of the Palestinians to be. Forty-two percent said they believe the Palestinians, or at least those groups which hold power, want to ultimately conquer all of the Land of Israel and destroy the Jewish population.

Conversely, Palestinian respondents were not given an option that included Israel killing all local Arabs. Instead, the worst option Palestinian respondents could choose was that Israel wants to annex the so-called West Bank and either expel or deny or deny political rights to its Arab population.

That discrepancy was curious to Israeli media analyst Dr. Aaron Lerner, who wrote to the PCPSR for an explanation.

Waleed Ladadweh, a researcher at the PCPSR, responded that after years of asking both sides about "their perceptions of the other party's ambitions," the survey group had been able to more tightly focus the questions and ignore irrelevant options.

In other words, according to the PCPSR, there simply aren't enough Palestinian Arabs who truly believe Israel wants to annihilate them to bother including such an option in its surveys.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23595/Default.aspx

British textbook erases Israel

Monday, December 31, 2012 |  Ryan Jones, Israel Today  

A popular textbook used by institutions and teachers to teach English as a second language to students in the UK has been found to have a serious anti-Israel bias.

"I teach English as a foreign language in a further education college in Nottingham, England. I came across the attached map and couldn't believe my eyes!" Liz Wiseman told Israel Today.

The textbook in question is "Skills in English Writing Level 1", which includes a map of the Middle East on which Israel is nowhere to be found.

While Wiseman acknowledges she was not obligated to use this particular textbook, it is one of the more popular and mainstream English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks published by one of the more popular and mainstream ELT publishers, Garnet Education.

Garnet Education bills itself thus: "Garnet Education is an independent English Language Teaching (ELT) publisher, specialising in English for Academic Purposes. We produce award-winning ELT books, multimedia resources and tests for students of all ages, from kindergarten to university."

This is far from an isolated incident, which is motivation for drawing attention to this particular case. It is not only in the Middle East where students, both adults and children, are being taught that Israel has no right to exist. The more students around the world are fed this brand of propaganda, the more remote prospects for true peace become.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23596/Default.aspx