Archive for Jewish News

| March 12, 2012
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Righteous Polish Gentiles Honored in Commemorative Coins

Poland issuing commemorative coins to honor Polish families killed by the Nazis for their efforts to save Jews in the Holocaust.

 

Poland is issuing commemorative coins to honor three Catholic-Polish families who were killed by the Nazis becaue of their efforts to save Jews during the Holocaust, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported (JTA).

The National Bank of Poland is schedule to issue two coins, on March 15, honoring of the Ulma, Kowalski and Baranek families.

The coins come in denominations of two zlotys, worth about 65 cents, and 20 zlotys, worth about $6.50, the JTA explained.

Wincenty and Łucja Baranek, who lived in the village of Siedliska, were shot and killed on March 15, 1942 after the Nazis discovered eight Jews hiding in their home. Continue Reading »

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| March 11, 2012
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Israeli study shows: Plants ‘talk’ through the roots

The Ben-Gurion University team discovers plants can transmit distress signals to each other through their roots.

Israeli scientists have uncovered messages transmitted underground – not by enemy agents, but by garden pea plants.

The Ben-Gurion University team discovered that plants can transmit distress signals to each other through their roots. An injured plant “communicates” to a healthy one, which in turn relays the signal to neighboring plants, possibly enhancing the other plants’ ability to deal with stress in the future, according to the study, recently published in the periodical PLoS (Public Library of Science One ).

The researchers, headed by plant biologist Ariel Novoplansky of the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, exposed five garden pea plants to drought conditions.

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| March 11, 2012
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One Shekel Worth $1.1 Million – at Auction

 

The 'Million Dollar' shekel
The ‘Million Dollar’ shekel
Israel news photo: official photo from Israel Museum

An unidentified American East Coast collector plucked down $1.1 million for an ancient Judean shekel coin at a New York auction.

The coin was sold by a collector from the Los Angeles area who paid $240,000 for it in 1991, giving him a five-fold profit in 21 years.

The silver coin was dated to the year 66, four years before the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans. The modern shekel, which does not contain silver, is worth a fraction more than 26 cents.

The auctioned coin is one of two prototype silver shekels, the secnd is on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

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| March 7, 2012
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Rare Video of Israeli Rabbi in Iran

A rare video shows last year’s visit to the tomb of Queen Esther and Mordechai in Iran. Tehran airport officials asked him, “Pray for us.”

Rabbi Yisroel Gabbai’s self-appointed mission is saving Jewish graves all over the world. A rare video shows his visit last year to Iran and the tomb of Queen Esther and Mordechai, the central Jewish figures iin the story of Purim, which Jews celebrate this week.

A member of the Breslov stream of Chassidism and now living in Israel, Rabbi Gabbai travels with a passport from France, where he was born and married. He has visited Gaza and Lebanon during wars and also has been to Damascus. Continue Reading »

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| March 7, 2012
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Fast Day in Memory of Esther’s ‘Life-Threatening Request’

Wednesday’s “Fast of Esther” is in memory of her risking her life by approaching the Persian king, her husband, to save the country’s Jews.

Wednesday’s “Fast of Esther” is in memory of her risking her life by approaching the Persian king, her husband, to save the country’s Jews.

The “Fast of Esther” begins Wednesday morning in memory of her risking her life by approaching the Persian king, her husband, in order to launch a series of events that ended with her asking him to save the Jews from the king’s wicked second-in-command, Haman.

The fast day started at 4.29 a.m. in Israel and ends at 6:04 p.m., Continue Reading »

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| March 6, 2012
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French PM knocks halal, kosher laws as campaign heats up

Francois Fillon suggests Muslims, Jews give up ritual slaughter as President Sarkozy steps up their efforts to woo far-right voters

France’s prime minister urged Muslims and Jews to consider scrapping their halal and kosher slaughter laws on Monday as President Nicolas Sarkozy and his allies stepped up their efforts to woo far-right voters.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon made the suggestion after Sarkozy called at the weekend for butchers to clearly label meat slaughtered according to religious laws and his allies warned immigrants might impose halal meat on French schoolchildren.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon Photo: Reuters

Prime Minister Francois Fillon - Photo: Reuters

Fillon and other conservative leaders linked this tough stand on ritually prepared meat to issues such as immigration and French identity that the far-right National Front uses to tap into resentment against Europe’s largest Muslim minority. Continue Reading »

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| March 6, 2012
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Chief Rabbis: Don’t Ascend Temple Mount

Chief Rabbis Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Rabbi Yonah Metzger joined by other top rabbis in proclaiming Mount off grounds.

Chief Sephardic Rabbi (Rav) Rabbi Shlomo Amar has published a call to believers not to ascend to the Temple Mount. The call appears under the heading “avoid ascending to the Mount and touching its edge,” which is attributed to Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk.

Rav Amar’s declaration was co-signed by former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Rav Eliyahu Bakshi Doron; Rav Shalom Cohen, Head of Porat Yosef Yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem’ Old City Rabbi Rav Avigdor Neventzal, and Kotel Rabbi, Rav Shmuel Rabinovich. Continue Reading »

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| March 6, 2012
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Turkey’s Jewish narrative: Tolerance and dark side

Turkey has opened its doors to Syrians fleeing violence but the anniversary of the deaths of more than 750 Jewish refugees who were denied shelter by Turkey in World War II is constant reminder of perennial tensions

As Turkey welcomes Syrians fleeing violence, the anniversary last Friday of the deaths of more than 750 Jewish refugees who were denied shelter by Turkeyin World War II was a reminder of perennial tension between pragmatic and humanitarian impulses.

The SS Struma, whose passengers fled Romania and docked in Istanbul, was denied entry to Palestinian territory by colonial power Britain. On February 23, 1942, Turkey towed the vessel to the Black Sea and set it adrift. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News, Mid-East News |
| March 6, 2012
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Betrayed by history and the present

It’s bad enough that pioneering families at Har Tuv lost their village in the 1948 war. It’s even worse how the authorities are treating their descendants.

For years, descendants of the founders of Har Tuv near Beit Shemesh have felt betrayed by the Israeli establishment. Their agricultural community, founded in 1895 by Zionist pioneers from Bulgaria, became the only Jewish community in the new state that was not re-established after it was destroyed in the 1948 War of Independence.

Har Tuv - Salman - 3.2012

A photo of residents of Har Tuv before the War of Independence. - Photo by: Emil Salman

The local regional council did not use the name Har Tuv (Mountain of Goodness ); it was reserved for a nearby industrial zone.

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Category: Israel News, Jewish News |
| March 5, 2012
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IDF Camouflage Creates ‘Disappearing Soldiers’

The IDF has re-defined the term “disappearing soldiers,” who are being trained to blend in with the environment to avoid enemy detection.

The term “disappearing soldiers” usually spreads fear among Israelis, worried about kidnappings, but the Second Lebanon War taught army commanders to re-define the term for a positive use by camouflaging soldiers.

The concept of camouflaged clothing is not new, but soldiers at the military anti-terror school now are being taught how to use nature to help protect themselves.

'Disappearing soldier'

'Disappearing soldier' - Israel news photo: IDF BaMahane magazine

A three-week course teaches combat units the art of camouflage and how to turn trees and stones in the battlefield into hiding spots, how to spot the perfect tree and how to pay attention to the most minute detail. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Jewish News | Tags: ,
| March 1, 2012
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Teenage girl donates tresses for cancer wig

13-year-old says donating hair a great way to ease suffering of women with cancer

LIRON POLLACK donates hair

LIRON POLLACK donates hair By Courtesy, Kaplan Medical Center

Thirteen-year-old Liron Pollack decided this week that getting her long hair cut short would not only complete a “perfect Purim costume” as a funky teenager with a spiky hairdo, but also ease the suffering of women with cancer.The girl from the Pelech modern Orthodox girls’ school in Kiryat Ekron, who is involved in the Bnei Akiva youth movement, went to Kaplan Medical Center to donate her tresses. For the past two years, the Rehovot hospital has had hairdresser Eli Ben Zikri (a former cancer patient) and Yigal Gott give free haircuts to women and girls (and even long-haired boys) who wanted to donate so that wigs could be made.
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Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News, Jewish News | Tags: ,
| February 26, 2012
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Jewish Groups Appalled at Harvard’s ‘New Anti-Semitism’

ADL dismayed at Harvard’s One-State Conference, which calls for the “elimination of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people.”

 

Abe Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), wrote a letter to the President of Harvard University, Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust last week, condemning the “One State Conference” scheduled to take place at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government on March 3-4.

The conference, organized entirely by student groups that advocate an ideology based on the elimination of the Jewish character of the State of Israel, is scheduled to feature speakers including the Executive Director of the Electronic Intifada, avid supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and others who compare Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to the Nazi’s treatment of the Jews. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News |
| February 26, 2012
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Canada store owner defeats anti-Israel boycotters

Boycott on Vancouver store owner who insists on selling Israeli goods backfires following Ynet story. ‘People won’t stop calling and ordering products,’ she says

 

The story of Shani Bar-Oz, a Canada-based Israeli facing venomous protests outside her Vancouver soap products store, elicited a huge wave of support and generated new business, the shop owner old Ynet.

“I received a huge embrace and plenty of support,” Bar-Oz said, after an article about her plight appeared on Ynet. In the story, the store owner, who insists on selling Israeli products, shared her fears of contenting with anti-Israel protesters targeting her business and shouting anti-Semitic slogans. Continue Reading »

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