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| Week ending Shabbat, December 31, 2005 |
30 Kislev, 5766 |
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Israel Gets the Winter Rains:
Heavy rain and even snow fell throughout Israel over the weekend, bringing an end to a drought. The past three weeks have been unseasonably warm and dry. Forecasts stated that there may have even been snow in Jerusalem for Christmas and the eve of Hanukkah, but residents awoke to heavy wind and rain.
The heavy rains caused flooding in the coastal city of Nahariya, near the Lebanon border, and in areas of Haifa and Kfar Saba. The Mount Hermon ski site received more than three feet of snow and ended having to close to visitors because of heavy snowstorms. Most importantly, the Sea of Galilee rose 7.5 centimeters.
Aliyah Up:
More than 3,000 North American Jews will have "come home to Israel" by the end of the December. This is the highest number since 1984. This year's increase in aliyah (moving up) has also been more successful in terms of satisfaction. A huge majority (93%) of the new residents expressed satisfaction with their new surroundings, which is greatly improved from the past.
According to studies more than one-third of American olim in Israel return to the United States. The results of a recent survey indicated a great success by the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization in encouraging and assisting new immigrants. A majority of those moving to Israel this week have earned at least one university degree. Most are married and between the ages of 35 and 54. A major reason for the higher success rate has been has been that at least half of recent "olim" are currently working within their field of expertise and are satisfied with their employment.
Special Hanukkah for Gush Katif Evacuees:
The refugees of Gush Katif, most still living in hotels waiting for permanent housing, lit a unique "Hanukiah" (an eight candle menorah for Hanukkah) Sunday evening. This one was made from mortar shells that had been fired by "Palestinian" terrorists into N’vei Dekalim, which had been the largest community of Gush Katif. This very special Hanukiah represents the miracle of Jewish survival throughout the ages. It also places Gush Katif in the saga of Jewish history as "a community standing victorious despite constant attempts by Arab terrorists to wipe it out." Some 5000 mortars fell on Gush Katif from the time of the Oslo War (September 2000) through the disengagement in August 2005. Miraculously, they caused only minor damage and minimal casualties. They also failed to impact the Jewish spirit burning in the hearts of its community members. They call the menorah of mortars the "al hanissim," menorah of miracles.
Air Strikes on Gaza:
Early Tuesday morning the Israel Air Force (IAF) struck targets in north Gaza in retaliation to continued Qassam rocket fire at Israeli communities by terrorists, and specifically after a Qassam rocket nearly hit a kindergarten in Kibbutz Sa'ad Monday and another rocket fell near the city of Ashkelon. "It was a big miracle" (that none of the children were killed or injured), said community director Sarah Evron. The children were having a Hanukkah party when the "Red Dawn" alert system was activated.
No injuries were reported in the air strike. In Gaza City IAF helicopters attacked a building that served as the headquarters for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (Fatah's military wing), involved in the planning and launching of Qassams and bombs toward Israel. They also attacked the group's recruitment center in Beit Lahiya, located in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. In another attack the IDF fired on a bridge that was part of an access route to Qassam launching pads. Later, six more access routes were bombed. The IDF has plans to distribute leaflets throughout Gaza telling the residents that the rocket attacks are inflicting hardship on the "Palestinians" themselves; the leaflets apparently will include a warning that the IDF will harm anyone involved in rocket fire aimed at Israeli communities.
Thursday morning before dawn the IDF shelled six Qassam rocket launch sites in the northern Gaza Strip. Senior military sources told reporters that despite the increase of Israeli responses, Qassam rocket fire is unlikely to stop. Even if the rocket-launch cells are pushed back beyond the buffer zone, they will still be able to strike Israeli territory. However, they will no longer be able to reach as far north as Ashkelon.
Anti-disengagement Building:
A group of young adults are building twenty-five new outposts during Hanukkah after building six outposts in Samaria during Succot. Their action is in response to the widely reported news that, if re-elected, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to further "disengage" from significant portions of the biblical Judea and Samaria, the area commonly referred to today as the West Bank (meaning the West Bank of Jordan, it is the biblical area of land taken by Israel during the six-day-war in 1967). A spokesman for the group who was organizing the operation said, "The battle on the West Bank will be different from the battle on Gush Katif. If Sharon is thinking about implementing a second disengagement here, he should implement it on the Arabs, who are working on promoting terror."
New Film Calls American Jews to Make Aliyah:
Using allegories similar to the Matrix and released on the first night of Hanukkah, a new and very entertaining film entitled "Free your mind," calls North American Jews to return home to Israel. A film description states, "The original Matrix film portrayed people living a life that seemed normal, but was essentially a physical prison and a mental illusion". This film, produced and directed by Kumah (a movement dedicated to facilitating the mass immigration of Jews in the Diaspora to Israel), portrays the awakening of North American Jews who are immigrating home to Israel, and portraying their choice to live a more difficult life in the Jewish state in contrast to living the American Dream. See the film (~10 minutes).
Israel Strikes Lebanon:
Early Wednesday morning the Israeli Air Force struck a Popular Front - General Command training base south of Beirut. The air assault was mere hours after a Hezbollah attack on northern Israel. Lebanese eyewitnesses identified that fighter jets fired two missiles into the camp, which is located only about four miles south of the Lebanese capital. A group representative said that several Popular Front members suffered minor injuries in the strike. IDF Northern Command Head Udi Adam said, "The message has been relayed to Lebanon and if they don't take care (of this), we will."
Synogogue Found in Portugal:
In Portugal's Atlantic coast city of Porto there was a chance discovery during renovations of a building that has revealed a 16th century synagogue. It had been constructed at a time when the Jewish residents of Portugal had been forced to convert to Catholicism or risk being burned at the stake. This house of Jewish worship was hidden behind a false wall in a four-story house that Father Agostinho Jardim Moreira, a Roman Catholic priest, was converting into a home for his aging parishioners. Father Moreira, who is a scholar of Porto's Jewish history, said that soon as the workers told him of the wall, "I knew there had to be some kind of Jewish symbol behind it." When the wall came down it revealed a carved granite repository, about 5 feet tall, arched at the top and facing east toward Jerusalem. It was obvious that this was the ark where the Jews kept their Torah scrolls. Experts dated the glazing on decorative tiles found in the ark to a method used in the 16th century. The Israeli Ambassador to Portugal, Aaron Ram, who has been involved in efforts to preserve the ark since its discovery earlier this year said, "It's quite exciting. You feel part of history when you see it." Only two other arks from this time period have been found in Portugal. Last month the Portuguese Institute of Architectural Heritage authenticated this one as the third. Father Moreira knew his parish had been an officially designated Jewish quarter in the 15th and 16th centuries. He also knew that after they were forced to convert to Catholicism in 1496, many Jews, while behaving like Catholics in public, were privately keeping their faith and worshipping in secret.
Massive Attack During Hanukkah Prevented:
Thursday morning a "Palestinian" terrorist, who was prevented from crossing the Green Line, blew himself up near a group of Israelis and Arabs near Tul Karem. One Israeli and three Arabs were killed. Nine others were wounded. Based on warnings of a possible terrorist attack planned for a densely populated area in Israel over the past weeks, impromptu checkpoints were set up in the area. Soldiers stopped a suspicious-looking car and began to check the occupants. At one point, one of the passengers got out and, realizing he would not be allowed to proceed to his destination in an Israeli population center, detonated the explosives he was wearing under his clothing. The IDF officer who attempted to check the terrorist, Lieutenant Uri Binamo (pictured right), 21, of Kibbutz Nesher, was killed. Three other soldiers were wounded - one seriously. In addition to the three Arabs who were reported killed, six more were wounded, not seriously. The suicide bomber reportedly planned his attack for a children's Hanukkah party in Israel.
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