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| Week ending Shabbat, December 2, 2006 |
11 Kislev, 5767 |
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Jewish Agency Aids Sderot Youth
On Sunday Jewish Agency Chairman Zeev Bielski, during a visit with Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal, announced that the organization will donate 11 million shekels (2.5 million dollars) to residents of Sderot who have suffered from Kassam attacks. Contributions were raised by the United Jewish Communities and the Federations of North America. Three million shekels ($700,000) will enable some 8000 children to attend Hanukkah camps in safer parts of Israel and participate in other activities during their upcoming vacation. The Jewish Agency will also provide scholarships to 700 students who are registered at Sapir College.
Other programs are intended to keep children off the dangerous streets and provide alternative activities within protected areas. These alternative enrichment programs allow younger residents to stay within their communities. "The residents of Sderot and the communities of the Gaza Perimeter are a model not only for the citizens of Israel, but for the Jewish communities worldwide," said Bielski. "Therefore, it is especially important for world Jewry to contribute and augment their staying power. The Jewish Agency will continue to lead the efforts to assist and support the beleaguered residents."
Orthodox Union Resolves to Help Gush Katif Expellees
Nearly 1,000 North American Jews gathered in Jerusalem last week for the Orthodox Union's (OU) 108th Anniversary Biennial Convention. The delegates discussed such issues as military and religious perspectives on Israel's security challenges; rifts within the Religious-Zionist community; the proper role for Diaspora Jewry in Israel's decision making; the debate over enacting a constitution for Israel; and more. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Opposition Leader Binyamin Netanyahu, and others addressed the convention.
Among the resolutions passed was one that appeared to provide a sterling example of learning from mistakes and rectifying them. During its convention two years ago, the OU did not take a strong stand against the Disengagement plan, to the frustration of many of its constituents in Israel and the United States. They merely stated that they were "deeply aware that questions of Israeli foreign policy and domestic security are best left to the citizens of Israel and the State of Israel's democratically elected institutions." The OU resolved at the time only "to continue to mobilize public and communal support for a secure State of Israel, while sharing, sensitively and with due discretion, the full range of our constituents' views on divisive issues with appropriate representatives of the Israeli and American governments." This, despite what the OU called "the profound identification that so many in our community feel with the plight of Jews who face removal from their homes in areas that resonate in Jewish history, and where their presence was encouraged and supported by the State of Israel."
At this convention, however, the tone was very different than that of two years ago. Many speakers spoke of the "tragedy" and "fiasco" of the Disengagement plan, and of the OU's failure in not speaking out against it. As such, the following resolution was passed: "The Orthodox Union, in exceptional circumstances, may take public positions contrary to those of the Government of Israel. Such action shall be taken upon approval by the Board of Directors of the Executive Committee."
Another resolution passed by the OU - this one unanimously - called for continuing aid to the evacuees from Gush Katif and northern Shomron. It is a call "not to 'stand by your brother's blood,'" one delegate said. The resolution calls upon the OU's constituent communities to provide financial aid for a host of programs and causes designed to help the evacuees. In addition, "the OU shall continue to advocate, in the Jewish umbrella organizations in which we sit, to raise awareness regarding [the evacuees'] plight and seek necessary support for them."
Regarding the Israeli government, the OU resolved to "advocate in its meetings with Israeli government officials for the full compensation and rehabilitation of the Gaza and Northern Shomron evacuees, requesting that the [government declare this] a national mission of appropriate priority." The OU specified that the government should "allow for appropriate flexibility in the Compensation Law to provide the necessary compensation for property, housing, farms and businesses... [and] encourage the preservation of communal ties and [provide] support to rejuvenate their once-rich communal lives, and work to addresses the alienation [felt] by the youth... and continue to provide services until they have sufficiently settled in permanent dwellings."
Reminder of Churchill's Remark
Late Monday, Moshe Feiglin, Chairman of Manhigut Yehudit and head of the largest faction within the Likud Party, came out strongly against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statements, which he made Monday at the memorial service for David Ben Gurion. "A Prime Minister who calls upon his nation to forego its national ethos should remember the words of Winston Churchill just before World War II," Feiglin said. "You accepted shame to avoid war - now you have both."
1500 Year-old Boat Found
A shipwreck found off the coast of Israel's Dor Beach south of Haifa is the oldest found boat in the world built by the "shell-first" method. Up until now the oldest known boat built by this method was located in Turkey and dates back to the first quarter of the 11th century. Research conducted at the University of Haifa's Institute for Maritime Studies revealed that the Israeli shipwreck is some 500 years older.
The wrecked medium-sized merchant ship was discovered off the coast of Dor Beach in 2001 and has since been the subject of research at the Institute, headed by Dr. Ya'acov Kahanov. During the digging season that just ended, it became clear that this is no less than a revolution in the field. The boat, dating back to the 5th century, is the oldest boat built by the "shell-first" method known to be in existence. This inexpensive method of shipbuilding was developed at the fall of the Roman Empire.
Having sank some 1500 years ago, this merchant ship was sixteen meters long and five meters wide. It sailed up and down the Mediterranean coast of Israel during the Byzantine period, and was a quicker and more efficient replacement to land-based convoys for shipping goods. She was found carrying local building stones. It was these stones that preserved the ship all these years.
Gaza Residents Rebuild in the Negev
On Monday former residents of the Gush Katif towns of Atzmona and Netzarim attended a ceremony inaugurating the establishment of two new towns in the middle of the Negev desert they will now settle. One attendee joked, "Well there is sand, just like Gush Katif, but seems like a much longer walk to the ocean."
The new communities are located in the Halutza Sands, an area in the southwest Negev that is completely barren and uninhabited. Seventy-five hothouses from Netzarim and Atzmona have been erected and are already filled to the brim with ripening potatoes and other organic produce. Residents live in small pre-fabricated "caravillas" (enlarged trailer homes), closer to civilization and travel to the site of their future communities to tend their crops.
Eliyahu Rosen, the former secretary of the community of Netzarim, spoke in a somber manner, as though a mourner at a wedding. "We are partners in the building of this project, despite the fact that we do not come from the same Beit Midrash (house of study)," said Rosen. "But this government is our government, this state is our state - and its honor our own honor. We have chosen to bless the government and the land and hope the government and land will bless us. We made a decision that during these times - when the government, for whatever reasons, is refraining from building in other parts of the Land of Israel - we would take part in the building of this part of the land, which still is in need of being built."
Peretz Freezes Funding to Hesder Yeshivas
Defense Minister Amir Peretz (Labor Party-left) has ordered the freezing of thirty-four million shekels (approximately seven million dollars) from the Defense Ministry budget earmarked for the nation's Hesder yeshivas, which combine Jewish seminary studies with military service. The funds were part of the allocations for the Hesder and pre-military academies included in the 2006 budget.
 In a letter sent Wednesday to the defense minister, Knesset Member Otniel Schneller (Kadima Party-claims to be center, but really is just a little less left than the Labor Party) wrote, "The portion [of the funds for the Hesder yeshivas and pre-military academies] that was supposed to come from the Education Ministry was transferred; whereas, the earmarked funds that were meant to come through the Defense Ministry budget were frozen on your orders." Schneller called the act "war on the religious-Zionist public."
Tour Israel for Hanukkah
It's still not too late to join us as we explore Israel from a genuine Biblical Zionists perspective. Meet the people who are continuing the Biblical narrative in the Land today. See for yourself how ancient prophesies are being fulfilled. Discover how you too can participate in the ongoing process of Biblical Redemption. Join us for an opportunity of a lifetime, to see the real Israel from the viewpoint of those who are living the Bible today. The experience will change your life. The tour has been coordinated and will be guided by Associate Pastor Jon Klein [pictured left].
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