Dispatch from Jerusalem

Counting the Omer The Value of a Day: Crispy Barley Cookies

By Charleeda Sprinkle

“ You shall count fifty days…” Leviticus 23:15. Pentecost (Greek, meaning “fiftieth”) or Shavuot (Hebrew, meaning “weeks”) is a biblical feast that starts this year on the evening of the second of June. Although there are 50 days between Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot, the two holidays are very connected, because God tells us to count the days between them—a command most of us overlook. Jews call this “counting the omer” (a sheaf or measurement of grain).The counting always starts on the second day of Pesach.

From Without… How Hamas Suicide Bombers Say Good-Bye

One of Hamas’s more recent videos features the “good-bye” statements made by two would-be Hamas suicide terrorists (see “Farewell Videos” on PMW Web site): “Jihad is the only way to liberate Palestine—all of Palestine—from the impurity of the Jews.”

Lost Cousins Reunite After 66 Years

For 66 years, Ella Friedvald, 82, and her 79-year-old sister Lila were sure that their cousin Krystyna had been killed in the Holocaust, just as she was convinced they were long dead.

After all, the three women were barely teenagers when the Germans invaded Poland and their families were separated. After the war, Ella and Lila settled in Israel, while Krystyna, 79, made her home in the United States. But a faded postcard sent from a German labor camp 60 years ago and the determination of a very persistent octogenarian to claim her family’s pre-war life insurance benefits led to their reunification.

From Within…Arab Party Seeks To Eliminate Jewish Identity Of Israel

The platform of the Israeli Arab political party Balad calls for transforming the Jewish State into a Jewish-Arab state with no distinct Jewish character. Arutz Sheva’s Dalia HaLevy probed into the Arabic-language Web site of Knesset Member Azmi Bishara’s Balad party, also known as the National Democratic Assembly (NDA). NDA’s platform negates the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, which defines “the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.”

Meet the New Prime Minister

Ehud Olmert is the head of the Kadima party, a new party established by Ariel Sharon. In the March 28 election, the Kadima party received 29 seats in the Knesset, catapulting Ehud Olmert to the position of Prime Minister. So, who is Ehud Olmert? Olmert’s father, Mordechai, was a Russian Jew but studied in China and made aliyah (immigrated) from there to the British Mandate in 1933. Mordechai served in the third and fourth Knessets and was deeply involved with economic policies as a revisionist.

Meet the New Prime Minister

Ehud Olmert is the head of the Kadima party, a new party established by Ariel Sharon. In the March 28 election, the Kadima party received 29 seats in the Knesset, catapulting Ehud Olmert to the position of Prime Minister. So, who is Ehud Olmert? Olmert’s father, Mordechai, was a Russian Jew but studied in China and made aliyah (immigrated) from there to the British Mandate in 1933. Mordechai served in the third and fourth Knessets and was deeply involved with economic policies as a revisionist.

First Techelet Robe in 2,000 years!

“You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. There shall be an opening for his[High Priest’s]head in the middle of it; it shall have a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it does not tear. And upon its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them…And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord and when he comes out, that he may not die.” Exodus 28:31–33, 35, NKJV)

After much hard work and research, the techelet (azure blue) robe of the High Priest has been completed by the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. It is hoped to be fit to be worn in the Third Temple. The blue coat, or me’il techelet as it is called in the Torah (Gen.–Deut.), sports 72 golden bells alternating with 72 pomegranates, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet wool and attached around its hem.

Virtual Reality Helps People Walk

An innovative device, developed by Prof. Yoram Baram of the Technion Faculty of Computer Science, uses virtual reality to improve walking in the elderly, as well as in Parkinson’s patients, stroke victims and, more generally, people with movement disorders—possibly reducing their need for medication or surgery.

Al-Qaeda Supports the Palestinians

In February, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas [Abu Mazen] announced that Al-Qaeda cells had infiltrated and are operating in the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] and Gaza.

“We have intelligence information that Al-Qaeda is in the West Bank and Gaza. I am very concerned about this,” said Abbas. “If they succeeded in infiltrating in such a way, and if no one watches over them, the result could be disastrous for the entire region.”

Cell Phones–Now Gate Openers

Now Israelis can enter their company’s work gate using their personal cell phone like a remote control device.

The Control In Out (CIO) system works off a small microprocessor that downloads the cell phone numbers of all personnel allowed to have access to the gate. It has the capacity to store up to 1,200 numbers.