Good News

Israeli Citizens Send Aid to Gaza

{image_1} Despite the facts that since 2005, over 8,000 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza, killing 12 and wounding dozens and 13 Israelis were killed during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, Israeli citizens banded together to collect humanitarian aid for Gazan families a week before the war ended.

Canadian Hauls Great Catch in Israeli Waters

{image_1} When it comes to fishing in the Holy Land, Canadian fisherman Italo Labignan is nothing short of enthusiastic. “It’s an awesome experience,” he admits. This is fulsome praise indeed because Labignan is a premier fisherman and the host of Canada’s longest running and most watched sports fishing TV series.

60-Year Reunion for Holocaust Survivor

{image_1} The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, organized the meeting that brought together Rozia Rothshild, who now lives in Tivon, Israel, with her rescuer Wiktoria Sozanska from Wroclaw, Poland, for the first time in over 60 years. This moving reunion between a Holocaust survivor and the Polish woman who risked her life to save her, took place at JFK Airport in New York.

Border Guard Unit Stars in TV Series

{image_1} The world will soon get acquainted with the Israeli Border Guard unit through a documentary series on special police units around the world titled “Elite Police.” The Discovery Channel production, which is set to air in dozens of countries across the globe, premieres in South Africa.

‘‘Leah’’ gives Birth

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“When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb” (Genesis 29:31).

What was written long ago about Jacob’s first wife is true of another “Leah” today—only this time it is a 30-year-old gorilla in the Ramat Gan Safari Park who was also rejected by other gorillas in her group. Leah gave birth to a healthy baby on December 14 and mother and baby are both doing well.

Salamanders Saved!

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Aviram Tzuk, KKL-Jewish National Fund regional director, noted that goldfish, recently introduced into pools and springs of freshwater by unknown hands, fed on the salamander eggs. The foresters removed most of the goldfish from these pools. After the first rains, the results were clear: there is now a noticeable increase in the number of salamanders!

Kristallnacht Synagogue Restored

{image_1} Germany’s fast-growing Jewish community has inaugurated a new synagogue in the western city of Krefeld, seven decades after the original was destroyed by the Nazis. “We are here, in the middle of this society, and we will never let anyone challenge that place again,” the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch, told guests at the inauguration ceremony.

First Aid Olympics

{image_1} When Magen David Adom (MDA) hosted an Olympics in August 2008, the events were much different than the norm. MDA, the Israeli ambulance service, started the Olympic competition to challenge other international services to test their skills. The two-day competition was called “Saving Lives at the Dead Sea.”

Raising Sturgeon in Israel

{image_1} As sturgeon populations decline in the Caspian Sea, scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found a way for Israel to cash in on the world’s growing demand for caviar. Professor Berta Levavi-Sivan of Hebrew University and Dr. Avshalom Hurvitz have successfully reared Israel’s first sturgeon.

Rabbi Finds His “Righteous Gentile”

{image_1} Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Meir Lau was reportedly deeply moved as he told how the identity had recently been discovered of a man who helped save his life during the Holocaust 63 years ago. Lau, formerly chief rabbi of Israel, told Israel Radio that while he had known the first name of his 18-year-old rescuer, Fyodor, he had not known his family name of Michajlitschenko, a name that was only uncovered during a search of hitherto inaccessible Nazi records.