Christmas Day NASA Photos of Israel from Space Take off Online

BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF December 28, 2014, 3:32 pm

Photos of Israel as seen from the International Space Station on Christmas Day are attracting immense interest online, with tens of thousands of likes on NASA’s Facebook page.

The photos were posted by US astronaut Barry Eugene “Butch” Wilmore, who is currently on his second space mission as part of Expedition 41 to the International Space Station.

The pictures were posted by NASA with the message: “Israel – completely clear – on Christmas morning from the International Space Station. Astronaut Barry Wilmore woke up early on Christmas to reflect upon the beauty of the Earth and snap some images to share with the world.” Read More

Ancient Rock adds to Evidence of King David’s Existence

BY MENACHEM WECKER 

December 16, 2014, 2:52 am

Originally appeared here in Times of Israel

NEW YORK (JTA) — Dimly lit, the stone slab, or stele, doesn’t look particularly noteworthy, especially when compared to the more lavish sphinxes, jewelry and cauldrons one encounters en route to the room where it is installed.

Indeed, in a Twitter post this fall, art journalist Lee Rosenbaum described the nearly 13-by-16 inch c. 830 BCE rock, as “homely.”

What’s significant about this stone — on view at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of its “Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age” exhibit running through January 4 — is its inscription: the earliest extra-biblical reference to the House of David.

“There is no doubt that the inscription is one of the most important artifacts ever found in relation to the Bible,” Eran Arie, curator of Israelite and Persian periods at the Israel Museum, wrote in the exhibit catalog. Read More