Cultural flavors of the Galilee

By Miriam Kresh - January 4, 2018

Originally appeared here in The Jerusalem Post

Hebrew-language cookbooks that offer recipes from Galilee minorities exist, but there’s none in English to compare with this one. With 95 recipes and photographs on every page, The Galilean Kitchen: Cultural Flavors is not only a cookbook but also a window into the landscape and cultures of the Galilee’s Druse, Arab and Beduin women.

Author Ruth Nieman spent a year with eight housewives of those communities, cooking with them and painstakingly translating their measure-by-eye methods into cupfuls and spoonfuls, to create the book’s recipes.

Her teachers concoct the most delicious food, but don’t think in terms of recipes.

“They don’t have cookbooks,” said Nieman in a telephone interview. “Not one has a recipe out of a magazine. They cook as their mothers taught them, without measuring anything. I had to stand next to the cook with my measuring cups and spoons and measure each ingredient before she stirred it into the dish, then write it down quickly.”

Essays on ingredients considered essential staples, such as olive oil and bulgur, bring the patriarchal village atmosphere to life on the page. With a touch of humor, Nieman writes about pressing the olive harvest: “Debate rages among the Druse producers as to the quality of the oil that is pressed using the old stone press versus using modern machines. Undoubtedly, modern methods yield more oil, but a stronger flavor is definitely produced by the stone press. The argument over the quality has yet to be resolved and may well continue for centuries to come, over a strongly brewed coffee.”

Many village families maintain vegetable gardens where they harvest their own tomatoes, peppers and other ingredients. In late winter and spring, some of the older women still forage wild greens in nearby fields. A section on springtime greens illustrates some of the wild edibles that good cooks have known how to use to feed their families for generations. Incidentally, this is the time of year when mallows, purslane and other wild greens noted in this book pop up all over Israel. They will vanish when summer sets in, so this is the time to go foraging. Read More

2,700-year-old seal impression cements existence of biblical Jerusalem governor

(Photo: Yoli Shwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)

By Amanda Borschel-Dan - January 1, 2018

Originally appeared here in The Times of Israel 

Past and present collided last week when an extremely rare seal impression discovered in Jerusalem’s Western Wall plaza and bearing the inscription “Belonging to the governor of the city” was presented to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

According to site excavator Dr. Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, “This is the first time that such an impression was found in an authorized excavation. It supports the biblical rendering of the existence of a governor of the city in Jerusalem 2,700 years ago.”

At the presentation, Barkat said, “It is very overwhelming to receive greetings from First Temple-period Jerusalem. This shows that already 2,700 years ago, Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, was a strong and central city.”

The minuscule clay seal impression, or docket, was found while researchers were examining the dust from a First Temple structure 100 meters northwest of the Western Wall at a site the Israel Antiquity Authorities has been excavating since 2005. The excavations have offered up insights into Jerusalem’s Second Temple and Roman periods, as well as a massive Iron Age four-room building where an eclectic collection of six other seals were uncovered, whose origins point to a thriving cosmopolitan Iron Age center or settlement.

“The seal impression had been attached to an important transport and served as some sort of logo, or as a tiny souvenir, which was sent on behalf of the governor of the city,” said Weksler-Bdolah in an IAA release. Read More

Christian Group Helps Ethiopian Jews Make Aliyah to Israel

(Photo: IceJ via Vimeo)

By CBNnews.com - December 29, 2017

Originally appeared here on CBN

Eighty-two Ethiopian Jewish immigrants landed at the Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv last week, bringing to 1,200 the total number of Jews from the East African nation relocated to Israel by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

The Christian group is helping the Israeli government relocate 1,300 members per year of this ancient Jewish community until all of the remaining 9.000 Falash Mura tribe are reunited with their families in Israel.

A decision concerning the second year of these flights is still tied up in the Israeli cabinet. However, once approved, the ICEJ has promised to raise the necessary funding needed in order to continue to make this dream a reality.

In 2017, the ICEJ has donated $1.2 million toward the immigration project, including funds to help the immigrants transition to a new language and culture. Donations for the project have come from around the world, including generous donations from African Christians.

"The great ingathering of the Jewish people to Eretz Israel is still continuing and it is a real privilege and joy for our organization to play such a central role in this historic return to Zion," said Dr. Jürgen Bühler, President of the ICEJ said in a statement. Read More

Jaffa: Israel's ultimate model of coexistence

(Photo: touristisrael.com)

By Daniel K. Eisenbud - November 23, 2017 

Originally appeared here in The Jerusalem Post

More than any community in Israel, the port city of Jaffa has proven itself to be an enduring bastion of coexistence where Arabs, Jews and Christians have peacefully lived, worked and socialized together for decades.

Located adjacent to Tel Aviv, Jaffa has approximately 46,000 residents – including 30,000 Jews and 16,000 Muslims and Christians.

And while it is best known for its picturesque beaches, restaurants, heralded flea market and shops, what is perhaps most notable about this small city is its uncommon camaraderie between otherwise warring factions.

Indeed, in Jaffa, Jews and Arabs frequent the same streets, eat in the same restaurants, drink in the same bars, work in the same stores, know one another’s families, and often greet one another with warm smiles and embraces. Read More

How debating teaches tolerance among Jewish, Arab teens

By Abigail Klein Leichman - December 21, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

It took Steven Aiello about 20 minutes to drive from a high school in the Jewish Israeli city of Petah Tikva to a high school in the Arab Israeli city of Kafr Kassem to lead debate clubs based on the Model United Nations (MUN) model he so enjoyed during his graduate diplomacy studies at IDC Herzliya.

But the two schools’ geographic proximity belied a wide cultural gulf separating them. And even the most talented members of the two clubs could not get into official MUN groups due to a lack of English fluency and money.

So Aiello, a Jewish interfaith activist who served on the national Israeli MUN team, solved both problems by organizing MUN-style debates between Jewish and Arab schools in 2012.

Assigned to represent a particular country, whether or not they personally agree with that country’s stance on the issues, the novice debaters were given a cost-free way to polish their English and rhetorical skills while making friends. Aiello’s students loved it.

In 2016, he formalized the program as Debate for Peace (DfB),  a volunteer-run project of the Interfaith Encounter Association in partnership with Jerusalem Peacebuilders and supported by the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. It grew quickly. Read More

Israel invites Christians to come choose a Christmas tree

(Photo: Mira Zar/KKL-JNF)

By Brian Blum - December 21, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

Every December, freshly cut trees are made available in heavily Christian areas of Israel for Christmas celebrations.

This month, Keren Kayemeth L’Israel – Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) will sell Arizona cypresses to members of Galilee Christian communities from its sites in Shfaram, Moshav Beit Lehem HaGlilit and the KKL-JNF office in Nazareth. The trees, selling for ₪80, have been grown to a height of 1.5 to 1.8 meters.

Jerusalem is continuing its annual tradition of distributing complementary Christmas trees to residents in advance of the holiday. This year’s distribution will take place on the morning of December 21 at the Jaffa Gate Plaza. Read More

Light and water flow to rural Africa due to Israeli tech

(Photo: Innovation: Africa)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - December 17, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

The scene was shocking: Villagers in Akuyam, Uganda, hadn’t eaten in three days when Sivan Ya’ari and her Innovation: Africa staff met them in February 2017 on their way to check on the organization’s solar water-pumping and drip-irrigation projects in six nearby villages.

“The state of poverty we saw there was nothing like we’d ever seen before. During the week we were there, 37 people died. The drought and hunger is truly incomprehensible,” says Genna Brand, iA’s director of communications.

Ya’ari, the Israeli founder of the nine-year-old NGO, immediately added Akuyam to iA’s list of projects in the Karamoja region. She also mounted iA’s first-ever emergency feeding appeal – an exception to the organization’s mission of using Israeli technology to raise the long-term standard of living in African villages.

“We went back to Israel and raised $110,000 for a food relief mission and sent maize, beans and other food through an African supplier. It was very challenging logistically but we couldn’t turn a blind eye to what we saw,” Brand tells ISRAEL21c. Read More

Saudi Academic Calls on Arabs to Recognize Jewish Connection to Jerusalem

(Photo: screenshot from @alhurranews)

By Ben Lynfield - December 18, 2017

Originally appeared here in The Jerusalem Post 

A Saudi academic has voiced backing for US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and called on Arabs to recognize the city’s sanctity to Jews.

Abdulhameed Hakeem, head of the Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies in Jedda, told US-based Alhurra television on Saturday that Trump’s move, which touched off protests across the Muslim world from Tunisia to Indonesia, constitutes a “positive shock” to the peace process.

Hakeem added: “We as Arabs must come to an understanding with the other party and know what its demands are, so that we can succeed in peace negotiation efforts, so that negotiations not be futile. We must recognize and realize that Jerusalem is a religious symbol to Jews and sacred to them, as Mecca and Medina is to Muslims.”

Hakeem – who in a March article for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy stressed that Israel and Saudi Arabia face a common Nazi-like threat in Iran – said the “Arab mind must liberate itself from the legacy of [former Egyptian President] Gamal Abdul-Nasser and the legacy of both the Sunni and Shi’a sects, which has instilled for political interests the culture of Jew hatred and denial of their historic right in the region.” Read More

Israel’s first Arab Rhodes scholar loves her country and is trying to change it

(Photo: Nir Landau for Combined Jewish Philanthropies via JTA)

By Andrew Tobin - December 16, 2017

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Lian Najami, Israel’s first Arab Rhodes scholar, is the kind of person who can be optimistic about just about anything — including having a needle stuck in her spine.

As she waited in a Haifa hospital Wednesday morning for a lumbar puncture, Najami expressed hope that the procedure would finally put a name to her degenerative neurological disorder. After that, she said, anything was possible.

“Once we know what it is, we should be able to treat the symptoms better, and maybe one day we will find a cure,” she said in a telephone interview. “I’m really excited to see where the world is going to take me next.

“As an Israeli, I guess I have that chutzpah,” she added. “I always have in mind: What can I do from here?”

When Najami, 23, won the prestigious Rhodes scholarship last month, it was the latest of many affirmations of her relentlessly forward-looking worldview. The honor, which provides a free education at Oxford University, was also an opportunity to advance her advocacy work to make Israel a more inclusive place for people like her: a disabled Arab Muslim woman.

Najami has become a sought-after public speaker on behalf of her country. In recent years, the Haifa native was a featured speaker on leading US campuses like Harvard and Brown, at the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit EMEA in Israel, and at events in Germany organized by the Israeli Embassy.

Her message: Arab Israelis, who make up some 20 percent of Israel’s citizenry, can succeed in the Jewish state. She has held herself up as living proof. Read More

Arab cuisine to blanket Haifa with tantalizing aromas

(Photo: Assaf Ambram)

By Israel21c Staff - December 11, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

More than 70 Arab and Jewish chefs and culinary experts will present a variety of flavors and stories from Arab cuisine in dozens of restaurants and bars in downtown Haifa, December 13-15, 2017.

A-sham, the Arab Food Festival, is taking place for the third consecutive year under the creative direction of 2014 Master Chef Israel winner Nof Atamna-Ismaeel.

Traditional dishes from the Levant (A-sham in Arabic) will be featured, including specially created festival menus and dishes as well as cooking workshops, lectures, pop-up stores, music and parties.

“The Arab Food Festival connects peoples and cultures through food,” said Atamna-Ismaeel. “There is no room in the kitchen for politics; only for cooperation, collaboration and teamwork.” Read More

'Humans of Tel Aviv' demystifies a misunderstood people

(Photo: Humans of Tel Aviv Facebook page)

By Daniel K. Eisenbud - December 10, 2017 

Originally appeared here in The Jerusalem Post

Ten years ago, while Erez Kaganovitz was backpacking around the world following his IDF military service, he was disheartened by the reactions from people when they discovered he was Israeli.

“Most of the people I met didn’t realize I was Israeli because of my accent, and after five minutes of conversation they would ask the million-dollar question: ‘Where are you from?,’” said Kaganovitz on Sunday.

“And when I told them I was from Israel, you could see how their facial expressions would change. Then they would say, ‘Isn’t that the place where people are being blown up all the time and you are at perpetual war with your neighbors?’”

Kaganovitz continued: “There were a lot of misconceptions about Israel, and I was really frustrated and annoyed. And I remember thinking I wish I could take them there to show them what it’s really like to change those misconceptions.” Read More

IDF equips maternity hospital over the Syrian border

By Abigail Klein Leichman - Dezember 7, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c 

The Israel Defense Forces has equipped a new maternity clinic over the border in Syria, as part of its Operation Good Neighbor instituted a year and a half ago to provide medical, infrastructural and civilian aid to Syrian victims of the ongoing civil war.

The hospital reportedly was opened in November in response to an urgent request from Syrian doctors who saw that many women could not get to the existing maternity hospital due to the difficult conditions.

The clinic is staffed entirely by Syrian healthcare workers using equipment donated by the Israelis. More than 200 pregnant women so far have sought medical care at the new clinic, and 30 women have given birth there. Read More

Hoops in the Holy Land: African-American basketball players embrace Israel

(Photo: @gs_odeabank/Twitter)

By Myles Dichter - November 14, 2017

Originally appeared here on CBC Sports

If you're a Raptors fan, you may remember a 2005 exhibition game in which Toronto became the first NBA team in 27 years to lose to Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Star guard Anthony Parker nailed the go-ahead jumper with less than a second remaining, and the two-time EuroLeague MVP later parlayed that performance into a multi-year contract with the Raptors.

Around this time, Toronto resident David Goldstein visited Israel, where his mother holds citizenship. The Goldstein family went to see David's grandparents at their seniors' living complex.

"My grandparents had some friends over who heard that I was from Toronto and they just started going bananas over Anthony Parker," says Goldstein. "I thought, it's really interesting how passionate they are, these 80-something-year-old women who I never would have guessed would be sports fans, and I was curious to know more."

A decade later, Goldstein has turned that curiosity into a book. Alley-Oop to Aliyah was published Nov. 7.

In the last 40 years, more than 800 African-Americans have relocated to Israel to play in the Israeli Basketball Premier League. The book focuses on those players, but rarely delves into strategy or statistics. Read More

IsraAID and partners open STEM Center in South Sudan

By ISRAEL21c Staff - November 29, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

Israeli humanitarian aid organization IsraAID helped open the first Center for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in South Sudan on November 13.

Over the next three years, the center is expected to provide vocational training to 10,000 young South Sudanese students in areas such as building and construction; electronics; computing; chemistry and optics. The long-term goal is to provide engineers, technicians, mathematicians and physicians contributing to the economic and social development of the fledgling African country. Read More

Incredibly well-preserved remains of a 1,500-year-old Christian mosaic are uncovered in the ruins of an ancient monastery in Israel

By Tim Collins for Mailonline - November 24, 2017

Originally appeared here in The Daily Mail

An immaculately preserved mosaic created by Christians living in Israel 1,500 years ago has been uncovered by archaeologists.

The tessellated tile work features a four line inscription in Greek, commemorating the builder of the monastery in which it was found.

It also includes the date of its construction according to the Georgian calendar, the first evidence of its use in Israel, which corresponds with 539 AD.

The find was made in the coastal city of Ashdod by a team of researchers from Tel Aviv University and Leipzig University.

The ancient city of Ashdod-Yam was in the southern part of the modern city and was one of the most important areas of Israel in the Byzantine period. Read More

When Anwar Sadat came to Jerusalem 40 years ago

(Photo: Ya'akov Sa'ar/GPO archive)

By TOI Staff - November 21, 2017

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

The Knesset on Tuesday marked the 40 year anniversary of the historic visit by former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to Israel, which paved the way for the peace deal between the two former enemy countries.

On November 20, 1977, Sadat became the first — and so far only — Arab leader to visit Israel and address the Knesset with a call for peace.

Sadat’s visit heralded Israeli-Egyptian talks at Camp David a year later, and a full peace agreement in 1979, just six years after the painful Yom Kippur War.

After arriving at Ben Gurion Airport on November 19, Sadat met with Begin. The next day, he prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, before heading to Israel’s parliament to give his speech. Read More

8 great Israeli cafés serving coffee and a slice of social-welfare

By Abigail Klein Leichman - November 19, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

“Ben” smiles as he loads an industrial juicer with oranges at Harutzim bistro-café in Jerusalem’s Talpiot business district, run by SHEKEL-Community Services for People with Special Needs as a social business.

His smile broadens with pride when he hands me a glass of fresh-squeezed juice under the encouraging eye of training supervisor Noa Zwebner.

“When Ben started working here two years ago, he wore sunglasses and was very shy. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. We worked really hard with him to communicate along with teaching him how to make coffee and juice,” says Zwebner. “He’s now asking clients what kind of coffee and pastry they want. He’s taking initiative. He’s really made unbelievable progress.”

Social eateries across Israel aim to please palates while employing, training and rehabilitating people from disadvantaged populations such as teenage dropouts and disabled adults. Read More

Ethiopian-born Miss Israel once dreamed of the Jewish state, now advocates for it

(Photo: Yityish Aynaw press photo)

By Adam Abrams - November 2, 2017

Originally appeared here in jns.org 

In Ethiopia, Yityish “Titi” Aynaw and her fellow villagers always dreamed of living in Israel.

“From as far back as I can remember, I was always told that I am Jewish and that I must live in Jerusalem,” said the former Miss Israel, who in 2013 became the first Ethiopian to hold the title. “I imagined that Israel would look like how it’s described in the Bible, as the land of milk and honey…like a fairytale.”

This week, Aynaw commenced her third Israel advocacy speaking tour on U.S. college campuses, in what she described as an opportunity “to give back” to the country that gave her a new life.

Aynaw’s fall 2017 tour—facilitated by Jewish National Fund (JNF) and Media Watch International—began Oct. 30 and includes visits to campuses in the states of New York, Colorado, California, Washington and Oregon. The tour culminates with Aynaw’s keynote address to hundreds of American students at JNF’s national conference in South Florida Nov. 11.

Since being crowned Miss Israel, Aynaw’s meteoric rise has seen her become one of Israel’s top models, a prominent media personality and a staunch advocate for the Jewish state. Along the way, she has shattered a cultural glass ceiling and paved the way for other young Ethiopian-Israeli women to follow in her footsteps.  Read More

Arriving on donkeys, Syrian war wounded seek Israeli help

(Photo: AFP/MENAHEM KAHANA)

By Delphine Matthieussent - November 6, 2017

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

MOUNT HERMON (AFP) — The wounded Syrians, carried on donkeys through the pitch-black night, could be seen in the beam of a searchlight held by their unlikely saviors — Israeli soldiers.

They were high in the mountains, nearing the Israeli part of the Golan Heights, where they were to receive medical treatment for their wounds even though Israel and Syria are officially at war.

Casualties from Syria’s six-year civil war are taken to hospitals inside Israel several nights each week.

At the same time, Israeli soldiers return Syrians, who have received treatment, to the disengagement line that divides the Syrian-controlled part of the Golan from that held by Israel.

It is another example of the many contradictions in the morass of the six-year Syrian conflict.

Israel does not take in refugees from the war, but its army says that it has facilitated the treatment of more than 3,100 wounded in Israeli hospitals since 2013. Read More

Israeli, Arab, European firemen share cross-border drill

(Photo: Israel Firefighting and Rescue Authority)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - October 26, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

As forest fires and other major catastrophes engulf many parts of the world with greater frequency, the European Commission and the Israeli government organized an international exercise in Israel this week for firefighters from Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Italy, France and Spain.

The Middle East Forest Fires drill on October 24 and 25 had more than 400 participants from the various countries — including 250 firefighters, pilots, ground crews and logistics personnel — learning to improve skills and share knowledge in large-scale cooperative firefighting management, evacuation of residents, humanitarian assistance and preservation of nature.

“In recent years, we have witnessed large-scale disasters take the lives of tens of thousands of victims, such as earthquakes, floods, fires and incidents involving hazardous materials. These are disasters that countries cannot always deal with on their own, and for which they need assistance,” said Israeli Fire Commissioner Lt. Gen. Dedi Simhi. Read More