Yale to offer beginner Yiddish courses to fulfill language requirements

(Photo By: Poldavo/Flickr)

By: Shira Hanau - April 7, 2021

Yale will launch beginner Yiddish classes in the fall that will allow students to fulfill their language requirements, according to the Yale Daily News.

Yiddish studies now offered at the Ivy League US university focus on reading for translation and research purposes rather than on spoken Yiddish. The courses do not count toward its language requirement, meaning students have to take them as electives.

The beginner courses, which will start in the fall, will likely develop into levels of increasingly advanced courses in Yiddish as a spoken and written language.

Recent decades have seen an increased interest in learning Yiddish among younger Jews. Just this week Duolingo, the language learning app, added Yiddish to the list of languages it offers on its app, and earlier this year the Yiddish Book Center released a new multimedia Yiddish textbook.

Read More: Times of Israel

Nations around the world say: Happy 73rd, Israel!

(Photo By: Foreign Ministry)

By: Jerusalem Post Staff - April 16, 2021

Israel's 73rd Independence Day is being celebrated not only in Israel, but by nations all around the world.

Cities across the US, such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Beverly Hills, as well as the state of Florida lit up their city halls in blue lights to stand in solidarity and celebration with Israel.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

‘Missing link’ in alphabet’s history said unearthed in Israel on Canaanite sherd

(Photo By: Antiquity Publications Ltd//J.Dye, Ausrian Academy of Sciences)

By: TOI Staff - April 15, 2021

A 3,500-year-old alphabetic inscription has been found by archaeologists during excavations at the ancient Canaanite town of Tel Lachish, with researchers saying the pottery sherd is the oldest in the region with alphabetic text.

They described the discovery as the “missing link” in the history of the early alphabetic writing in the Southern Levant, the system of writing that most, if not all, alphabetic scripts can be traced back to.

The clay fragment, measuring just 40 millimeters by 35 millimeters, is said to have been part of a milk bowl imported from Cyprus, according to an article published in the journal Antiquity on Thursday.

Read More: Times of Israel

NASA names asteroids after Israeli student who found them

(Photo By: NASA on Unsplash)

By: Naama Barak - April 13, 2021

An Israeli student recently discovered previously unknown asteroids for US space agency NASA, which in turn honored her by naming them after her.

Aseel Nama, who’s studying biomedical engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, participated in the International Astronomical Search Collaboration, a citizen science program affiliated with NASA that invites the public to search for asteroids using astronomical data that it provides.

Nama used image segmentation techniques that she learned at university to pore over the data she received and managed to find two new asteroids.

“I received from NASA a set of photos and video clips and I had to find new asteroids in them. I called my ‘team’ ANI (Aseel Nama Israel) and the asteroids that I discovered will be called ANI1801 and ANI2001,” she says.

Read More: Israel21c

Israel to let tour groups in for 1st time since pandemic began, starting May 23

(Photo By: Flash90)

By: TOI Staff - April 13, 2021

A limited number of vaccinated tourists will be allowed to enter Israel in organized groups starting May 23, the Health Ministry and Tourism Ministry said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Tourism Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said in the statement that only groups will be allowed to visit at first as they will be easier to monitor. Individual travelers are expected to be allowed in at a later stage.

“It is time that Israel’s unique advantage as a safe and healthy country starts to assist it in recovering from the economic crisis,” said Farkash-Hacohen in the statement. “Only opening the skies for international tourism will truly revive the tourism industry, including restaurants, hotels, sites, tour guides, buses and others looking to work and provide for their families.”

Tourists will be required to take a PCR coronavirus test before boarding a plane to Israel. Upon arrival in Israel, they will have to take both a PCR test and a serological test, which proves the existence of antibodies.

Read More: Times of Israel

Ramadan decorations up in Jerusalem as Palestinians prepare for holy month

(Photo By: Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

By: Reuters - April 12, 2021

Colourful lanterns and ornate Ramadan decorations filled the streets of Jerusalem on Monday as Palestinians prepared for a holy month freer of COVID-19 restrictions than at the height of the pandemic.

Ahead of Ramadan's expected start on Tuesday, the mood in the Old City was far more joyful than last year when prayers were suspended at the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site.

Although Jerusalem is still without foreign tourists, far more people were roaming the Old City, where shops reported brisk business.

"Because of coronavirus, the situation has been bad for the merchants and the people. Now with coronavirus vaccination, the situation got better," said one shopper, Mohammad Abu Sbeih.

Israel has included Palestinians in East Jerusalem in its swift rollout of vaccines. It annexed the eastern half of the city after capturing it along with the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Hebrew University teams up with Amazon on quantum computing research

(Photo By: Erik Lucero, Martinis Group, University of California, Santa Barbara via Wikimedia Commons)

By: JNS - April 12, 2021

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Amazon Web Services announced on Monday the establishment of a joint quantum computing research agreement.

The agreement is the first of its kind between AWS and an Israeli academic institution, according to a statement from the university.

The AWS Center for Quantum Computing, created in 2019 and based at the campus of the California Institute of Technology, brings together quantum computing researchers and engineers for the purpose of accelerating development of relevant algorithms and hardware. Its activities include collaborating with universities for sponsored research in “cutting-edge domains,” according to the statement.

Read More: JNS

El Al announces new flights to multiple countries

(Photo By: Prime Minister’s Office)

By: Jerusalem Post Staff, Zev Stub - April 9, 2021

El Al will offer new flights to Belgrade, Sophia, Paphos, Rhodes, Crete, and Thessaloniki, the company announced this week. These destinations have been added to the list of other cities to which El Al currently provides flights to, including Paris, London, Dubai, Amsterdam and more.

The list of cities to which El-Al provides flights will be updated at the end of June, according to the company.

El-Al will offer flexible tickets with no fees for ticket changes and allow changes to tickets up until April 2022.

All passengers must have a negative coronavirus test from up to 72 hours before departure and must fill out health statements.

El Al has said it will offer significant discounts on 25,000 tickets for flights to New York, Miami and Los Angeles during the spring, summer and High Holy Day season.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Helen Mirren to play Golda Meir in upcoming movie ‘Golda’

(Photo By: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

By: Gabe Friedman - April 7, 2021

It’s a Meir moment.

Academy Award winner Helen Mirren will portray Golda Meir, Israel’s only female prime minister, in an upcoming biopic set during the Yom Kippur War.

Production on “Golda” will begin later this year, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The news follows the announcement last month of another star-powered production on Meir, a series titled “Lioness” led by Israeli actress Shira Haas of “Unorthodox” fame.

While “Lioness” will follow Meir from “her birth in Kiev to her American upbringing in Milwaukee, her role in the formation of Israel and her rise to become the new nation’s first and only female prime minister,” according to a report in Deadline, “Golda” will focus on the turbulent Yom Kippur War period.

Read More: Times of Israel

Israel may have achieved herd immunity against Covid-19

(Photo By: Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

By: Abigail Klein Leichman - April 7, 2021

Israel may have reached herd immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, say experts from its largest hospital, Sheba Medical Center.

Herd immunity happens when a sufficient percentage of a population has immunity – through vaccination or having recovered from the disease — and gives indirect protection to those who aren’t immune.

The immunity level needed for herd immunity is calculated based on the transmission rate of the virus. For SARS-CoV-2 it’s estimated at 65-70 percent, says Dr. Eyal Leshem, director of Sheba’s Institute for Travel & Tropical Medicine.

Approximately 56% of Israel’s 9.2 million citizens are vaccinated and another 15% (approximately 700,000 people) recovered from Covid-19, putting Israel comfortably in the expected herd immunity range.

Read More: Israel21c

Made in Israel: Intel's new Ice Lake processor

(Photo By: Courtesy)

By: Zev Stub - April 7, 2021

Intel's new Ice Lake processor for cloud servers was developed at the company’s Israeli headquarters, and manufacturing is being done at the company’s Kiryat Gat facility.

The new third-generation Xeon server processors are considered a significant upgrade from previous processors, with up to 46% better performance, the company said.

The processor includes a number of other technologies developed in Israel, including cybersecurity technology for protection against hackers, as well as another chip, code-named Columbiaville, which allows data to be transferred between servers at speeds of up to 200 gigabits per second, the company said. The development of these processor cores was done by the Compute group of Intel Israel. More than a billion cores of the processor have been installed in various cloud services since 2013, Intel said.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Israeli Celebrities To Commemorate Holocaust On Instagram Stories With Real Survivors

(Photo Credit: Maya Wertheimer Instagram)

By: Simona Shemer - April 5, 2021

Noa Kirel, Neta Alchimister, and Maya Wertheimer are just a few famous Israeli performers, actors, and influencers whose names wouldn’t immediately come to mind when talking about Holocaust remembrance and Holocaust survivors.

Yet, they and over a dozen other Israeli celebrities and content creators are banding together this week with Facebook Israel and Israeli NGO Latet to launch a special project called “Sharing Memories” (Ma’alim Zikaron in Hebrew), with the aim of giving a voice and a platform to the heroic stories of Holocaust survivors.

The celebs will tap into their respective followings on Instagram with the important message on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day this week — the memory of the Holocaust should not be forgotten.

The project will begin at sundown on Wednesday, April 7 when Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel begins and end 24 hours later. During this time, over 20 celebrities and creators will use their Instagram Stories to connect Holocaust survivors to the younger generation and inspire them to think earnestly about the plight of these survivors and become more socially involved in preserving their memory.

Read More: NoCamels

Israeli organization breaks world record for kidney donations

(Photo By: Matnat Chaim)

By: Yehuda Shlezinger - April 5, 2021

Israel celebrated a special milestone Sunday, as the Matnat Chaim non-profit organization, which encourages and facilitates living kidney donations, is about to break a world record by marking its 1,000th transplant.

Since Matnat Chaim, Hebrew for “Gift of Life,” was founded in 2019, the number of kidney donations in Israel has quadrupled.

The organization’s data reveal that about two-thirds of the donors are men, a third are women and 40 percent of all donors are teachers or educators. The organization’s work is estimated to have saved the state some 4 billion shekels ($1.2 billion) by decreasing the need for treatments, hospitalization and medication for patients with kidney disease.

Read More: JNS

Israel’s ancient Bedouin culture gets new life online

(Photo By: Clinton Bailey)

By: Naama Barak - April 4, 2021

Israel’s Bedouin community has undergone major shifts in the past decades, transforming from a nomadic people into a more modern one complete with town dwelling, formal education and technology.

But this change came with the danger that the ancient Bedouin traditions could become completely forgotten with the passage of time.

Luckily, a new collection in the works at the National Library of Israel preserves 50-odd years of documentation of the Bedouin community carried out by a world-renowned expert. It will be made freely available online within the next year.

The collection will be based on the archives of Clinton Bailey, a US-born Israeli Middle East expert who for 50 years collected materials from the last Bedouin generation to grow up in the pre-modern period, making them an invaluable source of an orally transmitted ancient civilization.

Read More: Israel21c

Yad Vashem online exhibit emphasizes the power of family

(Photo By: Yad Vashem)

By: Deborah Fineblum - April 2, 2021

The world will mark Yom Hashoah—Holocaust Memorial Day—on April 7-8 with particular attention on the 80th anniversary of a campaign against the Jews of Eastern Europe that was nothing short of mass murder. This deadly Nazi plot would put the close and loving Jewish family to the most painful of tests.

The tensile and enduring strength of the Jewish family is on full view in a new online exhibition from Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem called “The Onset of Mass Murder: The Fate of Jewish Families in 1941.”

Read More: JNS

Royal Caribbean's new cruise ship finished, heading to Israel

(Photo By: Courtesy)

By: Jerusalem Post Staff - March 31, 2021

Royal Caribbean International's Odyssey of the Seas has finished its construction, setting up the final steps for its upcoming voyage to Haifa, Israel.

The ship's delivery ceremony, a time-honored tradition marking the completion of a new ship, will be held at 12:15 a.m. early Thursday morning, and can be seen on the company's Facebook page, with the company promising the show to possess a "global lineup" and a "show-stopping performance."

The ship is the 25th member of the Royal Caribbean fleet of cruise liners, and is the second in its Quantum Ultra-class of ships.

The Odyssey is massive, measuring 1,138 feet (347 meters) long, 135 feet (41 meters) wide and weighing 169,000 tons.

The ship is set to arrive in its homeport of Haifa in May, where it will welcome the company's first guests. Israeli residents age 18 and up, all fully vaccinated against COVID-19, will be able to embark on 3- to 7-night getaways throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

The decision to start the ship's first voyages from Israel follows the country's widely successful vaccination rollout, which has seen a vast majority of Israelis being vaccinated against COVID-19.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Christians mark Good Friday in Jerusalem as COVID restrictions eased

(Photo By: Emmanuel Dunand / AFP)

By: Agencies and TOI Staff - April 2, 2021

Christians marked Good Friday this year amid signs the coronavirus crisis may be winding down in Israel, with religious sites open to limited numbers of faithful but none of the mass pilgrimages usually seen in the Holy Week leading up to Easter.

Last year, Jerusalem was under a strict lockdown, with sacred rites observed by small groups of priests, often behind closed doors. It was a stark departure from past years, when tens of thousands of pilgrims would descend on the city’s holy sites.

This year, Franciscan friars in brown robes led hundreds of worshippers down the Via Dolorosa, retracing what tradition holds were Jesus’ final steps, while reciting prayers through loudspeakers at the Stations of the Cross.

Another group carried a wooden cross along the route through the Old City, singing hymns and pausing to offer prayers.

Read More: Times of Israel

In the effort to decarbonize the construction sector, an Israeli company has developed an environmentally friendly building material: the kenaf plant.

(Photo By: Kenaf Ventures)

By: Amnon Direktor - March 31, 2021

You can’t talk about architectural discourse in the 21st century without discussing sustainable design.

Known for its high rate of carbon dioxide emissions and contributions to air pollution relative to other cornerstone sectors, the buildings and construction industry is gradually implementing greener standards to reduce its heavy ecological footprint.

In addition to the development of smart cities and green buildings, the use of alternative building materials is being explored.

To this end, Israeli company Kenaf Ventures is developing and producing sustainable raw materials made from the kenaf plant (Hibiscus cannabinus) in an effort to decarbonize the construction sector without reducing product quality.

Read More: Israel21c

In partnership with AJC, hundreds of US mayors sign pledge to combat anti-Semitism

(Photo By: Lev Radin/Shutterstock)

By: JNS - March 30, 2021

American Jewish Committee and the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) announced on Monday that more than 525 mayors across the United States have joined their national effort to combat anti-Semitism.

The two organizations are calling on mayors across the country to sign a statement declaring that anti-Semitism is incompatible with fundamental democratic values.

“Anti-Semitism is a growing societal menace, it comes from multiple sources, and mayors are uniquely positioned to lead their cities in taking concerted steps to fight it,” said AJC CEO David Harris.

Read More: JNS

Scotland, Israel tie 1-1 in World Cup qualifier

(Photo By: Ammar Awad/Reuters)

By: Joshua Halickman - March 29, 2021

Israel and Scotland played to a 1-1 draw on Sunday night in 2022 World Cup qualifying at Bloomfield Stadium.

The blue-and-white dominated the first half and finally broke through with a goal just ahead of halftime as Dor Peretz sent a scorcher from 25 meters out to break the deadlock.

But the Tartan Army came back strong in the second half and quickly evened up the score thanks to Ryan Fraser as the national teams split the points.

Following Scotland’s visit, Willi Ruttensteiner’s team will head to Chisinau for a Wednesday night clash with Moldova, which drew 1-1 with Faroe Islands in its first game, but was walloped 8-0 by Denmark in the second qualifying match.

The last time the blue-and-white faced Moldova was in 2017, when the sides played to a 1-1 draw in an International Friendly. Prior to that contest, the squads competed in 2010 World Cup qualifiers, when Israel won both matches, and it holds an all-time rivalry record of three wins, three draws and no losses in six games.

Read More: Jerusalem Post