Cycling in Israel
Israel's cycling scene is experiencing a renaissance. An increasing number of Israelis - approximately 200,000 - are now biking to work, to their favorite cafes on the weekends, or to trendy off-road destinations, and the numbers are growing about fifteen percent a year. Mostly well-educated and between the ages of 31 to 50, Israeli cyclists ride their bikes one to three times a week, mostly for fun. The eco-friendly mode of transportation has become so popular that the Tourism Ministry recently announced it will spend millions of dollars on cycling infrastructure and trails. Not surprisingly, the most popular type of cycling is flat or mild-incline, with preferred routes winding through forests and on single-track trails.
Diving in Israel
The bay of Eilat, Israel's southernmost city, is a major attraction for divers worldwide, thanks to some of the best diving in the world. The Red Sea, the world's northernmost tropical sea, is a rich and diverse ecosystem. More than 1200 species of fish have been recorded, and around ten percent of these are found nowhere else. This also includes 42 species of deepwater fish.
The rich diversity is due in part to the 1,240 miles of coral reef extending along the coastline; these fringing reefs are 5000-7000 years old and are largely formed of stony corals. The reefs form platforms and sometimes lagoons along the coast and other features such as cylinders. These coastal reefs are also visited by pelagic species of Red Sea fish, including some of the 44 known species of shark.
Due to the beauty and richness of its waters, divers and snorkelers from all over the world visit Eilat year round. Diving in Israel is well organized, supervised and maintained. Israeli diving authority regulations require a diver to present her diving certificate, and a log book with logged and stamped dives dated within the last six months.
Archaeology of Israel
Israel's unique position as the holy land to all three major religions, and the land of the Bible has created great interest in the land's history and archeology. The number of archeological digs that took place in Israel in more than 60 years of independence is higher than in any other country in the world. Hundreds of projects have involved the participation of professional archaeologists from Israel and around the world. Many tourists, especially those with organized groups, participate in a day of digging, which enables them to physically connect with their history and roots.
A New Israeli Film - Land of Genesis
A new documentary film invites viewers to see a different Israel than they may know from news reports, a land of amazing landscapes and multitudes of plants and wildlife. The film follows three mammals in their respective geographic habitats through a year of seasonas change. Each of the animals - the wolves of the Golan Heights, the swamp cats of the Sea of Galilee, and the ibexes of the desert, opens a window onto the beauty of Israel's landscape. CLICK HERE to view the film's trailer.
A Summery Recipe
The Israeli summer, with its high temperatures (the first week of August measured unusually high temperature, reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in most places) welcomes light, easy to make dishes, which do not require long cooking in steamy kitchens. The following dish is a great example for a nice summery recipe. Enjoy!
Roasted Garlic with Goat Cheese Appetizer
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 16-20 whole heads of garlic
• 1/2 cup butter
• pepper to taste
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock
• 1 pound semi-hard goat's cheese
• 6 spring onions, trimmed and chopped finely
• 16-20 slices country style bread
• olive oil (optional)
With the point of a knife make an incision in each garlic bulb about 4 cm. from the top. Remove the first layer of skin from the tops so that the points of the cloves are showing.
Grease a baking dish and arrange the bulbs in the dish. Dot the bulbs with the butter, using 1/2 Tbsp. of butter for each bulb. Sprinkle with pepper. Pour the wine and stock into the baking dish, cover with aluminum foil and bake in an oven that has been preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 15 minutes longer. The cloves will be done when some of the garlic comes off on the tip of a sharp knife that is inserted into the cloves. Remove from the oven.
Place all but 3 tbsp. of the sour cream in a bowl and to this add the cheese, mashing together with a fork. Add the remaining cream if necessary, and continue beating with a fork until the mixture has the texture of a thick puree. Add the chopped spring onions and mix well.
To serve, place 1 slice of bread and 1 garlic bulb on each plate, and place the remaining garlic on a serving plate in the center of the table. Pass the cheese mixture separately. Guests should spread the cheese on the bread; then, using a fork, they should press the garlic flesh out of each clove and spread it on top. The garlic may then be sprinkled with olive oil if desired. Serve with dry red wine as an appetizer. (Serves 8 or more).
Bon appétit!
Jerusalem, City of Gold June 2010
The Talmud teaches, "Ten measures of beauty descended on the world; nine were taken by Jerusalem, one by the rest of the world". Years later, Mark Twain said, "There is no beauty like the beauty of Jerusalem." The character of Jerusalem, Israel's capital, was transformed by a singular event more than forty years ago.
The Six-Day War started on June 5, 1967, and ended six days later, on June 10. Tension began to escalate between Israel and Arab countries in the 1960s, culminating in 120 terror attacks, resulting in 11 fatalities, during the 18 months preceding the war. Egypt, Jordan, and Syria - Israel's neighboring states - joined forces to battle Israel, and Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria contributed troops and arms.
At war's end, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and most importantly, East Jerusalem. The results of this war affect the geopolitics of the region to this day.
Division
At the end of the War of Independence in 1948, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan by armistice lines. The Jordanians expelled Jews from eastern Jerusalem and barred them from visiting their holy places, including the Kotel (Western Wall). After the Six-Day War, the entire city of Jerusalem and its holy sites came under Jewish control. Israel reunited the city, extending Israeli law, jurisdiction, and administration to the parts previously occupied by Jordan. The Israeli Knesset passed laws to protect holy sites and ensure freedom of worship to all, and offered Israeli citizenship to Jerusalem's Arab residents, most of whom declined. In 1980, Israel passed the Basic Law, reaffirming unified Jerusalem as its eternal, undivided capital.
Holy to Three Religions
Since 1004 BCE, when King David established Jerusalem as the capital of his kingdom, there has been a continuous Jewish presence in Jerusalem, the holiest city in Judaism. Following the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the designation of other holy sites by Constantine the Great in 333 CE, Jerusalem became a destination for Christian pilgrimages. During Umayyad rule from 661 to 750 CE, the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque were built on the site where the Jewish Temples had once stood, and Jerusalem became the third holiest city in Islam.
Jerusalem is Israel's largest city, both in terms of population and acreage. Jerusalem's total population is 774,000, around ten percent of the total Israeli population. Sixty-five percent are Jews (of which a small minority is not Jewish or Arab) and 35 percent are Arabs. Both Jewish and Arab Jerusalemites bear an average of four children per family.
Numbers Don't Lie
The Jerusalem Haredi community (ultra-Orthodox) numbers 96,000, 12 percent of the total population of the city, and almost forty percent of the total Haredi community of Israel. Thirty-nine percent of Jerusalem's students are Haredim. Thirty-four percent come from the Arab community, and only 27 percent go to secular or modern-Orthodox schools.
Jerusalem has 100 colleges and universities, with a total of 30,000 students. Jerusalem houses 90 research centers working on 2,700 research projects. Jerusalem has hundreds of cultural organizations and museums. About two million visitors visit the Jerusalem museums annually.
The city has approximately three hundred hotels, with a total of 9,000 hotel rooms. An average month in Israel hosts around two hundred and twenty thousand tourists from overseas; almost half of them will visit Jerusalem.
Approximately thirteen percent of all new immigrants, most from North America, choose to live in Jerusalem. The city has a relatively high percentage of young people: the average age is 23 (versus 29 in Israel in general).
This week Jews all over the world are cleaning up their homes in preparation for Pesach. Cleaning has many aspects, both literal and metaphoric, so Pesach is a good time to think about reducing, reusing, and recycling. This is our opportunity to examine how we can "clean" our planet as well as our homes. Fortunately, our Jewish tradition leads us to environmental awareness through the basic ethical principle Bal tashkhit, do not destroy.
The impetus to protect the environment has spread throughout Israel, starting with educational initiatives from early childhood centers through college students. One example is Green Course, which is the nationwide student environmental organization in Israel that has over 6,000 volunteers in 26 chapters in universities and colleges across the country. Green Course is committed to promoting environmental awareness and training environmental leaders of the future. The environmental imperative is found within the country's largest organization, the army, as well. Annual environmental awards are granted to Israel Defense Forces units, and the competition encourages a world of innovative technologies and activities in areas as diverse as waste recycling, energy, fuel and water savings, as well as enhancing the appearance of army bases.
The coalition of Israeli environmental organizations includes:
The Council for a Beautiful Israel, active in promoting environmental awareness, protecting the natural beauty of Israel, preserving historical sites, promoting the rehabilitation of run-down urban areas and developing public recreation sites and gardens
Friends of the Earth Middle East, a consortium of Egyptian, Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian environmental non-governmental organizations that work jointly to promote sustainable development in the Middle East.
For Bicycles, a local association for the promotion of bicycles as a means of transportation in Israel's cities.
Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership, integrates environmental ethics into Jewish and Israeli education through seminars, teacher training, curricula development, and research.
Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), the largest environmental organization in Israel, which advocates environmental protection and offers a wide variety of educational programs and tours
A wonderful example of the change in environmental consciousness in Israel is Hiria, a former garbage dump that began operation for the greater Tel Aviv region in 1952. Today, Hiria is a symbol of renewal and rejuvenation. A new park is being built on the grounds of the dumpsite. Once, garbage trucks arrived daily, carrying thousands of tons of garbage for burial with no sanitary measures. Today, waste is sorted and recycled, and the methane gases emitted are harnessed and converted into energy, which will be
used for building and maintaining the park.
Green Community Centers promote environmental awareness and protection in their centers and in the community. More and more, community centers are becoming "green" in the type of programming they offer, in the materials they use, in their use of energy and alternatives, and in their overall message and appearance.
In the past, when I used to throw away all the hametz we had left before Pesach, I always felt bad about wasting good food. In recent years, I give all of our leftover hametz to needy families to be stored for the week of the holiday, and then to be consumed after Pesach. It is allowed to store hametz for the week of Pesach, to be used by poor families. Another way to observe bal taschit, to reduce waste, help the environment, and other families as well.
Tu B'Shvat, one of four new years mentioned in the Mishnah, marks the "New Year of the Trees." The name of the holiday derives from the Hebrew date, the 15th day, or Tu, of Shvat. Tu is an acronym of the Hebrew numerals tet vav, or 15. This year, we celebrate Tu B'Shvat on Shabbat, January 30.
The common symbol for the holiday is the almond tree, and in fact, this time of year is when almond trees are budding all over Israel, adding their pink and white to the Israeli winter. On Tu B'shvat, we eat nuts and dried fruits, especially figs, dates, raisins, carob, and almonds, and we plant trees. All over the country, schoolchildren plant young trees. Love, prayers, plenty of sunshine, and hope go into the process, but the one ingredient that a tree needs most - water - is lacking. Every Israeli traveling abroad can't get enough of the sight of the many rivers and lakes in other parts of the world. We can't believe that open drinking fountains are available for public use. I once tried to close a public tap in Italy because I was so concerned with the waste of free, flowing water! In Israel, every child is familiar with the need to save water. We are all used to minimizing our use of water when showering, washing dishes, or doing laundry.
A recent media campaign featuring beautiful Israeli women whose faces were covered with dry cracks had a significant effect on Israeli consumers. The campaign led to a decrease of 13.5 percent of water consumption, or 70 million cubic meters. But an advertising campaign is not enough. The Israeli government also decided to increase the cost of water. The extra revenue will help to finance more desalination plants. Israel plans to have six desalination plants in operation by 2012 to supply 300 million cubic meters of water, nearly half the country's household water consumption. Israel has begun examining the possibility of importing water from Turkey, despite recent tensions between the two countries. Turkey has large water reserves flowing into the Mediterranean Sea, while Israel suffers from a serious water shortage.
The book of Deuteronomy, 20, 19 says: "For the human is like a tree in the field." Israel celebrates trees and flowers throughout all aspects of life. Many Israeli songs are about trees and what they symbolize. Popular Israeli names for boys are Erez (cedar); Alon (oak); Dekel (palm); Oren (pine); Tomer (palm); and more. Girls are named after flowers: Nurit (buttercup); Rakefet (primrose); Lilach (lilac); Kalanit (windflower); Shoshanna (rose); and many more. Most early childhood centers and kindergartens are also named after flowers, and every city has streets with the names of flowers and trees. In addition, many of Israel's major institutions chose Tu B'Shvat for their formal openings. The cornerstone-laying at the Hebrew University took place on Tu B'Shvat 1918; the Technion in Haifa, on Tu B'Shvat 1925; and the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, 1948.
Tuesday, September 1, marked the opening of the new school year in Israel. Almost two thousand students from first to twelfth grades woke up excited and walked to their first day of school. Other than the last day of school, this is probably the only day students are excited!
Most Israeli schools are open six days a week, from Sunday through Friday, with first period beginning at 8:00 am. Most schools don't serve lunch, and the term "Hafsakat eser" - 10:00 a.m. break - has become a popular expression, as that's when kids enjoy their homemade sandwiches and snacks. In the past, many schools required uniforms, but today most schools just have a basic dress code.
When the State of Israel was founded in 1948, a fully functioning Hebrew educational system already existed, built and maintained by the Yishuv, the pre-state Jewish community. These schools had successfully met the challenges of reviving the Hebrew language and integrating new immigrants who came to Palestine, then Israel. Over the past 60 years, Israel has welcomed more than three million immigrants, and its school population has increased accordingly. Today, Israel divides its schools into four categories: state schools, which are secular; state-religious; Haredi (ultra-Orthodox); and Arab. The majority of children in Israel attend state schools. State-religious schools cater to youngsters from the Orthodox community and offer intensive Jewish studies programs. Arab schools teach in Arabic and offer a curriculum that emphasizes Arab history, religion, and culture. The Haredi schools operate independently, but must adhere to a core curriculum determined by the Ministry of Education to receive funding. A minority of Israeli children attend private schools, where parents pay tuition, and the Ministry of Education supervises the curriculum.
Mandatory education starts at the age of kindergarten and runs through twelfth grade. Israeli high schools prepare students for the Israeli matriculation exams (bagrut), which cover various academic disciplines. Students with a passing grade on the bagrut receive a full matriculation certificate, which enables them, along with other tests, to apply for university admission. In recent years, 75 percent of Israeli twelfth graders took the bagrut exams. Fifty-two percent of high-school graduates enlist in the army, with men serving at least three years and women serving two. The remaining 48 percent are exempted from military service for religious, health, or other reasons. Some young Israelis choose to do national service instead of serving in the army.
More than 50 percent of Israelis travel abroad after being released from the army. This has become another rite of passage in Israeli life, with exotic destinations in Asia and Latin America the most popular.
In the above picture, a Hebrew sign in
Bangkok reads: "The center for the traveler."
The "backpack" phenomena has delayed college to a later stage, and it's normal for young Israelis to start their higher education at the age of 23/24 or older.
The school year in Israel is based on the Jewish calendar, and all school breaks fall around Jewish holidays. The three major school vacations fall on Sukkot, Hanukkah and Pesach. The first of January is a regular school/work day, as we celebrate New Year on Rosh Hashanah.
Israel's school system faces the enormous challenge of integrating large numbers of children from different cultural backgrounds. In addition to meeting urgent demands for more classrooms and qualified teachers for the rapidly increasing number of pupils, the educational system has tried to develop appropriate methods to help absorb the newcomers, which include Hebrew language classes and Jewish history. English is taught in most schools, usually starting in second or third grade. The first sentence Israeli students learn to spell in first grade is: "Shalom Kitah Alef" which means Shalom first grade. Many songs and phrases are based on these three words, as they mark a new beginning and hope.
