Dispatch from Jerusalem

Is It Meat or Not?

{image_1}The prohibition in the Torah (Gen.–Mal.) against boiling a kid in its mother’s milk provides the basis for the practice of separating meat from dairy. Cheesy sauces and cream-filled desserts are not served at the same meal as a juicy steak, nor is butter for your broccoli or milk for your coffee. Israelis have been very innovative, however, and non-dairy substitutes abound, to be eaten with delight alongside your beef roast or lamb chop.

The Prophet Principle

{image_1}According to Jewish tradition, “after the destruction of the Second Temple, prophesy became the providence of fools.” The next real prophets, it is believed, will only appear when the Messiah arrives. Shmuel Portman Hapartzi, an ardent Chabadnik [follower of the Chabad movement within orthodox Judaism], is convinced salvation is just around the corner.

Palestinians Visit Yad Vashem: “A Tragedy beyond Words”

{image_1}As part of a unique “Combatants for Peace” trip to Yad Vashem, eight Palestinian Authority residents visited the museum to learn of the fates of European Jews during the Holocaust. “This was a jolting experience for me,” said Ahmed al-Jaafari, a 43-year-old Deheishe refugee camp resident. “I saw the reactions of people who were here and wanted to experience it for myself. I heard and read about and saw movies on the Holocaust, but nothing comes close to a visit in which I can see it with my own eyes. I don't understand how the world conspired [to commit] a crime like this.”

Positive Jewish–Arab Relations

{image_1}Positive interaction between Jews and Arabs is rarely mentioned in the international news, but it is increasingly common to hear positive stories in Israel.

Netanyahu Speaks… On Threat of Annihilation That Israel Faces from Iran

{image_1}On the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom HaShoah), Benjamin Netanyahu remembered the loss of the Jewish people during the Holocaust and went on to talk about the current threat of annihilation that Israel faces from Iran. “There are those who wish to extinguish our light. Iran openly declares its intent to destroy Israel and is pursuing all means to achieve that goal.” Netanyahu quoted Iranian clerics as saying that “Zionists are microbes and bacteria. The Jews are filthy people who spread disease.”

Hiking in the Desert! An Israeli Experience

{image_1}Did you know that there are thousands of amazing places to hike in Israel? Israel has been called “a trekker’s paradise” with its myriad of established trails. The Israel National Trail, which runs about 600 miles (1,000 km) from the green mountains of northern Galilee to the desert country of Eilat, won a place on National Geographic’s list of twenty of the world’s best hikes. In determining which trails were chosen, the National Geographic said, “We looked for walks that travel deeper into a location’s history and culture.”

An Abundance of Rain

{image_1}Israel is a land that drinks “the rain of heaven.” When the Lord described the Promised Land to Moses, He said: “For the land which you go to possess [is] not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered [it] by foot, as a vegetable garden, but the land which you cross over to possess [is] a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven” (Deut. 11:10–11).

How Does Israel Treat Its Arab Citizens?

{image_1}Israel’s war for independence was a particularly brutal conflict, with the avowed purpose of her attackers being to annihilate the Jewish population and secure the entire country for the Arab population. On May 15, 1948, the day after Israel’s declaration of statehood, the Secretary General of the Arab League declared in a BBC news broadcast: “This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre that will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades.”

A Light to the Nations—Israel Celebrates Her 65th Birthday

{image_1}When 22-year-old Emmannuel Buso was pulled from the rubble of a building 10 days after an earthquake devastated Haiti, the first faces he saw were those of Israeli rescue workers. For Haji Edum, from Zanzibar, his life-saving moment came twice, when he was flown at age 15, and then again at 23, to Israel for open-heart surgery. He is just one of thousands of youngsters to receive emergency heart care from volunteer doctors in Israel.

Remember—Yizkor

{image_1}The Bible repeatedly emphasizes the need to remember and to pass the knowledge of God and His acts to future generations.

The Hebrew word for remember is Yizkor (literally “you will remember”) and the root is z-k-r (זכר). You will also hear the word zikaron (זיכרון) which is remembrance. This root word in its various forms is found in hundreds of Scripture passages. It means to remember, recall, call to mind, to be brought to remembrance, be remembered, be thought of, be brought to mind, to mention, to record or to make a memorial, or to make remembrance.