Sorrow and Hope

Life in Israel

Winter Rains Delayed

Thursday, 12 January 2023| While it is true that the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is nearly full, it is also true that rainfall in Israel is well below average for this time of year. A quick check of the meteorological site which monitors the nation’s accumulated rainfall showed most stations at less than 50% of

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MyHeritage Publishes 1.7 million-record Israeli Immigration List

Tuesday, 10 January 2023 | Online genealogy platform MyHeritage announced on Sunday the publication of a database comprising 1.7 million records, covering immigration to Israel from 1919. The company called it “the Israeli equivalent of the famous ‘Ellis Island’ immigration database for the United States.” For more than a year, MyHeritage indexed thousands of public

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Intifada Rising?

As the battle for Israel’s heartland rages on, the Jewish state’s security forces are working to curb a wave of terrorism as multiple players battle for the Palestinian throne. A terror wave that began last March and spread across Israel has left 29 people dead at the time of writing, the highest casualty count since

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Education Nation

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published the 2022 edition of its annual Education at a Glance report in October last year. In no less than 462 pages crammed with statistics, graphs, footnotes and summaries, the document compares and contrasts the state of education in 45 countries for the 2021/2022 school year, ranking

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Signaling Spring

For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come. (Song of Songs 2:11–12a). Is there anyone who does not long for the promise of spring during the dark and dreary days of winter? Here in Israel, the lovely almond blossoms

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Israel Ranks 10th Highest for Global Life Expectancy

January 6, 2023

Friday, 6 January 2023 | Israel boasts the 10th highest life expectancy on the globe, according to a new study by NiceRX based on data from Worldometer’s Life Expectancy of the World Population. Israelis have an average life expectancy of 83.49, with 81.98 years for men and 84.91 for women, according to the study by

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The Quirks of Israel—Driving in Israel

From the pen of Peter Fast, national director of Bridges for Peace Canada and the future CEO of Bridges for Peace International, comes the fifth installment of the Quirks of Israel. Join Peter on a journey through the wonderfully peculiar culture, traditions, heritage and daily life of this singular nation as he unpacks, introduces and

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Arab Voices for Israel

Arab Voices for Israel Israel’s advocates range from devout Jews to fellow Christians to complete agnostics—and everything else in between. Yet there is one particular group of pro-Israel voices that demands a special measure of admiration. Their support for the Jewish state does not stem from religious persuasion or ethnic connection. They choose to speak

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US News Ranks Israel as 10th Most Powerful Country

January 3, 2023

Tuesday, 3 January 2023 | U.S. News & World Report listed Israel as the world’s 10th most powerful nation in the publication’s country rankings for 2022, citing the Jewish state’s military strength as well as its influential status in politics and in the global economy. The US was ranked first, followed by China, Russia, Germany,

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Some 70,000 Jewish People from 95 Countries Immigrated to Israel in 2022

Friday, 23 December 2022 | Some 70,000 people from 95 different countries immigrated to Israel in 2022 with the assistance of the Jewish Agency for Israel, in cooperation with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration. It was the most olim [immigrants to Israel] in 23 years and a dramatic increase from 2021, when about 28,600

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