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Av / Elul 5765
Gwen Hamlin, Editor
Fall 2005
WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS
Mood Lifter – Researchers in Israel report that
inositol, a chemical needed for cell health, appears to play a role in the
brain’s ability to mediate mood. They have found that large doses of
inositol, which appears naturally in wheat germ, brewers yeast, bananas,
brown rice, nuts, oat flakes, raisins and vegetables, helped alleviate
depression, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Racist Website Removed – An Argentina internet
provider has removed six website pages with anti-Semitic content. The pages
were hosted in Argentina to circumvent Brazil’s anti-racism laws.
Jewish Life Exhibition – New York’s Yeshiva
University Museum has mounted an exhibition, “350 Years of American Jewish
Life”, due to run through September 2005. It highlights Jewish life from the
first American settlement in New Amsterdam in 1654 to today's community. The
display features artifacts from an exhibition organized and presented by the
Library of Congress.
Rising Hate – According to a recent audit
anti-Semitic crimes in the U.S. are at their highest level in nine years,
and, according to report the increased activity of Neo-Nazi groups is cited
as the cause.
THE JERUSALEM POST
In an appearance in Berlin's restored Reichstag,
President Moshe Katsav urged European governments to intensify the fight
against a wave of anti-Semitism. He says the Holocaust is the formulating
event in the lives of both the German and Jewish people. The trauma of the
Holocaust will accompany the Jewish people forever, and there are still many
Jews who bear numbers on their arms throughout the world. The emotional
scars inflicted at that time have been passed on to the second and third
generations, and families of victims and survivors of the Holocaust continue
to mourn.
Israeli Families Return – After 16 years in the
USA, the Milchiker family is returning to live on a kibbutz in Israel. The
family is part of 200 Israeli families in the U.S. and Canada who are
attracted by the lifestyle. An additional 500 are interested in the program
being recruited by the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. Advertisements
placed on websites and conferences in the U.S. and Canada are encouraging
Israelis who have been living abroad for more than two years to consider the
advantages of kibbutz over city life.
Jewish Population Oldest in the World – The
Jewish population, especially in the Diaspora (outside Israel), has a far
higher proportion of elderly than the rest of the world, according to the
Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. Their statistics show that Israel has more
young children per family than Diaspora Jews. The data also indicates the
lifespan of Israeli males, which is 77.5, is fifth in the world, and Israeli
women’s life expectancy is 81.5, ranking 18th. The report states that
currently some 24,000 Israelis are aged 90 or more, and it projects that by
2020 about 21% of the entire Jewish population will be over 65.
Book on the Lost Tribes – A couple of thousand
years before the word “globalization” was invented Jews traveled over
countries and continents in search of safety, commerce and scholarship
sometimes willing, sometimes not. They were loyal to their adopted lands
while retaining a national cohesion derived from a shared history and
heritage.
Amotz Asa-El, Executive Editor of the Jerusalem Post, has
chronicled the story of the Diaspora and the “lost tribes” in his book,
The Diaspora and the Lost Tribes of Israel. Asa-El traces the routes of
the dispersal and describes communities which have grown up around the
world.
JIMMY DEYOUNG’S “UNTIL NEWSLETTER”, Vol. 9, Issue 9 –
An Israeli archeological group has been sorting through piles of rubble
discarded by the Islamic Trust, custodians of Israel’s Temple Mount. They
have discovered artifacts dating back to the First and Second Temple
periods.
Six years ago the Islamic Trust unilaterally constructed a mosque
at an underground area in the Temple Mount (known as Solomon’s stables).
Following the construction the Muslim custodians discarded more than ten
thousand tons of rubble with history-rich artifacts at a garbage dump in the
Kidron Valley. These discoveries prove a history, denied by the mufti of
Jerusalem, of a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount dating from Abraham’s
time to Jesus Christ.
VAN IMPE INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING
The United Nations has abandoned its attempt to introduce a worldwide
legal ban on some or all types of human cloning. Its deeply divided general
assembly voted to adopt a declaration that prohibits ‘all forms of human
cloning inasmuch as they are incompatible with human dignity and the
protection of human life’. 84 nations, including those like the U.S. that
wanted to ban both types of cloning, reproductive and therapeutic, voted in
favor of the declaration. 37 nations abstained from the vote. The members
were unable to agree on whether a ban should cover only reproductive cloning
producing cloned babies or therapeutic cloning where the embryo is grown for
a short time to harvest stem cells or both.
NEAR EAST REPORT
To boost the Palestinian economy Israel has reduced security roadblocks
and checkpoints and increased the number of Palestinian work permits. Israel
is planning to turn over security control of five major West Bank cities to
Palestinian police forces.
Turkish Ties With Israel – In 1949 Turkey became
the first Islamic nation to recognize the Jewish State. From 1949 through
the 1980’s the Israeli-Turkish relationship has remained low-key as Arab
nations seek to isolate Israel diplomatically.
In 1986 members of Abu Nidal terrorist organization killed 22 Jews
in an Istanbul synagogue, promoting an outpouring of anger throughout
Turkey.
During 1991 and 1992 Turkey upgraded its ties with Israel to the
full ambassadorial level.
In 1994 Israeli President Ezer Weizman became the first Israeli
head of state to visit Turkey. Months later Tansu Ciller became the first
Turkish prime minister to visit Israel.
In 2004 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of a
political party with Islamic roots, aroused concern in the Jewish State by
sharply criticizing Israel. However, in 2005 Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul visited Israel as the countries stage their eighth annual joint
naval exercises since 1998 when the U.S., Israel and Turkey conducted
exercises.
Withdrawing from Gaza and parts of the West Bank,
Israel is taking significant actions to ease life for Palestinians and to
shore up the leadership of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
IDF has returned control of Jericho and Tulkarm to the PA security
forces, removing all military checkpoints and roadblocks from those cities.
The IDF also plans to return control of Jenin, Bethlehem, Qalqilyah and
Ramallah to the PA as soon as the current security situation allows. Israel
has reduced its checkpoints and roadblocks in the West Bank by half over the
past 18 months. Palestinian residents of the West Bank are being given
biometric identification cards so that they may cross through border
checkpoints into Israel without dealing with Israeli military personnel.
Seven new border-crossing terminals are to be built to allow faster
passage for Palestinians, at a total cost of about $400 million.
Israel has released more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from its
jails since 2004, including 500 on February 21 and another 398 on June 2.
Just before Abbas' election in December 2004, 159 prisoners were released.
Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres is traveling the world to raise
money to pay $100 monthly to struggling Palestinian families, convincing
India to contribute $15 million.
These actions open a window of opportunity for the Palestinians to
prove their commitment to peace.
INSIDE ISRAEL NEWSLETTER
A Miracle In January two antitank shells were fired at an IDF (Israeli
Defense Forces) base and five mortar shells were directed on various Jewish
communities. One missile made a direct hit on a synagogue filled with
worshipers during morning prayers. “Miraculously” not one injury resulted.
According to one person who was in the synagogue they had just finished
reading Exodus 15:11: “Who amongst the gods is like you, O God; who is like
You, majestic in sanctity”.
Hidden Holocaust Children – During World War II
Catholic families hid Jewish children and their identities from authorities
and the children themselves. It is unknown how many were hidden or how many
were returned to their parents.
The Vatican has been unwilling to open its documents on this
subject and these children are still an issue 60 years after the end of the
liberation of Auschwitz. Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld stated at a news conference
at the Vatican embassy in Washington said, “It is time for the Vatican to
hear loud and clear: ‘We want our children back.’ As long as the children of
all those murdered at Auschwitz do not know their true identities, how can
we truly say that Auschwitz has been liberated?”
There is additional Jewish interest because a short time ago a
document came into Jewish hands indicating that Pope Pius XII had approved a
church mandate not to return baptized Jewish children to their families.
Rabbi Herzfeld also stated that court action would likely be the next avenue
if the Vatican does not respond to the Jewish request for information about
Jewish children and the Holocaust.
A Historic Decision – Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar has
formally recognized the B’nei Menashe community that live on the border of
India, Burma and Bangladesh, as “descendants of Israel”.
They claim their descent from the lost tribe of Manasseh that was
exiled from Israel 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire. There are already
800 members living in Israel and this opens the door for the remaining 6,000
B’nei Menashe to come home to Israel.
“...I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from
the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not
back...” (Isaiah 43:5-6).
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