On Saturday November 29, 1947, Jews and non-Jewish supporters of Israel worldwide waited with baited breath listening to live radio broadcast from the UN in New York as the nations of the world voted to establish a Jewish state in the Biblical Land of Israel. People broke into spontaneous celebration, singing and dancing in the streets. It was as if 2000 years of exile had all bubbled to the top and those privileged to live to witness this moment celebrated for themselves, and for the many generations over two millennia who had only been able to dream and pray for this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGLgIeZVtno

The emotions of the moment were particularly striking given that the ashes of the Holocaust still smoldered in the recent memory of Jews worldwide, making this historic occasion bitter sweet. If the world had only cared to recognize and establish the Jewish people's legitimate and historic right to a country of their own several years earlier, millions of Jews could have been saved from the gas chambers and death camps of Nazi Europe. Many of those celebrating on November 29 bore the physical tattoo of having been interned in Nazi concentration camps. Many more shared the psychological scar of the Holocaust, the loss of their parents and grand parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, spouses and children, friends and neighbors, a full one third of the Jewish people!

Tears of joy for what was coming in the promise

The 2,300-year-old harbor of Hellenistic Ptolemais - today known as Acre or Akko in Hebrew - was uncovered recently by Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) marine archaeologists.

The IAA said in a press release Tuesday that in its excavations at the foot of Acre's southern seawall, installations were exposed that belong to a harbor that was already operating in the city in the Hellenistic period (third-second centuries BCE) and was the most important port in Israel at that time.

Among the finds at the harbor are large mooring stones (photos 2 and 3 below) that were incorporated in the quay, which were used to secure sailing vessels. This was probably a military harbor. The finds were discovered during excavations that are part of the seawall conservation project undertaken by the Old Akko Development Company and underwritten by the Israel Lands Administration.

Floor of the ancient quay discovered in Acre. Photo courtesy: Kobi Sharvit, Israel Antiquities Authority

The first evidence indicating the possible existence of this quay was in 2009 when a section of pavement was discovered comprised of large kurkar flagstones dressed in a technique reminiscent of the Phoenician style that is

Living in the gentle hills of Hoshaya near to ancient Sepphoris in the Galilee, outside the hustle and bustle of central Israel, Segi Malamed remains quite atuned to the pulse of the country. His blog below provides an insightful perspective on the current state of the Israeli consciousness.

During Passover vacation I was invited to talk to Hamidrasha's Nifgashim B'Shvil Israel, a group that is hiking the Israel National Trail as a meaningful way to commemorate the 73 IDF victims of the fatal 1997 helicopter collision over moshav She'ar Yashuv.  As the group's website says, it is "a unique way to meet, to have direct dialog, and to discuss basic questions about Israeli society and Jewish heritage - while hiking."

We met in the pine forest on the outskirts of Kibbutz Ramot Menashe.  The 300-strong group was extremely varied: men, women and children, young adults and the elderly, religious and secular - a sampling of the entire range of ingredients in the "Israeli salad."  Despite the 15 kilometers the group had hiked that day, they were remarkably alert and attentive.  I shared with them some of my musings over the past few years about Israeli society, and asked for reactions from these people who were seeking common denominators for Israeli society. 

In the spirit of Passover, I framed the discussion as a series of questions

:

What

Living in the gentle hills of Hoshaya near to ancient Sepphoris in the Galilee, outside the hustle and bustle of central Israel, Segi Malamed remains quite atuned to the pulse of the country. His blog below provides an insightful perspective on the current state of the Israeli consciousness.

During Passover vacation I was invited to talk to Hamidrasha's Nifgashim B'Shvil Israel, a group that is hiking the Israel National Trail as a meaningful way to commemorate the 73 IDF victims of the fatal 1997 helicopter collision over moshav She'ar Yashuv.  As the group's website says, it is "a unique way to meet, to have direct dialog, and to discuss basic questions about Israeli society and Jewish heritage - while hiking."

We met in the pine forest on the outskirts of Kibbutz Ramot Menashe.  The 300-strong group was extremely varied: men, women and children, young adults and the elderly, religious and secular - a sampling of the entire range of ingredients in the "Israeli salad."  Despite the 15 kilometers the group had hiked that day, they were remarkably alert and attentive.  I shared with them some of my musings over the past few years about Israeli society, and asked for reactions from these people who were seeking common denominators for Israeli society. 

In the spirit of Passover, I framed the discussion as a series of questions:

What are we really?  Does the group called "citizens of the St

The Bank of Israel Visitor Center has been designated a heritage site and will be open to the public on Israel's 64th Independence Day, Iyar 4, 5772, April 26, 2012.

The Bank of Israel Visitors Center received the heritage site designation because of the following features:

1. It preserves ancient Jewish coins, which constitute an historical asset, and exhibits them to the public.
2. It educates about the preservation of Israel's heritage, and imparts values related to identity and identification.
3. It exposes the public to heritage assets by means of seminars and tours, showing the history of coins in Israel and how the heritage of the nation and the state is reflected in its banknotes and coins, and stressing the affinity of Israel's coins with Jewish coins of earlier periods of Jewish autonomy in the Land of Israel.

The Visitors Center contains exhibits showing the history of coins and banknotes. Items displayed include those related to pre-coinage periods, the world's first coins, the first coins minted in Israel, ancient Jewish coins, and ancient coins in Israel from all periods, money substitutes, and all banknotes and coins from the time of the British Mandate till today. Exhibits also illustrate the process of issuing money, security features against counterfei

All at once tragic, beautiful and a symbol of both pure evil and pure goodness, Naharyim is a tiny strip of land situated between the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers which is a must see on any visit to the northern part of the Land of Israel. The little strip of land is often referred to as the island of peace because it sits smack dab between Jordan and Israel.

Naharayim by the Jordan river; Photo courtesy Travelujah

The area was under Israeli control until the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan was signed in 1994 and Israel ceded the area to Jordan. However, in a twist worthy of King Solomon, the Jordanians agreed to lease it back to the Israelis so that the Israeli residents there could continue to cultivate the land.

On Tuesday, 17th or 18th October 1009, a group of workmen entered the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and started demolishing what was then (and is now) the holiest site for Christians worldwide. Who ordered them to do so, and why?

The answer lied on the banks of the Nile, inside the head of the Caliph of the Fatimid Empire Abu 'Ali Mansur al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. This man, whose Arabic name literally meant "Ruler by God's Command", ruled from his palace in old Cairo over a vast strip of land stretching from modern Tunisia in the west to modern Syria in the east, including all of the Holy Land.

Al-Hakim's reign, which began at the age of eleven, was a relatively troubled one. The Caliphate under his rule faced opponents abroad, such as the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad (which saw his rule as illegitimate on the grounds that he was a missionary of Shi'ite Islam rather than Sunni Islam). In addition, the army under Al-Hakim's command was torn by rival factions.

Al-Hakim repeatedly exhibited eccentric and capricious behavior. Besides executing several viziers (chief ministers) in a short period of time, he was very much obsessed with his subjects' morality. This obsession found expression in strange rules regarding every aspect of their daily lives (down to their diet), and also in harsh measures taken against non-Muslims.

The most famous of these measures was the 1009 order for the destruction o

This chronicle of Solomon's Temple was created by Sir Isaac Newton and originally published within "The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended" by Sir Isaac Newton (1728).

We'll begin with the ending: We may never know with certainty which of the four sites associated with "Emmaus" is the true site. Which one is the actual location where Jesus appeared to His disciples following His resurrection? The story in Luke 24 recounts how two of Jesus' disciples met Him while traveling. They were heading west from Jerusalem, to Emmaus. They spoke with the "stranger" for a while; only later, when they ate together, was Jesus' true identity revealed. Later, the two disciples headed back to Jerusalem.

The name "Emmaus" is a mispronunciation of the Hebrew word "Hammat," meaning hot springs, so the site must be near a natural spring. The distance is also crucial in identifying Emmaus. The disciples traveled in a single day from Jerusalem, to Emmaus, and back. Therefore, the biblical site of Emmaus needs to be within round-trip distance from Jerusalem. The distance in the Gospels is measured as "three-score furlongs" (Luke 24: 13), which is most commonly translated as approximately 60 "stadia," (an ancient Greek unit of length). However, there are discrepancies within the text; some translations state that the distance was 160 stadia. Depending on the translation, Emmaus can be anywhere from seven to 18 miles away.

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