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Engaging Jewishly While Social Distancing and Sheltering in Place

05/28/2020 08:05:08 PM

May28

Andrew Blumberg

Many opportunities are being made available for online Jewish and Israel engagement during this time of physical separation. Scroll though this blog post to learn about online events including concerts, music, dance, holiday celebrations, theater, film, art, discussion and live performance.

This blog post is being updated as events become known, so check back for new additions. Events that do not include a date can be...Read more...

Free genealogy resources available during the pandemic

04/23/2020 06:24:04 PM

Apr23

Andrew Blumberg

Genealogy is one of America’s favorite hobbies. Researching your family history, finding relatives and creating a family tree can be an engaging, fun and exciting activity whether you do it alone or with your family. There are databases to search, courses to take, people to connect with and family trees to be created – all online. Many resources are free while others require payment for access. While we’re all spending time at home,...Read more...

Watch "the Hippest Seder on Earth"

04/11/2020 10:04:54 AM

Apr11

Andrew Blumberg

Described as “a cross between summer camp in the Catskills and a progressive jazz concert” by the New York Times, “the coolest downtown seder in NYC” by TimeOut and “the hippest Seder on Earth” by The Forward, the annual Downtown Seder has for more than 25 years gathered musicians, artists, entertainers, politicians, comedians and thinkers. The Downtown Seder is an always unique, often irreverent and frequently...Read more...

Registration is open for Birthright Israel

09/04/2019 12:38:52 PM

Sep4

Andrew Blumberg

Registration is open for Birthright Israel. Click the "read more" link below for information.Read more...

Tune in to Israel on your phone (updated)

08/28/2019 08:30:07 PM

Aug28

Andrew Blumberg

It’s easier than ever to tune in to radio and podcasts from around the world, and there are plenty from and about Israel. One source is Kan, the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation. There are several Kan stations available on the TuneIn radio app and other apps as well. The Kan programs are live and carry a variety of content such as Kan Gimmel for Israeli music, Kan Kol Hamusica for classical music and Kan 88 for jazz, blues and...Read more...

Music, Theater, Art and Exhibition

08/14/2019 10:27:35 PM

Aug14

Andrew Blumberg

Below is a new list of arts to enjoy in the New York area. Every week, the Cultural Affairs Department of Israel’s Consulate in New York sends information about Israeli artists specializing in the performing, visual, literary, and cinematic arts, who are performing or exhibiting in the New York area.

You can receive updates in your inbox ever week by subscribing to their email.

Read more...

On the big and small screens

07/30/2019 05:16:44 PM

Jul30

Andrew Blumberg

This week's post includes links to Israeli films and an overview and links to sessions from the Summit on Combating Anti-Semitism, with one of particular interest if you or your children are in or are getting ready for college. 

Israeli films

Check out these links for Israeli made or directed films playing now in Manhattan and coming soon to HBO:

Mike Wallace Is Here Tel Aviv on Fire Skin Our Boys (on...Read more...

Teaching high School Students to Demonize Israel

07/21/2019 09:57:36 AM

Jul21

Andrew Blumberg

You’re probably familiar with ongoing and growing attacks against Israel, and students who support it, on the campuses of American colleges and universities.

Now those attacks are moving downstream into high schools, turning them into a new front line in the effort to turn American educational institutions into hotbeds of disinformation and attacks on the Jewish state. Efforts are already under way in Skokie, Illinois; Charleston,...Read more...

Israeli Culture in NY

07/10/2019 10:42:47 AM

Jul10

Every week, the Cultural Affairs Department of Israel’s Consulate in New York sends information about the latest young, emerging and more established Israeli artists specializing in the performing, visual, literary, and cinematic arts, who are performing or exhibiting in the New York area.

You can stay up-to-date on these events by subscribing to their email. Click this link to see what the latest email looks like in a PDF...Read more...

Enough water to refill the Sea

07/03/2019 10:13:51 AM

Jul3

Andrew Blumberg

An innovative new water project will allow Israel to pump desalinated water from the Mediterranean into the Sea of Galilee. The project has major implications beyond meeting Israel’s own water needs. It could potentially alter the face of water diplomacy by enabling Israel to share even more water than it does now with its neighbors, and it could provide a new model for drought-stricken areas around the world to navigate water...Read more...

Israeli partners tapped to help NYC become a global cybersecurity leader

06/24/2019 08:54:11 PM

Jun24

Andrew Blumberg

With some Israeli help, New York City aims to become the global capital of cybersecurity. Its Cyber NYC initiative is a public-private partnership fueled by a $30 million investment from the City of New York and $70 million in private funding. It aims to attract businesses and produce 100,000 jobs over the next ten years.

The city’s search for business partners led to the selection of three Israeli partners to lead components...Read more...

21st Century Jewish Peoplehood

06/12/2019 10:13:18 PM

Jun12

Andrew Blumberg

If you have an interest in any of: Jewish continuation, a thriving Jewish People, a thriving Jewish state, the Jewish right of self determination, engagement of American Jewry with Jewish Peoplehood and the State of Israel, or...Read more...

Out on the town - Israeli and other Jewish Cultural events

06/05/2019 11:48:59 PM

Jun5

Andrew Blumberg

If you’re looking for things to do for a day or night on the town, there are options to satisfy many interests over the next few weeks including:

a film festival,  Tikkun Leil Shavuot with an astrophysicist from NASA,  a block party,  cantors accompanied by a 16-piece orchestra in Central Park,  jazz in an intimate venue,  exhibits,  Middle Eastern and Hebraic folk melodies performed by an...Read more...

Celebrate Israel Parade

05/28/2019 07:27:59 PM

May28

Andrew Blumberg

Going to the Celebrate Israel Parade is a great way to celebrate Yom Yerushalayim!

The parade takes place on Sunday, June 2nd, from 11AM to 4PM on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan between 57th street and 74th street.

You can be a spectator along the parade...Read more...

Yom Yerushalayim - Jerusalem Day

05/22/2019 08:05:48 PM

May22

Andrew Blumberg

At sundown on June 2nd we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, the anniversary of the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem in 1967. For the first time in two thousand years the entire city of Jerusalem came under Jewish sovereignty. The destruction of Jerusalem began thousands of years of exile and destruction for the Jewish people, and thousands of years of mourning and longing as we're reminded when we conclude our Seders with the...Read more...

Israel’s Two-Wheeled Solution to Traffic and Sabbath

05/20/2019 05:28:16 PM

May20

Andrew Blumberg

Electric-scooter rental companies are hitting speed bumps in the U.S. over safety and other concerns.
But in Tel Aviv, one in 10 residents has rented an e-scooter, and the city appears to be embracing them.

Here’s a look (video) at the challenges and potential lessons of the e-scooter craze.

Read more...

Israel at 71

05/14/2019 05:46:26 PM

May14

Andrew Blumberg

Israel21c provides a fun and fascinating by-the-numbers picture of Israel at 71. It’s a long list that includes:

In 1948, about 2% of Israel was covered in trees. Now it’s up to around 8.5%. The largest seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world produces 20% of domestic water consumption. Sixty to 80% of Israel’s municipal water, adjusted according to season and real-time demand, flows from large coastal...Read more...

Canadian-Jewish exceptionalism

05/14/2019 05:41:33 PM

May14

Andrew Blumberg

According to authors of a new study of Canadian Jewry, “whatever the validity of conventional wisdom on Jewish assimilation in the Diaspora, it does not appear to apply well” to Canadian Jewry. With a growing population estimated at 392,000 people, it seems to be doing an unusually good job of keeping younger cohorts attached to, and involved in, Jewish life.

Reporting on the study, an author for Tablet Magazine wrote that...Read more...

Reading for Yom Ha’atzmaut

05/09/2019 01:13:23 PM

May9

Andrew Blumberg

Here’s some Yom Ha’atzmaut reading from the Jewish Review of Books. If you're on the preview page you'll have to click "Read more..." below to use the links to these pieces. 

A Stone for His Slingshot

A review of Israel: A History by Anita Shapira

Read more...

Celebrate Independence!

05/01/2019 07:07:52 PM

May1

Andrew Blumberg

Chag Ha’atzmaut Sameach!

Yom Ha’atzmaut is Independence Day for Israel and Independence Day for the Jews.

It celebrates the day when after nearly 2,000 years, we again became am chofshi b’artzenu – a free people in our land.

This year the holiday is celebrated beginning at sundown on May 8th.

Israel21c offers 12 ways to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut like an Israeli, such as recommendations for eating...Read more...

Israeli and Jewish Culture in our area

05/01/2019 07:05:01 PM

May1

Andrew Blumberg

Israel’s Office of Cultural Affairs provides information about Israeli culture in our area. Events include art, music, dance, film. theater, museum exhibitions and more. Connect with them on Facebook for updates and information on current events, or subscribe to their weekly email newsletter.

Read more...

Write On For Israel

05/01/2019 06:59:34 PM

May1

Andrew Blumberg

Attention sophomores: A project of The New York Jewish Week, Write On For Israel teaches students about Israel and the dynamics of pro-Israel advocacy on campus through the lens of journalism. Qualified students entering their junior year of high school in the Fall of 2019 are invited to apply.

Program highlights include: ​​​​​​​

 - Learn how to make Israel’s case on campus

 - Meet leading...Read more...

Travel to Israel, eat and drink like an Israeli

04/16/2019 05:38:13 PM

Apr16

Andrew Blumberg

Tourism to Israel is at record levels. 683,000 tourists visited Israel in January and February, up 16% from the first two months of 2018. A record 4.1 million tourists visited Israel in 2018, up 14% from 2017, which was itself a record. Globes reports that the high level of tourism to Israel is creating demand for new places to say, and hotels are doing brisk business in unusual locations. To meet the record, international chains are opening...Read more...

From Israel to the moon

04/04/2019 11:03:51 AM

Apr4

Andrew Blumberg

Israel had hoped to become the fourth country in the world to land a spacecraft on the moon, with the launch of the unmanned spacecraft Beresheet from Florida’s Cape Canaveral. The project is funded almost entirely from private donations. The craft sent...Read more...

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