news items from the Jewish World and Israel
The recent announcement that the winners of the Nobel Price in Chemistry are two former Israeli scientists has spurred the conversation about brain drain and if there is something that can be done to stop it.
Everyone agrees that the “Brain Drain” is not the real issue at hand in the Israeli academia, but rather a switch in the infrastructure of how universities research programs are funded by the government.
With less than twelve-thousand inhabitants the Druze Village, Beit Jann, has become world famous as number one place in Israel with highest high school graduates, as it reported one-hundred percent of its students graduated from the local high school.
Over 400 delegates from all five continents of the world gathered this week to talk about issues concerning Israel and the world Jewry at the annual Jewish Agency for Israel assembly.
Under the leadership of Chairman Natan Sharansky, the Jewish Agency for Israel has shifted its priorities from promoting Aliyah to the strengthening Jewish identity for young adults around the world and now Prime Minister Netanyahu has promised his financial support for this effort too.
Many Israeli television shows have made their way by now onto American television, however this is the first time ever that the Israel version of a show premieres after the American one. Series creators, Rotem Shamir and Omri Givon, claim the whole process has been overwhelming especially the fact that their show was sold to the US even before they secured a broadcaster in Israel. Hostages on CBS is quickly becoming one of the biggest hits of the fall season so the Israeli creators are already anxiously awaiting the call from Hollywood that their show has been picked up for the very coveted second season.
We are at the Sanherdria cemetery, where these moments Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, one of the greatest Rabbis of the State of Israel is being buried. He passed away this afternoon at the age of 93. About 700,000 people, an eighth of the population of Israel, have swarmed into Jerusalem in order to participate in mourning of this great Rabbi. In addition to being one of the fiercest Jewish lawmakers of the century, Rabbi Ovdia Yosef, was also the leader of the ultra-orthodox Shas party, which as of tomorrow is going to undergo one of the harshest inheritance wars it ever saw.