Israelis know that the Jewish State cannot
afford to lose a single war or conflict.
In fact prevention of any loss of innocent life is paramount to
Israelis. And a determined “refusal to
give up” is almost a national character trait that can be seen in many other
aspects of Israeli society.
Israel is one of the top countries working
to prevent or reduce loss of life from cancer. Researchers at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical
Center have just made a major breakthrough by discovering how breast cancer
develops resistance to anti-cancer drugs.
The finding should help develop new treatments. And only Israelis can learn how a killer
virus can prevent
loss of life. Scientists at
Israel’s Weizmann Institute have identified how the HIV virus suppresses the
T-cell immune response and can help fight the battle against deadly autoimmune
diseases.
Israelis apply the “preventing loss of
life” principle right across the world.
Anat from Israel’s il4syrians.org is called “Syria’s Israeli guardian
angel”. Her 200 volunteers include former Israeli commandos, doctors, social
workers, nurses, and Arabic-speaking trauma specialists who provide
relief to thousands of Syrian refugees. Israel has also not lost track
of the hundreds of thousands who lost everything in Typhoon Haiyan. Agricultural developers from Israel’s Tahal
Group are providing technology assistance to help recovery operations in the
Philippines province of Davao del Sur.
Americans and Europeans are also currently experiencing extreme weather
conditions. Many will therefore appreciate Israel’s ClickSoftware which reduces
the huge losses
suffered in those countries by helping to schedule employees
responsible for repairing damage from storms, fires, earthquakes, gas leaks and
burst water mains.
Israeli hi-tech is already the world’s best
hope of preventing massive loss of life
through drought and global starvation.
At Tel Aviv’s recent WATEC water technology conference, the JNF
showcased its innovations for preventing
the loss of precious water resources to other drought-ravaged
countries and demonstrated how to make non-arable land better suited for
agriculture. Next, take a look at
AgriTask from Israel’s ScanTask - the new “Waze” of agriculture – that helps
farmers make decisions on irrigating, planting, harvesting and the use of
pesticides.
Staying in the water, Israel’s Amiad is
benefiting from new US Navy regulations designed to stop
the loss of water pollutants from its ships. All new vessels assembled at the Navy’s Virginia shipyards will
be fitted with Amiad’s water filters, including the massive new USS John F
Kennedy aircraft carrier. And whilst
we’re afloat, I must highlight that Israel’s Ben Gurion University and Canada’s
Dalhousie University are to jointly build an Internationally recognized Ocean
studies center in Eilat. Among the many
aims of the center is to avert
the loss of endangered marine species.
Two Israeli organizations have recently
promoted the Jewish value that no child should lose the
opportunity for a decent education.
The first is the Haifa
Center for Children with Learning Disabilities (Chi.L.D.) - a dynamic
learning and therapeutic center providing children and families with vital
educational, social and therapeutic services.
The second is the amazing Israel Center
for Excellence through Education, which has developed the CIJE
Excellence 2000 program now being exported to the US, Australia, Austria,
India, Poland and Singapore.
The International Christian Embassy
Jerusalem is helping to ensure the Jewish State does not
lose connection with its lost tribes by sponsoring the immigration of
another wave of members of India’s Bnei Menashe to Israel, reuniting them with
their families and ancestral homeland.
And Israeli artist Irene Orleansky has partnered with the Abayudaya Jewish Community of Uganda
to create "Shalom, Mirembe!" as part of a music collection from
Israelites and Jews of Africa and Asia.
Here are two recent examples where Israel
strives not to
lose the connection between its people and their heritage. Firstly, the Yad Ezer La’Haver
("helping hand to a friend") association arranged for twelve
Holocaust survivors to celebrate a joint bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah ceremony,
as they lost
the chance to mark their coming of age during their youth. “At the age of thirteen I was in
Auschwitz," said one of them. "There wasn't really anyone to talk to
about celebrations." Secondly,
please watch this new 7-minute documentary featuring Jewish families who lived
in Jerusalem’s Old City for generations, but lost their homes
when the Arab Legion evicted them in 1948 after the State of Israel was
declared. They returned 19 years later in 1967 after Israeli forces liberated
the Old City during the Six Day War.
Finally, we return to the Israeli
determination not to lose a single soul.
On a recent Shabbat morning, two religious students visited our local
Netanya Laniado Hospital to distribute sweets and wish everyone a “speedy
recovery.” They sang to a 60-year-old
woman who was close to death and by Monday she had revived, amazing the medical
staff. “Thanks
to them I am alive,” she said.
With Israel’s winning, life-giving team
- you cannot lose!
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly
newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to
michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com
