Photo: Wikipedia Commons

The Lemba  have prided themselves on their ancestry for 2,500 years. Recent DNA evidence has proven that the Lemba people of Zimbabwe are indeed Jewish. According to legend, prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, their ancestors left Judea and settled in what is now Yemen, later migrating to East Africa. While many stayed in Ethiopia, the Lemba migrated farther south and now number 80,000 in central Zimbabwe and parts of South Africa.

While their religion is no longer traditional Judaism, they carry on very similar customs, including wearing yarmulkes, refraining from pork and other foods forbidden by the Torah, and even placing Stars of David on tombstones.

Perhaps most tantalizing is their famed relic, the “ngoma lungundu,” roughly translating to “drum that thunders.” Carried from the Holy Land, it is now believed to be a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, made while the Lemba were in Yemen. Thought to have been lost in the aftermath of the Zimbabwean Civil War, it has only recently been rediscovered and is now on display in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital.

For more about the ngoma lungundu, click here.

We thank Ynet for this story.

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While the end of May is usually pretty hot and dry in Tel Aviv, Israeli R&B fans are looking forward to Rihanna bringing her “um-bre-ella” to Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv-Jaffa on May 30, 2010.

Details of the multi-platinum artist’s one-night performance will most likely be revealed in a press conference this week.  Rihanna’s itinerary also includes tour dates in the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and more.

Rihanna’s 2007 album Good Girl Gone Bad featured five top-10 singles in America including “Umbrella”,  “Disturbia”, and “Don’t Stop the Music”.  Her new album, Rated R,  already has three top 10 singles, giving her more top ten hits than any other female artist of the past 10 years.

In addition to Rihanna, Tel Aviv will soon be hosting other big names such as Elvis Costello, Metallica, and Elton John. This summer will be an exciting one for Israel’s music scene!

For more details, see Ynet.

Photo by SpreePix Berlin on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.

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Photo: Wikicommons

As the financial crisis spread from Wall Street to seemingly every corner of the world, the Bank of Israel’s governor, Stanley Fischer has been praised for steering Israel’s economy out of harm’s way. In an interview last week, Fischer explained to Fox Business how Israel survived the financial crisis.

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It’s not only pure solace on a chilly day, but also a true remedy for colds, sore throats, and even broken hearts!

People say that mothers know best but let me tell you, Jewish grandmothers know even better. And if this is their recommendation, I believe them.

Even if you don’t have your grandma around, you can cook it yourself. It’s very easy and only requires basic ingredients. To make things even easier, you can search for “winter package” in your supermarket. It contains the basic elements of this soup: parsley and/or celery root, onion, potato, carrot and a few dill strings.

One thing to bear in mind: the chicken you use must be fresh! You could use different parts. Even cheaper parts like wings or neck will do just fine. I personally love to use drumsticks (aka “poolke” in Yiddish).  Also, for a meatier flavor use chicken, turkey, and beef knee joint bones.

Classic Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

8-10 drumsticks

1 bunch dill, tied

1 bunch parsley, tied

2 onion, quartered

2-3 carrots cut coarsely

1 parsnip, cut coarsely (can sub for turnip)

1 celery root, cut coarsely

1 parsley root, cut coarsely

2 potatoes cut coarsely

Salt

10 black peppercorns

1-2 bay leaves

Method:

1. Line the bottom of a large pot the drumsticks (and other parts or bones if you have them).
2. Add 2 ½ quarts of water and bring to boil. Skim the foam that forms on top.
3. Add the vegetables, bay leaves, salt and pepper and bring again to boil.
4. Cook covered on a low heat for about an hour.
5. Add the herbs. Cook for another 20 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking, taste and adjust the seasoning.
6. Turn off the heat. If you like, remove some or all of the herbs from the soup (for a clear soup).

Serve to the ones you love

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According to Trevor Johnson, Facebook’s head of strategy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Israelis spend more time on Facebook than any other people in the world. Even if this is adjusted for population, for a country smaller than most U.S. states, amassing more than a billion minutes a month is quite impressive. In fact, Israelis spend more time on Facebook than Google and YouTube… combined!

While many would argue that there is no correlation between the amount of Facebook friends one has and how popular they are in real life, with a user average of over 140 friends, Israelis are well above the global average.

Israel’s love for Facebook has even caught the attention of military brass. With so many soldiers “plugged in” virtually 24/7, Israeli soldiers have been cautioned against publishing sensitive information on social networking sites.

It’s hard to imagine that a website started in a Harvard dorm room would, in just a few years, impact military policy halfway across the world.

As a final note from everyone at isRealli, bonus points if you accessed this article through Facebook.

We thank Haaretz for this story.

Photo provided by Flickr by smileham. Used under Creative Commons License.

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photo: HBO

After two seasons on HBO, the acclaimed series In Treatment will soon air for a third exciting season. Before we all delve back into the hearts and souls of the characters, the New York Women in Film and Television will conduct a panel on the series, during which the Israeli writers behind the original show Be-Tipul will meet with their American counterparts for a discussion on the question of translation, and the process of adapting an Israeli series into an all-American show.

In case you’re not familiar, In Treatment is a nightly drama that follows a psychiatrist as he treats various patients. The series has been critically acclaimed both in Israel and the U.S., drawing extra attention because of its unique adaptation process. While switching names for a character from “Naama” to  “Laura” is a technicality, writing a part for an American fighter pilot requires not only a new name, but a new mission–trading Gaza for Iraq.

Both shows give viewers a true sense of reality–that fly-on-the-wall experience. Much of the motor that drives Be-Tipul and In Treatment is their aura of stark authenticity. What the show offers is something you don’t see much on television, which is a cast concentrating on bringing life to long, complicated monologues while remaining seated.

Photo: HBO

The panel on March 9th will include Noa Tishby, an Israeli actress and the mastermind behind this adaptation. Tishby will shed light on what it takes to sell Israeli content to the know-it-all Hollywood scene. Also in the lineup, two screenwriters, Yael Hedaya and Sarah Treem, who will discuss what it meant to translate a Hebrew character into an American one, as well as the process of writing, feeling and expressing change between cultures, countries and religions.

It’s sure to be one heck of a session.

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The study, which included universities in London, New Orleans, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem, started off with a simple enough question: Why is it that despite guidelines recommending that peanuts be avoided during infancy in the UK, Australia, and other countries, that incidences of peanut allergy continue to rise in these countries?

The researchers attempted to answer this question by comparing the prevalence of peanut allergy in a country where peanuts are avoided for infants (the UK) with the prevalence of peanut allergy in a country where peanuts are introduced earlier and consumed more frequently (Israel).  When controlling for variables such as genetic background, social class, etc., the researchers found that in their sample of 10,000 children, kids in the UK were 10 times as likely to develop a peanut allergy.

While an observational study can determine only a correlation and not necessarily causation, the results of the study, available online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, suggest that early exposure to peanuts may have something to do with these discrepancies.

Israeli infants eat peanut on average 8 times a month, while British infants eat peanut 0 times a month (approximately 7 grams of peanut protein per month for Israeli infants and 0 grams for British infants).  One of the cultural reasons for this is a popular Israeli peanut flavored snack food called Bamba that is a common first solid food for Israeli babies.

The study concludes that “These findings raise the question of whether early introduction of peanut during infancy, rather than avoidance, will prevent the development of peanut allergy.”  The idea that early exposure to foods may help prevent allergies to them even among infants with a family history of allergies, has been gaining the attention of policy makers in the UK.

Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is currently funding a further investigation of the issue that will focus on British children at high risk for allergy.  Half of the group will be introduced to peanuts at an earlier age and half will avoid peanuts.  Researchers will measure the rate of allergy in both groups and have results ready in 2014, when the children turn 5.

The results could change the way doctors and parents look at food allergies.  Until then… Bamba anyone??

For more information on the study and its implications, see TIME Magazine’s article on the topic.

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For those of you who love the Swedes, assembling your own furniture, or just looking for a mile long stroll, be sure to check out the new IKEA store opening March 9th. While it will be Israel’s second store, the Rishon Lezion location is sure to be the biggest in the region, eclipsing even the massive Dubai store.

The new king of Middle East dining tables and kitchenettes is 366,000 square feet in size, with 1,400 parking spaces in what must be a truly massive parking lot! In addition to the four bus routes that will be stopping at the new store, the road leading there had to be beefed up from two to four lanes to accommodate the expected traffic.

In between browsing the 46 showrooms, you may work up quite the appetite. While not as absurd as having a built in food court, this IKEA will feature a restaurant which claims to be the largest in all of Israel. And with 500 seats,  we’ll take their word for it.

To read more about what IKEA CEO Shlomi Gabbai expects out of IKEA’s big opening, check out this article in Ynet.

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Photo: Ilan Klein

Media Icon, Wendy Williams is this year’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. award recipient. The award was given to Williams by the Consulate General of Israel in New York for her work toward dialogue, understanding and compassion between people of different backgrounds. During her years in television, Ms. Williams has successfully crossed all barriers of religion and ethnicity to become a leader in the community at-large, representing and respecting everyday America.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Award has been presented by the Consulate General of Israel in New York for the past 19 years to individuals and organizations promoting ethnic and cultural understanding ” I am honored to receive this award”, said Ms. Williams, “this is such a special day and it means so much to me”.
This annual tribute to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. honors the dream of peaceful coexistence between people of diverse religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds. To commemorate this great visionary, each year the State of Israel, together with the Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, honor those whose work keeps alive Dr. King’s legacy of hope and peace.

“As a diplomat I was trained to speak in a certain manner”, said Israel’s Consul General in New York, Asaf Shariv,  ” bearing that in mind I just want to say  how you doin’! or as we say in Hebrew Ma Kore? on a serious note, Ms. Williams is a media icon who knows how to communicate to her audience which consists of a broad section of American.  Her warmth in dialogue creates an atmosphere of equality and encourages her viewers to talk about everyday issue, setting aside any differences in backgrounds. Dr. King understood the important relationship between the African American community and the Jewish people and the State of Israel.  This bond is unbreakable.  We are honored to be able to present this award for the past 19 years and we are honored to have Ms. Williams as this year’s recipient.”

In recognition of her work the Jewish National Fund has planted trees under Ms. Williams’s name, in the Dr. Martin Luther King Forest in Israel. These trees come as an addition to trees planted for past honorees which include: Mayor David Dinkins, Congressman Charles Rangel, Author Toni Morrison, Jazz legend Lionel Hampton and many others.

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Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former American Vice President Al Gore has invested $10 million in the Israeli start-up company Green Road Technologies Ltd. The money comes from Gore’s cleantech fund, Generation Investment Management LLP.  In making this move, Gore joins other big names who have invested in the Israeli company such as Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Green Ventures, Balderton Capital,  and DAG Ventures.

So what exactly is this Israeli start-up doing that is generating so much buzz?  Green Road Technologies has figured out a way to make driving both safer and greener.  The company has created the “GreenRoad 360 service” that provides drivers and their fleet managers with real-time feedback on the manner in which a person is driving.  When the driver starts the day, the device shows a green light.  If the driver displays erratic driving such as slamming on the breaks or swerving, the light becomes yellow.  If the reckless driving continues, the light turns red.  While it may sound simple, the algorithms can analyze more than 120 different driving maneuvers providing life-saving, and money-saving, feedback to the driver’s supervisor.

Green Road Technologies says their customers can experience a 50% reduction in accident related costs and a 10% reduction in fuel costs.  Billions of dollars could be saved every year by improving driving behavior, the most significant factor in determining fuel efficiency.  By improving driving behavior, this Israeli start-up is hoping to make companies more efficient, more green, and safer. According to TechCrunch, “fuel savings just from driving less aggressively can save a company some $300 per vehicle per year, and when you factor in crash savings it’s more like $1000 to $4000 in savings per vehicle per year.”

The company has its headquarters near San Francisco as well as its 90-person research and development center in Or Yehuda in Israel.  Chief of Safety Hod Fleishman, one of the company’s founders, told Globes that he believes that the company could become profitable very soon. He explained, “This may be our final financing round.”

For more information on how the technology works, see Green Road Technology’s website.

Photo courtesy of World Economic Forum on flickr used under Creative Commons License.

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