Today is the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat, a historically minor Jewish holiday that has gained momentum and become an important day in Israeli history. While we all know that Rosh Hashana is the official new year for the Jewish calendar, today’s holiday of “Tu Bishvat” is celebrated as the “New Year of the Trees.” A symbolic day of revival and rejuvenation, it is often chosen as the inauguration date for Israel’s major institutions. For example, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, celebrates its birthday on Tu Bishvat. The cornerstone-laying of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem took place on Tu Bishvat in 1918, and the Technion in Haifa, which was recently announced to be partnering with Cornell to build New York City’s new high tech campus, was inaugurated on Tu Bishvat in 1925.

In a sense, the entire State of Israel, founded in 1948, embodies the spirit of Tu Bishvat. The sprawling forests in Israel are largely the result of afforestation efforts by organizations like the Jewish National Fund, which, thanks to planting over 240 million new trees, made Israel one of the only country in the world who entered the 21st century with a net increase in trees over the last century. While everyone knows the history of Jerusalem and its amazing history, perhaps it is Israel’s second largest city, Tel Aviv, that tells the story of “new Israel.”

Tel Aviv, famous today for its party scene and restaurants all situated next to gorgeous Mediterranean beaches, would have been unrecognizable a century ago. In the early 20th century, the area which is now Tel Aviv was nothing put sand dunes as far as the eye could see. When the population began to boom in the 1920s, Tel Aviv’s city council began to think about planning the new city to be able to expand by Patrick Geddes, a Scottish botanist. Today, Tel Aviv’s green imprint is evidenced every time you walk down its most famous streets, like Rothschild Boulevard, which features a “green belt.” This Saturday, February 10th, there will even be a special English-language tour of Tel Aviv’s “green” avenues.

Of course, like any good holiday, there needs to be delicious food! Think of it as a passover Seder, substituting matzoh and brisket with Israeli fruit and nuts. Check out this recipe below for an almond and orange braid (makes about 2 7″ braids), courtesy of Haaretz.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb finely almond flour, or finely ground almonds

4 1/2 oz. granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (optional)

1 egg

2 egg yolks

4 tablespoons chopped candied orange peel (or grated zest of one orange)

2 sheets of puff pastry, 1.1 lb., thawed in the fridge over night.

1 tablespoon coarse sugar

Directions:

1. Put the almond flour, granulated sugar, fennel seeds, egg and one of the yolks in the food processor and run until it forms a dough.

2. Transfer into a bowl and knead the orange peel in.

3. Turn the oven to 375 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.

4. Spoon the almond filling lengthwise down the center of the pastry. Cut slits 1 inch apart from the 2 sides of the pastry rectangle to within 1/2 inch of the almond filling. Starting at one end, fold the pastry strips over the almond mixture, alternating sides, to cover the almond filling.

5. Mix the second egg yolk with a tablespoon of water. Brush the pastry with the egg yolk mixture. Sprinkle with the coarse sugar. Place the pastry onto the baking sheet.

6. Bake for 25 to 30 minute, until the braid is puffed and the top is golden. Serve warm with ice cream on the side.

Like

Unlike

Related posts:

1. Happy Tu Bishvat from Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S.! This year's "New Year of the Trees" carries special meaning...
2. The Negev: Desert, Trees, and Solar Energy Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research.Photo: David Shankbone, on Flickr....
3. How You Doin’ Israel- Wendy Williams is this year’s MLK award recipient Media Icon, Wendy Williams is this year's Dr. Martin Luther...

Say what you want about Madonna, but numbers don’t lie. The pop legend’s Super Bowl performance on Sunday was the most watched of all time, with 114 million people tuning in.  The next time she sings “Like a Virgin,” it will be to a maximum crowd of 8 million - assuming everyone in Israel attends her show in Tel Aviv. The 53-year old star can still bring it, and bring it she will on May 29th, when she begins her first tour since 2009.

The 2012 tour will include 90 shows, her most extensive yet, according to Arthur Fogel, CEO of Live Nation Global Touring, the worldwide producers of her tour. The tour is all going to promote her new album, “MDNA” which releases on March 26th. Tickets for the Tel Aviv show will go on sale February 10th, and you can bet they will be selling out in record time. In addition to Israel, her tour will take her to 26 European markets, and she’ll touch down in late summer for a series of 26 shows across North America, including a September 6th show at Yankee Stadium.

There’s a certain bit of symmetry with this tour. Her last tour, “Sticky & Sweet” wrapped up in Tel Aviv, where her upcoming tour is soon to begin. Israel of course has a very special place in Madonna’s heart, as she has long embraced Jewish mysticism, Kaballah.

For the handful of you who didn’t see her amazing halftime show, check it out below. And if you’re in North America, you can purchase tickets at Ticketmaster.com and LiveNation.com.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyfdoZldrS4

Related posts:

1. Madonna on Her Israel Tour Like Unlike...
2. Rihanna Ending European Tour with Concert in Tel Aviv Please don't stop the music...Tel Aviv's impressive summer lineup of...
3. A Guitarists Tour of Israel Danny is an Israeli guitarist who works with Kelly Clarkson....

By Vicki Cobb

Here, he is a household name, a national hero in the eyes of these bright students. Nine years after his untimely death, Ilan Ramon, the first and only Israeli to travel to space, is a powerful inspiration for the hundreds of Israeli students reaching for the stars.

On my recent trip to Israel, I witnessed the dedication of the Frank Family Aerospace Center at The Zimmetbaum High School in Arad, one of the schools in the ORT network. Dr. Charlotte K. Frank, a board member of the America –Israel Friendship League and Senior Vice-President of McGraw-Hill and its generous benefactor, launched a fully equipped computer classroom, planetarium and roof observatory to encourage today’s high school students to dream big.

Highly advanced telescope at the ORT School. Part of their innovative planetarium.

Today, February 1^st, 2012 is the ninth anniversary of the shuttle Columbia’s ill-fated reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere after a fifteen-day mission at the International Space Station.  All seven of its astronauts perished, including payload specialist Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli Astronaut. Ilan’s mission sadly was never completed. On that Saturday afternoon, as two nations were holding their collective breaths, the Columbia mission came to its tragic end.

Ramon has become a contemporary Jewish hero and a symbol for Israel’s prominence in science and technology. For Israelis, they see Ramon’s legacy as a continuation of its founder, David Ben-Gurion. Ben-Gurion’s vision for Israel emphasized excellence in science and technology as essential for the survival of the Jewish State.  He felt that Israel’s place in the world would be defined by its achievements in science..

Today, Ben-Gurion’s vision is realized in Israel’s high-tech entrepreneurship, second only to Silicon Valley. The recently announced partnership between Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to create a state-of-the-art applied sciences campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City is just the latest example of foreign investment in Israel’s “Silicon Valley East.”

Ilan Ramon was a product of the Israeli education system, and a model for the nation’s values.  From my recent visit to Israel I learned that when it comes to being pioneers, Israelis are not only cultivating the arid land, but also not afraid to reach for the stars. Ilan Ramon’s legacy lives on.

Related posts:

1. Israel Mourns the Death of Assaf Ramon, Son of the First Israeli Astronaut Ilan Ramon Assaf Ramon was only a teenager when his father, Lt....
2. Remembering Ilan Ramon, Israeli Astronaut & Hero We can’t believe it has been 5 years since that...
3. Does The Green Lantern Feature David Ben-Gurion? No, you read that right. Israel's first Prime Minister has...

Earlier today, Hollywood’s phones were ringing off the hook as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for this year’s Oscars, which will take place February 26th. One of the filmmakers who got the coveted call this morning was Joseph Cedar, acclaimed Israeli director whose film “Footnote” was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. No Israeli film has ever won.

Could this be the year Israel takes home an Academy Award? Since 1964, when Israel first began submitting films for consideration, ten Israeli films have been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. Even more impressive, for four of the last five years, an Israeli film has been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2008, it was Beuafort, also directed by Joseph Cedar, telling the story of some of the last IDF soldiers stationed in an outpost prior to the end of the Second Lebanon War. Beuafort‘s nomination in 2007 was the first for an Israeli film since 1984. In 2009, Waltz with Bashir won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film but not the Oscar. And in 2010, Ajami was also nominated for the Oscar.

And now, Footnote has the chance to win the Academy Award for Jospeh Cedar, and bring tremendous pride to Israel’s thriving film industry. As is always the case with the Oscars, nothing is a shoe-in, and this year, competition is extremely tight with wonderful films from Canada, Belgium, Poland, and Iran also nominated. The Iranian film, “A Separation” recently won the Golden Globe, which of course is often times a precursor to an Oscar. In addition to its nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Iranian writer-director Ashghar Farhadi’s film also earned a nod for Best Original Screenplay.

Will Footnote be an Oscar surprise? We’ll be tuning in to watch when the Oscars air on Sunday, February 26th on ABC.

Related posts:

1. Israel and the Oscars Unite for Evening in Harlem Earlier this year, the film "Strangers No More," which focuses...
2. Loser? There Was No Loser Israel’s candidate for the ’08 Academy Awards — Joseph Cedar’s...
3. LA Israel Film Festival Showcases 60 Years of Cinema The 23rd annual Israel Film Festival, the largest exhibitor of...

For most high school students, a winning experiment in a science fair means a blue ribbon and maybe some extra credit in biology. That’s so 20th century. Thanks to an amazing initiative launched by YouTube and Lenovo, the science fair is not only global, but out of this world. An international competition called “YouTube Space Lab” invites young adults 14-18 to submit their proposals for a science experiment to be conducted on board the International Space Station.  Naturally, the submissions, complete with full scientific method, were submitted via YouTube.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JbRN9WHa3k

After sifting through thousands of videos, a pair of Israeli teens’ video has been chosen among the finalists! Ariel Berko and Yoav Levi currently attend Rogozin High School in Kiryat Ata. Their plan? Looking at how gravity affects reproduction in yeast. It may sound oddly specific, but there’s much to be learned here. If humanity is ever to become a space-faring race, little things like the effects of gravity on a cell’s ability to engage in sexual reproduction could have profound effects.

While the Israeli team is among the 60 finalists, to make it to the final judge’s selection, that number needs to be whittled down with public voting, so make sure to support Ariel and Yoav by heading on over to YouTube Space Lab’s site and clicking “vote” next to their video!

For the intellectually curious, you can see their full video below. And then please explain it to us, because these teenagers are way out of our league.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHUcmvzMmJg

Related posts:

1. Israel in Space Nanoo, Nanoo. Israel’s space geeks are about to unveil new...
2. Thru You Makes Music out of YouTube It’s fair to say that YouTube has a lot of...
3. Tweets from Space Come on geography buffs...Name this city!...

Leave it to the Israeli people to make something out of nothing. Tel Aviv, a bustling metropolis which is the heart and soul of modern Israeli society, would have been unrecognizable a century ago. Unlike Jerusalem, whose history dates back thousands of years, Tel Aviv was literally nothing but a pile of sand dunes when it was founded in 1909. While Israel has grown up quite a bit from the time where modes of transportation were camels, there is one hurdle of desert life that won’t go away, and that’s water. Specifically, water conservation. Israelis have been environmentally savvy long before there was such a thing as “going green.” Whether its turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth or not spending 3 hours in the shower, being smart about wasting a resource as vital as water is in every Israeli’s DNA.

When life gives an Israeli lemons, they don’t make lemonade – they invent something to help maximize their lemon output ratio. With Israel’s shortage of water in the arid south, farmers have had to grasp with how best to grow crops to maximize the resources available to them. The lessons Israel has learned when it comes to water irrigation and agriculture technology are helping agricultural communities around the world, especially in developing countries thanks to the work of MASHAV.

This coming summer, Israeli farmers will be sharing their innovations and tricks of the trade with over 1,000 agricultural trainees visiting from Vietnam. All this is part of a broad plan led by Israeli President Shimon Peres to boost economic cooperation between Israel and Vietnam. The eleven-month program will benefit both countries, with Vietnam investing in Israel’s high-tech, innovation-based solutions.

The Director General of the President’s Office, Efrat Duvdevani, expressed satisfaction with the interministerial committee’s decision and said that the visit by President Peres to Vietnam opened many doors to strategic cooperation between the two states. She added that the President’s Office is working on a broad action plan to promote the countries’ common interests in a great many areas in addition to agriculture, especially in the fields of energy, infrastructures and security.

Related posts:

1. Israel Farms the Desert Photo: Wikimedia Commons by Remi JouanUsed under Creative Commons License...
2. President Shimon Peres Address Celebrating Israel’s 63rd Year "Looking back, we have much to be proud of. Looking...
3. Israel- Greening Africa from famine to crops, Nigeria to Senegal, Israeli agronomists are...

As if it wasn’t enough that his wife Beyonce is storming the headlines after giving birth to their first child, music mogul and all around legend Jay-Z is investing big in a hot new tech sector, just signing a multi-year agreement to be the face and voice of Duracell Powermat JV.

So what’s gotten Jay-Z so excited? Even though he has more money than he knows what to do with, Jay-Z’s usually pretty successful with his investments, and he really believes the Duracell Powermat is going to be the next big thing.

“I believe in the future of wireless energy and I believe that Duracell Powermat is the company to bring on the revolution,” Jay-Z said. “I’m partnering with Duracell Powermat because they’re providing the solutions for the future.”

The joint business venture was just announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Said Ron Poliakine, chief executive officer of Powermat Technologies, “Jay Z is power personified. He inspires millions of people all over the world on a daily basis with his music and his story. There is no better face or voice that can move people to adopt a new paradigm in power delivery.”

Many of you have probably seen some early examples of wireless charging, in which you charge your cell phone by placing it on what’s called a “charger mat.” This new technology means no plugging anything in, you don’t even need to connect the phone to the charger, just having it rest on it is enough to charge the device! And unlike wall chargers, the Powermat has a “brain” and communicates with the device, so power stops flowing and you won’t overcharge your device.

All this technology was developed in Israel by a company called Powermat, Ltd. Founded in 2006, Powermat at first employed only 30 people, but thanks to its partnership with Duracell, their technology is really taking off. Duracell, which is owned by global giant Proctor & Gamble, owns a 55 percent stake in Powermat.  Yesterday, they announced a massive project for what is now called Duracell Powermat to equip New York’s famous arena, Madison Square Garden, with wireless charging technology.

“Enhancing the fan experience by integrating state-of-the-art technology is a key component of Madison Square Garden’s currently underway comprehensive, top-to-bottom Transformation,” said Scott O’Neil, president, MSG Sports. “This partnership with Duracell Powermat will ensure that fans at Knicks and Rangers games will always be charged up while watching their favorite teams.”

Going further, each mat can charge multiple phones simultaneously, and like we said before, is smart enough to allocate resources – if a phone on the right side of the mat is finished charging, it won’t be pumping unnecessary energy that way, but focus on the other phones on the mat that still need charging.

Speaking of MSG, Knicks legend Larry Johnson was on hand at Duracell Powermat’s CES booth, adding to their roster of celebrity endorsements.

Last year, Powermat struck a $5 million deal with General Motors to bring wireless charging to the Chevy Volt.

Their vision is pretty ambitious, but with players like Jay-Z and Proctor & Gamble behind the scenes, this is technology that you’re going to see in your house someday soon. “Our mission is to populate the universe with access points in any surface surrounding us in a way that you, as a user, will forget that you even have a battery in your devices” says Poliakine.

Looking beyond cell phones, the company seeks one day to radically transform your house whereby everything from your kitchen appliances to your video game controllers will be charged wirelessly. It certainly sounds like magic, and one of the products being unveiled at CES is tentatively called “magic box.” It’s simply a box that can charge any device running on Duracell batteries. Your remote control for your TV just died? Throw it in the magic box overnight and by morning you’re good to go.

Magic.

Related posts:

1. Face To Face with Ron Ben Menachem: 23 questions to an israeli in NY 1. Name: Ron Ben-Menachem. 2. Born in (city): Ra’anana. 3....
2. Face To Face With Leat Klingman: 23 Questions To An Israeli In NY Leat with her niece 1. Name: Leat Klingman 2. Born...
3. Face To Face: 23 Questions For An Israeli In New York 1. Name: Irit Koren 2. Born in Jerusalem 3. Moved...

Like Captain Planet before them, Israelis and Palestinians are teaming up to “take pollution down to zero” – at least when it comes to the Kishon River, one of the country’s most polluted. This joint ecological venture between the West Bank city of Jenin and the Gilboa Regional Council is amazing for many reasons.

The Kishon, one of Israel’s largest and most important rivers, flows through the Jezreel Valley, passing through the Carmel hills on its way to Haifa Bay. This ancient waterway is mentioned in biblical accounts of the prophets Deborah (Judges 5:21) and Elijah (1 Kings 18:40).

In the late 1930s, petrochemical refineries built on the Kishon River bank by the ruling British authorities to support war efforts dumped their toxic waste into the water. Later on, municipalities in the Haifa area started discharging untreated or partially treated sewage into the river as well.

Flash forward to the 21st century, and the Kishon River was not in great shape. But thanks to a $56.5 million Israeli government project to clean up the water and develop a 148-acre recreational center along its banks, things are looking up.

Today, local Israelis and Palestinians, despite being separated in day to day life, are joining together on this important project. Spearheading the the project are Gilboa Council Head Daniel Atar and and Jenin Governor Moussa Qadoura.

“This project brings together two of the Council’s main values – regional peace and the environment,” Atar explained in an interview with Ynet. “We are planning public parks on both sides of the fence in hopes that one day they will become one.”

Nader al-Khateeb, general director of the Palestinian Water and Environmental Development Organization (WEDO) added: “The environment and water do not recognize borders, militaries and fences. They should be a bridge for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

Related posts:

1. MASHAV launches seminar for Israeli and Palestinian Businesswomen Just last week, Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Daniel Ayalon, opened...
2. Israel to Build Largest Solar Park in the World cool… Israeli company to build largest solar park in world...
3. Israel and the Oscars Unite for Evening in Harlem Earlier this year, the film "Strangers No More," which focuses...

Once upon a time, you went to the library to find out stuff you didn’t know. Then came the Internet — and research that once took days and weeks now could be done in a matter of minutes.

And now, thanks to a group of enterprising computer students at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, your computer will soon be able to put together an online book for you.

BookIt! Create books online. from BookIt Team on Vimeo.

“The Internet has made research work much less intensive, because you have the world’s knowledge at your fingertips,” says Michal Nir, one of eight Technion computer science students who came up with the BookIt web application working under the supervision of Associate Prof. Yossi Gil. “We just take it to the next logical step, automating the search process and presenting you with the results.”

Nir, along with Sa’ar Gross, Binyamin Kemper, Inbal Serchuk, Itamar Azulay, Alon Morgenstein, Ro’i Migdal and Vladimr Rodenko, developed the application using an algorithm they were given at the beginning of the fall 2010 semester. It was sort of a contest, Nir says.

“They gave us the algorithm and told us to ‘build something,’ as if we were working at a startup. It was important for us to present an attractive product, with a catchy name, whose design was eye-pleasing, user-friendly, and that met an actual need.”

The BookIt app certainly meets those criteria. Users enter terms and concepts at the BookIt site and the application does its magic, scouring the Internet for information about the subject, and assembling the data in a readable and organized book form, complete with pictures. BookIt saves the book in PDF format, and users can download it to a computer, iPhone, iPad or any other device that reads PDF files.

BookIt sounds very artificial intelligence-like, and it is, to an extent — the algorithm takes a term and searches the Internet for it and related terms. However, says Nir, it is not going to replace authors or journalists anytime soon.

“Book-It doesn’t do anything you couldn’t do yourself, but it does it faster.”

Since it was a student project, Nir says that the group spent as little money as possible in developing BookIt. Even so, the application has been far more effective than the group expected, and Nir has no doubt it will be developed further.

“We see a great potential in BookIt,” she says. “Right now, because it’s in the test phase, we have been parsing only Wikipedia for information, but this would be a great application for any site — universities, news and information, etc.”

It will take some investment money to get the application ready for that kind of activity, says Nir. But when the full application is available, “I really think this is going to make life easier for many people.”

Related posts:

1. Google’s Pixie Dust: Google acquires LabPixies Google buys its first Israeli start up. LabPixies from Tel...
2. Gilad Shalit’s Book Now on YouTube Gilad Shalit’s (Schalit) book, When the Shark and the Fish...
3. Google Buys Israeli According to the Blogosphere and HAARETZ, Google bought the Israeli...

“In the spirit of giving back during the holiday season, we are delighted to be able to bring a little holiday cheer to the children in our region and those that will be celebrating the holidays in hospitals” said Consul for Public Affairs Gil Lainer. By spreading the joy of Channukah (most importantly with sufganiyot) “we hope this will be the beginning of a sweet year for them and their families” continued Lainer.

We had some incredible partners too! On Monday, Consulate staff teamed up with Amber Collins, Miss New York 2011 and a host of Miss New York 2012 contestants for a night of fun at the Ronald McDonald House. This marks the second consecutive year the Israeli Consulate has thrown a Channukah party at the Ronald McDonald House. The Ronald McDonald house is an amazingly supportive institution for children receiving treatment in the New York area, providing them and their families a wealth of services and housing at a nominal fee of only $35 per night.

The holiday party brought smiles to kids who truly need all the love and support in the world. There were magicians, cotton candy, bunnies, clowns, and of course, dreidels.

“Ronald McDonald House New York is honored to host the Consulate General of Israel in celebration of a holiday that means a great deal to us all,” said William T. Sullivan, president & CEO of Ronald McDonald House New York. “With Chanukah’s deep roots in hope and faith, we believe that their visit will bring renewed inspiration to our families.”

On Tuesday night, to ring in the first night of Channukah, the Consulate visited a special after-school program for kids at the Children’s Aid Society in Harlem. If there was one thing we all learned, it’s that playing dreidel transcends cultures. Everyone got in on the action! The girls of Miss New York were also in attendance, as well as a special performance by the hit a capella group “Pella Singers.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYmLJ8GSsjk

Later in the week, Consulate officials and staff visited children at the Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey and at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. Delivering teddy bears and sufganiyot was a small, but important way to lift their spirits during the holiday season.

Like

Unlike

Related posts:

1. Culminating a Week of Giving Back for the Holidays, Israeli Consulate Hosts a Very Special Maccabeats Performance For the past week, the Consulate General of Israel in...
2. Israeli Consulate Honors Allan Houston with MLK Award The Martin Luther King Jr. Award has been presented by...
3. Starbucks and Start-ups: The Israeli Consulate Comes to Seattle Ichiro and Space Needle: Meet Hummus...