'#' : location.hash;window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUQuery = location.search === '' && location.href.slice(0 location.href.length - window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash.length).indexOf('?') !== -1 '?' : location.search;if (window.history && window.history.replaceState) {var ogU = location.pathname + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUQuery + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash;history.replaceState(null "\/liveblog_entry\/24-firefighting-teams-battling-fires-in-countrys-north\/?__cf_chl_rt_tk=HPfRkkdGjeuIlvICDxsxQq0mKmr7HmDDUf5dk4nkm8I-1746529162-1.0.1.1-lO2tbAixyAH6MmF8zALDgfODaDUNJAbg3Bcfg2Ef8KU" + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash);cpo.onload = function() {history.replaceState(null ogU);}}document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(cpo);}()); 25 Apr 2025 13:00:00 GMT?.css-1txiau5-AnswerContainer{color:var(--GlobalColorScheme-Text-secondaryText2);}Hapoel Afula won 3–2 over Hapoel Umm al-Fahm on Fri This is 34 of the Leumit League Relegation Group Predicted lineups are available for the match a few days in advance while the actual lineup will be available about an hour ahead of the match The current head to head record for the teams are Hapoel Afula 4 win(s) Haven't scored in their last 2 matches Have scored 5 goals in their last 5 matches Who won between Hapoel Afula and Hapoel Umm al-Fahm on Fri 25 Apr 2025 13:00:00 GMT?Hapoel Afula won 3–2 over Hapoel Umm al-Fahm on Fri 25 Apr 2025 13:00:00 GMT.InsightsHave scored 3 goals in their last 5 matches Hapoel Afula is playing home against Hapoel Umm al-Fahm on Fri 07 Mar 2025 13:00:00 GMT?.css-1txiau5-AnswerContainer{color:var(--GlobalColorScheme-Text-secondaryText2);}Hapoel Kfar Shalem won 2–0 over Hapoel Afula on Fri The current head to head record for the teams are Hapoel Kfar Shalem 1 win(s) Haven't kept a clean sheet in 6 matches Have scored 2 goals in their last 5 matches Who won between Hapoel Kfar Shalem and Hapoel Afula on Fri 07 Mar 2025 13:00:00 GMT?Hapoel Kfar Shalem won 2–0 over Hapoel Afula on Fri 07 Mar 2025 13:00:00 GMT.InsightsHave scored 10 goals in their last 5 matches Hapoel Kfar Shalem is playing home against Hapoel Afula on Fri 21 Mar 2025 13:00:00 GMT?.css-1txiau5-AnswerContainer{color:var(--GlobalColorScheme-Text-secondaryText2);}Hapoel Tel Aviv won 1–0 over Hapoel Afula on Fri The current head to head record for the teams are Hapoel Tel Aviv 2 win(s) Have scored 4 goals in their last 5 matches Who won between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Afula on Fri 21 Mar 2025 13:00:00 GMT?Hapoel Tel Aviv won 1–0 over Hapoel Afula on Fri 21 Mar 2025 13:00:00 GMT.InsightsHave scored 14 goals in their last 5 matches Hapoel Tel Aviv is playing home against Hapoel Afula on Fri 03 Jan 2025 13:00:00 GMT?.css-1txiau5-AnswerContainer{color:var(--GlobalColorScheme-Text-secondaryText2);}Maccabi Herzliya won 3–2 over Hapoel Afula on Fri Who won between Hapoel Afula and Maccabi Herzliya on Fri 03 Jan 2025 13:00:00 GMT?Maccabi Herzliya won 3–2 over Hapoel Afula on Fri 03 Jan 2025 13:00:00 GMT.InsightsHave scored 11 goals in their last 5 matches Hapoel Afula is playing home against Maccabi Herzliya on Fri "\/liveblog_entry\/two-teens-run-over-an-killed-one-wounded-in-northern-israel\/?__cf_chl_rt_tk=uFIWpDxZor95A0XgImkLoaBr5kVMBthPalahAei6hdQ-1746529190-1.0.1.1-MceUbpy6WRw4anyJe3_NLjyvmceXkKUXGKH29G_1oG0" + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash);cpo.onload = function() {history.replaceState(null "\/liveblog_entry\/police-discover-seize-dozens-of-firearms-smuggled-from-jordan\/?__cf_chl_rt_tk=8X6.OYrcG96JKymg0kc98qY_NhkF6n5.3uaMtQMLiJs-1746529194-1.0.1.1-GmAQPhsH2DjCNV.b29O0UvlPmGqX_f7ybAQWDFmpmY4" + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash);cpo.onload = function() {history.replaceState(null 27 Dec 2024 12:00:00 GMT?.css-1txiau5-AnswerContainer{color:var(--GlobalColorScheme-Text-secondaryText2);}FC Ashdod won 4–3 over Hapoel Afula on Fri The current head to head record for the teams are Hapoel Afula 2 win(s) Who won between Hapoel Afula and FC Ashdod on Fri 27 Dec 2024 12:00:00 GMT?FC Ashdod won 4–3 over Hapoel Afula on Fri 27 Dec 2024 12:00:00 GMT.InsightsHapoel Afula have won the previous 2 matches against FC Ashdod Hapoel Afula is playing home against FC Ashdod on Fri Two Palestinians injured from Hezbollah rockets in Judea and Samaria on Monday As the IDF intensifies its bombardment of Hezbollah sites across Lebanon, striking some 1,600 targets over the past 24 hours, the terror group has retaliated with ongoing rocket attacks on Israel’s northern communities.  Air raid sirens were activated in the Krayot area near Haifa, the Jezreel Valley, and across the Galilee overnight, with impacts reported in Nazareth and Afula. While there was property damage from the falls, no casualties were reported.  Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency services reported Tuesday afternoon that a young man was moderately injured by rocket shrapnel near the Golani Junction in the central Galilee. In addition, one of MDA's ambulances was damaged in the Jezreel Valley, while the English Hospital in Nazareth was also struck by a rocket.  Later on Tuesday morning, another 55 launches were identified, targeting the towns of Kiryat Shmona, Nazareth, Afula, and the surrounding area. Rockets fell in several locations, including near Kiryat Shmona. According to the Israel Fire and Rescue Service, six fire crews from the Galilee-Golan station were dispatched to a number of locations around Kiryat Shmona as a result of rocket impacts. Firefighters worked to extinguish a fire that started in a warehouse that was directly hit, as well as several locations in open areas.  A building in Tamra was also damaged by an apparent rocket impact, with images on social media showing the site of impact and damage to a storage room.  The Hezbollah terror group took responsibility for the early morning barrage, claiming they were targeting a military supplies factory in Zichron Yaakov, the Amos IDF base near Afula, and the Megiddo Airfield. Around 10 rockets were launched toward Haifa at around 7:45 a.m., several of which were intercepted by air defense systems.  At the time of publication, the IDF said that about 100 launches toward Israel had been detected by air defense systems since midnight.   MDA reported at least two people had been injured by Hezbollah attacks as of Tuesday morning. One victim, a 58-year-old woman, was lightly injured by shrapnel, while the other, a 61-year-old man, was seriously wounded. Both were taken to a hospital in Nahariya for treatment. Emek Medical Center in Afula reported that four people were lightly injured while fleeing to protected spaces in the city.  The IDF launched retaliatory strikes against several Hezbollah rocket launch facilities after the latest round of attacks.  Meanwhile, at least two Palestinians living in the West Bank were reportedly wounded due to Hezbollah rocket fire on Monday evening. The rockets were part of a longer-range barrage that was launched toward central Israel.  The Palestinian Authority news site Wafa reported the injuries and damages but added that “it was not determined if the rockets were fired from Lebanon or from the interceptor rockets launched by the Israeli occupation.”  The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel. 04 Feb 2025 17:00:00 GMT?.css-1txiau5-AnswerContainer{color:var(--GlobalColorScheme-Text-secondaryText2);}Hapoel Rishon LeZion won 1–0 over Hapoel Afula on Tue The current head to head record for the teams are Hapoel Afula 14 win(s) Have scored 7 goals in their last 5 matches Who won between Hapoel Afula and Hapoel Rishon LeZion on Tue 04 Feb 2025 17:00:00 GMT?Hapoel Rishon LeZion won 1–0 over Hapoel Afula on Tue 04 Feb 2025 17:00:00 GMT.InsightsHave scored 6 goals in their last 5 matches Hapoel Afula is playing home against Hapoel Rishon LeZion on Tue 31 Jan 2025 13:00:00 GMT?.css-1txiau5-AnswerContainer{color:var(--GlobalColorScheme-Text-secondaryText2);}Hapoel Afula won 1–0 over Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv on Fri The current head to head record for the teams are Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv 7 win(s) Haven't kept a clean sheet in 5 matches Have scored 8 goals in their last 5 matches Who won between Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv and Hapoel Afula on Fri 31 Jan 2025 13:00:00 GMT?Hapoel Afula won 1–0 over Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv on Fri 31 Jan 2025 13:00:00 GMT.InsightsHave scored 7 goals in their last 5 matches Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv is playing home against Hapoel Afula on Fri Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said it launched six missile strikes on military installations in northern Israel including two airfields and an explosives factory in retaliation for Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza The resistance group said on Telegram that the Megiddo Military Airfield west of the city of Afula was struck three times with Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles located 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Lebanese border Hezbollah confirmed that Ramat David Airbase and the Amos base a key logistical hub for Israeli military operations in the north a factory in the town of Zichron Ya'acov north of Caesarea about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Lebanese border The group emphasized that the strikes were carried out to support "the Palestinian people in Gaza and their courageous resistance" as well as to defend Lebanon Earlier reports in Israeli media indicated that missile sirens were activated in several northern locations including Nazareth Israeli military sources cited by local news outlets claimed that 20 rockets were launched from Lebanon with some intercepted and others landing in open areas Israel has launched a barrage of airstrikes into southern and eastern Lebanon with Lebanese health authorities saying that at least 492 people have been killed and 1,645 injured in the attacks since Monday morning which have also forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza the majority of whom are women and children following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct Israeli forces intensified their attacks on Lebanon ignoring the international community's warnings that they would risk spreading the Gaza conflict to other regions to celebrate the 140th anniversary of the birth of two prominent Azerbaijani cultural figures: Uzeyir Hajibayli the founder of the Azerbaijani composer’s school and the renowned composer and conductor Muslim Magomayev The celebration, co-organized with the support of the Azerbaijan Culture Centre and the Absorption Department of the Afula Municipality, took place at the Azerbaijani Culture Centre in the city, Caliber.Az reports per Azerbaijan's State Committee for work with Diaspora The evening kicked off with an introduction to mugham one of Azerbaijan’s oldest and most cherished musical genres World-renowned Russian musicologist and artistic director of the "Russian Patterns" Moscow Region Philharmonic State Academic Orchestra delivered a two-hour lecture on the significance of mugham in Azerbaijani culture Reybarkh emphasized that mugham forms the foundation of Azerbaijani national music including the country's operatic traditions and is a key spiritual and cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people The lecture was complemented by a presentation of iconic mugham performances by Azerbaijani khanandas (singers) who played pivotal roles in the genre's development Reybarkh also highlighted the immense contributions of Uzeyir Hajibayli and Muslim Magomayev to the evolution of Azerbaijani music His speech touched on the achievements of other Azerbaijani composers such as Gara Garayev whose works have graced world stages for decades He also paid tribute to the legacy of Muslim Magomayev’s grandson the celebrated vocalist and People’s Artist of Azerbaijan and the USSR The evening featured musical excerpts from some of Azerbaijan’s most cherished works including "Leyli and Majnun," "Path of Thunder," "One Thousand and One Nights," and "Legend of Love," as well as an overture from the opera "Koroghlu." These performances demonstrated the richness and depth of classical Azerbaijani music showcasing the lasting impact of Hajibayli and Magomayev’s contributions to the global music scene The event in Afula not only celebrated the anniversaries of these legendary figures but also served as a reminder of the enduring legacy of Azerbaijani music on the world stage controlled by Omer Adam and the Swiss fund Lian Group have signed an agreement to build an underground data center in Israel with a huge investment of hundreds of millions of shekels who have so far worked in stealth in order to promote the project purchased the land in Afula for NIS 80 million The group will become one of only a few players in Israel that is building an underground data centers - a market in which the supply of land in Israel barely exists Those two companies recently won the Israeli government's Nimbus tender to set up cloud storage infrastructures Israel's data centers market has become one of the hottest sectors in Israel over the past year, which has been attracting many real estate developers including Azrieli Group Ltd. (TASE: AZRG), controlled by Danna Azrieli, Melisron Ltd. (TASE: MLSR) controlled by Liora Ofer and the Papouchado family A new player in the market has now been revealed for the first time which includes three partners: "Europe-Israel" Group controlled by the Malul brothers Maor and Snir Malul The partnership group has begun planning the project to build an underground data center in Afula The Group plans to build the underground data center in Afula The Group purchased the land six months ago with other partners at an estimated price of about NIS 80 million after three years in which the Group promoted the master plan for rezoning land as a data center The parties to the deal were supported by Adv which is controlled by the Malul brothers Maor and Snir Malul which is controlled by Omer and Yaniv Adam specializes in locating and purchasing land So far the group has developed housing and commercial projects and bought very many properties and lots of land in Israel and abroad The most outstanding deals conducted by the Group's real estate arm were land for housing and commercial space in Be'er Ya'akov The Group also bought the Queen of Sheba shopping mall in Eilat from Melisron and has signed a long term agreement to operate the MIA Beach The Group is also building a 9,000 square meters shopping center next to the high-tech park in Afula and has signed an agreement worth an estimated NIS 50 million for the sale of commercial space to the Victory supermarket chain The company is also conducting negotiations which should be completed towards the end of 2021 to buy shopping centers in Israel and abroad Other holdings belonging to the Group include Smart Switch which specializes in developing and providing smart home systems and its app has so far been downloaded by more than 500,000 users which is owned by the Adam family and the Malul brothers is in the advanced stages of developing a revolutionary venture in the car sector and the company is currently examining offers from strategic partners in the field of financing and insurance The system is scheduled to be launched at the end of the final quarter of 2021 Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 10 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd Site developed by     Copyright © Yedioth Internet the investment group owned by Israeli singer Omer Adam are expanding their server farm construction activity in Israel After it announced the construction of two server farms in Afula last year "Globes" has learned that the consortium will construct a third server farm at Zora Park on the outskirts of Beit Shemesh at a total investment of NIS 350 million The consortium is estimated to have invested between NIS 100 million and NIS 150 million in buying the land and it is expected to invest about NIS 250 million more in constructing the installation The move comes as demand grows for cloud computing in which companies and organizations switch their computing infrastructure from local installation to remote servers in large server farms This is a consequence of the maintenance of storage graphic processing and artificial intelligence servers in a company's offices becoming economically unviable Such infrastructure consumes large amounts of electricity and requires special air conditioning and computing experts on hand Cloud computing services have grown up in response to the need to avoid these costs The consortium has bought 18 dunams (4.5 acres) of land for a server farm that will consume 16 megawatts which is smaller than the server farms at Afula which will consume 32 megawatts of electricity construction of the server farms at both sites Europe-Israel is negotiating with cloud providers from China in the hope of signing initial customers within the next few months and obtaining building permits for the Afula farm by the end of 2022 and for the Zora farm in early 2023 The consortium hopes to complete construction at Afula by 2025 and at Zora by 2024 although the timetable depends on first finding enough customers for the venture "Globes" reported in the past that Chinese company Alibaba was interested in going into cloud storage activity in Israel and competing with the prices charged by giants such as Amazon and Google No response has been received from the companies in the consortium on the identities of its prospective customers or on the the setting up of the new activity Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 18 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. The state prosecutor says the case was closed 'after an examination of the circumstances' he was sure of only one thing: a calling to help  eat radiates from the street where a line of taxis waits outside the central bus station in Afula middle-aged Sephardi man with a trim mustache The gust of air-conditioning offers blessed relief He evinces a flicker of recognition when he is given the address He cocks his head and turns to his passengers The ride affords a street-level view of a city on the move Row upon row of new apartment buildings march across the valley floor offering stunning vistas of Mount Tavor to the north The cab arrives in the neighborhood called Givat Hamoreh “the Hill of the Teacher,” and pulls up to a humble public school already beaming as his guests disembark from the taxi The driver approaches for a greeting and a blessing which Rabbi Gold delivers warmly in Hebrew with a charming American brogue Rabbi Gold guides his guests on a tour of this elementary school He bounds up the stairs with an enthusiasm matching that of the young children scampering about with very strict admissions requirements,” he explains This school is the cornerstone of Rabbi Gold’s efforts to completely transform the spiritual landscape of this city Afula became a destination for Jewish immigrants from North Africa in the years after Israel’s War of Independence another wave came from the former Soviet Union Many were only tenuously connected to Torah observance when they arrived and the ethos of the secular state only reinforced the trend over time Rabbi Gold started the Marom school with the intent of introducing the tenets of Yiddishkeit to these secularized families through their grade-school-age children Marom follows the Israeli mamlachti-dati model a religious public school operating on government funds but with an Orthodox bent but the instruction is otherwise geared to instill a strong sense of Jewish spiritual identity When the children bring home their Shabbos- and Yom Tov–themed projects along with divrei Torah on the weekly parshah it inevitably foments religious discussion with the parents — which often leads the family on a path toward greater observance The revolution has been so successful that it spawned a second generation; the first children who passed through Marom’s doors have grown up Some have even chosen to pursue kollel studies full time Rabbi Gold has had to open new institutions to keep pace with the growth — and increasingly chareidi direction — of the movement he has sparked and a local kollel (among other institutions) Afula is suddenly on the radar for young Israeli chareidi families on the lookout for affordable housing in communities with a Torah infrastructure (The average price of a three-room apartment in the “black” neighborhoods of Givat Hamoreh and Afula Illit is around NIS 450,000 — which these days no longer even buys a machsan The transformation that Rabbi Gold set in motion has gathered a momentum of its own As his movement has flowered and staff has joined his ranks he has rolled all his various initiatives under one umbrella nonprofit organization called Mashma’ut so named for the meaning he hopes to bring to the lives of people seeking spiritual uplift Meanwhile he himself shows no sign of slowing down “There’s a powerful force for Torah in this country we just need to unleash it,” he declares with a flourish “One hundred and fifty years ago the Reform movement started Now Hashem has swung the pendulum the opposite way we can change the direction of the country.” When Rabbi Gold first moved his young family to Afula in 1996 had to send the children to schools in other nearby yishuvim (Their seven children now range in age between 29 and 12 When Rabbi Gold introduced himself to his new neighbors by offering to give their children bar mitzvah lessons he was only following in the footsteps of his well-known father formerly rav of the Young Israel of West Hempstead and now rav of Kehillat Zichron Yosef in Har Nof “I come by it honestly,” Rabbi Menachem says and in 1959 he was sent at the age of 24 by his rosh yeshivah to Toronto with the goal of opening a branch of the yeshivah there The Toronto kehillah of those years was not yet familiar with the concept of yeshivah learning; most Orthodox parents were focused on getting their sons into prestigious universities Persuading these parents to enroll their prodigies in a traditional Lithuanian-style yeshivah meant knocking on doors and hashing it out with them face-to-face but that doesn’t mean he was happy to hear about his son Menachem’s decision to attempt something along the same lines in Afula “I was sent by my rosh yeshivah to Toronto but there were balabatim waiting for me there,” he says “All those who were sent out from Lakewood or Chofetz Chaim or Ner Israel everybody went somewhere where there was somebody waiting to greet them ‘I’m going to do something in Afula.’ We were very concerned — who does something of this sort?” Rabbi Menachem finds it challenging to articulate exactly what motivated him to move to Afula He learned in Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim in New York then in Ateret Yisrael in Bayit Vegan under Rav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi (He maintains a close connection to Rav Ezrachi to this day.) He got semichah yoreh yoreh from Rav Yitzchak Kolitz to engage in kiruv activities with a friend and even told his young wife of this plan after their wedding when he started learning in kollel in Jerusalem “I told my wife not to get too comfortable in Yerushalayim because someday we’re going to be moving up north,” he reminisces “She didn’t take me too seriously… and after about nine years in kollel extremely difficult to even think about coming here,” says Rebbetzin Dina Gold now which is the southernmost part of the north.” Reb Menachem explained his idea to his rosh kollel and asked for some time off to scout out cities in Israel’s north “Something about it just appealed to me,” he says now Breaking the news to his wife was not an easy task She would be giving that up for her husband’s venture a nice frum girl tied to her family,” Rabbi Gold says if you think Hiroshima and Nagasaki wreaked havoc…” “It hit me like a lightning bolt when he told me,” Mrs to go to a place where we really knew no one… And there were very very few really frum people in Afula when we moved here.” Gold currently works as an English teacher in Ulpanit Teveria a high school where many of the girls are on the religious fringe and contributes wherever she can to her husband’s cause Rabbi Gold says that his wife’s round-the-clock guidance and advice has been indispensable to all his efforts lthough in hindsight it seems the move was justified Rabbi Gold doesn’t minimize the enormity of what he was asking of his family at the time but there was something that was pushing me.” Rabbi Menachem recalls being taken aside and asked how he was going to make a living in Afula “Money’s going to stop us from doing this great thing We’re going to let a small technicality like that get in the way?” Reb Menachem was at his parents’ home in Har Nof when a knock came at the door Reb Menachem recalls answering the door and finding an elderly man there who asked for “Rrrabbi Gold,” with a thick “I knew he didn’t mean me,” says the younger Rabbi Gold and then left to return to his home in Beitar He said he remembered Rav Sholom from Williamsburg and explained that he and his wife were Holocaust survivors who never had children and his wife had been niftar two weeks before She had accumulated savings over the course of her life and stipulated that after her passing the money should be donated to a worthy cause: kiruv for Jewish children distant from Torah Rav Sholom took all this in with great surprise but collected himself and opened up a map of Eretz Yisrael and pointed to Afula As he recounts in his book Touching History: From Williamsburg to Jerusalem (Gefen Publishing “My son Menachem is moving here with his family He is going to start a school for precious Jewish children in a city where Torah is pretty much unknown.” “It seems that my son’s bitachon was far more effective than my rational parental doubt,” wrote Rav Sholom That seed money funded Reb Menachem’s first year in Afula allowing him to establish what he calls a “beachhead.” I would tuck my children into bed at night we have afternoon activities for kids.’ People would say What are you doing here?’ It was something really interesting for them.” Rabbi Gold has found the winning formula for penetrating the notoriously prickly exterior of the sabra His demeanor is at once disarming and engaging and he projects an air of earnestness and enthusiasm that immediately endears him to native Israelis in Afula “There’s something about the American personality,” he says t the end of that first year he had compiled a list of 300 to 400 families with whom he had built a relationship Since his staff then consisted basically of himself his organizational reach was pretty limited so he had to think creatively to keep those families engaged that I can speak to the guys for five minutes referring to the Mizrachi kiruv rabbi who rose to prominence in Israel in the 1990s “So on my own I would take a whole group of families The seminar had the desired effect on one Afula family but their move toward greater observance was stymied by a lack of appropriate educational facilities for their daughter Rabbi Gold checked around and found a religious public school run by Chabad on a nearby yishuv and was able to get the girl an interview with the principal and eventually continued on to a girls’ school in Migdal Ha’Emek run by Rav Yitzchak Dovid Grossman Rabbi Gold still saw the father from time to time but eventually lost contact after Rabbi Gold had managed to open a chareidi Talmud Torah in Afula he was walking his youngest son to the gan there He begged her pardon and said he didn’t recognize her I’m Shikma!]” She was the one he had helped get into the Chabad school and mentioned her other children and her kollel avreich husband and said that all her blessings were due to Rav Gold “All I did was bring her for an interview with the principal at the frum school and that was it,” he says with evident wonder Rabbi Gold likens it to a gemara in Bava Metzia (85a) in which Rabi Yehudah Hanasi locates the orphaned son of Rabi Elazar ben Shimon and arranges for him to attend a cheder When the orphan shows up years later in Rabi Yehudah Hanasi’s yeshivah and identifies himself [The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he who wins souls is wise.]” The Maharsha asks why Rebbi quotes a pasuk that uses the plural The Maharsha answers: When you bring one Jew back to Torah Rabbi Gold became aware of two funding opportunities that would eventually pay perpetual dividends The Wolfson Foundation announced it was seeking applicants to open community kollels in Israel’s north and Rav Aharon Leib Steinman ztz”l and the Gerrer Rebbe shlita declared a fundraising drive for a network of Chinuch Atzmai schools for children from nonreligious homes Rabbi Gold immediately jumped on both offers Rabbi Gold managed to round up four first-graders and three second-graders from his list of families Then Hashgachah pratis ordained that Afula would undergo Israel’s longest public school strike in history in 1997 just take my kid already!’ We managed to get a lot of kids out of public school simply because their parents couldn’t handle them at home.” Marom had 40 children enrolled and was operating a nursery and a preschool There are now two kindergartens affiliated with Marom in the neighborhood that serve as feeders to the school the school garnered a reputation for academic excellence — such that Rabbi Gold no longer needs to knock on doors to round up students Families are pulling their children out of the public schools and jostling to get them into Marom Rotenberg is quick to return the compliment Rabbi Gold finds the time to help us a lot here in the school,” she says He arranges for yungeleit from the kollel to teach classes about aspects of Yiddishkeit She recounts one story involving a boy from a home very distant from observance and the impact that an avreich’s lesson on Pesach had on the family “The avreich talked about how we don’t eat any chometz and this child told his mother he would not eat any chometz during Pesach and she listened to him — even providing him separate plates and utensils Whereas previously the majority of Marom students came from one-parent or dysfunctional families Russian immigrant families in particular are now drawn to the school and they demand very high academic standards “They want English and piano,” Rabbi Gold says They’re not coming here for the Yiddishkeit So we have to be better than the public school The only limitations facing Marom right now are the size of the building (“If we can move to a regulation-size building we’ll be able to open the floodgates to the community,” Rabbi Gold says) and the lack of suitable options after grade six “We need a junior high school and a high school,” Rabbi Gold says “After grade six we have to send them to places where they don’t really find themselves but they baruch Hashem got a taste of davening and Chumash and all that We have to get them from the cradle to the chuppah Their parents have been begging us for years abbi Gold’s kollel — known as Kollel Mashma’ut — also took root and began netting big returns on the Wolfson Foundation’s investment The Wolfson funding conditions required the avreichim to work two and a half hours every night on behalf of their local community They joined Rabbi Gold on his nightly neighborhood jaunts trying to sign up unaffiliated families for Wolfson seminars The pressure to fill the seminar quotas was formidable; avreichim got very nervous when a hotel was only half-booked one week before a seminar Hashgachah pratis worked in Rabbi Gold’s favor in the form of a sudden societal awakening when there was an earthquake in this country,” Rabbi Gold says describing an era when suddenly the tenor of Israeli society seemed tuned in on teshuvah “There was Amnon Yitzchak and seminars put on by kiruv organizations like Arachim and Lev L’achim… The place was rocking His kollel yungeleit recruits were also energized they were pioneers in their blood,” Rabbi Gold marvels We sent well over a thousand families to seminars from this area Dozens and dozens of families became baalei teshuvah as a result.” As Afula’s native religious population began to mushroom more and more people from outside began hearing of the kollel’s success Soon there was a critical mass of frum families for whom the local education options were inadequate saying they were very happy to be contributing to the chinuch at the Marom outreach school but asking why their own children had to suffer without a local cheder Rabbi Gold agreed to take on the challenge of helping them open a Talmud Torah He had secured funding for his other endeavors through personal solicitations but he now saw the need to tap other sources He ended up running for Afula’s city council for the purpose of securing municipal funds for the burgeoning religious population “I’m still there,” he says of his elected office took charge of putting the Talmud Torah together Rabbi Gold was able to procure caravans and buildings for the nursery and kindergarten The cheder grew rapidly and today counts a student body of about 450 students and he’s doing a wonderful job,” enthuses Rabbi Gold Rabbi Greenstein recalls those early years fondly “We had one father from Kfar Gidon who asked if he could bring his son on a donkey every day,” Rabbi Greenstein says When the municipality first provided the caravans they came with some interesting strings attached “When the cranes were setting these caravanim down we were afraid they were going to fall apart,” says Rabbi Greenstein the city wouldn’t connect them to the electricity just opened a few weeks ago for Elul zeman —even though it seemed there was insufficient demand “We went to Rav Gershon Edelstein for a hora’ah we explained we didn’t even have a minyan for the bochurim,” Rabbi Greenstein says It’s important for the bochurim from Afula to learn in a yeshivah close to home.” Other educational institutions have sprouted up along the way Demand for a girls’ school led to a Bais Yaakov There is also now a midrashah for the older girls; Rabbi Greenstein’s wife is the menaheles and its opening came about through a negotiation Rabbi Gold held through intermediaries with the gadol hador A group of avreichim investigating affordable housing options checked into Afula and found it suitable except for one flaw: the lack of a yeshivah gedolah who communicated through them to Rav Gold that if he would take care of this one shortcoming “Gold kept his word,” Rabbi Gold says proudly The yeshivah started with about 20 bochurim dominated by hulking masses of Brutalist concrete architecture the neighborhoods of Givat Hamoreh and Afula Illit were built as the city expanded across the plains and up the hills to the east and vantages down the treelined streets open onto commanding views of the Jezreel Valley The revolution is headquartered in a shul in Afula Illit Here is where the kollel learns every day during the week “Hall of the Seven.” The shell of the building was originally erected by the city to honor the memories of the seven victims of a 1994 bus bombing that ripped through the center of town in the wake of the Oslo Accords — but that shell stood empty for 15 years empty building haunted the families of the victims until they appointed a representative to approach Rabbi Gold with an offer: secure the funding to finish off the shul and it’s packed — we have no room for people to stand on Shabbos,” says Rabbi Gold The kollel is headed by Rav Yitzhak Amrani has stepped into the role of organizational lead for the kollel’s kiruv activities “The basis for the whole community is 150 baal teshuvah families,” Rabbi Ben Ezra explains “Now other people are starting to move here — Rav Steinman sent some families and Vizhnitz has established a presence here they found the ground already prepared for them.” He gestures to the beis medrash in the shul where the kollel is in session “The whole revolution you see happening in this community has its center here The baalei teshuvah who have learned in our kollel are now paying it forward by learning with other secular people here in the community The stories we hear about their impact are just amazing — whole families turned over completely.” He goes on to list a few of the activities: “We have avreichim giving regular shiurim in secular people’s homes that draw dozens every week We have avreichim doing outreach to the surrounding yishuvim Three times a week he gives shiurim on different yishuvim in the area “We have two avreichim here who saw that there’s not enough manpower a place to learn with local secular youth who are serving in the army There is another avreich who learns with local balabatim three times a week That eventually evolved into a shul — in the fire station.” He gazes off toward the rows of new standard-issue apartment buildings rising in the valley below “I would happily go and bring these activities to all the people who will fill these apartments but I don’t have the money or the manpower I know Rabbi Gold would like very much to do this.” “Each new person I accept into the kollel will eventually bring back 100 Jewish families We see here that anything is possible — we just need the manpower That is my constant request to Rabbi Gold: Just give us the resources Rabbi Gold gives full credit for everything that the kollel has accomplished to Rabbi Ben Ezra “He’s the engine here who makes everything happen His organizational and administrative qualities… he’s incredible An avreich named Yehonatan Machlouf joins the conversation It emerges that he is the one who gives the regular shiur in the fire station He says he had gone there and seen that it was “possible to save neshamos.” His main objective in starting the shiur between the chareidi community and the secular public He has since opened another kollel on the same model in a different location on the other end of town “The avreichim who come work for us see the effect they’re having and they’ve never seen anything like it,” he says by two men in the community who have benefited from the kollel’s outreach: local real estate agents Yizhar Azoulai and Nir Levy They both heaped praise on the avreich who drew them in “I wasn’t always shomer Shabbat — I started when Rav Yaakov came,” says Yizhar he completely lifted up the spiritual status of this area He came in and he approaches people at their level “I come to the shiur in the pub,” says Nir “I come there every night for drinks and dancing Rabbi Gold breaks in with a question of his own for Nir: “What kind of people come to the shiur in the pub Baruch Hashem that Rav Gold came here — all that you see wasn’t here before.” Another creative avreich named Rav Tzachi set up a bomb shelter to host a weekly Oneg Shabbat till one in the morning offering such enticements as billiards and ping-pong who grew up in a single-parent home with an economic situation he describes as “not easy.” But Negev looked forward to the weekly oneg which regularly drew 30 to 50 youths in the area “I was not religious at all — not even tefillin,” Negev says that’s really far!]” interjects Rabbi Gold reiterating a point well known among Israelis that even Sephardim who self-identify as nonreligious often lay tefillin daily and daven three times a day with a minyan “But I started learning with Rav Tzachi,” says Negev Rabbi Gold points out the lengths to which the kollel had gone to reach him “That group he was part of was really on the fringe It wasn’t only a lack of Yiddishkeit; they had no life.” hile Rabbi Gold’s Mashma’ut organization has built up an impressive track record over the years in Afula at the very beginning he ran into some concerted community opposition that nearly derailed his initiatives The principal of the local public school organized neighbors against Marom and complained to the mayor that his school’s children were being spirited away by Rabbi Gold The local newspaper ran articles against Rabbi Gold and he wondered if he would be able to keep it going seeing these yingelach who don’t know anything about Yiddishkeit saying Shema and you just get this feeling — it’s all got to work out,” he says something would suddenly come from left field but we can sense that He’s watching over us.” Sometimes the opposition was more personal The Golds’ Shabbos table regularly includes guests from the community When he first began tendering invitations for Shabbos meals to secular teenaged boys — “you know the ones with the earrings,” he says — he found himself cross-ways with one of the parents there stood a father of this boy we had invited ‘Don’t you dare ever bother any of our children again or we will run you right out of town.’ ” Rabbi Gold stuck to his plan and over time “After a while they saw that I’m a shtickel nice guy That father is one of our greatest friends now — he’s an engineer for the city and he’s been tremendously helpful in getting our projects approved.” Rebbetzin Gold is happy to have moved past the social isolation of being American and frum in a Sephardi “Our children were quite lonely while they were growing up,” she admits “The older ones basically had no friends until they went away for yeshivah and high school The younger ones managed to make a few friends with kids from local families who had become baalei teshuvah or from frum-from-birth families who had moved in.” That loneliness was compounded by Rabbi Gold’s frequent lengthy trips abroad to raise funds for his institutions “I had to import older children to stay with us either relatives or from friends’ families “My husband still goes for fundraising now The family developed certain survival strategies to make life more bearable; they mainly took the form of trips to Jerusalem to buy special foods not available in Afula but in the last few years we spend most Yamim Tovim in Afula We find that we still need to be in Jerusalem for Purim and Shavuos Despite the rough patches in those first years in Afula and despite the daily challenges that still come up — like the lack of suitable local clothing stores — Mrs Gold feels at peace now with the family’s move you get a different perspective on living in this place,” she says we meet these young men in their twenties and thirties who all know my husband They’ll tell him how he used to play soccer with them when they were kids from broken homes and dysfunctional families their children are in cheder… It’s just really nice to hear.” if the opportunity were to arise to move back to Jerusalem is now a 28-year-old married kollel avreich learning in Yerushalayim at the center of all the activity of the last two decades that his father describes even though there were times it was very hard I feel I want to tell my parents thank you,” he says “When you grow up in a city that is mostly non-frum You are taught how to deal with the negative influences outside This is very different from how a child raised in a chareidi neighborhood gets his chinuch My parents dealt with everything in such a strong and healthy and caring way My siblings and I absorbed it all 100 percent I think I speak for all of us when I say it was like a present they gave us.” Benny continues to play a key role in his father’s endeavors especially in the large food distributions that take place before Yamim Tovim “We want to make sure not one family goes into a chag without food,” he says In that capacity over the years he has become a familiar face to Afula residents such that he even acquired the moniker “Harav Binyamin” as a bochur from people wanting to convey respect toward his family “I managed to get semichah without becoming a rabbi,” he jokes “When mechanchim go to these out-of-the-way places they have a special brachah,” muses Rabbi Menachem’s father the elder Rabbi Gold puts his finger on a couple of other factors in his son’s success he keeps going under the most difficult of circumstances It was his relentlessness and siyata d’Shmaya that allowed him to make a dramatic impact “And he never is interested in getting credit for anything he has no need to be a balabos or a rosh yeshivah ‘It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.’ He dramatically changed the complexion of the city He is a lesson on the koach of an individual abbi Gold offers to take us to meet the mayor of Afula whom he has gotten to know well through his service on the city council On the short walk down a commercial pedestrian mall running through Afula’s compact downtown to the municipality offices people from every walk of life stop Rabbi Gold to give him greetings and family updates — a kollel avreich a secretary out for a lunchtime shopping errand including the city hall staff who welcome him warmly to the mayor’s office We are soon ushered into the inner sanctum Mayor Itzik Meron (pictured on right) speaks in the resonant baritone of an Israeli radio announcer He delivers a rhapsodic paean to his home city where he was born and raised and where he has served in public office for some two decades he says: the original Moroccan settlers made room for newcomers from the former Soviet Union and accommodated a wide range of religious observance He points out that the town has by and large been secular although in the last ten years the religious sector had increased significantly “Ad she’Gold higia v’haras et hachagigah,” quips Rabbi Gold (“Until Gold arrived and spoiled the party.”) The mayor laughs and says that although some recent “ultra-Orthodox” arrivals had been more “self-contained,” keeping mainly to themselves Rabbi Gold exemplifies the best of the religious community the chareidi world as well as the secular world Mayor Meron contrasts the attitude in his city with that of other more fractious polities which he said are plagued by a lack of tolerance “The tradition here in Afula is more tolerant The mayor goes on to enumerate Afula’s many advantages — its strategic geographic location in the north its climate and low cost of living — and describes some of the city’s development plans for the future the planned location for Israel’s second international airport It is clear that the people of Afula hope to welcome many more new arrivals in the future Gedalia GuttentagFront-Row Seat to History As Israel’s ambassador Ron Dermer is about to leave his Washington posting after seven years he recaps the challenges and triumphs of a transformative term Yisroel BesserThe Road through Real LifeRav Reuven Feinstein has tapped the clarity born of loss to write a new chapter about the bonds of marriage and true faith  Eytan KobreTeachers’ Aid“There were very wealthy laymen and seasoned businessmen there and they rose to the occasion,” he says “The only challenges they raised have been how to do it Yeruchem Yitzchak LandesmanBorn to LeadHow does a young man assume the leadership of a dying chassidus at the age of 18 and transform into an empire of Torah Gershon BurstynThe Rebbe’s Man in WashingtonChabad shaliach Rabbi Levi Shemtov straddles a bipartisan tightrope in a polarized capital Aftermath of the stabbing   (Video: MDA) Protests against an Arab family moving into an all-Jewish neighborhood in northern Israel have sparked worldwide condemnation and accusations of ‘white supremacy.’ But understanding the ways Jewish supremacy and white supremacy work in Israel is the first step toward dismantling them Over the past few weeks, protests have rocked the northern Israeli city of Afula, following news that an Arab family was moving into the Yizrael Quarter neighborhood who were joined by the former mayor of Afula say they are “not racist,” and that they believe that Jews and Arabs should live separately civil rights activist and a brilliant commentator on race relations in the U.S writing: “White supremacists are now surrounding the home and chanting that they want the neighborhood to be for white Jews only.” who has been instrumental in bringing light to injustices against racial minorities in the United States Afula is not a city of “white Jews,” and the struggle against Arabs moving to the neighborhood does not stem from a desire to turn Afula into a city of white Jews Afula is a middle and working class city with a clear Mizrahi (Jews from Arab and/or Muslim countries) identity which over the last few decades has absorbed immigration waves from Ethiopia and former Soviet countries Jews — Mizrahim or Ashkenazim (Jews from Eastern Europe)  — are gathering by the dozens alongside the former mayor open-faced racism perhaps brings up memories of Jim Crow in the United States and the ideology that guides these protests is one of supremacy — just as King noted we must ask whether what we are seeing in Afula is a display of Jewish supremacy or white supremacy King’s mistake raises one of the key political dilemmas in Israeli society Israel and the Zionist project were indeed formed on the basis of a Jewish supremacy. Israel was, after all, established as a Jewish and democratic state, in which the rights of Jews are anchored in a set of laws that grant them privileges, from the Law of Return, to the Absentees’ Property Law the anti-integration protests in Afula are on the one hand in line with the discriminatory policies that characterize Israel’s regimes of supremacy: Jewish and white as only those at the bottom of the social ladder must resort to protests for the “right” to live in an ethnically pure city — a need that wealthy Israeli Jews can simply buy Yet at this point the careful reader could insist: why Why should anti-Mizrahi racism matter to a Palestinian citizen whose only desire is to move into a new house The racism expressed in this protest ought to be severely and wholeheartedly condemned the confusion between the regime of Jewish supremacy and the regime of white supremacy or the misguided notion that sees all Jews as a homogenous group serves the interests of both these regimes of supremacy failing to acknowledge Mizrahi existence and discrimination fuels not only the supremacy of white Israelis — but also the engines of the occupation conflating race and nationality and the ways in which both operate within Israel allows the Zionist project to present itself solely as a religious-based national project avoiding the racial complexities and supremacist ideology at its core since it blurs the colonial dimensions that have characterized at least some strands of Zionist ideology which sought to become “a portion of a rampart of Europe against Asia an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism” in the words of Theodor Herzl Only a political alternative that recognizes the historical and current predicament of non-white Jews may prove to be relevant to those who remain suspicious of the Israeli left whose political parties have been historically linked to Israel’s white supremacy A left-wing agenda that focuses on Afula as the epitome of racism in Israel will continue to alienate Mizrahi communities — the same communities who for years have watched as the left gave its tacit support to building towns and schools where neither Mizrahim nor Palestinians were welcome negating Mizrahi existence will leave the left small in both numbers and influence This is not a call to understand racists, but rather to understand racism. Race, after all, is not a biological fact. As Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in Between the World and Me while we often develop a critical standpoint regarding the way historically oppressed races were formed — their historical makeup conflicting identities — we continue to take dominant races for granted as if they emerged directly from the alchemist’s fire: complete But realizing that even hegemonic races contain inner conflicts is vital to understanding racial categories as man-made mechanisms designed to serve the power structure that birthed them which served the city’s poor white population money bought the white elite’s moral façade — the ability to look on from afar appalled at those demonstrating against integration It is almost always easier to be disgusted by blatant displays of racism but it is almost always more effective to come closer and recognize that race is never a natural phenomenon Only by grappling with race as a construct can we understand how acknowledging these intersections and complications might seem like a setback in the struggle to bring down these very borders but only through that realization can we form broad coalitions strong enough to tear down walls — from Little Rock all the way to Afula Lihi Yona is a JSD candidate at Columbia Law School and a young scholar at the Israel Democracy Institute writing on legal race theory in the Israeli and American context Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7 Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives Can we count on your support +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening A sign informs visitors access to Afula Park is for residents only An Israeli court on Sunday ordered the northern town of Afula to reopen its park to the general public following a ban on nonresident visitors that rights groups said was aimed at keeping Arabs out Afula last month imposed an order restricting access to the park to residents only effectively cutting off the popular 25-acre park from residents of neighboring towns Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter The Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel challenged the ban in court claiming the prohibition was aimed at denying access to Arab Israelis from nearby villages Lawyers for Afula – a city of 50,000 people in Israel's north – denied the allegations arguing in court that the prohibition was simply meant to prevent the park's overcrowding during the popular summer months and that residents should be prioritized as the facility was funded by the municipality while nonresident Arabs were denied access after the ban went into effect two separate Israeli television channels aired footage documenting nonresident Jews given access to the park even after they told gate security that they did not live in the town Judge Danny Sarfati stopped short of deeming the ban racially motivated but nonetheless ruled that municipal parks are public property that must be made accessible to all Adalah argued that the decision to restrict access to the park "came in order to implement a racist electoral promise by the new mayor [who] declared publicly that he would work to 'prevent the occupation of the park raise Israeli flags and play Hebrew music.'" Adalah also posted a clip of Mayor Avi Elkabetz proclaiming during his election campaign Adalah further argued that "restricting the park's access is an indication of the escalation of the policy of apartheid deriving from the law of nationalism." The Israeli government last year passed the controversial nation-state law declaring that only Jews have the right to self-determination in Israel sparking huge protests from the country's non-Jewish minority who make up some 17.5% of Israel's population arguing it marginalizes their civic identity This article was originally published by i24NEWS the product was described as a "food chopper." Inspection of the actual shipments revealed 1,300.. British police believe the five detainees arrested on Monday Israeli Air Force employs some 50 munitions to target Houthi infrastructure in Yemen 24 hours after missile strike close to.. Analysis  Archaeology Blogpost Business & Finance Culture Exclusive Explainer Environment Features Health In Brief Jewish World Judea and Samaria Lifestyle Cyber & Internet Sports Diplomacy  Iran & The Gulf Gaza Strip Politics Shopping Terms of use Privacy Policy Submissions Contact Us The first issue of Israel Hayom appeared on July 30 Israel Hayom was founded on the belief that the Israeli public deserves better more balanced and more accurate journalism [contact-form-7 id=”508379″ html_id=”isrh_form_Newsletter_en” title=”newsletter_subscribe”] 2023Get email notification for articles from Adi Hashmonai FollowAug 16 2023Despite three separate judicial rulings against the Afula Municipality’s plan to hold a gender-segregated performance in the city park a fully gender-segregated performance is scheduled to take place there on Wednesday "The three-story building is arranged upon a generous new ground level deck, which rests over two covered car parking levels," says the architects. "The Centre’s three upper floors step down towards the South, to create a terraced arrangement in keeping with the site’s topography. This enhances both the views out of all parts of the building towards the natural environment, and offers a variety of indoor/outdoor spaces for circulation and reflection." © Ron Arad ArchitectsThe new centre will house a radiation therapy institute, breast cancer care centre, pediatric oncology department, well-being centre, infusion therapy, ambulatory clinics and a Nobel-laureate-headed research institute.   © Millennium ModelsIt is named after the late Dr You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page I had the opportunity to represent the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires in an inter-Federation mission to our Israeli partnership city of Afula and its neighboring kibbutzim and villages that dot the mountainous countryside of the Gilboa region Through the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Partnership 2Gether program the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires (along with 11 other Federations from Massachusetts and Rhodes Island) actively invests in strengthening the non-profit sector in Afula and Gilboa and work with activists on the ground to foster people-to-people connections between our communities the Berkshires has hosted a range of delegations from Afula-Gilboa community activists from Afula-Gilboa region have hosted four delegations from Hevreh of Southern Berkshire over the last three years – three cohorts of post-bnai mitzvah students and their parents and Christians hosted by our Federation in the Berkshires I got to see projects that our Federation supports And I heard from beneficiaries about how we are impacting them and generating real change in people’s lives What was particularly remarkable to me was seeing how certain projects had grown and developed when an interethnic photographers’ group visited the Berkshires in 2017 a retired kibbutznik who told me about how he wanted to create a Reform Jewish kehilah in Beit Hashita It was heartwarming to hear about his successes in integrating a liberal form of religious practice and identity into his predominantly secular kibbutz the kibbutz hosts regular egalitarian Shabbat and holiday services It was exciting to meet young artists from the Tarbut Movement who chose to move to what is considered Israel’s periphery out of a modern sense of Ahad Ha’am’s vision of cultural Zionism Tarbut has worked with local merchants to revitalize the Afula market through art installations and the introduction of studio and gallery spaces that I was moved by hearing how the Haifa Rape Crisis Center would not have been able to open a local branch in Afula-Gilboa or sustain a rape crisis hotline had it not been for the advocacy and financial support of our Federations It was uplifting to hear how community activists and government officials worked with the Afula LGBTQ community to launch the city’s first-ever Pride event in 2019 a fledgling local LGBTQ organization that is supported by all of our Federations We saw how our contributions enabled the growth and expansion of an Afula community center’s “Sandwich Club,” that feeds 50 teen volunteers each night who work together to assemble 200 free lunches that get distributed the following day to local schools And it was inspiring to meet new olim from Ethiopia at an absorption center in Beit Alfa and hear about the hardships that they had to overcome to resettle in Israel after many years of waiting in limbo We found hope in expanded opportunities for shared society between Israeli Arabs and Jews we met Muslim and Jewish middle school girls who told us that had it not been for their mixed ethnicity basketball team supported by our Federations they would not have had the chance to have meaningful interactions As we redouble our investment in “living bridges” between the Berkshires and Afula-Gilboa in the years to come we will continue to learn from each and further develop a shared sense of a common peoplehood amongst us To learn more about Partnership 2Gether, visit http://archive.jewishagency.org/partnership2gether/program/468 Josh Bloom serves on the Executive Board of the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires as a vice president Powered by FEDWEB ® Central Privacy Policy Terms of Use 2021Danny Pearlman knew right off why the cluster of local teenagers was so eager to have their photograph taken with him and his friends