Albert Einstein co-founded the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with Chaim Weizmann in July 1918. Years later, Einstein turned down an offer to become Israel’s second president after Weizmann’s death in 1952, citing his age and lack of relevant skills. Einstein died in 1955 just days before he was to deliver a speech to an American radio audience on the seventh anniversary of Israel’s independence. He left his scientific and other writings to Hebrew University.
Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, is an annual breath of fresh air in Israel. Although the majority of Israelis are not observant, most choose to fast and refrain from driving on the Day of Atonement. Nitrogen oxide levels can fall by 83-98% in Tel Aviv, and even more in other cities.
While training to be an IDF medic, Bernard Bar-Natan was issued standard bandages and instructed to use stones for extra pressure to stop bleeding. Seeking a better solution, he perfected a field dressing with a built-in pressure applicator. Since its introduction, medics and first responders worldwide have used the “Israeli Bandage” to save countless lives and limbs.
Voluntarism is an important part of Israeli culture. One way that Israelis help is through Yedidim (Friends), which offers non-medical emergency roadside assistance nationwide. Any one of more than 65,000 volunteers will answer the call 24/6 to change a flat tire, jump-start a car, unlock a vehicle with the keys inside, and more. All services are free and available except Shabbat and holidays.
Doña Gracia Nasi, a 16th century Converso, openly reclaimed her Judaism and dedicated her life to activism on behalf of her people. She used her family’s shipping wealth and influence to help Jews flee Iberia and to establish houses of learning and worship. With permission of the Ottoman Sultan, she initiated the rebuilding of Tiberias in the Holy Land as a refuge for Marranos.
Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, was established as the capital of the Jewish kingdom by David in 1,000 BCE. Throughout millennia of dispersion, it remained eternally in the hearts of the Jewish people. Wherever they are in the world, Jews pray in the direction of Israel. In Israel, they pray in the direction of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, they pray in the direction of the Temple Mount.
Israel has nine World Heritage Sites: Bahá’i Holy Places (Haifa and the Galilee), Biblical Tels (Megiddo, Hazor, Be’er Sheva), Incense Route (Negev), Masada, Old City of Acre, White City of Tel Aviv, Sites of Human Evolution (Mount Carmel), Caves of Maresha and Beit Guvrin (Judean Lowlands), and the Necropolis of Beit She’arim. Another 16 sites have been suggested for inclusion.
Many Jewish architects connected to the Bauhaus school in Germany fled to Tel Aviv in the 1930s, following the rise of the Nazis. Today, more than 4,000 Tel Aviv buildings make up the “White City”. It is the largest collection of Bauhaus structures of any city in the world.
The “Ingathering of the Exiles” (Kibbutz Galuyot) has seen Jews from more than 90 countries return to their indigenous homeland – the Land of Israel, where the biblical Abraham and Sarah are buried in Hebron. Genesis 23 tells how Ephron offered the land for free, but Abraham paid publicly for the land, cave and trees at Machpelah.
