Friday, November 29, 2019

Israeli-Made Electric Planes Set to Revolutionize Air Travel and Beatles' twist and shout and For greater solidarity, Jews should join mass kaddish on Nov. 30

Can't see images? Click here...

Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works  with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money,  and spiritual engagement

Top 5 beautiful roads in Israel

There are so many incredible places to see when visiting Israel, but some of the roads that get you there will totally blow your mind! So buckle up and take in the view with these five Israeli roads!

For greater solidarity, Jews should join mass kaddish on Nov. 30

In the first half of the 20th century, almost 900,000 Jews lived in Arab countries, whereas today there exists no more than a few thousand. By DAVID A. DANGOOR  

For many Jews around the world, November 30 is just another day with no special significance. However, since 2014, this date has been set aside as the official Day of Commemoration for the Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Iran.This is the day where we remember and mourn the ending of Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa in the 20th century, many of which had lasted for millennia, long before the advent of Islam or Christianity. Read More Related Articles

In the first half of the 20th century, almost 900,000 Jews lived in Arab countries, whereas today there exists no more than a few thousand. A campaign of discrimination, dispossession and violence against Jewish communities in these lands ended these most ancient of all global Jewish communities.Whereas the majority fled to the fledgling State of Israel, which itself was still fighting for its existence, many fled further afield to the United States, United Kingdom and Western Europe. Apart from in France, these communities – variously known as Sephardi and Mizrahi – are a distinct minority among a larger majority of Jews whose origins lie largely in Central or Eastern Europe.As a result of the majority's attitudes, culture and history, little is known of the Jewish communities of the Middle East and North Africa. Its history, culture and traditions are rarely studied at Jewish schools or other educational institutions, even in Israel.Some, like Prof. Daniel Elazar, who contributed much to the academic study of Sephardim, described these communities as "The Other Jews." Elazar, writing in 1989, meant this term as an implicit dig against those who saw these communities as the "others," stressing how the Ashkenazi Jews were the main protagonists of Jewish history and culture.
THREE DECADES later, it is time to end this othering of Middle Eastern and North African Jews and place their history, culture and tradition on an even keel.

On November 30, for the second year running, prayers will be recited in synagogues across the world in remembrance of Jews buried in inaccessible cemeteries in Arab lands. A mass hashkaba (kaddish), at the initiative of a Montreal resident of Iraqi origin, Sass Peress, will be said. For decades, families have been prevented from reciting prayers at the gravestones of their loved ones buried in Arab lands.Peress said that the hashkaba and prayers help "to create a positive and cathartic event for all."Last year, only 12 synagogues in the world took part in this historic event; four times that number are expected to join this year.
Nonetheless, most, if not all of these synagogues and communities are from the Middle Eastern and North African tradition.To make this a truly positive and cathartic event, it would be extremely gratifying to witness other communities without these origins stand shoulder to shoulder in Jewish solidarity to remember the Jewish communities that were decimated in that part of the world.In February, the Exilarch's Foundation sponsored a special event at the historic Bevis Mark Synagogue to mark 50 years since the infamous Baghdad hangings, when nine Jews and others were publicly hanged, an event that spurred the remaining Jews of Iraq to flee.Bevis Marks is the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom. Its Spanish and Portuguese founders had no immediate roots in the region, so it was deeply heartwarming that such a Jewish community joined in the occasion to make it a shared point of commonality.For those of us whose roots are in Iraq and the Middle East but live in an Ashkenazi majority community, it is vital that the barriers between our different communities are broken down. This will only happen if there is a greater sense of awareness of the history, culture and tradition of other communities.With knowledge comes understanding, and the lines that separate us will begin to blur and disappear. We need literacy in the history and culture of each and every Jewish community to be passed down as the previous generations leave us.The 20th century was as tumultuous as perhaps no other in the two millennia since Jewish sovereignty was ended in our indigenous and ancestral homeland. The Holocaust, the reestablishment of Jewish statehood and the exodus of the Jews from Arab countries changed the face of global Jewry, for the good and the bad.Most Jewish families around the world are now no more than a century in their current country of residence as a result of displacement and movement, forced or voluntary.We have brought a wide and vibrant array of cultures and stories from our previous lands of domicile. Many of our people are meeting once again after millennia of separation.This reunion gives us an opportunity to celebrate and commemorate our differences as well as our similarities. It should be a time of learning, which leads to understanding, and hopefully to solidarity and cohesion.It is hoped that there will no longer be any "other Jews"– and there can be no better way to start than to have more and more synagogues and communities join us in our prayers of remembrance and mass kaddish on November 30.The writer, a businessman and philanthropist, is the head of the Exilarch's Foundation and Dangoor Education, and is vice president of the World Organization of Jews from Iraq (WOJI).

Details for Sophia Ziegler Shier on December 3rd for Women


https://1drv.ms/w/s!Aqy3950Q5LgNky5wdlyeTKY21ZwN?e=5Wnsqt

Nights in White Satin - The Moody Blues (HQ)

..now they are in the Rock´n´Roll Hall of Fame!

Rocket nearly hitting car in Israel caught on bus camera

Watch bus driver's reaction as rocket from Gaza nearly hits a car in Israel!

Israeli-Made Electric Planes Set to Revolutionize Air Travel

This Israeli-made electric plane will reduce operating costs by up to 70 percent, bringing the price down to $200 per flight hour versus $1,000 for a turboprop.

By United with Israel Staff

Alice hasn't even taken off yet, and already over 150 orders have been placed for her.

Who is Alice?

Alice is the name given to the all-electric nine-seat aircraft that Israel startup Eviation Aircraft created early this year. Alice has three electric motors on its tail and one on the tip of each wing. On a single charge, Alice's 3,500 kg battery can carry her 650 miles at 10,000 feet with a cruising speed of 276 miles per hour.

The electric plane will reduce direct operating costs by up to 70 percent, which would make the running costs come out to be about $200 per flight hour versus $1,000 for a turboprop, reports NoCamels.

"The belief that flying is expensive and ineffective for short distances is going to change dramatically," said Yaara Dror, vice president at Eviation Aircraft, in an interview with the Israeli tech news outlet.

Cape Air, a Massachusetts-headquartered regional airline that operates in 35 cities, will be first in line to receive these revolutionary planes.

"Cape Air is far beyond the 'first customer' status. We see them as partners, both in their characterization and absorption in the operation of our first aircraft," said Dror.

The company is also in talks with major airlines, such as United, Continental and JetBlue, the report says.

 

Alice made her debut during this year's 53rd Annual Paris Air Show.

"Operating at a fraction of the costs of conventional jetliners, our Alice will redefine how people travel regionally and usher in a new era of flying that is quieter, cleaner and cost-effective," said Eviation CEO Omer Bar-Yoha at a press conference at the event.

"We are humbled to recognize this debut as more than an unveiling — a historic milestone within the aviation industry," he said. "With the introduction of Alice, we welcome an all-new breed of airplanes for the first time in 50 years and it is only the beginning of a bright future for electric aviation and sustainable transportation," he added.

Pending FAA approval, Israel's revolutionary electric airplane will be crisscrossing the skies in 2022.

The Mamas & The Papas - California Dreamin'

California Dreaming performed by the Mamas and the Papas Lyrics: All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown) And the sky is grey (and the sky is grey) I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk) On a winter's day (on a winter's day) I'd be safe and warm (I'd be safe and warm) If I was in L.A. (if I was in L.A.) California dreamin' (California dreamin') On such a winter's day Stopped into a church I passed along the way Well, I got down on my knees (got down on my knees) And I pretend to pray (I pretend to pray) You know the preacher like the cold (preacher like the cold) He knows I'm gonna stay (knows I'm gonna stay) California dreamin' (California dreamin') On such a winter's day All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown) And the sky is grey (and the sky is grey) I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk) On a winter's day (on a winter's day) If I didn't tell her (if I didn't tell her) I could leave today (I could leave today) California dreamin' (California dreamin') On such a winter's day (California dreamin') On such a winter's day (California dreamin') On such a winter's day

ONLY THUS (Way To Stop Terror)

 

Do not be overly righteous….." (Ecclesiastes)   

 

"He who is merciful at a time when he should be cruel is destined to be cruel at a time when he should be merciful."       (Midrash, Kohelet Rabbah 7:33)

 

I said it two years ago when I was arrested for it; I have said it every time since.  I said it after it every time since.  I said it after Lydda and after Munich and after Kiryat Shmona and after Ma'a lot and after all the massacres – those that were impossible to prevent and those that, after a while, became UNNECESSARY AND PREVENTABLE.  I say it now again after Beit Shean.  And I will say it tomorrow when yet another horror takes place, and the leaders of Israel, who could have prevented them and who did not because they are overly righteous and who must bear the blame for every dead Jew, will deliver yet more eulogies at the graves of yet more Jewish victims.  I will listen to their weeping for more Jewish victims, to their threats to carry the war to the enemy, to their pledge to wipe out every terrorist, and I will know that these are lies and absurdities and that there IS a way to cut off the hand but that the overly righteous will not use it.  And I will know that tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow there will be yet more Jewish women and children killed, and we will blame the world and the Arabs, but the finger of responsibility will not be directed at those who have it within their power to end the terror but will not  -  the leaders of the government of Israel.  

 

The murder of Jews at Beit Shean is not something new.  Before that we had Nahariya and before that Ma'a lot and before that Lydda and before that Athens and before that ….We have been witness to five years of terror that has taken Jewish lives, weakened the Jewish state, placed the population of Israel in constant fear, seen guards protecting our children, our homes, our institutions, our existence while Arabs in their neighborhoods and their cities blissfully sleep and walk and live without fear.  We WILL be witness to worse – much worse.  We will see more and bigger terrorism in Israel.  We will see different kinds, more sophisticated and more disastrous attacks.  We will see terrorism spread to Jews in the Exile, and prominent officials or contributors to the UJA and their families the targets of the murderers.  We have and will see terror that, by weakening Jews and making them helpless victims, profanes the name of G-d and diminishes the miracle of the beginning of the redemption

 

There is a way to stop the terror and those who know it but refuse to use it, for their own perverted and un-Jewish "moral" reasons. Are themselves collaborators and partners in the death of Jews and in the profanation of G-d's name.

 

The answer to terror is NOT simply the bombing of the terrorist bases from which they can escape, burrow deeply or bring in others to take the place of those who were killed.  It is  NOT simply blowing of the houses with scrupulous care taken to see that no one is harmed.  It IS the doing away with that support and aid to the terrorists without which they could not exist as a meaningful threat.

 

The roots of terror must be destroyed by hitting at those who support and tend to them.  Without the money, the sanctuary, the bases, the offices, the facilities, the training, the weapons that the terrorists get from Arab states, they would be a joke.  Without the permission of the neighboring Arab states to use their countries from which to train and then leave for acts of terror against Israel, the Arabs could not perpetrate a Beit Shean or a Ma'alot. These countries must become the targets and must be hit in SUCH A WAY THAT THEY WILL SEE IT AS TO THEIR OWN INTEREST TO PUT AN END TO THE TERROR.  The people and states who glibly support terror must find their own lives and property made so intolerable and insecure – THEY THEMSELVES MUST BE SO TERRORIZED – that they will rise up and drive the terrorists from their lands in haste and fear that every moment of their presence can bring death and horror upon the land.

 

The reply to terror cannot be civility.  The answer to brutality cannot be false morality.  The reply to terror must be terror and horror must be repaid in kind.  When the masses in Lebanon, Syria and Libya feel terror in THEIR marketplaces; when the middle classes in the Arab states fear to walk the streets, ride in a bus or attend a movie; when the  upper classes and government people know that every unfamiliar sound in the night can mean death, that their schools are not safe, and when they feel panic and desperation for their children's lives; when the mob, knows that it is marked for death and maiming as long as one terrorist installation remains on its country's soil, and as long as one dollar or bullet is given the terrorists – on that day the mob, whose self-interest outweighs a thousand times over its interest in the so-called Palestinians, will rise up in loud and hysterical demands that the terrorists be expelled and all ties cut with them.  "We're all dying" they will scream, verily, the mob is near unto itself….  

 

The planned and directed terror against those who support the destruction of Jewish women and children must be done by a group formed and supported in EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS THE TERRORISTS ARE AIDED BY ARAB GOVERNMENTS. It must be organized, trained, financed and supported by the government of Israel which can then calmly deny any connection with the group even while it allows the SAME training bases on its soil as Arab governments allow their terrorists; even while having Israeli "volunteers" join and train EXACTLY as the Arabs do; even while allowing an office in Tel Aviv EXACTLY as its counterparts in Beirut, Damascus, Cairo Tripoli and Baghdad; even while granting asylum and support EXACTLY as the Arabs do for their "freedom fighters."  The time has come to stop the foolish and unimaginative policy that sends regular army troops openly into Arab countries, endangering them, inviting censure and sanctions from a hypocritical world and, in the end, accomplishing nothing. Only counter-terror, only doing exactly unto others what they do unto you.  Only thus.  

 

The inevitable cry from the false moralists, the overly righteous, will be heard.  From the cynical pens of fraudulent columnists to the lecture halls of learnedly frustrated professors even unto the coffee houses where the righteous intellectuals and artists of the earth unite.   Barbarism! Un-Jewish! Descending to the level of the Arabs! 

 

Let us not be dismayed or intimidated.  What is Jewish or not Jewish, what is merciful or cruel, what is moral or barbarous, are not decreed by the ignorant who happen to have the sign of the covenant on their bodies, or even by the Hebrew-speaking gentilized who live in their Land of Canaan.  They are types who can be found in each generation, prating their false morality.  We heard them when David Raziel and the fledgling Irgun Zvai Leumi placed bombs in Arab marketplaces in horror at similar acts begun by Arabs and in disgust with the gentilized socialist morality of Jewish leaders whose "havlaga"  - self-restraint – caused the murder of hundreds of Jews.  We heard them when good Jews hanged British soldiers in retaliation for the hanging of Jewish soldiers – and not another Jew was hanged again.  And we heard them, centuries earlier, when King Saul decreed that he was more moral than the Jewish G-d and refused to wipe out the Amalekites.  Of him was it said, "Do not be overly righteous…" (Ecclesiastes 7:16).

 

Not through the gentilized and assimilated "moralists" do we survive and it is not they who decree what is Jewish, what is permitted and what is normal. It is the Jewish law, that Torah that kept us alive as a people, that permits and defines and decrees that those who have the status of a "rodef," a purser of an innocent victim, must be killed.  It is that Torah that says if one comes to slay you, slay him first (Sanhedrin 74).  If the only way, after having tried all else to convince an Arab state not to allow sanctuary to terrorists, is through counter-terror, if to save a Jewish life, having tried all else, only counter-terror, is the solution, then one is permitted to use that and it becomes legal, obligatory, hallowed.  We did not build an Israel to perpetuate a Kishinev.  On the day that we strike off the terrorist hand and innocent Jews cease to die, the name of G-d will be sanctified

February 21, 1975   

The Beatles - Twist & Shout - Performed Live On The Ed Sullivan Show 2/23/64

The Beatles Now Streaming. Listen to the Come Together Playlist here: http://smarturl.it/BeatlesCT Download 1+ http://smarturl.it/Beatles1 Buy 1+ http://smarturl.it/Beatles1s For the many who witnessed The Beatles' early appearances on British television, this song is synonymous with those exciting era–defining times. The power of the band's performances and the recording owes so much to John's searing vocal. For their debut album, John recorded his vocal in one take at the end of a marathon recording session on February 11th 1963. In July 1963, 'Twist And Shout' became the title track of the band's first EP to be released in the UK. According to the advert on the front of New Musical Express, it was "The record you've been asking for". A week after Twist And Shout was released it made the EP best-seller list and a week after that topped the same chart staying there for ten weeks. This clip was videotaped in the middle of a six-night run at the Odeon Cinema in Llandudno, North Wales.

See you Sunday bli neder Shabbat Shalom

Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

PO Box 7335, Rehavia Jerusalem 9107202

LIKE TWEET FORWARD

You received this email because you signed up on our website or made purchase from us.

Unsubscribe

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Hall Of Famer Roger Staubach Honored For His Support Of Israel and Happy Thanksgiving for the American Holiday

Can't see images? Click here...

Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works  with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money,  and spiritual engagement

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Why? Because every human being has a root in the Unity, and to reject the minutest particle of the Unity is to reject it all.

Baal Shem Tov

Everybody is unique. Compare not yourself with anybody else lest you spoil God's curriculum.

Baal Shem Tov

Before you can find God, you must lose yourself.

Baal Shem Tov

 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, some of the Caribbean islands, and Liberia.

It began as a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Similarly named festival holidays occur in Germany and Japan.

Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States, and around the same part of the year in other places. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well.

Pilgrims and Puritans who emigrated from England in the 1620s and 1630s carried the tradition of Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving with them to New England. The modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition is traced to a well-recorded 1619 event in Virginia and a sparsely documented 1621 celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. The 1619 arrival of 38 English settlers at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia, concluded with a religious celebration as dictated by the group's charter from the London Company, which specifically required "that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned ... in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God." The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest, which the Pilgrims celebrated with Native Americans, who helped them pass the last winter by giving them food in the time of scarcity.[7][8][9]

Several days of Thanksgiving were held in early New England history that have been identified as the "First Thanksgiving", including Pilgrim holidays in Plymouth in 1621 and 1623, and a Puritan holiday in Boston in 1631.[10][11] According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the annual services of Thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, while they were staying in Leiden.[12] Now called Oktober Feest, Leiden's autumn thanksgiving celebration in 1617 was the occasion for sectarian disturbance that appears to have accelerated the pilgrims' plans to emigrate to America.[13] Later in Massachusetts, religious thanksgiving services were declared by civil leaders such as Governor Bradford, who planned the colony's thanksgiving celebration and fast in 1623.[14][15][16] The practice of holding an annual harvest festival did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s.[17]

Thanksgiving proclamations were made mostly by church leaders in New England up until 1682, and then by both state and church leaders until after the American Revolution. During the revolutionary period, political influences affected the issuance of Thanksgiving proclamations. Various proclamations were made by royal governors, John Hancock, General George Washington, and the Continental Congress,[18] each giving thanks to God for events favorable to their causes.[19] As President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed the first nationwide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God".[20

Firms Gather In Israel To Share Ideas For Doing Good

How can a company incorporate ideals like sustainability and social responsibility into its DNA? That's the role of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy, a hot topic at companies large and small.

On December 4, Israeli nonprofit organization Maala is hosting the Innovation for Good Life International Conf(fair)ence in Tel Aviv in conjunction with the launch of Leaving No One Behind,its book on Israeli CSR case studies and insights written with CSR pioneer Prof. David Grayson from the UK.

Maala CEO Momo Mahadav says the annual conference is a platform for dialogue with global players in CSR and sustainability.

"The main topic we focus on is business impact on inclusive growth," he says. "Many of our colleagues in US and Europe focus on climate change and the global supply chain, while we're more passionate about inequality, social gaps and social mobility. Those issues are gaining momentum."

The conference is structured into tracks for professionals from HR, marketing, finance, digital, procurement, environment, health and safety and R&D.

"The title of the book doesn't aim to imply that Israel has solved the problem of inclusive growth; this is more a call to action," says Mahadav.

"We have practices and inroads to share. The conference is designed as a workspace for connecting, engaging, learning, and sharing between various professionals and sectors who aspire to increase their social impact. It is a place where you can discuss your ideas, initiatives and models for takingsustainability forward."

Last year's conference drew nearly 800 participants from 100 companies, including multinationals with branches in Israel. Mahadav says most of the foreign participants are from the US and Europe.

The 2019 Maala Index rated 161 companies in Israel for their CSR impact. Criteria include workforce diversity, employees, trust, work-life balance, volunteering, corporate giving, procurement and environment.

"We're happy that number has increased from 150 in 2018. The increasing numbers represent an effort we started three years ago, offering a basic threshold index to suppliers of companies rated on the advanced level. It's a way to go beyond looking only at large companies and what they can accomplish in CSR," says Mahadav.

 

Full Story (ISRAEL21c)

Hall Of Famer Roger Staubach Honored For His Support Of Israel

Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach was honored "for his work as a strong supporter of Israel and other Zionist causes."


The Bnai Zion Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in the United States that identifies and funds capital projects in Israel, presented the Dallas Cowboys great with its 2019 American-Israel Friendship Award at an event in Dallas on Monday.


Full Story (Israel National News)

The Village That Went Vegan 50 Years Ago

Everyone knows that Tel Aviv is the vegan capital of Israel, right? After all, it's home to scores of vegan restaurants and many of the 5 percent of Israelis who eat a plant-based diet.

Well, here's a surprise: Long before you could get veggie shawarma in Tel Aviv, a community in the desert town of Dimona pioneered the vegan lifestyle in Israel.

They're called the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem and they live in a compound called Neve Shalom (Village of Peace). The original 138 members of the community, mostly natives of Chicago, arrived in Israel in 1969.

"We don't number ourselves, but I guess we're about 3,000 people. We've had 1,150 babies born in our House of Life [maternity center] since 1972 or 1973," official community spokesman Ahmadiel Ben Yehuda tells ISRAEL21c.

Hebrew Israelites see themselves as spiritual descendants of the ancient Israelites. They are not Jewish, but they consider the Bible their history and guidebook.

In Genesis 1:29-30, a plant-based diet is prescribed for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree on which is the fruit yielding seed; to you it shall be for food. … everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green herb for food."

"That became the foundation for how we have to conduct ourselves," says Ben Yehuda.

Ben Yehuda, who immigrated from Washington DC in 1979, said the decision to eschew animal products didn't come from a health perspective.

"However, as we continued, we found many reports and research that substantiated the reason for veganism. Very simply, humans are not designed to consume flesh; we are designed to consume plants."

Neither did their decision originate from a place of animal rights, "but that is a great added benefit. We have come to understand that humanity needs to take care of the creation better."

A healthful plant-based diet – whole fresh foods, with little or no refined sugar or table salt — is one of several pillars of Hebrew Israelite culture.

"We eat foods in season and no foods that are seedless. For example, no seedless grapes or watermelon. That goes back to the biblical verse about 'every herb bearing seed.' There's something about the seed that makes it the proper food for our consumption and if you tamper with that it would have a negative effect," says Ben Yehuda.

Every Saturday, community members over age 13 ingest nothing but water. "We're not fasting to torture ourselves but to allow the body to relax and cleanse. If someone feels weak, they can grab a piece of fruit," explains Ben Yehuda.

Four times a year, at the changing of the seasons, Hebrew Israelites consume only "live" (uncooked) food for a week to cleanse their bodies.

Bean curds, fruit and vegetable salads, raw buckwheat, dehydrated flaxseed and pumpkin-seed crackers, bacon-like dehydrated squash and eggplant strips, prune juice and natural fruit leather for the kids are among the foods eaten during that week.

Community members also have monthly massages, exercise three times a week, don't smoke and don't drink alcoholic beverages.

Teva Deli is born

In the early days, the Hebrew Israelites could not find vegan staples like tofu and soymilk in Israel. So one community member was sent to Japan to learn how to manufacture them.

"When he came back, we invested in a factory producing tofu and that led to an entire range of foods that [we] began to develop from soy and other sources," says Ben Yehuda.

The factory supplied the community and a few vegan restaurants that the community opened in the 1980s around Israel, including Taste of Life in Tel Aviv, which closed two years ago after 35 years.

In 1995, the factory rebranded as Teva Deli and grew into a national business.

"We didn't start and maintain this business because we saw a market to exploit," says Ben Yehuda. "There was no demand for vegan foods. We had to create the market for it!"

Teva Deli has formulated many vegan products for the Israeli palate – including the cheese substitute that Domino's of Tel Aviv used to launch the global chain's 2013 pilot of vegan pizza, and the raw ingredients for Tel Aviv's iconic Buddha Burger, an eatery that operated from 2006 to 2018.

Among Teva Deli's 200 consumer products are meatless shawarma, Jerusalem mix and kebabs made from seitan; and burgers made from quinoa, sprouted lentils, almonds, flaxseeds, chia seeds, brown rice, adzuki beans, mung beans and buckwheat.

A separate line of about 50 products for the food-service industry includes raw ingredients such as seitan, tofu and dry soy chunks for preparing vegan main dishes.

"In many of Israel's major restaurant chains that give a vegan option, it's private-label products coming from our factory," factory manager Ben Koliyah tells ISRAEL21c.

Still based in Dimona and employing 50 workers, 80 percent of whom are Village of Peace members, Teva Deli is constantly expanding.

"That is not without its challenges because the more awareness of veganism rises, the more competition we have from big companies like Osem and Tivol," says Koliyah, 53.

"But we were the pioneers and gave options when no one else gave options. And we are still the only totally vegan community."

Adopting the Dimona model in Ghana

The Hebrew Israelites have been working with the Ghana Ministry of Health to shift the African country's approach to healthcare from curative to preventative. Ghana's Regenerative Health and Nutrition Program is based on the "Dimona model," says Ben Yehuda.

The community has set up a vegan food production facility in Ghana. Ben Yehuda says the African Union intends to recommend the Dimona model to other African nations.

In Israel, visitors are welcome to purchase lunch or dinner at The Miznon, the Hebrew Israelites' dining hall in the Village of Peace. It is certified kosher by the Dimona Rabbinate.

"We do like to take some credit for Israel being the No. 1 vegan nation," Ben Yehuda says.

"We feel it was propelled into popularity when our children began entering the IDF and making friends with people from across Israel. The army made a special effort to accommodate them with vegan options."

Ben Yehuda's son, Gadiel, just finished serving in the Israel Air Force. Last spring, Gadiel was on the beach in Tel Aviv and saw Arab Israeli vlogger Nuseir Yassin ("Nas Daily") filming a segment focusing on Tel Aviv as Israel's vegan center.

 "Gadiel went over to him and said, 'Tel Aviv is not the capital of veganism; Dimona is.' And right then and there, Nas googled us. That's what led him to come and visit us."

Here is the video that came out of that chance meeting with Gadiel Ben Yehuda of the Hebrew Israelites.

 

Full Story (ISRAEL21c)

See you tomorrow bli neder

Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

PO Box 7335, Rehavia Jerusalem 9107202

LIKE TWEET FORWARD

You received this email because you signed up on our website or made purchase from us.

Unsubscribe