Israelis know that the Jewish State cannot afford to lose a single war or conflict. In fact prevention of any loss of innocent life is paramount to Israelis. And a determined “refusal to give up” is almost a national character trait that can be seen in many other aspects of Israeli society.
Israel is one of the top countries working to prevent or reduce loss of life from cancer. Researchers at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center have just made a major breakthrough by discovering how breast cancer develops resistance to anti-cancer drugs. The finding should help develop new treatments. And only Israelis can learn how a killer virus can prevent loss of life. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have identified how the HIV virus suppresses the T-cell immune response and can help fight the battle against deadly autoimmune diseases.
Israelis apply the “preventing loss of life” principle right across the world. Anat from Israel’s il4syrians.org is called “Syria’s Israeli guardian angel”. Her 200 volunteers include former Israeli commandos, doctors, social workers, nurses, and Arabic-speaking trauma specialists who provide relief to thousands of Syrian refugees. Israel has also not lost track of the hundreds of thousands who lost everything in Typhoon Haiyan. Agricultural developers from Israel’s Tahal Group are providing technology assistance to help recovery operations in the Philippines province of Davao del Sur. Americans and Europeans are also currently experiencing extreme weather conditions. Many will therefore appreciate Israel’s ClickSoftware which reduces the huge losses suffered in those countries by helping to schedule employees responsible for repairing damage from storms, fires, earthquakes, gas leaks and burst water mains.
Israeli hi-tech is already the world’s best hope of preventing massive loss of life through drought and global starvation. At Tel Aviv’s recent WATEC water technology conference, the JNF showcased its innovations for preventing the loss of precious water resources to other drought-ravaged countries and demonstrated how to make non-arable land better suited for agriculture. Next, take a look at AgriTask from Israel’s ScanTask – the new “Waze” of agriculture – that helps farmers make decisions on irrigating, planting, harvesting and the use of pesticides.
Staying in the water, Israel’s Amiad is benefiting from new US Navy regulations designed to stop the loss of water pollutants from its ships. All new vessels assembled at the Navy’s Virginia shipyards will be fitted with Amiad’s water filters, including the massive new USS John F Kennedy aircraft carrier. And whilst we’re afloat, I must highlight that Israel’s Ben Gurion University and Canada’s Dalhousie University are to jointly build an Internationally recognized Ocean studies center in Eilat. Among the many aims of the center is to avert the loss of endangered marine species.
Two Israeli organizations have recently promoted the Jewish value that no child should lose the opportunity for a decent education. The first is the Haifa Center for Children with Learning Disabilities (Chi.L.D.) – a dynamic learning and therapeutic center providing children and families with vital educational, social and therapeutic services. The second is the amazing Israel Center for Excellence through Education, which has developed the CIJE Excellence 2000 program now being exported to the US, Australia, Austria, India, Poland and Singapore.
The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is helping to ensure the Jewish State does not lose connection with its lost tribes by sponsoring the immigration of another wave of members of India’s Bnei Menashe to Israel, reuniting them with their families and ancestral homeland. And Israeli artist Irene Orleansky has partnered with the Abayudaya Jewish Community of Uganda to create “Shalom, Mirembe!” as part of a music collection from Israelites and Jews of Africa and Asia.
Here are two recent examples where Israel strives not to lose the connection between its people and their heritage. Firstly, the Yad Ezer La’Haver (“helping hand to a friend”) association arranged for twelve Holocaust survivors to celebrate a joint bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah ceremony, as they lost the chance to mark their coming of age during their youth. “At the age of thirteen I was in Auschwitz,” said one of them. “There wasn’t really anyone to talk to about celebrations.” Secondly, please watch this new 7-minute documentary featuring Jewish families who lived in Jerusalem’s Old City for generations, but lost their homes when the Arab Legion evicted them in 1948 after the State of Israel was declared. They returned 19 years later in 1967 after Israeli forces liberated the Old City during the Six Day War.
Finally, we return to the Israeli determination not to lose a single soul. On a recent Shabbat morning, two religious students visited our local Netanya Laniado Hospital to distribute sweets and wish everyone a “speedy recovery.” They sang to a 60-year-old woman who was close to death and by Monday she had revived, amazing the medical staff. “Thanks to them I am alive,” she said.
With Israel’s winning, life-giving team – you cannot lose!
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.
