The 42nd Acre International Fringe Theatre Festival is taking place during the holiday of Sukkot. Last year it was performed only on Zoom and organizers were strongly pushing for it to be held this year as normal – within the Green Pass regulations - with dozens of performances taking place in stunning historic locations across the ancient walled city. Reporter Arieh O’Sullivan spoke with general director of the Acre Theater Moni Yosef who organized the festival, who said the internecine violence between Arabs and Jews in the mixed city that took place last May was marginal and invited the public to come and support the city and the performers.
Around 50 members of the Hebrew Israelites community, also known as the Black Hebrews, some 3,000 strong, in southern Israel have been told that they must leave the country by September 23, for lack of legal status in Israel, or risk forcible deportation by the immigration police.
In response to appeals asking to be allowed to stay, the Interior Ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority wrote to each family that neither residency in Israel for a long period nor work in the country were sufficient grounds for a change of status.
Defense Minister Gantz revealed that the regime in Tehran is training proxy militias from across the Middle East to operate unmanned aircraft at the Kashan airbase north of the airport in Isfahan. Seth Frantzman, a mid-east analyst, and author of the recently released book Drone Wars, said that the drones were providing terrorist groups with advanced precision-guided weapon. He told reporter Arieh O’Sullivan that with drones, they were becoming terror armies, but were still not being held accountable.
Just in time for the High Holidays, the National Library of Israel, in collaboration with the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, has launched the first three installments of a new series entitled "A Look at the Jewish Year," providing insights into the Jewish calendar and holidays through the lens of the national library's world-leading collection of Jewish manuscripts, books, printed materials and more. The first film focusses on the Jewish calendar including its development from ancient times until the present; the second film focuses on Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur; and the third installment discusses the festive holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah. Each of the approximately 15-minute clips features a conversation between Dr. Yoel Finkelman, curator of the Haim and Hanna Salomon Judaica Collection of the National Library of Israel, and Rabbanit Nechama Barash of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. KAN reporter Naomi Segal heard more about the series from Dr. Finkelman.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in Moscow that Iran must be prevented from obtaining a nuclear bomb, no matter what the price.
He also vowed that Israel will continue to defend itself from Iranian actions in Syria.
Lapid was speaking following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, amid concerns about Russian moves to curb Israeli strikes.
There cannot be regional stability as long as Iran maintains a presence and continues to export terror, he warned.
Former Zionist Union MK Ksenia Svetlova is the director of the program on Israel-Middle East relations at Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies.
KAN's Mark Weiss spoke with her about Foreign Minister Lapid’s visit to Moscow.
The Israeli soccer national team notched up a great victory last night, demolishing a better-ranked Austria five goals to two. The game was a World Cup qualifier and put Israel is second place in their six-team group behind Denmark, which it will face on Tuesday. We spoke with Joshua Halickman, who covers sports for The Jerusalem Post and on his website, sportsrabbi.com, about the victory.
Cracking into the art world and being a successful artist is no easy feat. And if you’re suffering from mental health issues it’s even more challenging. Ha Garage, a pre-academic college for talented young people living with mental health issues, helps. This season they have teamed up with two international curators Tamar Arnon and Eli Zagury, who have fostered some of the Garage students to create unique plates featuring distinctive works of art. The plates are for sale with the proceeds to be used to help renovate a permanent campus for the Garage. We spoke with CEO of Ha Garage Dalit Sharon about the project.
The 2021 Annual Assessment of The Situation and Dynamics of the Jewish People just published by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) points to a worrying setback in the situation of the Jewish people across many indicators, both in the internal Jewish arena and in relations between Jews and the rest of the world, requires attention and action. Every year, the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, JPPI publishes its assessment of the state of the Jewish people with an emphasis on five main dimensions: geopolitics, material resources, community bonds, identity and identification, and demography.
Jews around the world are marking the run up to the Days of Awe with Slichot, a series of liturgy and poems recited at night. Prof. Jeffery Woolf, a professor in the Talmud department in Bar Ilan University, explains the origins of the ancient practice. He told reporter Arieh O’Sullivan that it is a mitzva, or commandment to observe, and is God’s plea to his people to ask him for forgiveness.
During summer vacation, over 1,000 teenagers from across the country participated in Magen David Adom’s first-aid care course. The volunteers were trained in dealing with multiple casualty incidents and given professional tools for teaching first-aid. These tools will be used throughout the coming year to train the next generation of volunteers. Dovaleh Shahor, the head of the summer courses for Magen David Adom, told reporter Arieh O’Sullivan that the number of volunteers to Magen David Adom has been surging, particularly since the coronavirus pandemic began.