Welcome back to the News Round-up! This week we are sharing some sweet Holocaust survivor stories, and what Israel is doing in a Drought along with other news from inside Israel. We wish all of our readers a restful weekend and we hope you take time to be with family and enjoy. Remember, you can click on the story titles to read the full account from the news source itself.
In this Wednesday, April 11, 2018, photo, childhood Holocaust survivors Simon Gronowski and Alice Gerstel Weit embrace at the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Seventy-six years after saying goodbye in Brussels to close family friends, Alice Gerstel hope she would get to see her friend, Simon Grownowski again. And here they are, all these years later, reunited because of a search on the Internet by Alice’s nephew.
They reunited at the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum and hugged tightly, cried and hugged again numerous times. The pair will return to the museum Sunday, the 15th of April, to recount to visitors how the Holocaust affected their families and how the closest of friends can still find each other. How it led an 11-year-old boy to make one of the most daring escapes of the war. How it put the other family on a perilous journey through occupied France that reads like a scene from the film “Casablanca.” (Times of Israel)
And, finally, how those separate journeys culminated three-quarters of a century later in a joyful, tear-streaked reunion in Los Angeles just before Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The words, “Holocaust Never Again” in Portuguese on Brazil’s National Congress Buildings.
The words “Holocaust Never Again” in Portuguese were projected on Brazil’s iconic National Congress buildings to mark Yom Hashoah, or Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Brasilia’s most famous landmark, displayed these huge words for four hours on Wednesday evening, to honor Holocaust Remembrance Day. This unprecedented statement of support in the country’s capital city was led by Senator Davi Alcolumbre, who is Jewish, and the Curitiba Holocaust Museum.
The 28-story buildings, which are home to the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, hosted during the last two weeks an exhibit titled “Shoah – Holocaust: How was it humanly possible?” produced by Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum.
Brazil has not been so friendly to Israel in the past and the new President, MichelTemer, has been trying to re-establish good ties with the Jewish state after his impeached predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, had an openly anti-Israel platform for 13 years.
Gal Gadot with her grandfather, Abraham Weiss. (screen capture-Instagram)
In a video Gal Gadot shared to her Instagram on April 12, you see her touching the face of her beloved Grandfather, Abraham Weiss, who has since passed away. Weiss’ entire family was slaughtered in Auschwitz and Gadot had been looking for a photo of him to share on Israel’s day of remembrance. Her assistant unknowingly shared a sweet video she had found and Gadot was astonished. In her words, “I was looking for a photo of you all night on my phone but I couldn’t find one…I wasn’t surprised.. My grandpa is always with me.. That’s not the first time he pops out of nowhere.. That’s how he used to be…with his special sense of humor and always there for us. Even though he went thru hell. Lost his ENTIRE family in Auschwitz.. He chose to believe in good. I miss you saba. I love you. And thanks for helping out with finding a photo of us. I’ve never seen this video before and it made me cry. And as I think of you today, at this very moment of remembrance, which is also a call for all of us to act against discrimination of any kind. Anywhere in the world.” Beautifully said Gal.
(Photo: EPA)
Tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims gathered at Christianity’s holiest site in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday for the “Holy Fire” ceremony on the eve of Orthodox Easter. Approximately 7,000 congregants filled the inside of the church as the flame was passed among them and thousands more waited outside in the square to receive the holy flame that would then be carried back to Orthodox churches worldwide. The flame represents the resurrection of Christ.
The church is built on the site where according to Christian tradition Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. The Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic denominations share custody of the church. Israeli police were on hand to prevent any disturbances but were pleased to report that it was a peaceful event.
The Sharona Reservoir in the Upper Galilee (photo credit: ALBATROSS/ KKL-JNF ARCHIVE)
While Israel is known as a water leader in the world and despite having a surplus of water right now, they are also experiencing a 5 year drought. So, the Start-up Nation, true to its reputation, is not resting easy on its former achievements in the areas of water management and conservation.
“We built five large desalination plants which provides 600 million cubic meters of water in recent years. Therefore, even with this extreme and rare situation that we find ourselves in now – a five-year drought, that happens once in 50 years – we’re still able to meet the water needs for everyday use and also, to some extent, for our agriculture use,” Giora Shaham, the Israel Water Authority’s new director-general, explained. (jpost.com)
But now they are looking to improve on their efficiency in storing recycled water. The need for a project like this is quite simple, JNF Water Task Force chairman Mark Kelman explained.
“Here’s the reason and it makes perfect sense,” he began. “Farmers use most of their water in the summer, so while we are recycling all this water in the winter, there are not enough places to store it. Literally, a lot of recycled water goes to the sea. The more water being used, the more is being recycled, and we need more storage capacity for it. A country like Israel, by its geographical location alone, will always be short of water, and will need to have a viable plan for how it will have water for generations to come. If you don’t do this, you’re not going to survive as a country. And we hear continuously in the news about cities and nations across the globe that prove this true,” Kelman said.
