Sunday, April 14, 2013

Remember

Israel has more than 23,000 soldiers who have given their lives for the Land. Tonight begins Israel's Yom HaZikaron  ~ Memorial Day. At 8 PM a siren will be sounded all around the country calling our attention to the great loss we have all suffered. There will be ceremonies over the next day and trips to the cemeteries. Join with us as we cry out to G-d to Comfort His people, Israel.







Saturday, April 13, 2013

HOPE ~ Talking About Tikva !

This week Israel will be celebrating 65 years since the founding of the State. For a human, 65 years usually signals the beginning of retirement years. For Israel, well what can we say.... we've only just begun! How far we have progressed in these few years... and we Israelis are feeling nothing but... HOPE ! Hope for our future~ a glorious future~ a successful path set in front of us. We are enjoying and know that we will continue to enjoy a passionate life here in the Land of our Promise. Join with us as we celebrate !
(Maybe THIS is YOUR year to make Aliyah !!)

 

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Felix Zandman

Tonight begins Yom HaShoah~  Holocaust Remembrance Day. In all our imaginations, there is no way to totally fathom the depth and breadth of evil that ruled during that season. Nor can we begin to embrace the amount of suffering and loss that was started then and continues to this day. Many of us have personal experience either having lived through it ourselves or a family member. More of do not. Like a Pesach when we identify with those who were slaves and delivered~ it is incumbent upon us to so likewise identify in some measure. Each of us will find our own way of relating to, remembering and honoring those who died.

For today, before we begin our time of memorial, we would like to honor the G-d of Israel. Hitler did not succeed in his plan. The Hand of HaShem stopped him. For this we are very grateful. There are so many miraculous stories of those who were snatched from the fires. So many Gentiles who were willing to be used as instruments of rescue and safety~ at the risk of their own lives and their family's lives. The paths of those who lived are varied~ some colored with success and some with more sorrow.

"Felix Zandman is known on Wall Street as the brilliant scientist-entrepreneur whose billion-dollar Fortune 500 company, Vishay Intertechnology, reshaped the electronic component industry. But few are aware of Zandman's incredible personal story: as a teenager he spent a year-and-a-half in Nazi occupied Poland, and that harrowing experience gave him the drive, discipline, and generosity of spirit that made his later success possible. Taught by his grandmother Tema that the only measure of wealth is what you give away, Zandman lost his entire world in 1943 when the ghetto in his native city of Grodno was destroyed. Jammed with four others into a tiny pit beneath the cottage of a poor Polish peasant, he was left with nothing but his inner resources of imagination, intellect, and will to fend off insanity and find a reason to go on living. Lying next to him in the hole, his uncle taught him higher mathematics, lessons he later turned to good use in winning a doctorate in physics from the Sorbonne. In 1966 he came to the United States, where one of his breakthrough discoveries became the basis for a company he named for his grandmother's shtetl. Vishay revolutionized an industry and today employs sixteen thousand people worldwide, among them the grandson of the woman who saved him." (taken from the review of Felix's book Click here

We want to share the story today of Felix Zandman. Many times his life was spared. Many times the Hand of HaShem took him from the fires. What is amazing to see is all that he has been used for in his life since then. It makes us wonder~ did the cure for cancer march into the gas chambers, the plans to grow enough food for the entire world go up in smoke, the answer to a peaceful world lay in ashes in Auschwitz? As you listen to Zandman's story, you can rejoice with us in the providence of G-d that has brought this man through to a very fruitful life~ one that in a small way has touched us all~ without us even knowing it.

Click here to view this video:

Thursday, April 4, 2013

The Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Foundation

The Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive collects and preserves the world’s largest collection of moving images that record the story of the Jewish people. The vaults contain material shot in Israel before and after the establishment of the State in 1948, motion picture records of many Jewish communities in the Diaspora and two special collections relating to the Holocaust.

Started in the late 1960s by Professor Moshe Davis and other historians of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. the Archives have passed through many hands and finally into Spielberg's foundation.. The Archive has over 13,000 films and videos and provides an invaluable resource.

Since it is Springtime in Israel, The 2 Spies  would like to share the Archive's film on Spring in Israel in 1939. Enjoy!