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Incredible Israel

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Tidbit #1: Israel is 7,992 square miles, which is about the size of New Jersey!
Tidbit #2: The Dead Sea is 1,300 feet below sea level, and is the lowest place on earth! The salt content is so high that people float in the water. The surrounding mud is used in a variety of beauty products because it is very good for the skin.
Tidbit #3: Mount Hermon is over 9,000 feet above sea level�a 2,200 foot difference in altitude from the Dead Sea.
Tidbit #4: Some of the limestone blocks that make up the Western Wall (Kotel) are 30 feet long and weigh over 200 tons.
Tidbit #5: All that is left of the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash) are the outer retaining or supporting walls and some of the steps leading up to them. The Western Wall (Kotel) is one of those outer walls.
Tidbit #6: In Israel, the head of the country is called the prime minister. Even though they have a president, his (or her) role is mostly ceremonial.
Tidbit #7: Israel has a parliament called the Knesset (from the Hebrew root meaning to gather or to enter). This is like Israel's equivalent of the US Congress, however, there are many more political parties in Israel than there are here. 120 representatives make up the Knesset.
Tidbit #8: There are about 5 million Jews and 1 million non-Jews living in Israel today.
Tidbit #9: Israel does not have the same separations between religion and government the way America does. Many of the laws are actual Jewish laws.
Tidbit #10: In 1999, Abdel Rahman Zuabi was the first Israeli Arab appointed to Israel's Supreme Court.
Tidbit #11: The word "Jerusalem" literally means, "city of peace."
Tidbit #12: Jerusalem has been an established city for about 3,000 years.
Tidbit #13: It was not until after the 1967 war that Jews could freely visit the Western Wall.
Tidbit #14: Yad VaShem is Israel's Holocaust memorial. It not only honors the memories of the Jews who were killed, but it also the non-Jews who risked their lives trying to save Jews.
Tidbit #15: There are many parks in Jerusalem, including Gan HaPa'amon (literally, "garden of the bell") or Liberty Bell Park, honoring America's 200th birthday in 1976.
Tidbit #16: "Salaam" is the Arabic way of saying "peace," "hello," and "goodbye," just like the Hebrew word "shalom". Do you hear the similarities of the words? They come from the same root.
Tidbit #17: Tel Aviv is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and is a busy modern city with the same kinds of malls, clubs, restaurants, and traffic you see here in the States.
Tidbit #18: Some of Israel's major exports are finished diamonds and other precious stones. According to one statistic, 50% of all the polished diamonds in the world have been polished in Israel!
Tidbit #19: The city of Caesarea (named by King Herod after the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar) is the home of many ancient structures including a huge open-air theater that can seat 5,000 people. It is still used today even though it is about 2,024 years old! Caesarea is the site of many archeological excavations. The city is located on the coast between Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Tidbit #20: Haifa, which is a coastal city in the northern part of Israel, is built in the mountains and has beautiful views of the Mediterranean Sea and the surrounding areas. Haifa is Israel's third-largest city (after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) and it also has a very important international seaport. Haifa is a major technological center for Israel.
Tidbit #21: The Negev desert, located in the south, makes up half of the area of Israel. However, less than 10% of the country's population lives there.
Tidbit #22: King Herod, who ruled Israel from 37 BCE to 5 CE was very cruel to the people he ruled. Due to his vain aspirations, he built beautiful fortresses and structures all over the land. Some of these include Masada, the enlargement of the Second Temple, and the port city of Caesarea, and others. We still can see many if his projects today.
Tidbit #23: The city of Beersheva has stood in its place in the Negev since the time of Abraham, and is more than 4,000 years old.
Tidbit #24: Eilat is the city on Israel�s southern-most tip. It has been an oasis-a rest stop for travelers over the centuries who were crossing the continents. Today, Eilat is a city full of vacation resorts and it also has an important seaport on the Red Sea. Eilat is famous for its coral reefs that are home to beautiful sea life.
Tidbit #25: The Golan Heights, the mountainous region at Israel's northern tip, were captured from Syria in 1967 and are still disputed territories today.
Tidbit #26: The Sea of Galilee, or Kinneret, is located just south of the Golan Heights. The Hebrew word kinor originally meant "harp" (but now means "violin"), and the lake was named after it because it is shaped like a harp.
Tidbit #27: The city of Tiberias ("Tveria" in Hebrew) was founded on the western shore of the Kinneret in the first century CE (about 1,900 years ago). It was the home of the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish high court.
Tidbit #28: The first kibbutz was founded in Israel in 1910.
Tidbit #29: A kibbutz (plural: kibbutzim) originally was a farming commune where members shared all responsibilities and resources. Now, kibbutzim don't just specialize in agriculture, but also in manufacturing, tourism, and other industries.
Tidbit #30: Kibbutzim used to be the only working models of communism. Everyone shared everything, and no one was allowed to have things unless everyone else could have the same thing (like TV, for example). Members rotated their duties so that everyone had the chance to do every job. All members split the money that the kibbutz made. Today, things are a little different, but kibbutz life is still quite unique.
Tidbit #31: Children on a kibbutz used to live together in a "children's house," and would go to their parents' apartments for a few hours a day. Different adults would take turns working in the children's house. Everyone also ate together in a communal dining hall and took turns helping prepare the food and clean up. Now, most families live together in their own separate houses, but a kibbutz still has a strong sense of community unrivaled almost anywhere else in the world.
Tidbit #32: There are about 270 kibbutzim in Israel today.
Tidbit #33: Tzfat ("Safed" in English), located high in the hills northwest of Lake Kinneret, is one of the few places in Israel that Jews have maintained a continuous presence since ancient times.
Tidbit #34: Tzfat is a holy city that has been a center of Jewish learning for centuries and is now also a center for visual arts. It is one of the most beautiful cities in Israel!
Tidbit #35: Israeli kids in elementary school have a day that last from 8AM to 1PM, and high school goes until 2PM. Although they have a shorter day than we do here in the States, they also have to go to school on Sundays.
Tidbit #36: Jewish history is considered a regular subject in most Israeli public schools. And although they obviously don't have to go to Hebrew school, they do have to learn English, and some even learn Arabic as well!
Tidbit #37: There are many schools of varying religious degrees in Israel, from public schools that teach Jewish subjects to ultra-orthodox yeshivot. Arabs, Christians, and Druze also have their own religious schools.
Tidbit #38: The Maccabiah Games, a "Jewish Olympics," are held in Tel Aviv every four years. The first Maccabiah Games took place in 1932 (even before Israel was its own country). In 1997 more than 5,500 Jewish athletes from around the world participated in the Games.
Tidbit #39: Israel's army is called the Tz'va Haganah Leyisrael, or Tzahal (the acronym) for short. In English, it is the Israel Defense Force, or IDF.
Tidbit #40: With a few exceptions, all Israelis must join the army when they are 18 years old. Boys must serve for 3 years, and girls must serve for a little over a year and a half. After that, they are part of the reserves, or miluim. Both men and women go back to the army for about 4 weeks out of the year to practice their skills. Women with no children serve in the reserves until age 34, and men until age 55.

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Tidbit #1: Rabbi Joseph Karo (1488-1575) was born in Spain, but left with the other Jews in the expulsion in 1492. He settled in Tzfat, Palestine, in 1536, became the chief rabbi of the city, and founded his own Talmudic yeshiva. Perhaps Rabbi Karo is best known for writing the Shulchan Aruch, which is a summary of his comprehensive works on Rabbinic law. The Shulchan Aruch is still used today as a guide to Jewish law.
Tidbit #2: "The rabbi should not be angry with his pupils if they do not understand but he should repeat the matter over and over again until they grasp the proper depth of the law. The pupil should not say that he understands when he does not, but should ask over and over again. And if the rabbi is angry with him, he should say, 'Rabbi, it is the Torah and I want to know it, but my mind is inadequate'" --Rabbi Joseph Karo
Tidbit #3: Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), called the Alter Rebbe, was the founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic Movement. He was greatly influenced by the Ba'al Shem Tov. Rabbi Schneur Zalman completed the Tanya, which is a major compilation of Jewish philosophy after working on it for 20 years. It was then printed in 1796.
Tidbit #4: Rabbi Schneur Zalman taught that the word Mitzrayim, the Hebrew name for Egypt, is appropriate on several levels. Mitzrayim literally means "borders" or "narrows." Not only were we leaving a physical land of slavery and confinement, but we had to change our lifestyles to reflect our liberation. Therefore, as we are taught that we each have to view ourselves as having been personally freed from Egypt, we can see that we can easily do this on a philosophical and spiritual level every day.
For example, what we might have considered expansive and uninhibited by "yesterday's" standards, we now find narrow and confining because today we have gained more knowledge and wisdom that help us recognize new possibilities. Spiritually, bonds that limit us, like bad habits or mind-sets need to be broken away from so we can begin to recognize the infinite potential of our G-dly souls.
Tidbit #5: This is what man is all about; this is the purpose of his creation and of the creation of all the worlds, sublime and lowly -- to make for G-d a dwelling in the physical world.--Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
Tidbit #6: A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness.--Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
Tidbit #7: Prayer without direction of the heart is like a body without a soul...Love of G-d and fear of G-d are the two wings by which a deed rises heavenward. --Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
Tidbit #8: "The soul of man is a lamp of G-d" (Proverbs 20:27). Just like the flame of the lamp strains upwards, seeking to tear free of the wick and rise heavenward - though this would spell its own demise - so, too, does the G-dly soul in man constantly strive to tear free of the body and the material existence and be nullified within its source in G-d. --Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
Tidbit #9: There are two types of pleasure before G-d. The first is from the complete nullification of evil and its transformation from bitterness to sweetness and from darkness to light by the perfectly righteous [people]. The second [pleasure] is when evil is repelled while it is still at its strongest and mightiest...through the efforts of the "regular person" (beinoni)... As in the analogy of physical food, in which there are two types of delicacies that give pleasure: the first being the pleasure derived from sweet and pleasant foods; and the second, from sharp and sour foods, which are spiced and prepared in such a way that they become delicacies that revive the soul... --Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
Tidbit #10: There is love like fire, and there is love like water. --Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
Tidbit #11: The Jewish heart is a smoldering coal. The words of prayer are the bellows that fan it to a roaring flame. --Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
Tidbit #12: "A soul may descend to earth and live seventy or eighty years for the sole purpose of doing a favor for another -- a spiritual favor, or even a material favor." --Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #13: "Love your fellow as yourself" is an elaboration and elucidation upon "And you shall love the L-rd your G-d" (Deuteronomy 6:5). When one loves one's fellow one loves G-d, for one's fellow contains within himself a "part of G-d above" (Job 31:2). By loving one's fellow, the innermost part of him, one loves G-d. --Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #14: During the time that Rabbi Schneur Zalman was imprisoned in Petersburg, one of the czar's miniters asked him to explain the verse (Genesis 3:9) "And G-d called out to the man and said to him: Where are you?" Did G-d not know where Adam was? "Where are you?" said Rabbi Schneur Zalman to the minister, "is G-d's perpetual call to every man. Where are you in the world? You have been allotted a certain number of days, hours, and minutes in which to fulfill your mission in life. You have lived so many years and so many days -- Where are you? What have you accomplished?"
Tidbit #15: To the Ba'al Shem Tov, ahavat yisrael was not the refusal to see the deficiencies of a fellow person, or even the endeavor to transform them into merits, but an unquestionable love regardless of their spiritual state. He loved the most immoral person with the same boundless love with which he loved the greatest righteous one; he loved them as G-d loves them -- as a father loves his children, regardless of who and what they are.
Tidbit #16: Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna (1720-1797) was (and still is) called The Vilna Gaon. (The word "gaon" means genius.) To the Gaon, the study of Torah was most important and he lived up to this standard. The Gaon also considered secular knowledge to be a vital addition to Torah study. He was knowledgeable in a wide array of secular subjects and wrote books on grammar and mathematics. His compassion was so great, that in spite of his own poverty, he always gave 20% of his income to the needy. Furthermore, if he heard of any other with special needs, he wouldn't hesitate to give more.
Tidbit #17: One of Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna's (The Vilna Gaon) greatest contributions to Judaism was his correction of some of our ancient texts, particularly the Talmud. (Over the centuries scribes had made errors in copying some of the texts, but NOT the Torah. The rules for writing the Torah are so strict that scribal error is nearly impossible and extraordinarily rare.) The Gaon, with his phenomenal knowledge of the entirety of the Torah literature, was possibly the only individual capable of creating authoritative corrections of these texts. There is almost no ancient Jewish text that does not bear the notes of the Gaon.
Tidbit #18: If a man has beheld evil, he may know that it was shown to him in order that he learn his own guilt and repent; for what is shown to him is also within him. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #19: Everything above and below is one unity. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #20: For any of us to come to the understanding that we are common and unlearned is the accomplishment of a lifetime. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #21: He who is full of joy is full of love. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #22: If the Bible didn't show us the weaknesses, the vulnerabilities, the sins of our heroes, we might have deep questions about their true virtue. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #23: The central aspect of worship is the feeling of being at one with God. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #24: The world is new to us every morning--this is God's gift; and every man should believe he is reborn each day. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #25: There is no room for God in the man who is filled with himself. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #26: Unless we believe that God renews creation every day, our prayers grow habitual and tedious. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #27: We should not laugh at the person who becoming caught up in his prayer bends his body or moves about in strange ways. Perhaps he moves in this manner to wave off unwelcome thoughts that would interrupt the prayer. Would we find it funny if we saw a person drowning going through strange motions doing whatever was necessary to save his life? -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #28: We should learn and reflect to the best of our capacity, but when we reach a point where we are unable to make sense of life, we should supplant faith for understanding, and reflect again on what we do know. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #29: When a father complains that his son has taken to evil ways, what should he do? Love him more than ever. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #30: Each penitent thought is a voice of G-d. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #31: The Amidah opens with God of Abraham, God of Issac, and God of Jacob -- not God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob-- because each patriarch sought and served God in his own way and did not accept blindly the God of his ancestors. -- Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov
Tidbit #32: Always remember: Joy is not merely incidental to your spiritual quest. It is vital. - Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
Tidbit #33: A man should love his wife as himself and honor her more than himself. - Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot 62b
Tidbit #34: Hatred makes the straight crooked. - Hebrew proverb
Tidbit #35: The study of Torah is not simply a didactic act...It is a powerful experience involving the closeness of many generations, the joining of spirit to spirit and the connection of soul to soul. - Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik
Tidbit #37: A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair. - Abraham Joshua Heschel
Tidbit #38: This is what the Holy One said to Israel: My children, what do I seek from you? I seek no more than that you love one another and honor one another. - Tanna d'Bai Eliyahu, medieval rabbinic work
Tidbit #39: The pure Tzaddikim (righteous people), do not complain against wickedness but add righteousness. They do not complain against disbelief but add faith. They do not complain against ignorance but add wisdom. - Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook
Tidbit #40: There is no true justice unless mercy is part of it. - The Zohar
Tidbit #41: What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul. - Yiddish Proverb
Tidbit #42: The Second Temple was destroyed because of causeless hatred. Perhaps the Third will be rebuilt because of causeless love. - Rav Abraham Isaac Kook
Tidbit #43: It is good to make a habit of inspiring yourself with a melody... For the loftiness of melody is beyond all measure. - Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav
Tidbit #44: Let a good man do good deeds with the same zeal that the evil man does bad ones. - Hasidic saying attributed to the Belzer Rebbe, Shalom Rokeakh
Tidbit #45: All my days I have been raised among the Sages, and I found nothing better for oneself than silence; not study, but practice is the main thing; and one who talks excessively brings on sin. - Shimon ben Rabban Gamliel, Pirkei Avot 1:17
Tidbit #46: A person should make ladders for himself by which he can sometimes go up to heaven. - R. Kalonymus Kalman Shapiro
Tidbit #47: He who saves a single life saves the entire world. - The Talmud
Tidbit #48: The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice, and the desire for personal independence, these are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my lucky stars I belong to it. - Albert Einstein
Tidbit #49: Be strong-willed and stubborn if you want to get closer to God. How else will you survive all the difficulties that are sure to come your way? - Reb Nachman of Breslov
Tidbit #50: Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. - Baruch Spinoza
Tidbit #51: Who is rich? One who is happy with what he has. - Ethics of the Fathers 4:1
Tidbit #52: Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism and falsehood. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement, seeking to overthrow the forces that continue to destroy, the promise, the hope, the vision. - Abraham Joshua Heschel
Tidbit #53: The purpose of the laws of the Torah...is to bring mercy, loving-kindness and peace upon the world. - Moses Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, "Laws of the Sabbath," 2:3
Tidbit #54: More than the Jews have kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Jews. - Ahad Ha'am
Tidbit #55: A man should not act as a judge either for someone he loves or for someone he hates. For no man can see the guilt of someone he loves or the good qualities in someone he hates. - Babylonian Talmud, tractate Ketubbot
Tidbit #56: Concentrate on three things and you will not fall into the grip of sin. Know from where you came, where you are going, and before Whom you will have to give account and reckoning. - Pirkei Avot 3:1
Tidbit #57: Human fallibility being what it is, victory and truth do not always go together. Therefore, if you have to always win, you can't always be true. - Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
Tidbit #58: Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is like expecting the bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian. - Rabbi Harold Kushner, "When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough," paraphrasing Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan
Tidbit #59: The virtue of angels is that they cannot deteriorate; their flaw is that they cannot improve. Humanity's flaw is that we can deteriorate; but our virtue is that we can improve. - Hasidic saying
Tidbit #60: Do not say, "When I have leisure, I will study." Perhaps you will have no leisure. - Pirkei Avot 2:4
Tidbit #61: Truth does not become more true by virtue of the fact that the entire world agrees with it, nor less so even if the whole world disagrees with it. - Maimonides
Tidbit #62: Rabbi Judah says: Whoever does not teach his son a trade or profession teaches him to be a thief. - Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 29a
Tidbit #63: In the hour of a person's departure, neither silver nor gold nor precious stones nor pearls accompany them, but only Torah and good works. - Pirkei Avot
Tidbit #64: One should not promise a child something, and then not give it to him, because as a result, the child will learn to lie. - Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 46b
Tidbit #65: If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat. - Proverbs 25:21
Tidbit #66: While praying, listen to the words very carefully. When your heart is attentive, your entire being enters your prayer without your having to force it. - Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

Nasty No-Goodniks Back to Top

Tidbit #1: Haman had 10 sons who were presumably as wicked as he was, and all of them were hanged with their father on the day Haman picked to slaughter the Jews.

Fabulous Facts Back to Top

Tidbit #1: The word Mitzrayim is the Hebrew name for Egypt, but it literally means, "borders" or "narrows." Can you think of reasons why this name is fitting for Egypt, regarding the Exodus of the Israelites?
Tidbit #2: Most of the time, Hebrew words are connected in meaning by their root words. For example, the word for book (sefer), story (sipur), scribe (sofer), and narrator (misaper) derive from the same root, samech-pey-resh. However...so do the words number (mispar), counting or numbering (s'fira), and scissors (misparayim). Obviously the second set of words all go together, but can you think of ways that the second set of words might connect with the first set?

Terrific Torah Trivia Back to Top

Tidbit #1: The last letter (lamed) and the first letter (bet) in the Torah spell the word lev, which means "heart".
Tidbit #2: Almost all portions (parashot) of the Torah begin with the prefix vav, meaning "and". Most people believe that this is because we need to remember that the Torah is an on-going story. The "ands" signify that each new part is related to the part before it, so we know that the text doesn't really have an ending point.
Tidbit #3: All Torah scrolls are written by hand with a special quill pen on real parchment. It takes a scribe (called a sofer, from the same Hebrew root as "book") almost a year to complete one Torah scroll.
Tidbit #4: When people read the Torah, they point to each word they read with a special pointer called a yad, which literally means "hand." It is important to use a yad and not follow along with our fingers so that we don't smudge or damage the actual Torah scroll.
Tidbit #5: Jacob had 12 sons. They were: Ruben (Ruven), Simeon (Shimon), Levi, Judah (Yehuda), Zebulun (Zevulun), Yisachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph (Yosef), and Benjamin (Binyamin). He had only one daughter, named Dinah.
Tidbit #6: Before Jacob died, he blessed Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Minasheh, and raised them to the status of his own sons, by letting them share in the inheritance of each becoming a separate tribe. In doing so, Joseph was "elevated" beyond his brothers and therefore didn't get a tribe of his own (and he didn't need one because his sons became tribes). However, when the Israelites divided up the land of ancient Israel so that each tribe would get a section, the tribe of Levi did not get its own parcel. It became the tribe that upheld the religion and formed the priesthood, which the rest of the tribes supported. Therefore, the 12 tribes are slightly different, depending on if you are looking at a geographic map or a genealogy.
Tidbit #7: When the Israelites received the Torah at Mount Sinai, they said, "we will do and we will listen" (na'aseh v'nishmah). This means that they were willing to do what G-d told them to do, without even hearing an explanation first. Upon saying that, they set an example for us by teaching us the way we should approach Torah and mitzvot. We should try to do as much as we can, even if we don't know all the details. Most things are quite complex, and the learning (or listening) process might take a long time. Do we have to know all there is to learn about a mitzvah before we do it? No! If you know it is a good deed, you should not hesitate to do it.
Tidbit #8: You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kinsman but incur no guilt because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the Lord. - Leviticus 19:17-18

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Tidbit #1: The first Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash) was built by King Solomon, and it stood in Jerusalem from 833-423 BCE (that's 390 years). It was destroyed by the Babylonians. The second Beit Hamikdash stood from 353 BCE to 70 CE (423 years), and was destroyed by the Romans. Both Temples were destroyed on the same Hebrew date, the 9th of Av (Tisha B'Av). This day is now a sad day of remembrance, reflection, and fasting.
Tidbit #2: Under the leadership of Judah (Yehudah) the Maccabee, the Jews defeated the Syrians in 165 BCE and rededicated (cleaned and restored) the Temple, creating the holiday of Chanukah.
Tidbit #3: The State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948.
Tidbit #4: Israel has been through many wars: The War of Independence (1948-49), the Suez War or Sinai Campaign (1956), the Six-Day War (1967), the War of Attrition (1969-70), the Yom Kippur War (1973), the war in Lebanon (1982-85), the first Intifada (1987-93), the Gulf War (1991), and the current Intifada that will hopefully end soon.

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Tidbit #1: Moses lived 120 years.
Tidbit #2: Queen Esther's Hebrew name was Haddassah.
Tidbit #3: Moses was the youngest child in his family, having Miriam and Aaron as older siblings. The parents of these three great figures in our history were Amram (the father) and Yocheved (the mother), who was apparently very beautiful. Isaac lived to be 180 years old.
Tidbit #4: Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) organized the First Zionist Congress in 1897 and was voted president of the World Zionist Organization and devoted his life to creating and supporting a Jewish State in Eretz Yisrael. He said, "if you will it, it is no dream."
Tidbit #5: Henrietta Szold (1860-1945) was the first woman to study Talmud and other holy texts at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. After a visit to what was then Palestine in 1909, she returned to New York to form the national organization for Zionist women, called Hadassah. The famous Hadassah Hospital (which is still there today) opened in 1925.
Tidbit #6: David Ben Gurion was Israel's first Prime Minister.