One Year Later – Building and Remembering
29 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Israel Update, Memorials, Terror
It is one year since the massacre of five members of the Fogel family from Itamar. Today the Bet Midrash built in honor of the family is being dedicated.
The following video was made by a young women from Australia (hat tip, Israel Matzav).
Rainstorms Are Coming
28 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Israel Update, Israeli Life
The weathermen predict a lot of rain in Israel in the next few days, with snow falling on the Hermon and in the Golan, and perhaps even in the central part of Israel. As I have written before, I am a statistics junkie when it comes to rain in Israel, and I follow it closely.
I have also been listening to my sons as they follow sports clips on the internet for every possible game that they can: soccer, both local and European; basketball, local, European and American; and even American football (their newest craze). One thing that all of these clips have in common is the constant information given by the sports commentator, usually consisting of statistics and predictions.
So, for my debut as a “rain commentator” here is what might happen in the next few days (G-d willing – and everyone needs to pray for it, no complaining about the cold and the cost of the electricity for heating!!!!)
Kfar Blum is at 99% of annual rain so far – and since it needs only 6 mm to go over the top it will probably do that without a problem.
Tel Aviv is at 95% of annual rain, and needs 28 mm to reach 100%. I think there is a good chance that will happen too.
The next closest city is Zfat, at 90% annual rain. This is more of a long shot, since Zfat gets a lot of rain, and it needs 64 mm to reach its 100% mark. I don’t think this will happen in the next few days, but perhaps in a week or so…..
The big question in everyone’s minds when it comes to rainfall is the Kinneret level. The Kinneret is now at -212.46. (Don’t get confused here folks, because it is below sea level, so when the rainfall adds water to the Kinneret the numbers go down, and that is a good thing!) Last year the Kinneret’s highest point was -212.35. If there is as much rain as being predicted, there is a very good chance that the level will surpass this point in the next few days. Looking at the big picture, though, the situation is so bad that this number doesn’t really mean much.
The “red line” – the level at which the Kinneret is in danger – is -213.00. Every year, between the day it stops rising to the first rainfall the following fall, the Kinneret drops from about 1 to 2 meters altogether. Exactly how much it drops is dependent of course on how much water is available for pumping from wells in the rest of the country and how much must be used from the Kinneret itself, and how much we conserve. We need to be at about -211.00 just to get to the point where we reach the red line at the end of the summer. Which means we need another 1.56 meters of rain in the Kinneret – in the next month and a half.
Did I mention that we need to pray?
Just Right for Adar – Peace Now Gets a Taste of Purim
22 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
This is sweet. The government approved the construction of 505 housing units in Shilo, and retroactively approved 190 units that were already built there, so now they are all “legal”. (What determines whether a yishuv is legal or not is sometimes just a signature. This is what happended here.)
What is so sweet about it is the fact that the government finally approved the construction because of Peace Now. They brought a court case to the Supreme Court in Israel demanding that this building was illegal. The court pressed the government for a decision on its status – and got its answer.
Pretty good timing too – tonight is the beginning of the month of Adar, known for the holiday of Purim, where the enemies of the Jews had their plans turned on their heads.
Haifa Comes In First….
19 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in Israeli Life, Musings
Haifa is the first place in Israel that has reached its annual normal rainfall. The good news is that many other places are close, and it is only February 19th. The normal rainy season in Israel has about another month to six weeks to go.
As I wrote last year, I am a statistics junkie when it comes to rainfall here in Israel. We are very short of water, especially in the Kinneret, so every millimeter counts, and I rejoice when I see the rain amounts going up.
If you would like to join me in my obsession just click here. I check in at least once a day during the winter. On the daily rainfallpage you can scroll down and click where it indicates for the level of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). This will take you to another great site (in Hebrew) with all kinds of statistics about the water table in various parts of Israel and the Kinneret.
