Obituary: Louis Lenart dies in Israel

The new documentary, Above and Beyond (which is excellent but not for kids) showcases the remarkable story of the birth of the Israeli air force in 1948. One of the first pilots, Lou Lenart, just passed away. Here is his obituary. 

Holocaust Rescue Paid Forward

Great article on how a man rescued in the Holocaust is now rescuing Christians.

Some articles for the week

Jewish boy from France who converts to Islam, joins ISIS, goes to Syria and dies in fighting there


An Israeli Technion student has invented a way of telling if people are sad on social media (suicide alerts) and therefore in need of intervention and help before they hurt themselves

Moving video of Israeli wounded and now giving back to others

Orthodox owned horse wins race on Shabbat

See this funny article about a horse who raced on Shabbat and won, after his non-Jewish jockey visited the grave of Rebbe Shneerson.

Hijab Case

Discuss this case with your kids, arguing for each side: should someone be denied a job because they want to cover their hair at work?

Iraqi Muslim who Finds Out He is Jewish!

See this beautiful video on a man who grew up Muslim, finds out his maternal grandmother is Jewish, and changes his whole life, moving to Jerusalem and becoming a religious Jew!

Shabbat Accommodation and Fun Video

An interesting case from the UK: a woman filed a lawsuit because she lost a job due to her Shabbat observance. Here's the article. Discuss with kids about whether she was right and what "religious accommodation" means.


Then watch this video and discuss with your kids. What does it mean to learn Jewish language and culture but not the religion?

New baby princess in UK!

Prince William and Princess Kate have a new baby: Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, named for William's mother, Princess Diana. See here for pictures!

And for woman's empowerment, watch this great video on saying sorry.

New Lawsuit in Netherlands to Help the Environment

There's an interesting new lawsuit in the Netherlands. An environment rights activist and lawyer has filed a lawsuit against her government, claiming that her country's carbon emissions are negatively causing climate change and that impacts her as a citizen and causing damages to her as a citizen. If she wins, this will cause a domino effect of litigation across the world, using the courts as a vehicle into forcing governments to confront carbon emissions and climate change. What do you think this? (About using the courts in this way; about carbon emissions; about climate change, etc.) Has your climate changed lately and if so, how and why? Do you have the power to do anything about it? How?

More from Nepal

Lots this week on Nepal. Some updates to share with your kids:

• The death toll has now risen over 5000 
• A teenage boy was rescued today by a USAID team and locals. He had been trapped beneath a collapsed building for 5 days! Can you imagine not eating or drinking and being locked inside a room for 5 day? 
• Israel sent more volunteers to help in Nepal than any other country, reports CNN. Israel sent around 200 people. The next largest group was from England, which sent 68. Israel has also donated the most financial aid -- $10 million. 
• About 2000 Israeli travelers were in Nepal during the earthquake! (They like to visit after serving in the army). All have been found and are ok except for one. Or Asaf, 22 years old, is still missing. 

 

More on Nepal's Earthquake

Follow up to yesterday--Nepal's earthquake--an article about Chabad in Nepal and a young homeless boy whom they took in. And keep praying for all those still missing in Nepal, including over 100 Israelis. 

 

Earthquake in Nepal

Over the weekend, there was a terrible earthquake in Nepal. Thousands are thought dead. They are urgently in need of everything: tents, water, food, medical help. Hikers on Mount Everest had to survive an avalanche at base camp. Click here for pictures and article. have kids think of ways they can help (prayers, cards, donations, etc.)

Here is info on multiple Israeli delegations bringing aid and soldiers to help recovery: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Netanyahu-briefed-on-efforts-to-help-Nepal-after-quake-This-is-the-real-face-of-Israel-399246

Learn to Play Music through an App

Sorry for the delay in posts. Work has been busy, as was Passover! I may not write out paragraphs about articles anymore, but just post links to interesting topics. We'll see how much time I have on a given day...Thanks for reading!

Today's article is about a Chinese company which is investing in an Israeli app that teaches people how to play music. Watch a promotional video here. 

Cute Passover video

Cute video for Passover combining science and tradition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baQfqoZrEvI

Enjoy!

Ways that Palestinian and Israel Children are Working Together

PA & Israeli girls study animal welfare together when 40 girls from Jericho and Beit Shemesh participated in an event called "New Spring – New Hope," at the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Israel. They visited animals and listened to a lecture in Hebrew and Arabic about the importance of treating animals kindly.

The Israel Association of Baseball (IAB) launched Baseball for All (Baseball Le’Kulam), the first ever program to teach Jewish and Arab Israeli children to play baseball. 28 sixth graders from Modiin and Ramle learned about baseball as they also learned about one another.

Source: http://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/  

What Does It Mean That Your Brain Is Missing a Cerebrum?

Article: The cerebellum is a part of the brain that holds half of our neurons. But until now, scientists haven't known exactly all that it allows us to do or not do. Thanks to some people born without cerebellums or cerebellums damaged due to stroke, infection or disease--and willing to have their brains scanned and studied--we are learning a lot more. Until now, scientists thought the cerebellum was only responsible for helping us keep our balance and fine motor control. So when one gets drunk and fails a police walking test or can't touch the tip of their nose, that is the cerebellum impaired. (Kids: try walking in a straight line; that is your cerebellum helping you out.) But now we also know that the cerebellum is like the fine tuner to most of our other functions. Other parts of the brain enable us to do things-- like telling us when to walk or speak or feel an emotion--but the cerebellum fine tunes that and helps us do it well -- walk well, speak in an understandable way, or show empathy. For instance, one person in the study who was born without a cerebellum could walk, talk, think and express some feelings, but none very well. In a conversation, he speaks slurred and can only say basic things, like "how are you? how was your day?" But if the conversation progresses beyond that, like someone saying "I felt sad today. My friends were mean to me," his brain cannot process the next step of where to take that conversation. Or if he were driving, he could drive in a straight line, but could not process what to do if a car honked at him and a bus pulled in front of him and he had to figure out what to do next.
   

Israel Leads World in Desalination

Article: Israel has just completed a new industrial facility that never stops working. It is the world’s largest ocean water desalination plant, providing clean water to 20% of Israel's homes. Built by a private Israel company for the Israeli government for $500 million, it uses an engineering process called reverse osmosis to produce clean water from sea water cheaply and on a larger scale than ever before. And its energy consumption is among the lowest in the world for large-scale facilities. Right now 700 million people don't have enough clean water and in ten years, this number will be 1.8 billion. Israel may be showing the world a solution. By 2016, 50% of Israel's water is expected to come from this plant. Why is it important that desalination be inexpensive? 

  

Music Copyright Case

Article: An interesting court case is just wrapping up in LA. Robin Thicke and William Pharrell, from the hit 2013 song "Blurred Lines," are being sued by the estate of Marvin Gaye, for copying his song. Robin Thicke admits that Marvin Gaye's 70s song, "Got to Give it Up" was an inspiration when making the song "Blurred Lines." But Thicke claims he didn't steal the song or plagiarize it. If he did, he would have to pay Marvin Gaye's estate a lot of money for a type of stealing. Kids: How would this be stealing? The trial has focused on what is the difference between being creatively inspired by another work of art and actually stealing that work of art.

Listen to the two songs and then decide: did Thicke and Pharrell steal Gaye's song or simply become inspired by it? What would you decide if you were the jury? And also consider: if "Blurred Lines" hadn't been the huge hit that it was, would Gaye's estate even care? Listen: Gaye's song and Thicke's song (PG video shown here; not the headlines making nude one).

Eat More Bamba, Study Shows

Article: Do you have any allergies? Any food allergies or intolerances, in particular? Do you know anyone with a peanut allergy? A new study says that many, if not most, peanut allergies can be prevented by feeding young children food peanuts starting at an early age, before they turn 1 through age 5. For years, parents and pediatricians have done the opposite--avoided giving kids peanuts thinking that that can cause peanut allergies, until after age 3. But this study proves the opposite. Ask you parents: when did you first have peanuts? Since 1997, the number of kids allergic to peanuts have quadrupled! No one knows why. The study was so conclusive, doctors are going to rewrite guidelines, encouraging early introduction to peanuts. And because peanuts can cause kids to choke, guess which is the best way to introduce peanuts? Bamba!

Bonus question: Why are peanut allergies such a big deal? Because they can be fatal after very few exposures.

   

      

Mayor of Jerusalem Saves the Day

Article: The mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, is a former IDF paratrooper and therefore a trained combat fighter. He was on his way to work with his bodyguard yesterday when he saw a commotion. He saw someone hurting someone else (parents: feel free to edit this however you want based on your kids' ages. It was an Arab stabbing a Jewish man on a street in Jerusalem). The man being hurt was holding up his tefilin bag to prevent the bad guy from hurting him and was yelling at everyone to run away to safety. The mayor and his bodyguard jumped out of their car, ran to the scene and tackled the bad guy, taking him to jail. Imagine that happening in your city!

Yemen's Remaining Jews in Trouble

Article: In the last few weeks, Yemen, a Muslim country south of Saudi Arabia (Kids: find on map), has been taken over by terrorists. The US recently evacuated all embassy staff. Jews have lived in Yemen for thousands of years, some believe since biblical times. Jews have lived in Yemen even before the Muslims came. While thousands of Jews used to live in Yemen, all that remains of Jewish life now are cemeteries, thousand-year old stone homes in hillside villages, and a few families. Those Jews still there--a little more than 50, most of whom are children--are regularly harassed with expressions like, "Dirty Jew," when they go to the market. They stay in their homes as much as they can. In 2007, militants told Jews in Saada they had 10 days to leave or else. Nevertheless, the Jews remain proud. The boys all wear earlocks/peius, to show they are Jews. The remaining Jews are looking to go to Israel or the US. All are looking to leave. Within a few years, there will likely be no Jews left in this country that once had thousands.

See article for pictures. Kids: look at how the Jewish children are dressed. Do they dress like you? Why not? How does our clothing reflect our society? 

  

Request for Animal Current Event

My son has asked for an animal current event. So here goes:

Article: On Halloween 2014, a baby hippo was born in the LA Zoo. This is the first baby hippo to be born at the zoo in 26 years. Most baby hippos are born in water and spend the first two weeks in the water. The mother here started out giving birth in the water but ultimately gave birth on land. See this video of the new baby hippo and then see this video taken this week of how the baby hippo is doing 3 months later. Do you see any differences? 

If you live in LA, you can go visit the new baby, mother and father hippo at the zoo!

Happy President's Day

From the Copenhagen shootings to the French Jewish tombstone destruction to the Libyan beheadings, it is hard to find something positive to report today. So instead, let's talk about President's Day, have the kids share what they've learned at school, and share this short video with fun facts about our presidents.

Happy President's Day

New Exhibit at Bible Lands Museum in Israel

Article: Visiting Israel in the next year? You may want to visit a new exhibit at Jerusalem’s Bible Lands Museum about the Jewish exile to ancient Babylonia 2,500 years ago. “By the Rivers of Babylon” shows a collection of about 100 ancient clay tablets from 6th century Mesopotamia that speaks of the lives of exiled Judeans living in the Babylonian Empire. From these, we learn all about Jewish life in that time. The Al-Yahudu tablets are part of a private collection that has never before been public. No one knows when they turned up or where they originated. They suddenly appeared in the antiquities market and were sold to a private collector, David Sofer, who has now loaned them to the Bible Lands Museum. After two years of work, the exhibit opened this past Sunday. The exhibit talks about Jewish names in that time, about the exile, and shows a model Mesopotamian village to recreate how Jews lived. The tablets even mention a Jewish town Al-Yahudu, which means “Jerusalem” and was likely a village of transplants from Judea. While some of the Jews were forced to do hard labor, others thrived, owned property, plantations and slaves, and became part of the Babylonian world. Jews lived in dozens of cities and went on with their lives. They weren't slaves like in Egypt.

Click here to see the promotional video. 

Doctors Refusing to Treat Patients Who Won't Vaccinate Their Kids

Article: Some doctors in LA are refusing to treat patients whose parents won't let them get vaccinated for measles, rubella and other contagious and easily vaccinated diseases. The vast majority of parents get their kids vaccinated and thus stop them from getting potentially deadly diseases. But some parents refuse the immunization because they believe that vaccinations could cause their kids to get other diseases, like autism. The medical establishment has totally debunked the theory that vaccinations lead to autism; parents who continue to believe this are thought to be misinformed. The risk posed to kids who do not get vaccinated is thought to be far greater. Therefore, doctors are starting to refuse to treat patients who refuse the vaccine. Other doctors say this isn't a good idea because they then lose the opportunity to convince parents to change their minds. This has become increasingly important lately with the outbreak of measles. What do you think is the best approach for doctors?

Israel: Bringing Clean Water

Article: Engineering students at Tel Aviv University decided to build a system that would provide hundreds of students in a Tanzanian high school with clean drinking water. Find Tanzania on a map. Recently, the students visited Tanzania to build the system, led by the student club, Engineers without Borders. Here's the background:

In Northern Tanzania, the local drinking water is contaminated with extremely high levels of fluoride, causing the local children to have skeletal deformities and severe dental problems. The Israeli students built and installed a rainwater harvesting and  filtration system that allows 400 students and staff members at the local high school to drink and cook with clean, safe water. They also trained school officials and volunteers on how to operate and maintain the system, and they kept in touch with local residents to ensure that any problems would be worked out. The team created the system with the help of Israeli rainwater harvesting expert Amir Yechieli. The school's principal wrote the team a letter of thanks, saying,"Thanks to this project, we are now one family with you. Let us maintain our relationship more and more.” In this way, the Tel Aviv students were not only ambassadors for Israel in Africa, but saving lives! The team plans to return to build another filter for the village's medical center and to install solar panels.

See this video on the topic.  

What would you design to help people? How would you build it? 

Climbing Yosemite Without Ropes

Watch this video, a great follow up to our current event about Israel winning the Innovation Award for the robo printer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH3jMSchI90

Article: Quite recently, two men broke the record as being the first ever to climb to the tip of Yosemite's granite El Capitan, 3,000 feet above its base, without ropes to catch their fall. If they had slipped and fallen, they would have died. The climb was straight up, on stone as smooth as glass and as a straight as your bedroom wall. It is the hardest rock climb in the world. It took them years to train and weeks to scale. They even slept on the wall! At the end, the two climbers said that their hands would take weeks to recover. Their skin was so worn down, they had used glue to keep the skin on. Click here for pictures.

Israeli Robo-Printer Wins International Prize

Article: a Jerusalem start-up company has won the top technology prize for its robo printer, beating out industry giants and thousands of other products at the Las Vegas electronics show. The Israeli portable, palm-sized printer works by running across a page and printing out text exactly like a regular printer would do. But instead of loading paper into a feed, the content is loaded directly onto the paper. It prints in about the same time as a regular printer--about 40 seconds. It has a rechargeable battery with an off-on switch, can be connected to a computer and can print on any size piece of paper. 

The Innovation Award is extremely coveted in the industry. The Israeli company can now put a sticker on its products which says it is the winner of the Innovation Award. This is especially exciting for the small Israeli start-up. It was expensive for them to come to the contest--they had to rent a booth, buy plane tickets and hotels, hire PR, etc. When asked about the award, one of the Israelis said, "Beyond the honor this award brings to the Israeli electronics industry, it also helps out the other Israeli companies at CES by drawing attention to Israeli innovation, and to Israel as an advanced, technologically advanced, country.” What do you think? How is this good for spreading Israel's story? How is this product good for people in general? 

Watch a video about it here. 

When Is A Good Age to Get Married?

Article: In Nepal, there is a custom for parents to marry off their boys around age 9. The law says you cannot get married before age 18, but the law is not always followed, particularly for Hindus who are of the lowest caste. The marry off their children young because they cannot afford to take care of them and the dowries are lower the younger the child. What is a dowry? What are types of dowries we see in the Western world? (Bride's family pays for wedding? Wedding gifts?) Often kids around age 9 will get married, then go back to live with their families. When they are around 12, the girls go to live with the boy's family, often serving as servants for the mother-in-law. The boys drop out of school and start working. When you ask the kids, they say they don't want to get married so young but do not have a choice. This has been the tradition for generations. What do you think of this? Does your family have any traditions that you do not like? If so, how would you try to change them?

Drones and Satellites Monitoring Old Jewish Cemetaries

Today is a crazy busy day at work, so instead of writing out a synopsis of an article, I'm going to provide an article to discuss that isn't too long for you to read on your own. It is about how using drones and satellites, we can now monitor Jewish cemeteries in lands that no longer have any Jews. 

Ask your kids: what would you want to monitor (the condition of the cemetery, changes to the cemetery, etc.); how are cemeteries important ways to learn about history? What can you discover from reading tombstones and visiting graves? How do Jews mark a grave they have visited? (with a rock) Why?  

Who's a Better Teacher: A Person or a Computer?

Article: A classroom in New York is experimenting with a computer being the teacher! In the 6th grade math class at Boody High School in Brooklyn, classrooms are blended. This means computers choose which students sit together, figure out what the children know and how well they know it, choose what problems the children should work on and give teachers which lesson to teach next.

Here's how it works: When 6th graders arrive in class, they log onto their laptop or check a computer at the front of the room. It tells them where to sit and what kind of lesson they'll do. A computer voice "teaches" them at their various stations. However the students do answering questions decides where they will sit and what they will learn the next day.

So far researchers don't know if this makes students learn math better. Some say it only works if the teacher and computer work together. But some teachers are letting the computers do all the work, and so the kids aren't learning. Teachers like that it reduces their workload, especially for grading papers and deciding homework. But others say it reduces creativity. What do you think of this style of teaching? 

American Consulate in Jerusalem and Security Guards

Article: The American Consulate in Jerusalem has recently announced that it is hiring 35 new Palestinian security guards from East Jerusalem, who are being trained in Jordan and America on how to use weapons and fight. This is in direct violation of an agreement between Israel and the Consulate, which says that only former IDF soldiers protecting the consulate may have weapons. Why do you think Israel has this agreement? Some of the Palestinians being trained have spent time in Israeli jail for throwing stones at Israelis or have relatives who have been convicted for terrorism or are part of Hamas. There are other Palestinian guards in the consulate, but none who have weapons and strategic training. Why do you think that Israel is worried that these people will now have weapons? Do you think these people are a threat? The US consulate claims that it wants Palestinian guards to take them to the West Bank, not Israeli guards. Some claim that the new head of the US Consulate in Jerusalem is anti-Israel; he has fired 7 Israeli guards since he arrived and only 1 Palestinian guard; his most senior adviser is someone who spent time in Israeli jail for being part of the PLO and another employee's relative is the head of Hamas in Jerusalem.

Underwater Archaeology in Israel

Article: Israel is a pioneer in underwater archaeology. Recently, underwater archaeologists discovered the preserved remains of a prehistoric village submerged off the coast of Haifa! They found a water well that may be the oldest wooden structure ever found and the oldest evidence of a prehistoric ancient olive-oil industry from the New Stone Age, over 7000 years ago. It was found buried under 100 meters of sand. Scientists think that 6 Neolithic villages near Haifa became submerged as the sea level rose, possibly as the result of icecaps and glaciers melting massively (i.e., climate change). They have also discovered 9000 year old stone wells, stone basins used for crushing olives, and thousands of olive pits. The scientists think the people in the village lived until the age of 50 (a long time, at that time) because of their healthy Mediterranean diet. There is also evidence of human diseases in discovered bones such as malaria and tuberculosis!

What do you think are the challenges faced by doing archaeology underwater? How do you look for ancient artifacts in the sea? See here for pictures.

    

What is the one of the Most Important Medical Discoveries all time?

Article: What do you think is probably one of the most important medical discoveries of all time? Believe it or not, it was the discovery of using soap and water! Here's the story. In 1946, no one knew anything about germs or what caused illnesses to spread. A Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis (possibly Jewish), wanted to study why women in the hospital having babies kept dying from a type of fever (puerperal fever). In one clinic, women were treated only by male doctors, in another clinic, only by female midwives. When he compared the data of women from each clinic, he found that the women staffed by the doctors died nearly 5x more than those in the midwife ward. Why?

He looked for the difference between the two clinics. In the doctors' clinic, women only had babies while lying on their backs. But when Dr. Semmelweis asked them to move positions, it didn't change the death rates. Then he found that in the doctors' ward, priests would walk by ringing bells. But when he asked the priests to stop doing that, it also didn't change the death results. Then a doctor became ill with the fever. This caused Semmelweis to realize that the fever wasn't something unique to the women. So Semmelweis guessed something else. The doctors were holding the bodies of women who died, then they would help deliver babies. So something on the doctors' hands was passing back and forth between the women who had died from fever and women who were still alive. Maybe this is what was causing the fever to be passed around. So he ordered the doctors to all start cleaning their hands and instruments not just with soap but with chlorine (now known as the best disinfectant in the world). And women stopped dying!

Semmelweis discovered that hand-washing is one of the most important tools to keeping people healthy. It can keep people from getting the flu, prevent the spread of disease and keep infections away.

Sadly for Semmelweis, it didn't end happily. The doctors were angry that Semmelweis made it look like they were spreading the disease. They made him lose his job and he eventually died in a hospital with a disease likely caused from getting infected by someone who didn't wash hands!

Israeli 9th Grade Girls Conduct Ground Breaking Science Experiment about Space!

Article: Four 9th grade girls from Bat Yam, Israel, wanted to study how low gravity conditions in space influence the development of shrimp eggs compared to the influence of the earth's environment on shrimp eggs. The purpose was to see if living organisms can develop in space. Their experiment was chosen out of more than 50 high schools around the country because it was creative, innovative, and had potential for continued scientific experiments. The girls go to a special school established in memory of the late Israeli astronaut Col. Ilan Ramon.

The girls' experiment was conducted on the International Space Station. They prepared a special test tube with a divider between the shrimp eggs on one side and salt, water, and oxygen (needed for the eggs' growth) on the other. US astronauts took the tubes to space and carefully removed the divider according to the girls' instructions, connecting the two parts of the tube. Meanwhile, the girls did the same experiment at their school. A few weeks ago, they got their test results. The eggs developed and multiplied slower in space than on land. The girls presented their research at a festival at their school. Scientists around the world have praised their experiment and their findings and posted them on international websites.

How do you think this study will impact future research? What experiment would you like to do? 

Obituary: Bess Myerson, First Jewish Miss America, Dies at 90

Article: Bess Myerson, 1945 Miss America, died at 90 in Santa Monica this week. Bess  was born in the Bronx in 1924, the second of three daughters. Her younger brother, Joseph, died at age 3 of diphtheria. Her father was a handyman, carpenter and painter of houses.She grew up in a very Jewish housing project, surrounded by artists and musicians. Bess was a gifted pianist, starting to play at age 9 and later accepted into a prestigious music high school. Her family was poor; she gave piano lessons at $.50/hour just to pay for her own lessons. Her sister, Sylvia, entered her picture into a NYC pageant because the winner would get a scholarship to college. Bess won the contest and then Miss America, wearing a white bathing suit, playing Gershwin on the flute and Grieg on the piano. She was the first and only Jewish Miss America, crowned just days after WWII ended. She was tall at 5'10" and had luxurious brown hair. She was also very smart and witty--unusual for most women in the Miss America contest. When she won Miss America, the announcer shouted, "Beauty with brains, that’s Miss America of 1945!” Every Jew at the time felt that Bess' victory was their victory.

Unfortunately, because of anti-Semitism, few sponsors wanted a Jewish Miss America to endorse their products. When she toured the country after the pageant, many country clubs and hotels wouldn't let her in. As a result, her tour was cut short. Ms. Myerson said she felt very rejected. She continued to perform piano concerts ando helped Jewish charities, like the ADL. She led two New York City agencies, advised three presidents, and advocated for social causes and politicians, such as Jewish NY Mayor Ed Koch. Many say Koch would never have won if not for Ms. Myerson' endorsement. She even tried to be a Senator! She married twice. Later in her life, when asked if she was glad she had been Miss America, she replied, I needed money and wanted to be a concert pianist. That's why I did it.

     

Real Life Spies: good and bad

Two interesting articles appeared in today's news, both about spying. The first news item says that Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist organization based in Lebanon, has recently discovered that an Israeli Mossad agent was secretly pretending to be Hezbollah Chief Nasrallah's close aid, rising to the elite branches of Hezbollah. But really, this man was an Israeli spy finding out information about Hezbollah and passing it back to Israel! He is credited with stopping Hezbollah from doing several attacks against Israel. What dangers do you think this brave Israeli spy faced? 

The second news item says that Israel's Mossad alerted Peruvian police that a Lebanese Hezbollah agent, Mohammad Hamdar (age 29) was living in Peru, married to a Peruvian woman, and planning on carrying out attacks in Lima. Locate Peru on a map and find the capital Lima. Mohammad has a Sierra Leone passport (find on map). When police raided his apartment after receiving the tip from Israel, they found explosives, chemicals for use in bombs, and information on his computer with photos of important places in Lima. Why? What types of places? The places were the airport, banks, police stations, government buildings, hotels, etc. During interrogation, Mohammad admitted he was a Hezbollah member, hired in Beirut, given a fake identity, told to marry his Peruvian girlfriend and live in Peru.

There are three different spies in these articles. Can you name them all (two Israelis, 1 Hezbollah agent). Would you want to be a spy? Why or why not? 

Recycling in Israel

Welcome back to the blog after the holiday season! In honor of my having laryngitis and not being able to share any current event with my kids, today's kick-off current event is a video. This video, encouraging Israelis to recycle, went viral in Israel. Share the video with your kids and then ask:

• What color is the recycling trash can in Israel? What color is it in your neighborhood? 
• What types of things were they recycling in the video? Do we recycle those things? 
• What did the girl on the balcony say after she made her shot? ("Yesh!") This word has two meanings in Hebrew (YES! and "have") Use it in a sentence, using both meanings. 
• Can you make a shot like they did in the video? Try with a trash can at home.