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!