The Health Ministry announced today (Sunday, 19 March 2006) that, despite the outbreak of avian flu among the turkey population at four Israeli agricultural settlements, the disease has not been found among humans. Four persons initially suspected of being infected because they had handled stricken fowl were examined by the health services and found to be free of the disease.

Immediately following the discovery of the outbreak, the ministries of Health and Agriculture acted in accordance with procedure and destroyed all the stricken fowl, plus other birds within a radius of three kilometers from the centers of infection. Similarly, a quarantine has been imposed on all infected areas.

FEB, 5th, 2002

well well guys,
It seems i have arrived,
home,
to

quite an interesting place .
It's sort of like a dorm with my own room and a few den's, free internet , and a whole crew of interesting

people. So I spent my day getting a bank account, and getting health insurance from the post office. Interesting things that have happened so

far... nothing much some weird people but its quite sane here , well other than having a 14 year old girl talk about being caught in a shoot

out ever so calmly, or ending up living with one of the few accidental single serving friends that I have picked up on random bus rides, the

funny thing about him is he was the only one who got me to dump my life on him instead of the opposite. They have a theater on the first floor

of my building and the campus is a garden and next door is a natural history museum.

Rain and News
Wed, 1 Sep 2004

"Rain, rain, go away, come again another day", is not a song children learn growing up in Israel. We have been fortunate here in Israel, as it has rained 3-4 days during the past week. When I felt the 1st raindrops fall onto my face I successfully fought the urge to breakout into a rendition of "Singing in the Rain" (in part because I don't know any of the other words to the song). I mistakenly assumed that this feeling would be shared by everyone in Israel. I quickly found discovered that like just about everything else in Israel, there is very little consensus as to how one feels when it rains.

Arrival in Israel
Wed, 1 Sep 2004

So, here we are... in Israel. Personally speaking, I don't think it has truly sunk in yet that we are here -or perhaps that we are here to stay, and not merely on some 2 week vacation. I am guessing that once we get settled into a daily routine it will hit us more. Since arriving, Annie and I have both been a bit jet lagged, but other than that we have no complaints.

And "I" shall be called in Israel...
Sun, 29 Aug 2004

The was a time, in the National Hockey League, when players did not wear helmets. One day, the league decided to institute a new rule requiring all players to wear helmets. The players, many of whom had been playing in the league for years, were not too keen on the new rule, as they felt it would adversely affect their game play, which they had grown accustomed to over the year - sans helmet.

And she shall be called in Israel...
Thu, 5 Aug 2004

With heartfelt gratitude to Hashem, I am happy to announce that Annie gave birth to a beautiful, 8.2 lb / 3.7 kilo healthy baby girl, at 2:12pm Jerusalem time on Tu (15th) B'Av (the happiest day of the year according to the Mishnah and Talmud) / August 2nd.

Today, I had the privilege of being called up to the Torah and naming our 1st, of hopefully many children to be born into our family in the Land of Israel. We named her HODAYA LEAH. I will try to explain to you the significance of the name.

Yom Ha'atzmaut
Mon, 19 Apr 2004

With Yom HaShoa upon us, and Yom Ha'Zikaron and Yom Ha'Atzmaut just around the corner, it is a time of national reflection here in Israel. It is a time to look back at where we have come from, look forward to where we are headed, and most importantly to take stock of where we find ourselves right now, and to evaluate our successes and failures what were our goals and dreams, and have we achieved them.

It was summer of 1970, and I was 17 years old. I went on "Summer in Kibbutz" a program sponsored by the Jewish Agency to help bring Diaspora youth to visit Israel. I was a serious, idealistic teenager, shy and socially inept. I had already decided I wanted to make aliya, possibly in attempt to feel less like a square peg in a round hole in secular, assimilated America. My father is a Holocaust Survivor and my doting parents both agreed that being idealistic was very cute, but I was much too soft to survive in Israel. I hadn't even seen the place yet, how could I have decided I want to live there? The trip was expensive, but my parents have always been generous with their children, and this was no exception. I was expected to outgrow the illusion of becoming a pioneer, and I might even meet a Nice Jewish Boy, perhaps even a manly Israeli!

Israel Update #4
Wed, 12 Feb 2003

Since I last wrote about 2 weeks ago, a lot has happened here in Israel. For starters, the Likud and Ariel Sharon won a huge victory in the Israeli elections. One of the great things about Israel is that even after the election results are tallied one really doesn't know who has won, as a coalition of 61 of 120 seats in the Knesset is needed to form a government. So, whom the Likud, with 40 seats, ultimately ends up forming a government with could have implications just as great as the results of the election itself. Thankfully, there is never a dull moment here in Israel.