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A final agreement to end the week long Histadrut general strike was
reached. There are last minute problems with financing it but
it should be signed soon. A 3.6 percent wage increase was decided
on. The negotiators said there was pressure from the prime minister's
office, but Finance Minister Shochat insisted that the elections
did not play a role, even though the amount of the wage increase was
higher than expected. In a special campaign to save the life of a four-year-old,
the volunteers of the Ezer Mitzion organized a special test
day for potential volunteers for a bone marrow
transplant. Rabbi Akiva Pashkos, Hy"d, Murdered by Terrorists Rabbi Akiva Pashkos Hy"d, the 45-year-old
gabbai of Jerusalem's Bayit Vegan Chassidim
synagogue, was murdered in a terrorist attack on the night
of 1 Shevat in the Jerusalem Atarot industrial area. He was
brought to his eternal rest on Thursday night after
midnight. Excavation of graves from Talmudic times have been put on
hold for now in Haifa. A large demonstration protesting the
desecration of graves, supposed to have taken place on
Sunday 4 Shevat, was postponed at the last minute when an
agreement was reached stating that excavation would be
postponed until halachic solutions could be found.
Intel Israel is Israel's Biggest Exporter; Hiring More
Research Workers Intel Israel -- which includes a billion dollar
manufacturing plant in Jerusalem, a two billion dollar plant
in Kiryat Gat, a research and development center in Haifa
and two smaller companies that Intel bought in 1999 -- is
Israel's largest exporter with total exports of over $2
billion. This is a big jump from the previous year when it
exported $810 million. New Central Rabbinical Authority in Germany For the first time since the war, four people in Germany
became geirim on the same day. They came from Munich,
Krefeld and Bad Nauheim and the formal procedure took place
in Munich. Public Meetings for Recipients of Holocaust "Slave Labor"
Compensation In response to a request by the Conference on Jewish
Material Claims Against Germany, Agudath Israel World
Organization -- the Conference's sole Orthodox member -- is
endeavoring to provide eligible Orthodox Jewish survivors
with information about a recently ratified "slave labor"
settlement.
Yad Sarah Helps Earthquake Victims in India The Yad Sarah organization has rallied to the aid of the
victims of the earthquake in India, and this past Monday (5
Shevat) it sent four oxygen purifiers to India along with a
medical team. End of Seven-Year Struggle to Abolish Discrimination
Against Chareidi Education The Education Minister has recently signed an amendment
improving rules regulating transfer of students to different
school. Transfer of students from government to private
schools -- such as the Chinuch Atzmai -- will be permitted
throughout the year for "educational ends." Section of Trans-Israel Highway to Open In a Year The second stage of the Trans-Israel Highway: the section
between Nachshonim and Rosh Ha'ayin and kibbutz Eyal will
open to traffic by February 2002, according to senior
Traffic Ministry officials. Tvunot Family Resource Center Opens in Jerusalem In a long-awaited development on the Israeli social services
scene, a new community-based resource center now addresses
the specific needs of the English-speaking religious
population. Yated Ne'eman, the only weekly news publication that
is under the direct and full supervision of a rabbinical
board, is expanding, as many readers may have already
noticed. It has increased its weekly pages from 40 to 56 so
far, and plans to add more be'eizer Hashem. There are plans to
include more news of Torah communities around the world.
We try to live our lives as good Jews. We try to do what
Hashem wants, to increase kevod malchus Shomayim. For
the most part this involves performing our daily duties,
taking care of our families, learning, chesed,
teaching, raising ourselves and our surroundings closer to
Hashem. On the Subject of Black Clouds It appears like a black wisp far away on the horizon. You
hardly register it in your field of vision. But then it can
only be seconds before it puffs up into an enormous black
cloud that races over to you and completely fills your
private space. THE MAHARSHAM The People Of The Book And The Promised Land: A Selection
Of Recent Writings |
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