“In the spirit of giving back during the holiday season, we are delighted to be able to bring a little holiday cheer to the children in our region and those that will be celebrating the holidays in hospitals” said Consul for Public Affairs Gil Lainer. By spreading the joy of Channukah (most importantly with sufganiyot) “we hope this will be the beginning of a sweet year for them and their families” continued Lainer.

We had some incredible partners too! On Monday, Consulate staff teamed up with Amber Collins, Miss New York 2011 and a host of Miss New York 2012 contestants for a night of fun at the Ronald McDonald House. This marks the second consecutive year the Israeli Consulate has thrown a Channukah party at the Ronald McDonald House. The Ronald McDonald house is an amazingly supportive institution for children receiving treatment in the New York area, providing them and their families a wealth of services and housing at a nominal fee of only $35 per night.

The holiday party brought smiles to kids who truly need all the love and support in the world. There were magicians, cotton candy, bunnies, clowns, and of course, dreidels.

“Ronald McDonald House New York is honored to host the Consulate General of Israel in celebration of a holiday that means a great deal to us all,” said William T. Sullivan, president & CEO of Ronald McDonald House New York. “With Chanukah’s deep roots in hope and faith, we believe that their visit will bring renewed inspiration to our families.”

On Tuesday night, to ring in the first night of Channukah, the Consulate visited a special after-school program for kids at the Children’s Aid Society in Harlem. If there was one thing we all learned, it’s that playing dreidel transcends cultures. Everyone got in on the action! The girls of Miss New York were also in attendance, as well as a special performance by the hit a capella group “Pella Singers.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYmLJ8GSsjk

Later in the week, Consulate officials and staff visited children at the Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey and at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. Delivering teddy bears and sufganiyot was a small, but important way to lift their spirits during the holiday season.

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Answer a few simple questions, and earn yourself a sizable cash prize. Sounds like pretty typical trivia show fare, right? Well, the problem with most quiz shows is, when you get the answer wrong, it’s usually just a step backwards, or an anti-climatic “game over.” On NBC’s “Who’s Still Standing?” answering the wrong question sends you instantly falling through a trap door 20 feet into a pit of doom and fiery death (for legal reasons, “doom” and “fiery death” are probably made up of very soft pillows). It’s a clever idea, blending physical  humor into game shows. It’s a combination that sounds distinctively Japanese, but the show is in fact, based on an Israeli program!

If the host, Ben Bailey, looks familiar, you’ve probably seen him on “Cash Cab” for which he won a pair of daytime Emmy awards, and helped the Discovery Channel game show earn its share of Emmy awards as well. “Who’s Still Standing?” features one main competitor and 10 challengers in a battle of wits for a $1 million jackpot. After fending off all 10 challengers, and remaining, you guessed it, still standing, the 7 figure prize is yours!

“Who’s Still Standing?” premieres tonight at 8 pm EST on NBC. Catch a preview below!

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What do you get when you combine Alvin Ailey, one of the most respected names in modern dance, with Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin? You get Minus 16, best described as breaking down the barrier between audience and performer. First performed in 1999, Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16 is unlike any other work in the Ailey repertory in the way it challenges the dancers to improvise and invite audience members to join them onstage.

The key to Minus 16 is “Gaga.” No, not the pop star, but the name for Naharin’s language of movement developed in Israel which helps dancers and non-dancers alike reconnect with movement by seeing the body as a source of power and energy.  The method is a unique form of dance where emphasis is placed on sensations rather than positions, providing a new way of gaining knowledge and self-awareness through the body.

In partnership with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the Consulate General of Israel is giving away a pair of tickets for the December 11th performance, which features 4 pieces, the first being Minus 16. But that’s not all! Prior to the performance, you and a friend will be invited to a special reception beforehand honoring Ohad Naharin!

So how can you score this delicious holiday treat? Simply send us a tweet @israelconsulate with the hashtag #Minus16contest and a winner will be picked at random next week.

For everyone else, we encourage you to buy your tickets online now, and as a special bonus, you also get a chance to learn how to “Gaga” yourself! Alvin Ailey’s special promotion “Ticket to Dance” running through December 31st grants you a free dance class on “Gaga”-ism. It’s a lot of fun, and no previous dance experience is required! The show itself is great, and coupled with the free dance class, it’s a wonderful Chanukah/Christmas/Kwanza/DecembertoRemember present!

Get your “Ticket-to-Dance” today with a ticket purchase to the New York City Center Season (Now – January 1) – just in time for the holidays! Tickets starting at $25 are available at the New York City Center Box Office, through CityTix® at (212) 581-1212 or online at www.alvinailey.org or www.nycitycenter.org. Each “Ticket to Dance” is good for one year from the performance date for first time students, and when purchasing a 10-class card for classes at The Ailey Extension in New York City for returning students.

And remember, send us a tweet @israelconsulate with #Minus16contest and the Sunday, December 11th performance will be on the house!

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For better or worse, it’s not hard to find “Israel” in the news. But you’d have to search pretty hard to find Israelis in the news, the people that make up the country the size of New Jersey. So how do we show the world what every day Israelis are like? That’s a question the Zemach family is trying to answer, as they are in the middle of a whirlwind tour around the world, introducing themselves and Israel to thousands of families in countries in Europe and North America. Called “The Israeli Family Project,” Chami and Oksana Zemach are planning on spending 365 days touring the world, being the faces of Israel.

You can read more about their incredible journey here, and check out the video below!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcb4cPRmAS8

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Said Mr. Lainer “We came to Harlem to celebrate diversity, celebrate this neighborhood’s wonderful culture, and most importantly, we couldn’t think of a better place to share the story of ‘Strangers No More.’ The fabric that makes up Israeli society is strong, not in spite of its diversity, but because we are diverse.”

While directors and producers Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon took home the coveted Academy Award, the true story here is the amazing journey of the children at Tel Aviv’s Bialik-Rogozin School.

Almost all of them being refugees, they fled war-torn nations and economic hardship to make a better life for themselves in Israel. Every year, the school brings in children with heartbreaking backgrounds, who have to not only overcome their traumatic early childhood but assimilate into Israeli society. The students are from 48 countries from around the world, many of them in  sub-Saharan Africa, where they spent years crossing into Israel by foot, traveling from one refugee camp to another, escaping both the elements and the destruction of war and genocide. Many of them arrived in Israel without a parent, if any at all. With many of them having never stepped foot in a classroom, and no knowledge of Hebrew, the odds could not be more stacked against them. But despite their hardships, it’s clear watching the film that the teachers and principle have enormous hearts. They go beyond “teaching” to truly welcome them as family. Said the film’s director Karen Goodman, the “message of hope–despite the trauma of their backgrounds–captured my heart.”

From South Africa to Ethiopia to Korea, the children at Bialik-Rogozin don’t look like your “average” Israeli. And that’s part of the point the filmmakers wanted to show. Israel has tremendous diversity, and the story of this school, of these children seeking freedom, could easily have been made about the United States. In a poignant moment during the film, a father tells the principle “we came to Israel so we could live in a place with peace,” to which she responded “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we don’t quite have peace here.” While a light-heated moment, it serves as a reminder of just how much hardship the families had to go through to get to Israel.

The film's directors and producers along with "Oscar"

Following the screening of the film to a large audience at the Harlem Stage Theatre, the film’s directors and producers were on hand (with the actual Oscar in tow) to engage in a discussion with the audience. Many in the audience were shocked to discover that though the school receives outside aid, it is entirely public. If you live in that certain neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv, you go there for free. Probably the most exciting portion of the evening was when director Kirk Simon let everyone take their own pictures with the Oscar, joking that he “should charge everyone 10 cents.” Had he done so, he probably would have made a pretty penny. For many of us, it was the closest will ever get to one of the world’s most prestigious awards. But again, the true heroes are in the documentary itself, and the school continues to make enormous progress. According to Simon, graduates at the school are now passing Israel’s national exams at over 70 per cent. Just a few years ago, that number was in the 30′s. Even more astounding, their test scores are actually above Israel’s national average! This is unbelievable considering they all arrived in Israel with no Hebrew knowledge and little if any education.

For those wondering where many of the children are today, some received scholarships to Israeli Universities, and most importantly, none of them have been deported, all going through appropriate channels to live in Israel legally. You can catch the full documentary when it airs on HBO in early December, and it will also be “On Demand.”

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Two thousand years after unknown scribes penned the Dead Sea Scrolls, they are discovered by a tall man in his mid-30s in a conspicuously dark area deep underground. No, we’re not talking about the caves where a Bedouin originally found the Scrolls in 1947, but right in the heart of New York City’s Times Square. Opening tomorrow is “Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times” at the Discovery Times Square Exposition, with arguably one of the most important archaeological finds in history making its way across the Atlantic.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are, of course, the oldest surviving copies of the Hebrew Bible (Christianity’s Old Testament), as well as other non-religious texts which shed light on what life was like two millennia ago, around 100 BCE. In addition to the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves, the exhibition also features a three-ton stone from the Western Wall and over 500 never-before-seen artifacts.

What was the world like when the Bible was composed, when the Scrolls were written and hidden? What religious beliefs do they represent? How did
the traditions we know as Judaism and Christianity emerge from ancient Israel, and how do the Scrolls illuminate this process? These are just some of the questions the exhibition seeks to answer, and visitors will go on a whirlwind tour of the history’s first text-based religion.

“The exhibition brings to life a fascinating period in history and vividly highlights how archaeologists and researchers piece together the past by examining and interpreting objects from daily life and ancient written documents. Israel’s archaeological sites and the artifacts they have yielded provide a record of extraordinary human achievement. The pots, coins, weapons, jewelry, and of course, the scrolls on display in this exhibition constitute a momentous contribution to our cultural legacy. They teach us about the past and also about ourselves,” said Dr. Risa Levitt Kohn, exhibition curator.

While much of the mystery surrounds the origin of the Scrolls themselves, its journey from Israel to New York is equally remarkable. To say the Scrolls are delicate would be a severe understatement. Had they not been sealed inside of dark caves in a dry climate, they would never have survived to be found in 1947. To get to New York, the Israel Antiquities Authority, who is partnering with Discovery for the exhibit, employed the most state-of-the-art preservation technology to get them here in one piece.

Last month, some of the Scrolls were put online, in a landmark partnership with Google. But nothing quite beats seeing it for yourself, so if you’re in the New York area, be sure to see “Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times.”

Discovery Times Square is located at 226 West 44th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. You can purchase tickets online and avoid the line by clicking here.

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Next Thursday, July 28th, Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra will be holding a special concert featuring two of the world’s greatest singers in soprano Renée Fleming and tenor Joseph Calleja to honor the legacy of the great American tenor Richard Tucker.

The best part about “Live From Jerusalem” is that you don’t need to be in Israel to see this amazing one-night event! It will be broadcast to 475 movie theatres around the U.S. at 7:00 pm local time.

To find theatres in your area, head on over to FathomEvents.com, enter your Zip code at the bottom. The Manhattan movie theatres include Union Square’s Regal, AMC Kips Bay, AMC in the East Village, and more!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIQBiusOdpg

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Photo: Sivan Mor

The 2011 Celebrate Israel Parade, the world’s largest public gathering in celebration of Israel, will commemorate the country’s 63^rd anniversary with a host of new floats, bands, entertainment and Israeli and American talent along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Whether you’re marching or cheering from the sidelines, the parade starts at noon and goes until 4 pm. Or, if you are looking to work on your cardio, you’ll be getting there extra early to join the 5,400 participants in the  Celebrate Israel Run presented by New York Road Runners

There aren’t too many events in New York City that combine Sesame Street’s Grover and New York’s political leaders – Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer will be marching along with 30,000 others. Along with the 23 floats and 16 marching bands will be a ton of entertainment.

Accompanying this year’s festivities will be a massive afterparty, the Celebrate Israel Concert at Edison Ballroom at 7 pm featuring tons of great artists and drinks on the house! Performing at the event will be platinum-selling Beit Habubot and pop sensation Israela Asago.

Beit Habubot gave a special preview concert on FOX 5′s “Good Day New York” on Friday morning, which you can see below.

It’s going to be an amazing day, the weather looks great and we hope to see you all there! It will also be broadcast live on My9 if you can’t be there in person.

Celebrate Israel Parade and Concert: MyFoxNY.com

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This week, an exhibit by Israeli artist Eilon Paz opened up at the James Beard Foundation. Presented by the Consulate General of Israel in New York,  “Land. Milk. Honey.” features dozens of beautiful photographs which put three dimensions of flavor on a 2D plane. More than just hummus, Paz’s work showcases a wide array of flavor, documenting everything from the farmer’s produce to the path it takes to be arranged on your plate. Surrounded by culinary stimuli, including oversize prints with grapes larger than your head, the viewer is reduced to drooling more than Pavlov’s dog at the sound of a bell.

Paz’s journey into the world of photography started at age 16, when he came across the Canon AE-1 which would change his life. He would hone his skills as a fashion photographer in Australia, before circling around the world, coming back to Israel and now, New York.

Eilon Paz has an extensive collection of food photography at his website, which you can find here.

The exhibit will be up through all of June at the James Beard Foundation’s Greenhouse Gallery.

Whether you’re a foodie or an artist, check out the James Beard Foundation’s events and pick up some culture on the way.

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“Shai Bazak works at this place representing Israel throughout New England
Here you can learn about Israeli historical events that have happened.
Since the ‘80s, Israel had provided humanitarian aid to countries beyond its borders
Being in contact with Bibi Netanyahu is part of this organization’s natural order
Do you have inquiries about a visa or a passport?
Come to this destination to get the proper support!”

The above clue was for for the scavenger hunt location Consulate General of Israel to New England, which kicked off an incredible race on Sunday, April 10th.  Boston’s 3rd Annual Amazing Israel Race attracted over 170 people, ages 18-35!!! Students, young adults, and Taglit Alumni ran around Boston with clues leading them to different places having to do with the State of Israel.  Sponsoring the event with the Israeli Consulate was Hagshama, CJP, as well as other Jewish and Young Adult focused organizations.  The event included free food, NU campaign t-shirts, and even a live band!

Stations were located all around Boston and included clues about chalutzim, Hadassah Hospital, and Israel’s humanitarian aid around the world.  At the State House, participants wrote raps about the Massachusetts Governor’s trip to Israel, at another location, they played a memory game about MASHAV, Save a Child’s Heart, and Jewish Hearts for Africa, and at another- they made hummus on the street at Quincy Market!  The weather was beautiful, motivation was high, and Young Adults gathered for one to learn about Israel!  Not only were new friendships made, but everyone worked hard to win great prizes: money towards a trip to Israel, a gift certificate to Amazon, or gift certificates to the local falafel joint!  All in all, it was an extremely successful event and we cannot wait until next year!

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