june 2011 • volume 6 • issue 3 • lyar/ sivan 5771

A joint effort from a spectrum of members of the Hong Kong Jewish community achieved the ‘Biggest Human Star’– a Magen David - Star of David, which is currently being veri-fied as a Guinness World Re-cord.

The adjudication team has received the application from Hong Kong. Entries into the Guinness World Record are conducted via the organisations website.

Two hundred and seventy seven people joined forces to break the Guinness World Re-cord on 10 May at Discovery Bay College, Hong Kong. The day was to celebrate Israel’s 63rd Independence Day which included many other activities making it a family fun-day.

Emanuelle Amar, Consul of Israel in Hong Kong, was responsible for organising the record attempt. According to Amar, the idea of the ‘human star’ and the Guinness World Record came up at a Parent Teachers Association meeting when they were planning activi-ties for the fun day. An event that would be appealing that

Biggest human magen david set for world record attempt

In thIs Issue

regional newsJapanese Ambassador to Israel thanks ZAKA 3-7

Business newsTeva to buy Japanese generic drugmaker 8-9

art and cultureHarel mesmerizes

his audience 10-11

featureThe Jewish response to Japan 12

featureHong Kong’s biggest Israel Independence Day Celebration 14

festivalShavuot 16-17

Jewish communities in asiaCandle-lighting and the months Parshas 19

By Philip Jay

June 2011 • Volume 6 • Issue 3 • Iyar / Sivan 5771 www.jewishtimesasia.org

event,” added Amar.

The Guiness World Records office has confirmed the applica-tion and are in communication.

The organisation, head-quartered in the UK, has been in operation for 55- years. It began with a simple question during a shooting party in 1951. Sir Hugh Beaver – then Managing Direc-tor of the Guinness Brewery in Ireland, asked a simple question: what was Europe’s fastest game bird? No one knew the answer and that began the search for authoritive answers and thus the book of world records.

We will wait and see when it becomes official.

could get everybody involved and that has a significant sym-bolic meaning. Similar record breaking events have taken place in the US.

Each year, Guinness World Record’s receives well over 40,000 record claims, from over 80 countries. According to the regulations, two independent witnesses are required and the organisers made sure that they were present. These were Neil Morgan, General Manager of the Jewish Community Centre, and Tony McNicle, a teacher of the Carmel school and also a representative from an auditing company to verify the counting of participants.

Another critical regulation

was that everyone had to stand still and together maintain the star-shape for ten minutes. It was a very hot day, but every-one was extremely enthusiastic and sang songs and forgot about the heat.

“I was sceptical at the be-ginning until I saw clearly a white human star was formed. I am very proud of who we are,” said Amar.

The 277 people participat-ing beats the previous number of 250 people and complied with the rules of the Guinness World Record and the claim is now under official review.

“It has been a very joyful day for all the 400 people who came to take part or witness the

Magen David human star

Emanuelle Amar

The wait is over for the participants

ADVERTISE HERE !

PRIME POSITION

SPACE NOW AVAILABLE For costs and enquiries

Tel: (852) 2530 8177email:[email protected]

credit card booking 2111 5999online booking www.urbtix.hkprogramme enquiries 2721 2030

Jewish Times Asia June 2011 3

www.jewishtimesasia.org

Jewish Times Asia

Publisher & FounderPhilip Jay

Sub EditorTony Henderson

ContributorsAndrew ScheerRabbi Adin SteinsaltzXu Jia

Design & LayoutThe Green Pagoda Press Ltd

ChairmanRobert L Meyer

We welcome editorial enquiries and advertising requests.Please contact our email: [email protected]

PrinterDG3 Asia Limited6-9/F, Haking Industrial Bldg,34 Lee Chung Street,Chai Wan, Hong Kong

DistributionDeltec International Express Ltd

Jewish Times Asia is published by Jewish Times Asia Ltd© Copyright 2011

Jewish Times Asia LimitedSuite 2207-2209,Tower 2, Lippo Centre,Admiralty,Hong Kong

General Line:

Tel: (852) 2530 8177Fax: (852) 2530 8100

Representative Singapore:

Andrew LimMobile Tel: (65) 9631 7112Email:[email protected]

Jewish Times Asia is registered as a Hong Kong newspaper with the Government of the HKSAR.

Material in the newspaper may not be used or reproduced in any form or in any way without permission from the editor.

While every effort has been made that the content is true and accurate, the publisher is not responsible for any errors or omissions in the printed text.

Jewish Times Asia is distributed on a controlled circulation, complimentary to resident addresses and business’s in the region. In addition extra copies are available at synagogues, Jewish community centres, kosher restaurants, clubs and associations. The newspaper is also on EL AL flights between Israel & Asia.

Japanese Ambassador to Israel thanks ZAKA

The Japanese Ambassador to Israel Haruhisa Takeuchi, hosted ZAKA Chairman Ye-huda Meshi-Zahav, in May, and other members of the ZAKA delegation to thank them for their professional assistance during their recent two-week recovery mission to Japan.

Meshi-Zahav briefed the ambassador on the recovery mission, which took place in early April as part of the inter-national humanitarian work of the UN-recognised volunteer organisation.

The ambassador expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the ZAKA delegation for their hu-manitarian efforts in the rescue and recovery work following the earthquake and tsunami. “Your work in the devas-tated areas and your specialist knowledge and assistance was much appreciated by the emer-gency services with whom you

7.7million residents now live in IsraelIsrael’s Central Bureau of Statistics published its annual report on Israel’s population to coincide with the country’s 63rd Independence Day. The population of Israel numbers 7,746,000 people. At the time of the establishment of the State of Israel, it numbered 806,000 residents.

The Jewish population num-bers approximately 5,837,000 residents (75.3% of the total population); the Arab popula-tion numbers approximately 1,587,000 residents (20.5%);

and the population of “others” numbers 322,000 (4.2%).

Since last year’s Indepen-dence Day there have been approximately 178,000 babies born, and 43,000 deaths; 24,500 immigrants arrived in Israel (of those, 6,500 were “immigrating citizens” ).

In total, the population rose by approximately 155,000 resi-dents – a growth of 2.0%.

Over 70% of the total Jew-ish population is ‘Sabras’ – born in Israel (at least half

are second generation in the country) - compared with 35% native-born in 1948.

In 1948 there was only one city in Israel with more than 100,000 residents – Tel Aviv-Yafo.

Today, 14 cities number more than 100,000 residents, of which six number more than 200,000 residents: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Haifa, Rishon LeZion, Ashdod, and Petah Tikva.

Israel discussing Taiwan citizens visa-free statusOfficials from Taiwan and Israel were optimistic that Taiwanese citizens would be granted visa privileges in the near future.

Israel Economic and Cul-tural Office in Taipei Represen-tative Simona Halperin told the Taipei Times that Israel could announce visa-waiver privileges for Republic of China passport holders “anytime soon.”

The responsible ministries within the Israeli government have agreed to the proposal to grant visa-waiver privilege to Taiwanese, with a draft visa abolition agreement in the final stages of negotiation, Halperin said.

After the negotiations have been completed, the agreement will be discussed by the Knes-set, but implementation of the

agreement is not subject to its approval, she added.

Carmel Shama Hacohen, a member of the Taiwan caucus at the Israeli Knesset who is leading a delegation of five lawmakers on a recent visit to Taiwan, told Deputy Speaker Tseng Yung-chuan that the agreement could take effect by the end of this year.

ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav and Haruhisa Takeuchi

According to local media reports a Bangalore-based yoga teacher was arrested for allegedly killing his 28-year-old Israeli girl-friend in a fit of rage on 15 April, and then hiding her body in a freezer, a police officer said.

The murder of Tamar Farha Abraham from Jeru-salem came to light when Lokesh Chandra Das, aged 30, went to the police sta-tion and confessed to have killed her with a rod when Tamar was quarrelling with his wife Jyothi, a software professional in the city. The couple, who have a three-month-old child, live in up-scale Mantri Tranquil apart-ment on Kanakapura Road in south Bangalore.

The tragic tale of Tamar Farha Abraham continues even in death, as an official of the Israeli consulate in Mumbai is to collect her body instead of her parents.

Tamar’s father Hari and mother Ruth, who live sepa-rately in Switzerland and Israel respectively, requested the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi to take possession of the body on their behalf.

worked in the field,’ noted the ambassador.

The ambassador added that he was aware of the sacred work of the ZAKA Rescue and Recovery Organisation at terror attacks and mass ca-sualty incidents in Israel and overseas. “We in the Japanese

embassy have great esteem for the humanitarian endeavours of the ZAKA organisation, regard-less of religion, race or creed. Our doors will always be open to you and your special work.”

The ambassador added that the Japanese people were par-ticularly moved by the friend-

Indian Yoga teacher murders

Israeli girl

ship and assistance offered by people from around the world. “Through this disaster we have learned the true meaning of the phrase - a friend in need is a friend indeed.”

During the ten-day mis-sion in Japan in early April, the ZAKA delegation worked to-gether with the Japanese army and emergency personnel from around the world in recovering and identifying bodies trapped in the rubble; shared informa-tion on handling mass casualty incidents, assisted in humani-tarian relief efforts. Including working alongside an Iranian delegation in food distribution and worked in the IDF field hospital.

Jewish Times Asia June 20114

Regional News

Thai princess involved in car accident in Israel

Israel’s Minister of Agriculture visits Haryana’s Centre of ExcellenceAgricultural cooperation between Israel and India has stepped up with Israel’s Minister of Agriculture, Orit Noked, visit to India in May. Together with the Chief Min-ister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, they visited the Indo-Israel Centre of Excel-lence for vegetable production in Karnal, Haryana.

The Haryana Centre of Excellence was inaugurated in January 2011 by Union Agri-culture Minister, Sharad Pawar, Chief Minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and Israel’s Ambassador to India, Mark Sofer.

Its objective is to demon-strate the latest Israeli agricul-tural technology and know-how to the local farmers.

Under the project, the two sides share technologies and jointly undertake protected cul-tivation of various vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers and capsicum. Similar Indo-Isra-el agriculture cooperation proj-ects are also under way across India, including Rajasthan, Ma-harashtra and Tamil Nadu.

During the visi t , Chief Minister Hooda, who had just returned from a productive visit to Israel, said, “Israel has done wonders in agro-technologies and water management and these wonders are being imple-mented in Haryana.”

Noked said, “We place Is-raeli technologies entirely at the disposal of India – which is today a true friend of the State of Israel. The implementation of these technologies will surely benefit the Indian farmers by enhancing their income, and im-prove the welfare of the general public by helping to counteract

the rise in the price of food. The agricultural cooperation with Israel can and will propel India to become a superpower in food production and supply, strength-en this great country as a whole and will place it at the forefront of world agriculture.”

The minister was on her first visit to India, accompanied by senior officials from her of-fice and a delegation of agro-business companies from Israel.

Noked plans to meet her In-dian counterpart Sharad Pawar and also conduct business semi-nars.

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

JTA_240x168_Ad2_OP.pdf 10/7/10 9:53:18 AM

Thai Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol sustained minor in-juries when her convoy of ve-hicles was involved in a car ac-cident during a visit to Israel last month.

Local media reported that Princess Mahidol was taken to Hadassah Hospital for an examination and tests after the crash. Police said several cars in her entourage were slightly damaged. The accident took place after the princess met with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem.

Mahidol, who was on her second trip to Israel, was visit-ing for research purposes and

scientific cooperation between the two countries. She signed an agreement between Chulabhorn Research Institute, over which she presides as a chemistry professor, and Haifa’s Rambam Hospital. The Chulabhorn Insti-tute is Thailand’s main cancer treatment facility.

Her visit to the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, was accom-panied by officials of the Thai Embassy in Israel, Israeli For-eign Ministry officials, and the Mayor of Haifa.

Princess Mahidol is the youngest daughter of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and a doctor of chemistry.

Thai Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol and Shimon Peres

Agriculture Minister Orit Noked, with Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Mark Sofer

day

life.

com


Ambassador Amikam Levy, Mrs. Levy and Henry Tang

Regional News

Cocktail reception for Israel’s 63rd Anniversary

New fellowship programmes invest in tomorrow’s Asian leaders The Israeli-Asia Leaders Fel-lowship has been launched by the Jerusalem-based Is-rael-Asia Center designed to supplement the university study programmes of Asian students studying in Israel.

The programme is intended to provide high-level access, contacts, skill-sets and a sup-port network necessary to build long-term, strategic partner-ships between Israel and Asia in the professional fields once students return to their home countries.

Every year, hundreds of Asian students come and study at universities in Israel - many of them on post-graduate pro-grammes.

“The majori ty of them spend at least a year in Israel. But like most foreign students, they tend to live in a foreign students bubble. On return to their home countries, they then

Rebecca Zeffert with Chinese Ambassador, Zhao Jun at the ambassador’s residence.

enter high-level positions in their respective fields,” says Israel-Asia Center Founder and Executive Director, Rebecca Zeffert.

Zeffert recently visited Hong Kong and China and met up with some local community members and Chinese officials.

As we embark on this ‘Asian Century’, Israel needs to bet-ter prepare itself for a future in

which its economic, diplomatic and cultural partners will not only lie in the West. At the same time, Israel has much to offer Asia’s established and emerging economies and can provide viable solutions to the growing challenges they face in the fields of agriculture, water technology, clean energy and defense.

“An opportunity is currently being lost on both sides to build long-term strategic partner-ships,” Zeffert explains, adding that until now, no one has been investing in these potential leaders of Israel-Asia relations - who are emerging from a range of fields including agritech, computer technology, Middle Eastern studies and business management.

The programme will begin in October 2011.

For further information visit www.israela-siacenter.org

Annaul Thai-Israel interchange

The Consulate General of Is-rael in Hong Kong celebrated the 63rd Independence Day of the State of Israel with a re-ception at the Aberdeen Ma-rina Club on 17 May 2011. It was attended by senior repre-sentatives from Central Gov-ernment and the Hong Kong SAR Government, as well as dignitaries and leaders from the local sectors and the Jew-ish Community.

This year also marked the 25th anniversary of the estab-lishment of the Israeli Consul-ate General in Hong Kong.

Ambassador Levy said that the mission in Hong Kong was to bring together the relative ad-vantages of China, Hong Kong and Israel in order to create suc-cessful business by connecting the Chinese market power, and financial strength, with Israeli innovation and R&D. He also said that Israel considered the government of the HKSAR its unique partner.

Guest of Honour, the Chief Secretary of Administration Henry Tang said in his speech that, “Israel is Hong Kong’s second largest trading partner in the Middle East. Last year, bi-lateral trade exceeded HK$26.3 billion (US$3.4 billion). That represents a 31.5% increase compared to 2009. And in just the first three months of this

year 2011, our bilateral trade jumped 48.6% year on year.”

The Consulate General in cooperation with EL Al Israel Airlines brought from Israel specially for the reception, a unique exhibition of pictures depicting the history of El Al Israel Airlines.

EL AL Israel Airlines, con-sidered the most secure com-pany in the world, was founded 63 years ago as the national carrier of the State of Israel. Some 95% of its pilots are for-mer combat pilots in Israel De-fence Force, a uniqueness that has contributed to the quality of the flights.

The Sixth Thailand-Israel Working Group Dialogue meeting was held in Thai-land on 3 May, at the Min-istry of Foreign Affairs, to discuss further enhancing Thai-Israeli relations.

The meet ing was co-chaired by Pravit Chaimong-kol, Deputy Permanent Secre-tary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, and Ruth Kahanoff, Deputy Director-General for Asia and the Pa-cific, Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs of Israel, and attended by representatives of concerned authorities from both sides.

Trade and investment,

science and technology co-operation, labour agreement, and technical assistance were among the topics that were discussed during the meeting. In addition, special briefings were given by the Israeli and Thai sides on political devel-opments in the Middle East and South East Asia respec-tively.

During her visit, Kahanoff also made a courtesy call on the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs of Thailand.

The Dialogue takes place yearly, with both sides alter-nating as host.

Dav

id H

arri

s

Deputy Commissioner of the of the Ministry Foreign Affairs of the People Republic of China in HKSAR Gao Yuchen and Ambassador Amikam Levy


Dr Itzhak Ramon treating local patients

Dr. Zach Sharony, right, and Dr Itzhak Ramon with patient

Albert Del Rosario and Zvi Vapni

Regional News

David Caron competes in Tanach competition

JWA Charity Ball full of surprises, tears and fun

Daphna Peyser

Israeli dancing at the JWA Ball

Gali Gorenko and Yuval Striker

Riki Shamesh was the MC for the evening.

“The JWA ball this year was one of the most complicated productions the association has pulled together. The outstand-ing team work of many women and men is what made it hap-pened. Financially the ball was a success, and we are happy to be able to continue and support those who count on us both in Israel and in Hong Kong,” said Peyser.

During the evening, Peyser presented the new JWA logo as part of the move for renewal, as the JWA is preparing to cel-ebrate its 65th anniversary next year.

A moving documentary presented at the event covered two children, Gali Gorenko and Yuval Striker, who are patients from Schneider Hospital. Both children are suffering from can-cer. They flew in specially from Israel to perform at the ball with songs.

One of the JWA beneficia-

ries is the Hayim Association dedicated to improving the lives of children suffering from can-cer. The JWA purchase lie-sav-ing equipment for the Schneider hospital every year.

Over 80 items were avail-able for live auction and silent bidding including; Israeli art, judaica, jewellery, travel and leisure items.

Highlights this year were a diamond tennis bracelet donated by Raphael Aharoni, a diamond pendant and earrings from Roni Namdar, of Mine to Mine Col-lection. Also a Chelsea football package covering VIP seats, a signed football shirt by the team players, and a travel Jerusalem package, to meet with a member of Isreal’s knesset and a private guided tour with head archeolo-gist.

All proceeds of the event go towards JWA’s beneficiaries in-cluding the Tlalim Association, Alut, WIZO, the Hong Kong Community Chest and the Hay-im Association.

Elsa High student, David Caron, recently returned from competing in the Chi-don Ha’Tenach competition in Israel. Representing Hong Kong as one of 16 countries, Caron made it to the final stage of the Diaspora Quiz. It was a 2-week programme.

After arriving back, Caron was exhilarated after devel-oping many new friendships with students from around the world, meeting important Israeli officials and visiting many his-torical sites.

Caron spoke to Jewish Times Asia after returning. “This was the highlight of my year, my experience in Israel for the quiz, I was able to make it to the final. I met many important people including; Prime Min-ister Binyamin Netanyahu, Na-than Sharansky, and Rafi Peretz, Chief Rabbi of the IDF,” Caron said.

“I also made many new

friends among the other partici-pants in the quiz, and had an amazing time with them,” he added.

“While stressfully study-ing for the Chidon, I thought to myself that I would never want to go near a Tanach again, but that proved wrong. For some reason, I have gained a renewed interest in the bible and its pro-found historical, political, and moral significance,” concluded Caron.

The Jewish Women’s Asso-ciation of Hong Kong (JWA) organised and hosted Israel’s 63rd Anniversary at the JW Marriott Hotel on 15 April. Over 300 people from Hong Kong’s Jewish community attended the ball. A full eve-ning of music, extraordinary talented mind reader Nimrod Harel and Israeli dancing en-livened the ballroom.

Daphna Peyser, Chairwom-an of the JWA, delivered the welcoming address and Ami-kam Levy, Israel’s Consul Gen-eral to Hong Kong also spoke.

Operation Smile to India

Philippines foreign policy outlined

Two Israeli doctors from Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus were on a vol-untary medical mission to a remote area of India under the auspices of the interna-tional medical charity Op-eration Smile.

The national health system in Israel ensures that any baby born with a cleft lip or cleft palate gets corrective surgery as soon as possible. But that’s not the case in many other countries,

“I am proud to be Israeli, because here there is no such thing as someone not getting this operation,” says Dr. Itzhak Ramon, a senior physician in the department of plastic sur-gery. “There, they would have to go to a private practice and most cannot afford to do that.”

Ramon and his younger colleague Dr. Zach Sharony volunteered to join a team of 50 medical personnel from around the world on the 10-day mission in December last year. The crew of plastic surgeons, dentists, anesthesi-ologists, pediatricians, nurses and speech therapists treated more than 200 patients from six months to 40 years old in the northeast region of Assam.

Ramon explained that the incidence of these facial de-formities is high in Assam - as many as 30,000 people - as a

Foreign Affairs Secretary Al-bert Del Rosario outlined the governments new foreign poli-cy priorities under the leader-ship of President Aquino III.

It was the first diplomatic reception hosted by Depart-ment of Foreign Affairs at the Peninsula Hotel in Manila, on 4 April.

Israel’s Ambassador to the Philippines Zvi Vapni accompa-nied by his wife, met the newly appointed Foreign Affairs Sec-

result of consanguineous mar-riages. The offspring of married cousins are at great risk of birth defects. “When we arrived at the local hospital, hundreds of people were already waiting,” recalls Ramon.

Staying at a hotel provided free by the owner, the Opera-tion Smile team worked from 6:30am to 5:30pm in 10 operat-ing rooms. Because local vil-lagers speak a unique dialect, the professionals weren’t able to communicate easily, but they were helped by English-speak-ing Indian doctors. “A lot of the doctors wanted to hear about Israel,” Ramon relates. “They had heard about our ‘high-tech, startup nation.’”

Operation Smile flew in all the medical equipment from the US along with nurses, dentists

and anesthesiologists. Other personnel came from China, Australia, Norway and Co-lombia.

Ramon went on two Oper-ation Smile trips to the Philip-pines more than a decade ago, having met the founder of the organisation, Dr Bill Magee, while on a fellowship in the US in 1993.

David Caron

RH

CC

RH

CC

retary and his wife, Gretchen Del Rosario.


Education Minister Gideon Saar

Asian Physics Olympiad held in Israel

Medal winners at APhO

Students from China participating

Israel hosted the 12th Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO) for the first time in the competi-tion’s history. The event was held from 1-9 May. Represen-tatives from 14 countries par-ticipated, with a around 120 students involved.

Initiated in 2000 in Indone-sia, the Olympiad is an annual physics competition for high school students from the Asia and Oceania regions. The annu-al event is currently the premier physics competition for pre-university students from Asian countries.

One of its goals is to build a network among the leaders for further collaborative projects

in physics education, such as creating physics competitions in their own countries, and to encourage Asian countries to participate in other international physics competitions.

The week-long competi-tion was held at the Tel Aviv University and was co-hosted by Israel’s Education Min-istry. Participating countries were: Australia, China, India,

Indonesia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand and Viet-nam.

Israeli participant Gal Dor, from Ahad Ha’am High School in Petah Tikvah, was among the 16 gold medal recipients, while Asaf Rosen from Motta Gur High School in Modi’in was one of 10 to earn a silver medal.

Regional News

“As scientists we have the privilege and the duty to create bridges among differ-ent nations, different religions and different societies,” wrote Prof. Yaron Oz – chairman of TAU’s School of Physics and Astronomy and of the Olym-piad Academic Committee – in a welcome letter to all the stu-dents. “The Physics Olympiad is one such beautiful bridge.”

“Excellence will fuel the human development engine and is a condition for the ex-istence of the most advanced and enlightened societies. You students are exemplars for your generation,” Education Minister Gideon Saar told the competi-tors.

Prof. Ming-Juey Lin, the olympiad secretariat president, said in a statement that this year’s competition was “the most successful Asian Physics Olympiad that has been held to date.”

Out of the contest’s 65 total gold, silver, bronze and honor-able mention medal winners,

China and Taiwan took the lead, each with eight award recipients (all eight for China were gold), followed by Singa-pore and Thailand with seven each. Israel and Russia received six medals each, according to the results. Participants from India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam also won prizes.

Next year’s event will be held in India, the competition’s website states.


Business News

Teva to buy Japanese generic drugmaker TaiyoTeva Pharmaceutical In-dustries Ltd announced on 16 May that it has signed an agreement to acquire 57% of the shares in privately-held Taiyo Pharmaceutical Indus-try Co. Ltd for US$460 million in cash paid to private share-holders.

Teva will also extend an of-fer to purchase all remaining outstanding shares of Taiyo. This transaction gives Taiyo an enterprise value of US$1.3 bil-lion.

Taiyo is the third largest ge-neric pharmaceutical company in Japan with sales of US$530 million in 2010. The company has one of the most comprehen-sive generic product portfolios in the Japanese market with over 550 generic drugs in a variety of therapeutic areas and dosage forms.

Taiyo has strong presence in all major distribution channels in Japan, particularly in hospitals due to its wide range of inject-able product offerings. Taiyo’s marketing efforts are supported by a strong back-end with top tier production capabilities in a wide range of technologies (in-cluding sterile manufacturing) in two manufacturing facilities, as well as a strong R&D team and local regulatory expertise.

Commenting on the trans-action, Shlomo Yanai, Teva’s President and CEO said, “This acquisition will enable Teva to deliver on our strategic objective of becoming a leading player in the fast-growing Japanese ge-nerics market. We now expect to reach our 2015 target of US$1 billion in sales in Japan ahead of

Korean Aerospace looking to increase purchasesA delegation of South Korean aerospace executives visited Israel recently to look at pur-chasing the new T-50 jet train-er known as the Golden Eagle.

At a meeting with media correspondents in Tel Aviv, Korean Aerospace executive in Israel, Song Choi, said that, ir-respective of the pending deal, Korean Aerospace had bought many components from Israeli defense companies, amounting to about US$400 million.

Most of the items were ad-vanced avionics, electronic warfare systems and advanced radars for its aircraft’s.

Song expects that, in view of South Korea’s developing aero-space industry, procurements from Israeli defense companies will significantly expand in the coming years and predicts that the figure could reach US$800 million.

Components that Korean Aerospace plans to buy in Israel will be integrated with various models of the T-50, including the attack version, which will be delivered to the Korean Air Force at the end of the year. This is in addition to systems that will be installed in 200 heli-copters that are currently being manufactured for the air force.

schedule. Taiyo’s strong market reach, cutting-edge production facilities, and impressively large product portfolio, combined with Teva’s scale and capabili-ties as the world’s largest ge-nerics company, will enable us to offer a much wider range of high quality, affordable generics to a much larger segment of the Japanese market."

Teva expects to complete the transaction by the end of the third quarter. The acquisi-tion is subject to the approval of Taiyo’s shareholder meeting and customary closing conditions.

Headquartered in Israel, Teva is the world’s largest ge-neric drug maker, with a global product portfolio of more than 1,450 molecules and a direct presence in about 60 countries. Teva’s branded businesses focus on neurological, respiratory and women’s health therapeutic ar-eas as well as biologics. Teva’s leading innovative product, Copaxone®, is the number one

prescribed treatment for relaps-ing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Teva employs approximately 40,000 people around the world and reached US$16.1 billion in net sales in 2010. Korean aerospace T-50 jet

SDS wins Indian night vision equipment orderAccording to Globes Newswire Services, Israeli based Star Defense Systems Ltd has re-ceived a NIS 153 million order for three types of night vision equipment for targeting and observation from India’s Min-istry of Defense.

Deliveries will begin in the third quarter and continue through 2012. The order brings the company’s orders backlog to NIS 250 million.

SDS controlling shareholder Motti Solomon told Globes, “This is a substantial deal for the company, as it involves sys-tems we developed specially for the customer. We’re already de-veloping other new products for them, and in view of our success with this customer, we expect that it will continue to buy more

products in the future.”

Solomon added, “Over the next five years, the Indian Army will carry out massive procure-ments of new equipment, and since we specialise in equip-ment for the soldier, we expect that we can continue to offer it more products.” He said, “In the coming year, the company should enter into a partnerships with an Indian night vision equipment manufacturer, so will be closer to the customer and of-fer it support.”

India’s Ministry of Defense previous orders night vision equipment from SDS include a NIS 40 million order in Febru-ary, a NIS 13 million order in September 2010, and a NIS 130 million order in August 2010.


Business News

Elbit to increase real estate investment in India

Israel and Taiwan expand scientific cooperation

Israeli conglomerate Elbit Im-aging Ltd, and its subsidiary Plaza Centers NV are making fresh investments of at least US$500 million to develop real estate projects in India, according to local India web-site livemint.com.

The Tel Aviv-based compa-ny is globally known for devel-oping shopping malls, having built 84 centres in Europe, the US and Israel.

In India, it is looking to build a diversified real estate portfolio, including residential and office spaces besides shop-ping malls.

Elbit Plaza India Manage-ment Services Pvt. Ltd is close to signing its first residen-tial, joint development proj-ect in Thiruvananthapuram on 11-acres of land. It will develop the project together with Pune-based Panchshil Realty and a local builder.

Elbit entered India in 2006. It has since invested about US$400 million to buy land in central and southern Indian states, said Oren Kolton, coun-try director for Elbit.

As part of its previous in-vestment in the country, the firm is also developing two

projects in Pune—a shopping mall on its own and an office space-cum-shopping mall with Panchshil Realty. The estimated investment in the two projects is around US$200 million.

In the past three years, El-bit has revisited a number of its proposed projects. It is building 1,000 mid-priced apartments in Thiruvananthapuram in a space that was earlier meant for a shopping mall. A 45-acre island property off Kochi that it was to develop through a joint venture has been put on hold.

In future, the company plans to develop projects in cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram through strategic partnerships.

“The group views India as a long-term growth engine, which will begin to generate positive cash flows in 2012,” Kolton stated.

Another Israeli realty firm, Levinstein Project Management India Pvt. Ltd, plans to scale up in India.

The company, ventured into India a few years ago and has two projects in the country—a large residential development in Mysore and a slum redevelop-ment project in suburban Mum-bai.

Levinstein plans to choose the difficult profile of redevel-opment projects and low-cost or mass housing ventures to understand the Indian property market better.

“We have good local part-ners, but we believe the pricing of properties is the key issue in Indian real estate,” said Yaron Gelbhart, general manager, Levinstein.

Israel and Taiwan will ex-pand academic exchanges in the fields of marine science and robotics following the signing of a science coop-eration deal, the Israel Eco-nomic and Cultural Office in Taipei (ISECO) announced.

The National Science Council (NSC) and ISECO signed an extension of a sci-ence collaboration agreement on 18 May, which will bring marine science and learning algorithm specialists from the two sides together on various projects.

The two institutions have engaged in joint research on biomedicine and nanotech-nology since 2006, and the positive experience prompted the signing of the pact, com-mented Daniel Weihs, chief scientist of Israel’s Ministry of Science and Technology.

“Our connection with Tai-wan is one of the best,” said Wei-hs, whose institution has similar cooperation programmes with about 15 countries around the world.

Chang Yuan-huei, a physics professor at National Taiwan University and an NSC repre-sentative, felt the deal would offer Taiwan additional oppor-tunities to learn from Israel.

“Israel is very successful in allocating its resources in the field of science. It does it in a very efficient way. This is something we can learn from,” Chang said.

“A joint conference is being prepared, take place in Israel this December to encourage dialogue and mutual cooperation between the “equal partners.”

“We have many similarities. We are not big countries, no

Indian shopping mall

Oren Kolton

big population, facing similar economic and political issues,” but “both sides have developed successful strategies for do-ing science without too much money and without too many people working on it,” Weihs concluded.

Daniel Weihs


caz Beth Jacob’s inclusion pro-gramme, which is perceived as a key to the future for develop-mentally disabled teenagers in Israel.

For more information, please contact Sar-ah Katzenelbogen, at Mercaz Beth Jacob, email: [email protected].

Donations can be sent to Mercaz Beth Ja-cob, POB 6033, 14b Modiin St., Jerusalem, Israel 91060.

Down Syndrome photography work displayed

The Hong Kong Jewish Com-munity Centre held a fund raising photography exhibit in May, from students of Mer-caz Beth Jacob High School in Jerusalem. It was organised with the help of Hong Kong residents Eliad and Nura Co-hen.

The framed photographs showed scenes of the West-ern Wall, Jerusalem’s Old City streets and synagogues, fruit and nature. These photographs, although striking, were not particularly unique in content. More unusual is the background of the photographers, all of whom are young women who have Down’s syndrome and are students at the high school.

Mercaz Beth Jacob is a net-work of girls’ high schools and seminaries in eight cities in Isra-el serving nearly 5,000 students. Seven years ago, the Jerusalem school opened an inclusion pro-gramme for developmentally disabled young women.

These students attend a spe-cial education track while enjoy-ing a wonderful and vital oppor-tunity to be integrated in regular classes for certain subjects and extracurricular activities.

They receive a solid educa-tion, needed therapies, and learn how to be part of mainstream

Art and Culture

Harel mesmerizes his audienceThe audience at this year’s JWA Charity Ball was treated to some phenominal enter-tainment by Nimrod Harel.

Harel is a perception artist from Israel and has been per-forming for 15 years. He has a unique one-man show, that he performs throughout Israel and around the world.

Harel also has his own TV show in Israel called ‘Inconceiv-able’ or in hebrew Bilti Nitpas which has just completed its fourth season.

From psychology to illusion Harel is an artist of rare calibre and a master of mentalisim and close-up and is renowned as one of the leaders in this field.

While performing in Hong Kong at the JW Marriott, Harel correctly guessed personal de-tails from members of the au-dience, and a 6-figure number - that was already portrayed on a video clip from patients of

Schnieder Hospital in Israel. This was written on a large card on the video before he arrived in Hong Kong.

He also captivated his au-dience by appearing to bend spoons, through his special ‘en-ergy force’ during the show and even made objects disappear.

Harel performed his aston-ishing show as part of the JWA event for free.

In its jubilee year, the Israel Festival will be hosting some 50 outstanding performances. The festivals categories in-clude; dance, theatre, jazz, classical music and some spe-cial events. The annual event runs from 23 May-18 June.

This special year, 12 pre-miere works have been com-missioned from Israeli artists, as well as a roster of performers from some 18 countries includ-ing Chile, Georgia and Japan. Events are staged and performed in around 12 venues including the Jerusalem Theatre, Sherover Hall, The Henry Crown Concert Hall, Eden –Tamir Music Cen-ter, and the Holon Mediatheque Mod’in.

One of the highlights will be the return of Israeli and in-ternational artists such as Ohad Naharin and the Batsheva Dance Company, Dame Kiri Te Kana-wa, Ahinoam Nini and Clipa Theatre; and the Merce Cun-ningham legacy tour.

Festival Director Yossi Tal-Gan announced that Ohad Na-harin, who opened the 1993

festival with the premiere of Anaphase – a landmark work in Israeli dance history, will pre-miere a new work in this year’s festival.

The Israel Festival was founded in 1961 by Aaron Zvi Propes as a summer music fes-tival taking place in the ancient Roman theatre in Caesarea. The programme was later broad-ened to include all the perform-ing arts, and the location was enlarged to include venues all over the country. It was not until 1982 that the country’s capital decided to adopt the Festival as its own, and since then the ma-jority of performances are held in Jerusalem.

The Festival takes place an-nually for a few weeks in the spring. Throughout the festival, audiences are able to enjoy per-formances by artists from all over the world, as well as premieres of Israeli works and tributes to leading Israeli artists. The public can also attend a large selection of free performances, including street theatre, children’s shows and a nightly jazz club.

In 1996, Rabbi Steinsaltz’s commentary on Pirkei Avot was published in Chinese, by the Chinese National Acad-emy of Social Sciences. Rabbi Steinsaltz also led seminars at the Universities of Shanghai and Beijing on topics relating to similarity and dissimilarity between the Jewish and Chi-nese cultures.

The publication was well received and popular amongst Chinese academics. Plans are currently in place to publish a second revised edition, connect-ed to Rabbi Steinsaltz’s visit to Beijing at the end of this year.

Rabbi Steinsaltz also pro-duced a comparative study on the relationship between knowl-edge and deeds in the Jewish and Chinese philosophies with specific mention to the Pirkei Avot. Steinsaltz chose to have this particular book translated into Chinese because it is, “if I may say so, the most ‘Chinese’ book of our culture,” he quoted.

“One can find hundreds of parallels between Avot and an-cient Chinese culture, and not only in general ideas but also

in small details. Indeed, when I first encountered the ‘Four Classical Books of Chinese’ culture for the first time, many years ago, I filled up several notebooks with comparisons, sentence by sentence, between Confucius, Mencius, and, later on, also Lao-Tse, and Jewish literature.

“Sometimes the similar-ity is so striking, that one could think that our respective sages actually copied from each other. However, although these works were written at about the same time, the geographical distance between the two cultures was too big to make such copying possible. Indeed, only very few members of our people ever came to China in the past, and the tiny Jewish settlement, that existed around Kaifeng for a few hundred years, was very small, and neither very cultured nor influential,” Steinsaltz re-marked.

At first glance, Pirkei Avot looks very much like the col-lected sayings of Confucius: it has the same style, and seems to have the same way of thinking.

society. The social activities build character and self-assur-ance, and are a source of joy and excitement.

An exceptional vocational training programme is invalu-able for the future of these stu-dents, helping them succeed in life. Throughout their four years at high school and two post-high school grades, each young woman trains for a suitable ca-reer.

The graduates’ current workplaces include the Knesset, Israel’s Ministry of Treasury, Jerusalem Municipality, Yad Sarah, and numerous kindergar-tens and child care centres. The school staff is heavily involved in job placement and continuing support for past students.

Among the classes of-fered in the vocational training programme is a photography course. Proceeds support Mer-

Israel Festival celebrates its Jubilee

A second edition of Chinese Pirkei Avot to be published

Photo of Jerusalem by Shaindy

Fruit photo by Chaya

Flower photo by Chana

Nimrod Harel

Chinese cover of Pirkei Avot

But in fact, in both details of style and the general way of thinking, Pirkei Avot bears an inner resemblance to the basic Book of Dao.

For one thing, Pirkei Avot uses a more poetical language, which is much fuller of parables and metaphors than that of Con-fucius, and therefore more simi-lar to that of Lao Tse.

In addition, unlike Confu-cius, Pirkei Avot uses ways of thinking which are, in them-selves, dialectical and paradoxi-cal.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

Clipa Theatre


Art and Culture

Israeli pianists make their Hong Kong and Asia debut

Ella Davidson picks up poetry award

Two very promising and young award-winning pianists from Israel, Berenika Glixman and Rafael Skorka, will make their début in Hong Kong and Asia on 15 June, at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Concert Hall. The event is co-sponsored and organised through Israel’s Consulate in Hong Kong and the Jospé family.

Both in their 20s, Bereni-ka and Rafael are among the emerging artists in Israel’s clas-sical music scene. They have won various national and inter-national awards, including the first prizes of the Young Artist Competition in Jerusalem in 2008. They also performed as soloists with numerous orches-tras in Israel and around the world.

In addition to their exposure in Europe and the USA, they will be performing works by Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, Scar-latti and Schumann. They will also record for Radio 4 of the Radio Television Hong Kong.

This concert is the fourth in the series in Hong Kong featur-

Elsa High School is proud to announce that Ella Davidson was shortlisted by the Hong Kong Young Writers Award for her entry into the Brit-ish Council Award for Poetry Group 4.

D a v i d s o n c o m p e t e d against students from 61 other schools. The awards ceremony was recently held at Chinese University where all the short-listed candidates came together to find out who won each cat-egory.

“Out of the 6 other short-listed students in the poetry cat-egory, Ella came away with the top poem. We are all extremely honoured and proud of her achievement,” commented Rob-ert Wilson, an English teacher at Elsa High.

Rafael Skorka Berenika Glixman

Ella Davidson receiving her prize

ing the winners of the Young Artist Competition from Israel, jointly presented by the Con-sulate General of Israel and the Hong Kong Academy for Per-forming Arts.

The Young Artists Com-petition is the largest and most established music competition in Israel. The project is an an-nual competition for young outstanding talents culminating with a concert with the Jerusa-lem Symphony Orchestra and distribution of prizes and schol-arships.

Glixman was born in Rus-sia in 1984 and immigrated to

Israel in 1990.

Currently studying at the Tel-Aviv University for her master’s degree, she began her piano studies at the age of 10. Two years later she won first prize at the “Yafa and David Volfenzon piano competition”.

Glixman has played with the Bulgarian orchestra, recorded live on Serbian TV and radio, and with the Bucharest orches-tra. She also has played and broadcast on Israeli radio (“Kol ha Musika”) and has recorded a CD with a few pieces by the Israeli composer Ami Maayani.

Endless Journey by Ella Davidson

The sun beats down on my bare backA long vast never-ending road stretches out before me like a ribbon of silk The mountains before me march like camels into the horizonThe sand as golden as the coins I hope to earn I feel the sharp gravel gnawing at my feetLoneliness chews at my weary old bonesThrough the sweat and pain I feel the younger workers questioning stares as I trudge byOccasionally I inhale the sweet smell of the incenseThat weighs down the pack on my back

What keeps me going?Her photo as faded as her life has become as she lies in the shack I call homeHer warm brown eyes which used to sparkle are now shriveled up in pain as they weep silent fearsHer happiness drained from all her featuresAs she has transformed into a living skeleton

• Life Cycle Planning

• Retirement

• Investment Portfolios

• Offshore Accumulation

• Alternative Products

• Investing for income

Free Thinking Investment Solutions

Contact: Alistaire Hayman Tel: (852) 9107 6583 Email: [email protected] Lo Tel: (852) 2117 5097

MLI Limited Suite 1601, 16th Floor, Chung Nam Building, No. 1 Lockhart Road, Wanchai, Hong KongFax: (852) 2845 2130 www.mli-hk.com

A MEMBER OF THE HONG KONG CONFEDERATION OF INSURANCE BROKERSReg. No. 01870

Licensed by the HK Securities & Futures CommissionRegistered MPF IntermediaryMPF Reg. No. 033793

Jewish Heritage River Cruises 2011

This is a unique opportunity to experience Jewish heritage, history and culture on a luxury river cruise along the legendary River Danube.

Three exclusive 7 night “Jewish Heritage Cruises” between Budapest and Nuremberg or Budapest and Vilshofen will highlight centuries‐old traditions, as well as modern day museums and monuments dedicated to conserving the rich Jewish legacy of the region. A dedicated guide will lead complimentary excursions to include synagogue visits, Jewish districts tours and significant landmarks of Jewish history.

15 – 22 August – The Romantic Danube, Jewish Heritage Cruise 11 ‐ 18 November – Blue Danube Discovery, Jewish Heritage Cruise 18 ‐ 25 November – The Legendary Danube, Jewish Heritage Cruise

The luxury vessels AmaLegro and AmaDolce carry just 150 guests in sophisticated and stylish elegance, with award winning service, superb dining and complimentary wine, beer and soft drinks at dinner you will realise that the journey is every bit as important as the destination.

For further information call Concorde Travel Tel: 2526 3391 www.concorde‐travel.com

Email ‐ info@concorde‐travel.com Licence No 350343

Jewish Heritage River Cruises 2011

This is a unique opportunity to experience Jewish heritage, history and culture on a luxury river cruise along the legendary River Danube.

Three exclusive 7 night “Jewish Heritage Cruises” between Budapest and Nuremberg or Budapest and Vilshofen will highlight centuries‐old traditions, as well as modern day museums and monuments dedicated to conserving the rich Jewish legacy of the region. A dedicated guide will lead complimentary excursions to include synagogue visits, Jewish districts tours and significant landmarks of Jewish history.

15 – 22 August – The Romantic Danube, Jewish Heritage Cruise 11 ‐ 18 November – Blue Danube Discovery, Jewish Heritage Cruise 18 ‐ 25 November – The Legendary Danube, Jewish Heritage Cruise

The luxury vessels AmaLegro and AmaDolce carry just 150 guests in sophisticated and stylish elegance, with award winning service, superb dining and complimentary wine, beer and soft drinks at dinner you will realise that the journey is every bit as important as the destination.

For further information call Concorde Travel Tel: 2526 3391 www.concorde‐travel.com

Email ‐ info@concorde‐travel.com Licence No 350343


Japan’s disaster - my response to help

Peering out the window on my f l ight into Nari ta Airport , I saw objects floating

in the ocean off the coast of Japan. At first, I thought this was mere garbage that had floated in from the Pacific but as the plane descended, I saw that in the ocean were roofs of houses, cars and other objects that only weeks before had been indispensable parts of people’s lives. It was not until this moment that I understood the enormity of the disaster that had befallen the nation that only one year prior I had called home.

Oftentimes disaster arises somewhere in the world and we sympathise with the affected peoples and mobilise our best efforts to help those unfortunate souls as quickly and effectively as possible. While this is true on the macro scale, our response is usually limited to some token monetary donation to a large organisation. What I saw on the ground in Japan questions the commonly held belief that financial contributions are the best way for most people to contribute to calamity stricken communities.

When the threefold catas-trophe of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear contamination befell Japan, a nation in whose countryside I taught English for a year, I felt a deep and inexo-rable desire to ameliorate the suffering of the victims there. As a rabbinical student, my first response was to lead a prayer service in front of the Japa-

taking in the devastation and realising the sheer amount of destruction left me feeling over-whelmed. I had never encoun-tered so much suffering and I felt powerless in the face of the unimaginable challenge of re-lieving the burden these people have to bear.

After two incredibly busy, meaningful weeks, I returned to New York. Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean on my flight home it dawned on me that my time spent in Japan is only as valuable as what I do with my story. The truth is, there is still a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done, and it is incumbent upon us to continue to help the Japanese in their hour of need; not only when un-nerving photos in newspapers prompt us into action initially, but even when the disaster leaves the front page. I am re-minded of the rabbinic teaching “It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task. Yet, you are not free to desist from it.”

One does not need a disaster across the world to engage in this holy work. Our own nation continues to go through series after series of natural catastro-phes in addition to persistent problems such as hunger and homelessness that need people like you to get involved.

Before my trip, I never would have imagined how much help an ordinary person, just a set of hands, a voice and ears for listening, could provide to those whose lives have been forever altered. It may feel at times that the task is too daunt-ing and any change effected is meaningless in the scale of a massive catastrophe. But to those individual souls whose lives we can touch, I can prom-ise you, the feelings of warmth and compassion are invaluable.

Supplied by Andrew Scheer. Andrew is a rabbinical student from New York who spent last year teaching English in Japan.Andrew recalls his own experience of vis-iting the country in April after the earth-quake for Pesach.

nese embassy to beseech the Almighty to provide for those affected by the disaster and to demonstrate the Jewish people’s solidarity with Japan.

The service was powerful, but after much thought, I re-alised that a prayer service was an insufficient response given the devastation. So, I commit-ted to spend my Pesach break in Japan doing relief work.

I had several goals in mind: to bring the Jewish community in Japan, whose container of Kosher for Passover food would be stuck in Singapore until mid-May, provisions for the holiday; to provide material aid and emotional comfort to the affected people up north in the heart of the devastation; and to lead the Seders in Tokyo.

During my time in Japan

Andrew Scheer in front of the destroyed factory of Muto-san’s father in Iwanuma, Miyagi prefecture

I recalled many difficult im-ages; the missing child poster of an 8 month old infant, rice paddies flooded with seawater and rubble, a seawall made out of reinforced concrete pushed back and destroyed like a child’s plaything. I learned though, that even in the midst of darkness one can bring joy and light into the lives of those who are suffering. One such mo-ment happened after driving up through the night from Tokyo to Minami-soma, Fukushima-ken with nine rabbis who had flown in from India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

I knew this would be my third and final trip to one of the most damaged areas in Japan. In two prior trips, I brought blankets, towels and fresh fruit to shelters and distribution cen-ters across Japan’s northeast. This trip would be of a different nature.

Minami-Soma, a town which straddles the nuclear evacuation zone and where boats tossed in from the ocean dot the landscape, contains in-numerable shelters of displaced people whose diet consists of three meals a day of rice and miso soup. It came to us over Shabbat dinner the night before that these folks might need something sweet to bring up their morale and let them know

that they were being thought of.

To accomplish these ends, my colleagues and I visited an elementary school to distribute individual containers of Haagen Dazs ice cream to residents who had been living in this shelter for one month, and no longer had homes to return to. I found a young girl who was read-ing, asked her in Japanese “Ice cream tabetai desu-ka,” (Would you like some ice cream?) Her eyes lit up, she paused and al-most shouted in the affirmative, “Hai! Ice cream daisuki desu!” (Yes! I love ice cream!)

There were many moments like this where I felt that I was helping Japan get through one of the toughest disasters in its history. This was inspiring and empowering. However, driving down the coast back to Tokyo,

Rabbi Binyomin Edery of Chabad Tokyo with his friend Muto-sanA delegation of Chabad rabbis from across Asia at a displaced persons shelter in Minamisoma, Fukushima-prefecture

Andrew Scheer and his friend Ariel Steiner, an Israeli living in Tokyo,unloading a van at a distribution centre in Iwanuma

Boats tossed in from the ocean in Fukushima prefecture


A Chinese experience of life in Israel

Most people were s t u n n e d a n d awed when we told them that

the Hebrew language was our major in university. Lots of them had no clue in which country Hebrew is spoken and where Israel is on the map.

Almost all of them had an ambiguous notion about Jeru-salem as a holy place (after we told them we would be study-ing in Jerusalem) and Hebrew was taken as no different from all other minor languages in China.

This stereotype followed me all the way to Israel. Jerusalem was hidden inside a crystal ball, with a mysterious cover, and only slim beams of her sacred light would occasionally reflect on my humble retina.

With respect and curiosity, friends and I travelled and ex-plored in Israel nonstop. Being an atheist, I still find religious stories and heritages interesting. Jerusalem is probably the best place for an enquiring mind to get to know the strong beliefs that stands behind numerous peoples over thousands of years.

The Old City is definitely the core. We went through the crowded alleys in the old city, followed pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre and the Via Dolo-rosa, and sent our sincere letters to the Western Wall. Indeed, religious heritage sights are interesting places for learning about the spiritual world.

Nevertheless, I find the collective output derived from religions more precious than re-ligion itself found here, like the

architecture, costumes, rituals and language.

After what I experienced this year, I find that Jerusalem today, is more interesting for its unique culture than merely be-ing a crucifixion and illumina-tion place.

Another big issue about Israel that cannot be ignored is the conflict. Again, before we came here, the advice that par-ents, teachers and friends gave us most was, be careful.

Not only would we study abroad for a relatively long period of time, but also we would be living in the Middle East fury. Some even thought that it was a life-risking deci-sion. However, Israel proved itself well. With all the security checks settled in every gate of our dormitory and the univer-sity, we surely felt secure. This was also is quite an experience for us. Of course, threats did ex-ist. Especially after the bombing near the Central Bus Station of Jerusalem some while ago. We

postponed our travelling plans. Rather than being “afraid”, I feel more of a “difference”. Back in China, though we have huge numbers of people, basi-cally we have the same origin and I always feel safe and blend in with the crowd. But in Israel, things are more complex as society is divided according to the different races, which adds the vivid diversity to it and also brings conflicts.

Being Chinese people in Is-rael is like being the polar bear from the Antarctica. We are not part of the society, not involved in the conflicts, and no matter how long we have stayed there, people would always see you as tourists, and talk in English in a friendly way.

Jerusalem is a book, which I can get to know, learn from, and research in, but am not able to revise. I came, I saw, and I was conquered. The one year here will long occupy my memory, in a good way.

Supplied by Xu Jia, a Chinese student studying in Israel

Students in Xu Jia’s class

Visiting tourist sites

MORAN ZUKERMAN

FROM ZUKERMAN REAL ESTATE LIMITED

Would like to Congratulate the state of Israel for it’s 63rd Anniversary.

A few of my satisfied clients:

BUY • RENT • SELL • LEASEWe provide a full range of services for your property requirements in Hong Kong. We can assist with mortgage referrals, building contractors, movers and solicitors. Residential • Commercial • Industrial • Retail

For enquiries please contact:Moran Zukerman

Mobile: (852) 6191 4496 Email: [email protected]


If the Guinness World Record event was not enough to mark Israel’s 6 3 r d A n n i v e r s a r y

event, as mentioned on the front page, a whole fun-day of activities for all-ages was organised at the Discovery College campus. Glorious sunshine marked the day.

Organisers of the event in-cluded; the Hong Kong Jewish Scouts Group/ Tzofim led by Anna Burd and Yair Osherov. Parents of the Scouts Associa-tion, Eliad and Nura Cohen, Melisa Levy and Michal Gor-don. As well as students from Elsa High school who were helping. Israel’s Consulate in Hong Kong initiated much of the planning and Chabad pro-vided kosher food.

Fun day attractions includ-ed: Israel flag decoration com-petition, football tournament, Israeli quiz, arts and crafts, a Shesh Besh /backgammon tournament, and lots of outdoor sports and activities. Prizes

Hong Kong’s grandest Israel Independence Day Celebration

able for sale and blue coloured theme candy floss for the chil-dren.

Later in the afternoon a spe-cial show was performed in the auditorium by the Dgania Car-van Group singers from Israel’s Tzofim. It was their first ever performance in Asia.

The Jewish Scouts of Hong Kong was established last Octo-ber to bring Jewish youngster in Hong Kong closer to the Israeli culture and Judaism, and to experience leadership and unity through different kind of activi-ties.

The Tzofim movement is the only youth movement in Israel that is both non-political and non-sectarian. There are approximately 60,000 members in Israel.

Israel’s Carvan organisation consists of four separate traveling groups. They perform all over the world. To be selected is extremely competitive as entertaining emis-saries use song, dance and humor as their medium.

The Degania Carvan group was established as a kibbutz in northern Israel andwas the first kibbutz established by Jewish Zionist pioneers, then under Ot-toman rule. It was founded in 1909 by the World Zionist Or-ganisation.

Dgania Carvan Group

Football Tournament

Israel flag decoration

Food Stall

Ilan Horowitz, Eliad Cohen and Rabbi Mordechai Avtzon

Blue candy floss

Discovery College campusBouncy castle for the children

Shesh Besh Tournament

were awarded and given out for winners in all the competitions.

Israeli food including: hot dogs, shwarmas, falafel, humus, salads, ice cream, were avail-


Hundreds of thousands converged on Mount Meron for the annual Lag B’Omer pilgrimage to the resting place of kabbalist and author of the Zohar, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. The festival is traditionally celebrated with a mix of prayer, song, bonfires and the first hair cut for three-year-old boys in ultra-Orthodox families.

Lighting a bonfire

Lag B’Omer and Yom YerushalayimLag B’Omer

The period between the fes-tival of Pesach and Shavuot is called the Omer. It lasts for 49 days, which we count daily and considered a time of mourning. The Omer is a specified measure of grain required for offering during Temple times.

However on the 33rd day which is known as Lag B’Omer we celebrate with outings and light bonfires and actively par-ticipate in joyous activities.

In Israel many visit Meron, in the northern part of the coun-try, which is the resting place of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, whose Yahrtzeit is marked on this day.

Bar Yochai, who lived in the 2nd century CE, was the first to publicly teach the mystical aspects of the Torah known as the Kabbalah and is the author of the Zohar.

Zohar means glow or lu-minescence. On the day of his passing, Rabbi Shimon in-structed his disciples to mark the date as “the day of my joy.”

Chassidim explain that the day a righteous person leaves earthly life it marks at point in which his deeds, teaching and work achieve their culminating per-fection and the climax of their impact on our lives.

Lag B’Omer also commemo-rates another event. The Talmud tells us that in the weeks between Pesach and Shavuot a plague took the lives of thousands of Rabbi

Akiva’s disciples, on Lag B’Omer the dying ceased.

Special Days in the month of Iyar

Yom Yerushalayim

Yom Yerushalayim, or Jeru-salem Day, is the most modern of all the holidays, celebrated on 28 Iyar, one week before the eve of Shavuot.

Although Jerusalem has al-ways been the spiritual capital of Judaism, the holiday cele-brates the Israeli army’s victory, in the ancient, eastern part of the city on the third day of the Six-Day War in 1967. This is when unification of the two sections of the city took place, ending 19 years of separation.

Yom Yerushalayim is be-coming increasingly popular

throughout the Diaspora, and traditional themes mark the event.

In Israel and in the Dias-pora festivals of music, dance and theatre bring Jews together to mark the day.

Educators use this time to increase knowledge on the spe-cifics of the city including the history and the role it has played in our collective conscious.

We make constant reference to Jerusalem as central to our people. Daily we pray towards Jerusalem and all conclude our Pesach Seder with the words, “Next Year in Jerusalem.”


Shavuot

The significance of the Festival of Shavuot

Th e F e s t i v a l o f Shavuot has many names. It is also known as the Festival

of Weeks, the Festival of First Fruits, the Festival of the Harvest and the Festival of the Giving of the Torah. Yet this is a holiday without a set date, measured only by a count from the second day of Pesach, and a holiday with few Jewish laws to govern its practice.

The counting of the Omer, for 49 days beginning on the second day of Pesach, reminds us of the link between the two holidays, one marking freedom from the bondage of slavery and the other freedom from a spiri-tual bondage.

There are a number of tradi-tions that surround the obser-vance of the holiday, many re-flecting the diversity of Judaism in terms of nationality, practice, traditional foods and liturgy.

A central custom is the eat-ing of dairy dishes. Most follow the practice of eating a main meal of dairy on the first day,

and a meat meal the second.

There are a number of rea-sons cited for this practice. The Song of Songs, recited in Sha-vuot, uses milk and honey to describe the Land of Israel and as a representation of the To-rah. Many tie it in with Exodus 23:19, that states that one must not eat a kid in its mother’s milk.

Eating milk on day one and meat on day two is a symbolic representation of this basic law of Kashrut. Other reasons in-clude that eating a dairy meal will force us not to focus on

the Golden Calf and the use of gematria to conclude that cha-lav (milk) corresponds with the number forty, the number of days Moshe spent on Mount Sinai. Additionally, there is the explanation that once the Jew-ish people were given the Torah, they first became aware of the dietary laws. As there was no kosher meat available, the Jews ate a dairy meal while preparing later meals in accordance to the new laws.

People customarily eat blin-tzes, kreplach, rugalah, and cheesecake. Other food-based

rituals include the preparation of two loaves of challah, spe-cially shaped. The two loaves are representative of the two loaf temple offering that was required to be made on Shavuot as well as the two meals, meat and dairy.

Other distinctive practices include the reading of the Book of Ruth, one of the five scrolls or Megillot. On a practical level, Ruth is read because the story connects Shavuot to its agricul-tural roots. On a deeper level, the acceptance of Ruth of the laws of the Jewish people is refl ective of the acceptance of the Jewish people of the Torah.

Both Hallel, is recited and Yizkor, the memorial service, is observed on the Yom Tov holi-day.

As far as other public obser-vances, there is the custom of planting new flowers around the synagogue just prior to the holi-day as a reminder of the harvest and the festival’s agricultural roots.

There is also a tradition of

staying up for all or night to study Jewish texts called Tikkun Leyl Shavuot. There is a set lit-urgy for this study and it is often followed by an early morning service.

Shavuot is a time of great happiness as its core is the giv-ing of the Torah. Once the law was received we were truly free from bondage and ready to ac-cept the covenant as a people.

The generation of Jews with the mindset of slaves was no lon-ger present, after the forty years in the desert, and the future as a people with a direct relationship with God was now realised.

The Book of Ruth

Summer in Israel.Bringing You Together.

A vacation in Israel means quality time together and building family memories to cherish. From vibrant Tel Aviv to Jerusalem’s holy sites to the beaches of Eilat,EL AL is your gateway to amazing Israel. Have an adventure with us this summer.

www.elal.com

This Year Start Your Family Vacation in Israel with EL AL.

Book your flight today


In Jewish tradition, the festival of Shavuot is “the time of the giving of our Torah.” This

festival has many names, both in the written and in the Oral Torah, and consequently also many meanings; however, the “Giving of the Torah” aspect of the festival of Shavuot is surely its most salient aspect, in both memory and in deed.

This aspect of the festival, as well as of the giving of the Torah in general, has some puz-zling sides. It is quite surpris-ing that even though the Torah describes this event in a very detailed and meticulous way, it does not say anywhere on what date it actually took place.

We can only deduce from Scripture that it was in one of the first days, or rather in the first week, of the month of Si-van, but nothing more specific than that. The date issue has re-mained obscure for many gen-erations, and even the Sages of the Mishnah are divided about it.

No boundary of time to ‘give the Torah’made them want to “identify” one of the peaks of the Sinai Peninsula as Mount Sinai, but these are all nothing but dreams and imaginations.

This lack of clarity about the time and place of the Giving of the Torah cannot possibly be ac-cidental. This lack of details is meaningful: it says that indeed, the Giving of the Torah cannot be defined in terms of time or place.

Another factor which places the definition of the Torah out-side of any concrete definition of time and place is the fact that the Torah was not given in the Land of Israel but in the desert, in an uninhabited place.

The Torah does not belong to the Land of Israel or to any other place: it comes from “beyond,” it is an entity which is not connected to any of the dimensions known to us. In essence it transcends all the components of order, laws and continuity of time and place.

All this defines the Torah – not only at the time of its giv-

This is even more puzzling given that the Torah does men-tion the precise dates of many events, some of which are quite trivial, whereas a pivotal event, in every way, such as the Giving of the Torah, has remained date-less.

A similar lack of clarity exists also in regard to the loca-tion of Mount Sinai. This point, too, Torah’s description does not make clear. In the course of the generations, various loca-

tions have been suggested: from somewhere at the heart of the Sinai Peninsula to somewhere north of it.

However, all the Rabbinic sources point in one direction: all those identifications contra-dict the Rabbinic traditions, as well as the Scripture, according to which Mount Sinai was a low hill – or, at any rate, surely not a high mountain.

It is only natural for people to have romantic musings which

A SPECIALIST DIAMOND SUPPLIER FOR THE

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL MARKET

Suite 407, Yu To Sang Building37 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong

Tel: 852-2868 5030Fax: 852-2868 5029

Email: [email protected]: www.visiondiamonds.com

International (H.K.) LTD.

ing but also for generations to come – as an entity completely outside the frameworks of this world.

The description of God’s descending from heaven onto Mount Sinai in the Giving of the Torah, too, underscores this quantum jump, this transcend-ing of all boundaries of this event.

Indeed, the Giving of the Torah is preserved in our na-tional memory as an event unrelated to any specific time or place; it is an event which comes entirely from a reality which is “beyond.”

Supplied by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

The Ten Commandments

The most effective methodology for Western Expats to LEARN CHINESE

Choose from a wide range of programs, delivery methods and schedules to meet your needs.

Bring this advertisement to collect a free set of flash cards

2850 [email protected]

www.newconceptmandarin.com

2/F, 74-77 Connaught Road Central, Central, Hong KongHong Kong • Chinese Mainland • Singapoe

Private course • Small group course • Immersion course

Structured TrainingFlexible SchedulingProfessional TrainersProven Results


Legendary singer-s o n g w r i t e r B o b Dylan will hold a single concert in

Israel on 20 June at the Ramat Gan Stadium, following in the footsteps of fellow performers Leonard Cohen and Elton John. Dylan is expected to perform his hit songs from a musical career that has spanned five decades.

The Israel concert will be part of the singer’s world tour that began in Asia in April, where he performed in Hong

Dylan headlines international performers this summer

Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Shang-hai, Singapore and Vietnam.

Dylan has performed on two previous occasions in Israel - in 1987 and in 1993 and toured the country on a private visit in the 1960s.

American singer/songwriter Paul Simon will also be return-ing to Israel for a concert at the Ramat Gan Stadium on 21 July. Simon, who has appeared in Israel twice before a solo performance in 1978 and with his former singing partner Art Garfunkel, will arrive as part of a world tour promoting his latest album, So Beautiful or So What.

Jazz legend and Grammy Award-nominee George Ben-

Bob Dylan

Gene Simmons

Paul Simon Roberto Carlos

Simmons returns to Israel

Lead singer of the US glam-our rock band Kiss, Gene Simmons, accompanied by his wife Shannon Tweed, toured Israel to film two episodes for his reality show “Gene Simmons Fam-ily Jewels”, as a guest of the Tourism Ministry.

His first time back in Israel after 51 years, the visit was an emotional one for the Israel-born Simmons, who was re-

united with family members during the visit.

Simmons took time out of his busy touring and filming schedule to check out the leg-endary black mud at the Dead Sea and, after enjoying some rest and relaxation at the low-est point on earth, voted for the Dead Sea in the finals of the New7Wonders of Nature campaign.

son will play with his band at the Roman Amphitheater in Caesarea on 21 July and Gram-my Award-winning Brazilian

singer and composer Roberto Carlos will perform at Sultans Pool in Jerusalem on 7 Sep-tember.


ChinaBeijing Chabad house and Community centre:Fang Yuan Xi Lu, next to the south gate of Si De Park,Beijing, PR China Tel: (8610) 8470 8238 ext. 210, (86) 13910740109www.chabadbeijing.com

Chabad of Ya Bao Lu: Jian Guo Men Diplomatic Bldg, Building 3,2/F, 223 Chaoyangmennei Street, Beijing, PR ChinaTeL: (86) 1352 2016 427 Email: [email protected]

Kehillat Beijing (Reform): Capital Club athletic Center, 3/F., Ballroom, Capital Mansion, 6 Xinyuan nanlu Chaoyang District, Beijing, PR China Tel: (86) 10 6467 2225 www.sinogogue.org

GuangzhouGuangzhou Chabad: 31 he Ping Lu, Overseas Village, Guangzhou, China Tel: (86) 137 1050 5049 www.chabadgz.org

ShanghaiShanghai Chabad (Shanghai Jewish Center): Shang-Mira Garden Villa #1, 1720 hong Qiao Road, Shanghai, 200336, PR ChinaTel: (86) 21 6278 0225 www.chinajewish.org

Chabad of Pudong: Vila # 69, 2255 Luoshan Road,Shanghai, 200135, PR China Tel: (86) 21 5878 2008 www.chinajewish.org

Sephardi Shanghai CenterBuilding B. apt. 3 (Room 103), 1000 Gubei Road,Shanghai, PR China 201103Tel: (86) 21 6208 8327 Mobile: (86) 15900808733Email: [email protected], [email protected]

ShenzhenShenzhen Chabad: no.4, Block a, Guishan Xiaozhu Yanshan Road, indus-trial area, Shekou nanshan District, Shenzhen, PR ChinaTel: (86) 755 8207 0712 www.chabadshenzhen.org

hOnG KOnG Jewish Community Centre: One Robinson Place, 70 Robinson Road, Mid-Levels, hong Kong Tel: (852) 2801 5440 www.jcc.org.hk

Chabad of hong Kong: 1/F hoover Court, 7-9 Macdonell Road, Mid-Levels, hong Kong Tel: (852) 2523 9770 www.chabadhk.org

Ohel Leah Synagogue: 70 Robinson Road, Mid-Levels, hong Kong Tel: (852) 2589 2621 www.ohelleah.org

United Jewish Congregation (Reform): Jewish Community Centre, One Robinson Place, 70 Robinson Road, Mid-Levels, hong Kong Tel: (852) 2523 2985 www.ujc.org.hk

Shuva israel (Orthodox): 2/F Fortune house, 61 Connaught Road, Central, hong Kong Tel: (852) 2851 6300 www.shuva-israel.com

KowloonKehilat Zion (Orthodox): Unit 105, 1/F, Wing on Plaza, 62 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon Tel: (852) 2368 0061 www.kehilat-zion.org

Chabad of Kowloon: 11 hart avenue, 2/F, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Tel: (852) 2366 5770 Email: [email protected]

inDia (MUMBai) Magen David Synagogue: 340 Sir J.J. Rd, Byculla, MumbaiTel: (91) 22 23006675

Kenesseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, 43 Dr V.B. Gandhi Marg, Fort, MumbaiTel: (91) 22 22831502 / 22839617

Kurla Bene israel: 275 C.S.T. Rd, Jewish Colony, Kurla (W) Mumbai, indiaTel: (91) 22 511-2132

JaPan KobeOhel Shelomoh Synagogue and Community Center: 4-12-12, Kitano-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650, Japan Tel: (81) 78 221 7236 www.jcckobe.org

TokyoTokyo Chabad: 1-5-23 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo Japan 108-0073 Tel: (813) 5789 2846 www.chabad.jp

JCC Japan (Reform): Tokyo Jewish Community Centre, 8-8 hiroo 3-Chome, Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo 150 0012, Japan Tel: (813) 3400 2559 www.jccjapan.or.jp

LaOS Chabad: Ban Pakham, Unit 03, 46 Soulignavongsa Rd, Luangprabang, LaosTel: (856) 20 508 2014

nEPaL Chabad house: Gha-2-516-4 Thamel, Kathmandu, nepal Tel: (977) 980 324 1294 [email protected]

PhiLiPPinES Beth Yaacov Synagogue: 110 h.V. de la Costa cnr, Tordesillas West, Salcedo Village, Makati City, Metro Manila 1227, The Philippines Tel: (632) 815 0265 www.jewishphilippines.org

SinGaPORE Chesed-El Synagogue: 2 Oxley Rise, Singapore 238693

Jacob Ballas Community Centre & Maghain aboth Synagogue: 24-26 Waterloo Street, Singapore 187950Tel: (65) 6337 2189 www.singaporejews.org

United hebrew Congregation (Reform): email:[email protected]

SOUTh KOREaChabad: 744-18 hannam-Dong, Yongsan, Seoul 140-893, South KoreaTel: (82) 107 730 3770 www.jewish.kr

TaiWan Taipei Jewish Community: 16 Min Tsu East Road, Second Floor, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC Tel: (886) 2 2591 3565 email:[email protected]

ThaiLanD Jewish association of Thailand: 121 Soi Sai nam Thip 2, Sukhumvit Soi 22, Bangkok, Thailand Tel: (662) 663 0244 www.jewishthailand.com

Chabad of Thailand: 96 Rambutttri St. Banglamphu, 102000 Bangkok, Thailand Tel: (662) 629 2770 www.chabadthailand.com

Bet Sefer Chabad: 221 Sukhumvit Soi 20, Bangkok, 10110 ThailandTel: (662) 258 3434

ViETnaM Chabad: 5a (villa) nguyen Dinh Chieu St., Dakao ward, District 1,ho Chi Minh, Vietnam Tel: (84) 90 9166770 www.JewishVietnam.com

JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN ASIA

Candlelighting times are taken from Chabad.org.Candlelighting times are taken from Chabad.org.

Candle Lighting Times

Yom Yerushalayim:1 June 2011 (28 iyar 5771)

Rosh Chodesh:3 June 2011 (1 Sivan 5771)

Shavuot:8 June 2011 (6 Sivan 5771)9 June 2011 (7 Sivan 5771)

HOLIDAYS/ FASTS/ ROSH CHODESH/ SPECIAL DAYS

June Parashas

4 June 2011 / 2 Sivan 5771: NASOEach of the Levite families was given specific tasks in the carrying of the Mishkan through the wilderness, and also their involvement with the Temple services. They were to serve from the age of 30 till the age of 50. Only those who had been puri-fied could enter the Temple. In addition to confessing a sin, restitution needs to be to the one who has been wronged. The ritual of the Sotah – the wayward wife is ex-plained. The Laws of the Nazir are explained – he or she is forbidden to eat or drink grapes or grape products, having any contact with the dead, not cutting his or her hair. The Priestly Blessing. The dedication of the Mishkan by each of the 12 Tribes.

11 June 2011 / 9 Sivan 5771: BEHA’ALOTCHAThe Mitzvah of lighting the Menorah in the Mishkan by the Kohen Gadol. The Levites are consecrated – each were lifted as an offering by Aaron. The institution of Pesach Sheni, the second Pesach to be observed on 14th Iyar by those who were contaminated or far away when Pesach should have been observed in Nisan. The Torah describes how the Tabernacle should be set up and taken down during the journeying of the Israelites. Moses is commanded to make for himself two silver trumpets with which to call the Israelites to start and stop on their journey. They were also a call to arms, and also to announce the Festivals. Moses invites Yitro, here called Hobab, to accompany them on their journey to the Promised Land. The people complain about the Manna. The establishment of the Sanhedrin. Miriam challenges Moses. Continuing the theme of providing and dependency, we are com-

manded to provide for our impoverished brethren. Just as G-d provides for us, we must provide for each other. The freeing of all Jewish slaves is detailed and redeem-ing a Jewish slave from a non-Jewish owner, and the formula for how much to pay.

18 June 2011 / 16 Sivan 5771: SHELACH LECHAH Twelve spies, representing each of the 12 Tribes, are sent to search out the Prom-ised Land. Ten bring back a negative report, two – Joshua and Caleb present a contrary report that they can overcome the inhabitants of the land. The people are alarmed by the negative report. Moses and Aaron are unable to placate them. G-d decrees that the Israelites will journey in the wilderness for 40 years, until those who are present will not enter the land (with the exception of Joshua and Caleb). The laws of the meal-offering and libations are described.

25 June 2011 / 23 Sivan 5771: KORACHThere are two rebellions. First, Korach, a Levite who was passed over for the lead-ership of his tribe, challenges Moshe over the position of High Priest. Korach con-vinces 250 men that each and every one of them has the right to the office of High Priest (which Moshe had announced that G-d had designated his brother Aaron to serve). All 250 followers of Korach accept Moshe’s challenge to bring an offering of incense to see who G-d chooses to fill the one position. This meant that every man figured he would be the one out of 250 to not only be chosen, but to survive the ordeal. Moshe announces that if the earth splits and swallows up the rebels it is a sign that he (Moshe) is acting on G-d’s authority. And thus it happened! Korach, together with Datan and Abiram are swallowed up by the earth. The next day the entire Israelite community rises in a second rebellion and complains to Moshe, “You have killed God’s people!” The Almighty brings a plague which kills 14,700 people and only stops when Aharon offers an incense offering (thus demonstrating that it is not the offering of incense itself which kills (i.e.., the 250 followers of Korach), but the Almighty’s decision upon those who rebelled. The position of the Kohanim is explained, together with the gifts that they should receive for their work in the Tab-ernacle.

Countries 3 June 10 June 17 June 24 June

Bangkok 6:25 6:27 6:29 6:30Beijing 7:19 7:24 7:27 7:29Guangzhou 6:51 6:54 6:56 6:58hong Kong 6:46 6:49 6:51 6:52Katmandu 6:38 6:41 6:43 6:45Kobe 6:49 6:53 6:56 6:57Manila 6:04 6:06 6:08 6:10Mumbai 6:55 6:57 6:59 7:01Perth 5:02 5:01 5:01 5:03Shanghai 6:36 6:39 6:42 6:44Singapore 6:50 6:52 6:53 6:55Seoul 7:30 7:34 7:37 7:39Taipei 6:22 6:25 6:27 6:29Tokyo 6:34 6:38 6:41 6:42


Jewish New Year 5772 / Rosh Hashanah Greetings will be appearing in our September 2011 edition

We provide a choice of greetings and messages

• A selection of sizes available

depending on your budget •

Costs include colour, pictures, text design and layout

Secure your family or company greeting

SPACES LIMITED!!

Commitments Deadline: 30 August 2011

For enquiries and costs contact:Philip Jay, Publisher - Jewish Times Asia

Tel: (852) 2530 8177Email: [email protected]

Jewish Times Asia September 2010 5

Wishing all our friends and clients a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year

Jewish Times Asia September 2010 3

L’Shana Tova to

our friends may you have

a good sweet year

Wishing all our friends and

clients a Happy, Healthy and

Prosperous New Year

Oriental Properties Agency

Oriental Properties Agency C-001736

Penina Borisute E-098635

M: (852) 9023-3589

[email protected]

Shana Tova and

Gmar Vchatima Tova

Jospé Family

We wish you a

Shana Tovah

from Lelia, Mark, Noam,

Carol and Tal Konyn

Wishing you a Peaceful

and Happy New Year

Doron Nagar and Family

Shmuel Nagar and Family

Wishing you a Peaceful

and Happy New Year

Robert and Sheri Dorfman

L’Shana Tova to our friends

may you have a

good sweet year

The Davidson Family

Wishing all our family and

friends a Shana Tova

Umetukah

Karen, Neil, Alex & Zakh Hyman

Jewish Times Asia September 2010

2 Jewish Times Asia September 2010

16

Message from the President of the State of Israel,

Shimon Peres, to the Jewish Communities in the Diaspora

on the occasion of the Jewish New Year 5771

As we embark on the New Year, hope for peace appears tangible. While we focus on the summit meeting in Washington, we pray that it will lead to the

signing of a historic peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, and bring tranquility, prosperity and security to the peoples of the region.

With a common and better future in mind, the Jewish people in the Diaspora and Israel must work together for the benefit of the generations to come and

a brighter tomorrow. In this context, it is imperative that a spirit of brotherhood and a close bond with Israel continue to be a part of the Jewish and Zionist

education of Jewish youth in the Diaspora. I believe the first hand experience provided by visits to Israel plays a significant role in achieving this objective.

In a period when attempts to delegitimize Israel as a Jewish state are relentless, it is essential that we, in Israel, and the Jewish people throughout the world,

jointly seek to thwart these efforts. We must mobilize our forces to expose the lies and highlight the values of the Jewish people through the ages, based on the

Ten Commandments, as well as the moral and ethical values that constitute the foundations of our country and our people.

It is also vital that we stand alongside the international community in the fight against fanatic leaders, armed with nuclear weapons, and who deny the

Holocaust and call for the destruction of the State of Israel.

In a world where science and technology rank high, Israel continues to stand at the forefront of advances in this domain. Indeed, we are proud of Professor

Ada Yonath of the Weizmann Institute, who received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, and Professor Elon Lindenstrauss of the Hebrew University, who was

awarded the prestigious Fields Medal for Mathematics, for their achievements and for bringing such credit to Israel and the Jewish people.

Our mission for the coming year is to strengthen our unity in matters that affect the destinies and future of us all. We must work together in harmony and

reach agreements through dialogue. Solidarity, brotherhood, tolerance and understanding are the foundations of a strong and secure family. We cannot, and

must not, allow disagreements to tear us apart. We must collectively dedicate ourselves to the well-being of the Jewish people.

In this spirit, I convey my best wishes to our brethren throughout the world for a year of peace, joy, good health and prosperity.

Shana Tova U’Metukah,

Shimon Peres

The leadership and members of The

israeli diamond indusTry

Extends best wishes for

a peaceful, prosperous and happy new year

to the Jewish communities of Asia.

IDI Asia Pacific Ltd.: Room 703, 7th Floor, AON China Building, 29 Queen’s,

Road C. Central, Hong Kong, Tel +852-2522-6702, Fax +852-2522-8953,

[email protected], www.israelidiamond.co.il

FINANCIAL

PARTNERS

june 2011 • volume 6 • issue 3 • lyar/ sivan 5771

Documents

guinness world records

world record attemptin

guinness world record

fun day

biggest human star

book of world records

magen david star

record claims