Quote

“I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations ... They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern.”

- John Adams, Second President of the United States
(From a letter to F. A. Van der Kemp [Feb. 16, 1808] Pennsylvania Historical Society)

The Jewish Impact On The World
Jewish impact on the world | how Judaism has influenced

Signing off on their rite of passage

By JACOB BATIST

Deaf children celebrate their bar and bat mitzvas.

In a unique ceremony Monday morning at the Beit Yaakov synagogue in Jerusalem’s Ramat Eshkol neighborhood, 52 deaf and hearing-impaired children celebrated their bar and bat mitzvas.

Proud parents, family and friends looked on as the children experienced the rite of passage with the aid of the Judaic Heritage Program for Israel’s Deaf and Hearing Impaired (JHPIDHI), sponsored by the Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel.

“This program works to connect [deaf and hearing impaired] children with both their own Jewish community and the greater community of Israel,” explained Rabbi Chonoch Yeres, Program Coordinator of the JHPIDHI. “The obligations for Jewish children to take part in a bar or bat mitzva has no lines or boundaries.”

Like any other bar mitzva, the boys wrapped their arms in tefillin, were draped in tallitot (prayer shawls) and received an aliya to signify their coming of age. The girls recited the hadlakat nerot, the blessing over Shabbat candles, and were called up to the pulpit for a collective recital of the Shema Yisrael prayer.

A sign language interpreter accompanied every speech and blessing.

“We are deeply proud to be able to share this stellar occasion with these young people and their families,” stated Rabbi Chaim Wasserman, president of the Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel. “The emotional charge seeing these challenged youth be able to participate as all others in this rite of passage in life is indescribable unless you witness the event personally.”

“After providing them with the education in Jewish religion, Jewish ethics and Jewish heritage, we bring them together in Jerusalem as the apex of the program,” said Rabbi Yeres. “This not only provides the students and families from all over Israel with a joyful visit and celebration, but a way create bonds for the future.

Started 15 years ago, the Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel’s Judaic heritage program works to provide the deaf, hearing impaired and deaf-blind people of Israel with religious education and the ability to serve as active Jews and people in both the religious and secular worlds.

The program receives partial sponsorship from the Jewish Agency for Israel and works in close ties with the Association of the Deaf in Israel.

http://www.jpost.com/HealthAndSci-Tech/Health/Article.aspx?id=176384

Image Wars

The Knesset is joining the battle against stick-thin models. But one pundit is asking whether anybody should really care how Britney Spears looks

By Tsafi Saar

Israel is trying to become the latest nation to shun the ranks of anorexic-looking models. On Sunday the Ministerial Committee for Legislation discussed a proposal for a law that would prohibit underweight models from appearing in television commercials. Other Western countries have already done this and in the previous Knesset there was an attempt to promote a similar law.

This measure is in fact part of a trend: Leading magazines that show only stick-thin women on their pages have recently been featuring models with a bit more flesh on their bones.

The French magazine Elle, for example, devoted its April issue to larger models. Various celebrities, like Britney Spears and Demi Moore, have been displaying their pulchritude, appearing in pictures without the help of Photoshop touchups.

Hollywood, so we have recently been informed, is turning its back on plastic surgery and trying to return to a "natural" look. Apparently the movement is also gathering momentum in the mainstream.

So what's the catch? Well, not everybody thinks it is a battle that needs to be fought. In a rabble-rousing article posted on the Australian media Web site abc.net.au, Australian writer Helen Razer recalled "an era when feminism's purview was not limited to banging on about the need for more fat chicks in glossy magazines."

Moreover, she wrote, "While others fight for the right to force-feed Kate Moss, I continue antique fretting over equal pay, domestic violence and federal representation."

Razer asks whether there is indeed a connection between cellulite and women's rights, and wonders if the aim of feminism today is to ensure size 46 girls get their equal due.

"Yes," she writes, "This just in: Heat is hot, water is wet and teenagers are obsessed with their appearance. As such, let's spend money on developing an industry code of conduct so that we can all enjoy the spectacle of more cottage cheese on Britney's thighs."

In Israel, too, there are feminists who say the concern with body image is excessive, at least in academia, where it is manifested in the many doctoral theses dealing with this issue as compared to a dearth of research in other areas such as the history of Israeli feminism.

Predictably, Razer's words have not been taken lying down. First of all, opponents have argued, it is not only teenagers who obsess about their appearance and suffer from eating disorders - these problems, exacerbated because of the prevalent images in the media, are now appearing at younger and younger ages among children, as well as among older women.

As for Razer's argument that focusing on body image is nothing but "bourgeois feminism," her critics have replied that these problems cross socio-economic lines. Not only do they exist among poor, wealthy and middle-income women and girls, but thanks to globalization, the images are also being exported from the West to the developing world.

Even if there is truth to this, it is worth remembering that there are many millions of women, certainly in the third world but also in the West, for whom all these discussions are irrelevant: women who are fighting poverty and sexual and other kinds of oppression most Westerners might never have to deal with.

This is because today in the West it is usually impossible to say to a woman: Don't get an education, don't aspire. Instead, however, it is all too possible in addition to her job and her second job in the home to cause her to spend her time on makeup and makeovers, lifts and operations.

Or as one of the respondents to Razor's article said, nowadays it doesn't matter if you are smart, independent, successful, capable and qualified, creative and charismatic - you also have to be thin and sexy.

And with all this, there is another option. Not many women choose it but it does have a definitely liberating element. They can simply say: fuck it.

Yes indeed. Don't put on makeup, or put on makeup only when you feel like it, don't diet, don't join in the competition. This has a price: The gap between your appearance and that of the women in the magazines will be much bigger than usual.

Indeed, not an easy choice.

http://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/image-wars-1.292061

Global Cleantech 100 Includes 5 Israeli Companies

Israel was the only Middle East representation to make the new Global Cleantech 100 list, and according to the survey 5 companies made the cut.

According to the search engine on the Guardian, only 4 made the cut, they are water purification company AqWise, solar company Solel Solar Systems, energy storage company EnStorage, wind energy gear box company IQWind.

Additionally, Better Place, the electric car company which is registered as a US company, but founded by Israelis, made the cut; as did BrightSource the solar energy company, also founded by Israelis.

The list is developed by the UK-based newspaper, The Guardian and the Cleantech Group which providers of leading research, events and advisory services for the cleantech world. Supported by the Carbon Trust, the Global Cleantech 100 recognises companies at the forefront of cleantech innovation offering solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

The final list represents the collective opinion of hundreds of leading experts from cleantech innovation and venture capital companies in EMEA, North America, India and China, combined with the specific input of an expert panel of 35, drawn from well-respected organisations such as Altira Group, Crossover Advisors, Deloitte, Emerald Technology Ventures, Google, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, New York Stock Exchange, NGEN Partners, Nth Power, New Enterprise Associates, Sterling Communications, Tsing Capital and VantagePoint Venture Partners.

The panel decided on companies that are currently regarded as having the potential and likelihood to achieve high growth and high market impact. Their thoughts were then combined with insights from the Cleantech Network, the de facto industry association of international clean technology investors, entrepreneurs, large corporations and other industry insiders. Some 3,500 companies were nominated/considered.

“The first ever Global Cleantech 100 shines a spotlight on which companies and which technology areas the global innovation community is currently most excited about, from a commercial standpoint,” said Richard Youngman, managing partner at Cleantech Group.

“Although none of these firms are exactly household names, their innovations and the business acumen of their leaders and investors mean that they are likely to have high impact on our future. The Global Cleantech 100 companies, and many other worthy peer companies, stand to enable environmental sustainability and generate economic growth.”

The full list of Global Cleantech 100 firms is available on the Guardian
(guardian.co.uk/globalcleantech100) and Cleantech Group
(cleantech.com/news/awards/globalcleantech100) websites. The list will be featured at Cleantech Forum XXIII in Boston, 8-10 September 2009 and at other locations.

http://www.greenprophet.com/2009/09/09/11924/cleantech-100-israel-global/

Israeli scientist helps discover planet 'very similar to Earth'

The planet, some 500 light years from our solar system, is so distant that it cannot be seen.

By Ofri Ilani

A team of scientists, including an Israeli researcher, announced the discovery Wednesday of a hitherto unknown planet they described as extremely similar to Earth, some 500 light years from our solar system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COROT-7b

The revelation bolsters the theory that the universe holds billions of planets revolving around stars similar to the Earth's sun.

"Progress in research on planets outside our solar system has been tremendous," said Prof. Zvi Mazeh of Tel Aviv University, who participated in the study. "It's amazing to think that 25 years ago, when I just started becoming interested in the field, not a single planet was known outside of our solar system."

"Now we've been able to discover planetary systems very similar to those of the Earth," Mazeh said. "They are just waiting for us to come discover them." The new planet was found almost accidentally while the team was monitoring another distant planet, TYC 4799-1733-1.

The planet is so distant from Earth that it cannot actually be seen; scientists concluded that it exists based on a small black mark it leaves on its parent star every 20.4 hours.

The newly-discovered planet, named CoRoT-7b, is estimated to have a radius twice that of Earth, but a lower mass.

For months, researchers monitored small changes in the revolution of the parent star with the aid of a highly-advanced instrument operated by the European Southern Observatory, a sprawling observatory located in Chile.

The researchers also discovered another planet, CoRoT-7c, orbiting its parent star in cycles of 3 days, 17 hours, with a mass eight times that of the Earth.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-scientist-helps-discover-planet-very-similar-to-earth-1.7761

Israel to build an ocean wave-powered engine off India

SDE Energy and India Make Waves With Tidal Power

The idea of producing electricity from ocean currents and waves has been talked about for several years (see our story on Leviathan and India and a $50 million wave energy deal in the works then). But now, the idea is becoming more serious as countries are joining forces to harness the great energy potential that is being produced continuously by the world’s seas and oceans.

Two countries getting serious about these kinds of projects are Israel and India. Israel’s SDE Energy and India’s Om Se Mantra Powergen made an agreement with the government of the Indian state of Gujarat to build a 5 megawatt electric power plant that will be powered exclusively by the power of ocean waves.



Wave energy projects by SDE Energy, headed by Shmuel Ovadia, have been featured on Green Prophet before, including an article in which a project to construct a 100 megawatt power plant in an “undisclosed African country“.

This new project, in which a large country such as India will be involved in, holds a lot of promise since India is bordered on three sides by the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The new project, in which a 5 megawatt power pilot plant will be followed by a much larger 100 megawatt one, will be financed by a state budget of $700 million USD. The smaller plant, budgeted for a cost of $5 million, is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2010, and will be followed by the larger one, all being well.

SDE has already built 8 model plants, which have been financed by the Israeli government. The technology involved in harnessing and producing electricity from a 1 mw ocean waves power plant ($650,000 USD) is said by the company to be very efficient, environmentally clean, and relatively low in cost as compared to a similar sized solar energy plant ($3,000,000) or a wind energy plant using wind turbines ($1.5 million).

In addition, the SDE wave energy plant, in which only 10% of the equipment is actually in the water, is said to be more weather-proof than other types of power plants, including those fueled by coal and natural gas.

The SDE African project, signed a year ago will involve a 25 year commitment and will cost more than $100 million USD. It is estimated that once this project is completed, revenues from generated electricity could be in excess of $1 billion. After all, wave energy is estimated to have at least 4 times more power generation capacity than wind.

India’s billion plus population is hungry for energy – both industrial and for private consumption. And with so much shoreline available for the construction of such power plants, the future for such projects as this one looks excellent.

http://www.greenprophet.com/2009/10/16/12744/sde-ocean-waves/

Krav Maga - hand-to-hand combat system developed in Israel

Krav Maga (pronounced /ˌkrɑːv məˈɡɑː/; Hebrew: קרב מגע‎, IPA: [ˈkʁav maˈɡa], lit. "contact combat" or "close combat") is an eclectic hand-to-hand combat system developed in Israel which involves wrestling, grappling and striking techniques, mostly known for its extremely efficient and brutal counter-attacks, as it is also taught to elite special forces around the world. It was derived from street-fighting skills developed by Imi Lichtenfeld, who made use of his training as a boxer and wrestler, as a means of defending the Jewish quarter during a period of anti-Semitic activity in Bratislava in the mid- to late 1930s. In the late 1940s, following his immigration to Israel, he began to provide hand-to-hand combat training to what was to become the IDF, developing the techniques that became known as Krav Maga. It has since been refined for both civilian and military applications.

Some refinements include, but are not limited to, the incorporation of elements from traditional Asian martial arts.

Krav Maga, sometimes known as Israeli jujitsu, has a philosophy emphasizing threat neutralization, simultaneous defensive and offensive maneuvers, and aggression.[5] Krav Maga is used by the IDF Special Forces units and several closely related variations have been developed and adopted by law enforcement and intelligence organizations, Mossad, Shin Bet, FBI, SWAT units of the NYPD[6] and United States special operations forces. There are several organizations teaching variations of Krav Maga internationally.

Etymology

The name in Hebrew means "Hand-to-hand combat." Krav (קרב) meaning "combat" and Maga (מגע) meaning "contact" or "touch".









History

Krav Maga was developed in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s by Imi Lichtenfeld , also known as Imi Sde-Or (Sde-Or - "Light Field" - a calque of his surname into Hebrew). He first taught his fighting system in Bratislava in order to help protect the local Jewish community from the Nazi militia. Upon arriving in the British Mandate of Palestine, Imi began teaching Kapap to the Haganah, the Jewish underground army. With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Imi became the Chief Instructor of Physical Fitness and Krav Maga at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) School of Combat Fitness. He served in the IDF for 15 years, during which time he continued to develop and refine his hand-to-hand combat method.[12] In 1964 he left the military though continued to supervise the instruction of Krav Maga in both military and law-enforcement contexts, and in addition, worked indefatigably to refine, improve and adapt Krav Maga to meet civilians needs. In 1978, Imi founded the non-profit Israeli Krav Maga Association with several senior instructors. He died in January 1998 in Netanya, Israel.



Current usage

All Israel Defense Forces soldiers, including all Israeli Special Forces units, learn Krav Maga as part of their basic training, although most non-Special Forces trainees only spend a small amount of time training in Krav Maga, up to a week of training for a few hours per day. Further, Krav Maga is the defensive tactics system used to train the Israeli Police, Israeli Intelligence and all Security Divisions. Krav Maga is also taught to civilians, military, law enforcement and security agencies around the world. The Swedish Army uses Krav Maga lightly in close combat training for urban warfare. The International Krav Maga Federation in Netanya outside of Israel trains some of the world's top body guards, who use Krav Maga as a trade fighting art since it includes several exercises in evacuating a VIP through a hostile crowd. Also, the tactics for dispatching several opponents quickly is vital for personal protection agents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_Maga

Israeli and Jordanian women, in business, for peace

By Karin Kloosterman

An Israeli-American academic has initiated a program that may both advance disadvantaged women from Israel and Jordan and build peace among nations.

They arrive with ideas for waste management, new media, health clinics and environmental education, speaking Arabic or Hebrew. Funded by the US federal government, 10 aspiring women entrepreneurs - five from Jordan and five from Israel - are heading to the United States this month to engage in a mini-MBA experience that will hopefully, ultimately advance peace in the Middle East.

Prof. Meir Russ, an Israeli-American academic living and working in the US at the University of Wisconsin, came up with the idea that may both advance disadvantaged women and build peace among nations.

"We focused on women first because there is a social impact. They are changing the social fabric of society," he tells ISRAEL21c, emphasizing that the ultimate goal from the US side is to promote business development and improve trilateral relations among the US, Jordan and Israel.

Russ secured funds for the Young Entrepreneurs Program (YEP) so that deserving women will be able to benefit from the MBA-type experience at the University of Wisconsin in two stages of leadership training. Their program is to include workshops, job shadowing, site visits and cultural activities in the Green Bay area.

Coming from Israel, Russ knows that despite the official peace treaty, nothing much has been done to encourage relationships between the citizens of Jordan and Israel. After meeting a colleague who was bringing Jordanian students to the US to learn entrepreneurial practices, Russ conceived a joint project that would forge connections between the US and both Israel and Jordan, and worked to convince the State Department to provide funding.

"I know how entrepreneurial Israel is," Russ says, "and I know that there are pockets of women from Ethiopia [in Israel] and Arab Muslim women who are not getting the same opportunities as others, and thought about bringing some of them to the US." Not to mention that connecting Israel to Jordan through entrepreneurial activities, also, "serves a bigger purpose," he adds.

Jordan is considered a moderate country in the Middle East, and is already involved in ongoing projects with Israel in areas such as emergency preparedness, water technologies and the environment. Organizers and funders hope that the YEP program will expand the opportunities, and enable Jordanians and Israelis to know each other a little better.

A first focus on women

It was easy for the organizers to find willing participants from Israel, including women from the Israeli Arab sector. It was a tougher job finding qualified candidates in Jordan, but with the help of colleagues there, Russ managed to find them and is now looking forward to meeting the women next month in the US.

As a professor of management who earned an MBA in Israel and started a business in the country many years ago, Russ believes that there is more to entrepreneurship than just starting a business.

"We looked at the women's personalities, more than their business ideas," says Russ, explaining that the priorities were to determine whether the women could "use our help, and whether their backgrounds lead to an entrepreneurial way of thinking, and maturity of business ideas."

The selection process is underway, with projects being chosen based on merit and the feasibility of connecting between the enterprises in Israel and Jordan. Among the businesses that the young women aspire to set up is a health clinic for the poor, an environmental education center for young people, a family magazine and a studio for graphic design.

"Some already have academic and professional backgrounds related to business, while others have little business background but good entrepreneurial ideas," says coordinator Jay Harris. "All of them have been able to explain how they can benefit from our training program."

Russ wants to help the participants to grow their own ideas and work together. "Hopefully a group of us will go back to Israel and Jordan later in the year. We are looking to develop some kind of network," he explains. And it seems that with the two-year grant from the State Department amounting to nearly $300,000, and Russ's expectation that the project will run for at least the next six years, there's ample time for a network to take root.

Businesses with social impact

Business people from the Green Bay area and faculty members from the university will be involved in the training process. Support will also come from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network and the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.

On the Jordanian side, partners include the American Chamber of Commerce in Amman and the King Abdullah Fund for Development; while in Israel, the Israel-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry along with the Bengis Center for Entrepreneurship at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev will help to coordinate ongoing activities.

Co-sponsors include the BIRD Foundation of the United States and Israel, and TRIDE (Tri-lateral Industrial Development) - an alliance promoting investment, research and development by bringing together US, Israeli and Jordanian interests.

http://www.israel21c.org/201005127919/social-action/israeli-and-jordanian-women-in-business-for-peace

Israel’s rising in the East

By DOV PREMINGER

S. Korea, Mongolia, Japan value honorary envoy.

An emerging force in Israel’s efforts to engage with East Asia is Ami Orkaby, honorary consul general to South Korea and Mongolia and now the sole legal advisor to the government of Japan in Israel.

An all-star guest roster attended Orkaby’s appointment as honorary consul general of South Korea, hosted at Jerusalem’s David Citadel Hotel on Monday, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog and Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.

Ayalon, a former ambassador to the US, praised Orkaby as a “wise choice as honorary consul general... he is good for Israel, Korea and the relationship between the countries.”

Orkaby, 37, says there are many similarities between Israel and South Korea: “Both countries developed rapidly, and both countries did it with one hand on the gun and one hand on the computer.”

South Korea also proclaimed its independence in 1948 and, like Israel, faces a constant security threat from its neighbor in the North. South Korea is an economic powerhouse, having grown tremendously in the latter half of the 20th century, in what is called “the Miracle on the Han River.”

Apart from the children’s choir, Orkaby was one of the youngest people at his appointment ceremony. He says he is the youngest honorary consul general for Korea worldwide, out of some 150 people holding the position in other countries.

In Israel, Orkaby was named number 42 on Forbes’s “300 list” of Israel’s most influential young people last year.

“The position of honorary consul general is usually for people 60 years old, with $60 million in the bank,” he says. “It’s the story of my life – always the youngest. Youngest honorary consul general [for Mongolia, and]... when I was working in the Prime Minister’s Office, I was the youngest.”

Orkaby’s focus on Asia started during his studies at Oxford, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1994. He then earned a law degree at Buckingham University.

“I read a lot of predictions that Asia will be the next big thing,” Orkaby says. “I was pushed into that, and it became the center of my interest.” It would seem to have been a good investment,” he says.

At Buckingham, Orkaby specialized in Japanese studies while studying law. He speaks fluent Japanese in addition to English, Hebrew and Arabic. He says his Korean and Mongolian is very limited, although he’s taking lessons in Korean to improve.

Orkaby then earned a master’s degree from London Guildhall University, followed by a stint at the Brookings Institute in Washington. He then received an Eisenhower Fellowship to represent Israel and was able to network with future leaders from the US and around the world.

Orkaby calls the Eisenhower Fellowship a sort of early, prestigious social network – like Facebook.

“Six hundred out 1,600 Eisenhower fellows have reached cabinet-level positions in their countries. I guess I am a failure in comparison,” he jokes.

Orkaby originally served in the IAF during his military service, and today his reserve duty is as liaison officer between the IDF Spokesman and the Foreign Ministry.

As an independent partner in the Meitar law firm, Orkaby specializes in international business law, commercial law, business development and transnational entrepreneurship, besides his expertise in Asian law.

He also acts as the sole legal advisor for the embassies of Korea, Mongolia and Japan. This can entail consulting on “local laws, employment law, contract law. Basic things,” he says.

Orkaby is occasionally called on to perform more complex tasks, such as legal adviser for a NIS 30 million land purchase for the new Korean Embassy in Israel, which he supervised “from negotiations to signature.”

The position of honorary consul general is typically a volunteer one, sometimes to supplement existing embassy functions, such as the South Korean appointment.

In other cases, such as Orkaby’s Mongolian position, the honorary consul general is the only representative of that country in Israel and is responsible for all consular functions, many of which take place at his own house. Orkaby once hosted Mongolia’s president and his entourage of 30 people.

“We made recommendations to headquarters and reviewed several candidates,” said South Korean Ambassador Ma Young-Sam , one of Orkaby’s close friends and mentors. “There was a long approval process up the levels, finally approved by the foreign minister.”

On the Israeli side, the appointment was approved by the Foreign Ministry’s chief of protocol.

Orkaby says that among Asian countries, reputation is paramount. Countries like South Korea and Japan prefer almost exclusively to conduct business with people they known and trust.

“I have thousands of hours of experience [as a lawyer] – specific to Asia,” he says. “In this territory, your name and integrity is one of the most important things.”

But the consul position takes it to a whole different level, Orkaby says, adding, “By being the honorary consul general of Korea, that crosses a barrier which can be very difficult at some points. They feel like I’m one of them.”

Led by large conglomerates called chaebol – Samsung, Hyundai, LG – the South Korean economy was ranked No. 15 in the world by nominal GDP in 2009. South Korea is currently the chair of the G-20 nations and will host the economic summit in November – the first Asian country to do so.

Orkaby cautions that Asian countries have a much different way of doing business than is common in Israel. Koreans, he says, are perhaps somewhat brasher than their Asian cousins, but they are very different from Israelis in business style.

Orkaby describes the Koreans as “aggressive, targeted, professional. They take things very seriously.” In Israel, he says, “people will say, ‘Get me the CEO of the company.’ In Korea, it doesn’t work like that. Everyone in the chain of command must be familiar with your business, and you must have the acceptance of everyone all the way up to support your business.”

Israel’s famously brash and irreverent manner might be as opposite to Asian customs as could be, Orkaby says.

“People will give business cards in Asia with two hands and a lot of respect,” he says. “In Israel, people will grab one and just put it in their pockets. They don’t think so much of business cards.”

When Ambassador Ma was recalled to Korea, he left his family in Israel so his children could finish their schooling here. He returned again as ambassador in 2008.

“It’s a very comfortable life they were leading here,” Ma says. “They have many Israeli friends. [My son] speaks Hebrew.”

“There’s no better way to express how comfortable you are with this country than with leaving your family here,” Orkaby says. Especially among Koreans, he adds, for whom children’s education is so important, to leave them to study in Israel was a great compliment to the country.

South Korean Minister-Counselor Chungnam Park says Israel is “the holy land for Korean diplomats,” because every recent Korean ambassador to Israel has been promoted upon his return to Seoul. South Korea’s foreign minister, deputy foreign minister and US ambassador have all been former ambassadors to Israel.

Orkaby says a number of initiatives are in progress.

“The very first thing we’re going to do is to set up an Israeli-Korean chamber of commerce, he says. “We also plan to set up a Korean culture center in Tel Aviv... a place where students of Southeast Asian studies can come to learn.”

Korea’s largest company, Samsung, has partnered with Israeli startup Time to Know, which aims to improve basic education by introducing a digital teaching platform. Samsung will provide the hardware for the company, which has more than $100 million invested so far.

http://www.jpost.com/Business/BusinessNews/Article.aspx?id=175442