The Beginnings of Sport in Eretz Yisrael: Rehovot Youth Involved

It was not only in the schools, however, that physical education was developing. In 1906, a couple of sports clubs started up: the Rishon LeTzion society in Jaffa and the Bar Giora society in Jerusalem. Initially, they did not have an easy time. The Turks constantly suspected the whole subject of Jewish nationalism and took whatever steps they felt were necessary in order to quash potentially threatening expressions of Jewish independence. From time to time, this included physical training. Fear of the Turks in these years was both very real and justified.

The Jaffa group thus met in the premises of the Ezra school, but the school authorities suspected them of some kind of subversive activities. In addition, they believed that physical training could be interpreted as semi-military training by the Turks, and that that would bring the wrath of the authorities down on the school. The unfortunate athletes were therefore unceremoniously turned out of the school, their equipment was impounded and they had to look for another place to train.

It is clear that physical training was gaining in popularity. The major expression of this in the pre W.W. I years was the Rehovot Games. These games were initiated in 1908, when the young people of Rehovot invited the Jaffa club plus other interested parties to take part in a series of sporting competitions on the intermediate days (Hol HaMoed) of Pesach.

It is not clear what exactly led to this initiative. Seemingly the young athletes of Rehovot – the same people who had impressed Herzl so much ten years earlier – were eager to show off their sporting prowess and to measure their abilities against some (relatively) serious competition. In addition, there might well have been some shrewd commercial tourist considerations at work. If that was the case, they were proven justified. Around a thousand people showed up for the attraction, which included athletics, shooting, wrestling and horse riding competitions, in addition to fun games (climbing a well greased pole etc). The games were a great success and they took place six times altogether up to their swansong in 1914 (the games of 1911 were washed out and cancelled).

The competitions gained in popularity and, from 1912 especially, several thousand people converged on Rehovot each year with great enthusiasm. One reason for the especially great interest in the 1912 games was the presence of the HaShomer organization – the legendary self-defence force, which at the time had a contract to guard Rehovot. One interesting vignette was the participation of a woman, Tzipporah Becker, a member of the Shomer organization, in the main horse race. Her opponent, representing another group of Shomrim, refused to compete against her, so the race was delayed until she agreed to withdraw in favour of another rider. When the race was finally held, the second rider won the race only to astonish the crowd at the end by undoing his clothes and revealing “himself” as Tzipporah Becker!

By the last games, however, the atmosphere was changing. The farmers of Rehovot, who had insisted during the years on doing their own manual labour, resisting the temptation to use cheap Arab labour as many other settlements were doing, had recently succumbed, and this caused enormous resentment among the Jewish workers who were ideologically committed to the idea of Jewish labour. In addition, the Shomrim had left Rehovot when their final contract had not been renewed, and all this cast a cloud over the general proceeding with political and class tension shadowing the sporting events.

The First World War would intervene but after the war, when initiatives were taken to reopen the games, there was little enthusiasm for the idea. The time of these games had passed. The politicization and ideological tension that had coloured the last games in 1914, would however persist and develop in the post-war period, providing a theme that would wind in and out of the sporting scene for many years, and in certain ways, still continues today.

Source: The Beginnings of Sport in Eretz Yisrael: The Sports Clubs , Rehovot Youth Involved. Jewish Agency for Israel web site (last viewed 12 April 2006) [FullText]

Lets not forget: Rehovot 11th Grade Student Writes About the Holocaust, Part 1

Read what these 4 11th graders doing Bagrut this year wrote:

Part 1, essay by Hillel Fried

My family went through the Holocaust and I feel it’s important for us to visit .

In addition I think it’s important for the young generation to know their history and hopefully then they can prevent something like this from happening again.

I also felt that it is important to show these polish people that “ Am Israel Chai”

By coming there we show that our generations have continued and prospered.

Our school tried to prepare us for what we would see on our trip to Poland. As much as we had thought that we were ready for it ,we couldn’t ever be ready for what we were about to see.

I had family in Hungary- My grandma’s parents came from Lithuania.

I’m going to speak about 2 things that made a big impression on me.

The first is the Memorial Room in Auschwitz 1.

We lit candles and each brought names of their family. Each one called out their names and said a few words about the people.

This visit changed the atmosphere of the trip. It really hit us, walking in this place between shoes, eyeglasses, suitcases --- hair and then speaking about our dead family. All these people were our brothers.

The second was Birkenau

The barracks were destroyed and all that can be seen are chimneys. There had been hundreds of them. Before this we saw the railroad - this railroad went right to the gas chambers. Here the people were selected. Those who would be going to work camps and those who would die.

Peoples’ identity was taken away from them. They were stripped of anything personal, for example jewelry, they might have taken with them. Numbers were tattooed on their arms, hair was shaven. All were given uniforms.

There we had a ceremony

We saw a display of pictures – of 3,000 people. Each one of them had a life… a family who loved them.

That was a very difficult day for us. When we returned to our hotel in the evening we were struck by the fact that we were the lucky ones. We were free. We felt alive.

Our Jewish family hadn’t been able to escape from this – They had to bear it day - in day out.

Thank God we had just one tiny taste of what they went through and felt so thankful that we were not part of it and were free after all. Our reaction that evening was such a mixed one. We all laughed and cried at the same time.

When I think about it I have never laughed and cried so much all in one week.

Source: Read what students from Amit Rehovot wrote on the trip to Poland: http://www.1202.org.il/Russian/template/default.asp

Rehovot, Lets Celebrate Administrative Professionals Day

About Administrative Professionals Day USA

If you're at work right now, look around at your office mates. Who are the people who keep your office running smoothly? It's a good bet that many of them are administrative professionals.

They're the administrative assistants, support staff, office managers and secretaries who keep the day-to-day operations of your office running smoothly. They're the ones who know how to set up a conference call and help you when you can't figure out the office machines or just plain need to get stuff done. Their contributions are often behind the scenes, but it's nearly impossible to imagine an office that doesn't depend on them.

What do they get for all their efforts? Most of the time, nothing but an occasional "thanks" in passing, along with the vaguely comforting knowledge that the place would fall apart without them. But during the week of April 24, 2006, a whole week is set aside to honor them. And on Wednesday of that week (that's April 26 this year), it's officially Administrative Professionals Day.

Administrative Professionals Day got its start back in 1952 as Secretaries Day. Mary Barrett, president at the time of the National Secretaries Association, led the drive for recognition of secretarial workers, and Charles Sawyer, who was the U. S. Secretary of Commerce, proclaimed the first National Secretaries Week as June 1-7, 1952. The holiday was intended not only to honor secretaries and other office workers but also to attract more people to office careers.

As office careers have changed and grown, the holiday and the organization that sponsors it have changed, too. To reflect their expanded duties and responsibilities, the organization changed its name in 1998 to the International Association of Administrative Professionals. As a result, we now celebrate Administrative Professionals Day. Local branches of the organization mark the holiday week by offering seminars, presenting awards to outstanding workers and honoring office support staff around the country.

Whatever you call the holiday, and whether you're an administrative professional yourself—or depend on one—you'll want to celebrate the day and week with gifts, flowers, cards...something that shows how much you value the work that administrative staffers do. And if you're an employer, take heart. You'll get your turn too, when National Boss Day comes up in October. In the meantime, be sure to remember the people who help keep your business running strong.

Source: Hallmarks eResources on Administrative Professionals Day (last viewed 15 April 2006) [FullText] [Admin Professionals Day home] [Send free eCard]

Central Israel Second-hand Apartments Sold and Rented

Rehovot: A 120-sq.m. five-room apartment on Chen Blvd. was sold for $257,000. A 110-sq.m. five-room apartment in the Hayovel neighborhood was sold for $177,000. A 90-sq.m. three-room apartment on Paldi St. was sold for $165,000 (Anglo-Saxon).

Ramat Gan: A 70-sq.m. three-room apartment on Hapudim St. was sold for $187,000 Re/MAX).

Givatayim: An 84-sq.m. three-room apartment in need of renovation, but with parking, on Hameri St. was sold for $180,000 (Re/MAX).

Rentals: Tel Aviv and central region

Holon: A three-and-a-half-room apartment on Anna Frank St. was leased for $575 a month. A 100-sq.m. four-room apartment on Shmuel Hanagid St. was leased for $620 a month. A three-room apartment on Ruppin St. was leased for $525 a month (Levy Yitzhak).

Source: Guy Yamin. Apartments sold and rented. Globes.com (16 April 2006) [FullText]

Happy Passover: Once we were slaves, Now we're Slavers

In June 2002, M.R., an incapacitated Israeli man from Migdal Haemek, traveled to the city of Kolomyya, in Ukraine. There he met a widow of 45 and offered her a job working for him in Israel. She accepted, he sent her a plane ticket and she arrived in the country. Her work was to look after him and his mother - he uses a wheelchair, she is elderly - including bathing them and changing diapers. She also had to clean the house, do the laundry and cook.

"When I started the job, M.R. told me that I had to work a year without pay to repay the many expenses he had in bringing me to Israel," the women said in a statement that she made on April 2 to attorney Anat Gonen from Kav La'oved, the Workers Hotline for the Protection of Worker's Rights. Thus, during her first year of employment, she received no salary, apart from NIS 100-200 that the handicapped man's mother gave her occasionally. "In addition, I was allowed to go out twice a week for a few hours in order to work at cleaning, and the money I earned [from that work] I sent to my family in Ukraine."

At the end of the year, the woman asked M.R. to start paying her. However, he told her he was in the midst of a lawsuit against his insurance company and that after he won, he would receive a great deal of money and would pay her retroactively. "Because he made it clear to me that if I stopped working for him I would have to go back to Ukraine, I agreed, having no choice but to go on working without getting a salary," she explained in her statement.

The abuse was not confined to withholding of payment. According to her statement, M.R. was verbally abusive toward her and humiliated her. In one case he bit her wrist. When she threatened to go to the police, he himself called the police - to complain about her. The policeman who came to the house heard them both out, asked them to work things out, and left. Afterward it turned out that previous complaints against the employer existed, including the use of violence against policemen.

The woman did not know where to turn. She had not arrived in Israel through a manpower company and did not know anyone. When the situation became utterly intolerable, she turned to a neighbor, who got her the phone number of Yaakov Lev, a Russian-speaking volunteer from Kav La'oved.

Lev took her to the Immigration Police, to file a complaint of exploitation, false incarceration, nonpayment of wages and other offenses, and he found her a job in Haifa. Last week Lev sent a letter to M.R., demanding that he pay the caregiver NIS 150,000 for her three years of work. "He kept threatening her that the moment she stopped working, she would be deported. It was only fear that made her stay there," Lev says.

International sanctions
People like M.R. - and there are many of them, it turns out - are giving Israel a bad name as a country in which trafficking in human beings for purposes of servitude exists. This stigma, if it receives official validation, is liable to make Israel a member of a very unpleasant club, and also result in international sanctions. The Justice Ministry's struggle against the phenomenon is being led by Rachel Gershuni, head of the ministry's penal section. Half a year ago she described in the Knesset the conditions that usually characterize servitude: "Work during most of the day, severance from external centers of support, refusal to return a passport, fraudulent behavior, use of force or other means of pressure, false incarceration, lack of medical care, substandard living conditions, being forced to work during illness and low payment for work.

"A tool that is often used by people who traffic in human beings is debt bondage. This is a pattern of behavior in which the slave is made to compensate his employer for the expenses he incurred in bringing him [to Israel] and paying for his upkeep. To this end, he must forgo his salary or receive a pittance, with the length of the compensatory period and the value of the services rendered arbitrarily determined by the employer. The victims of this trade in people are particularly vulnerable because of their unfamiliarity with the target country. Even if they arrive legally, they do not know the local language and culture, and this deters them from realizing their rights."

The U.S. State Department estimates that trafficking in human beings involves between 600,000 and 800,000 people annually throughout the world for purposes of work, prostitution and harvesting of body organs. In contrast to slavery in the past, when employers bought people for a great deal of money and treated them well so that they could recoup the investment, the glut of poor people available in the Third World has made the modern slave a cheap investment that can easily be replaced. "There is no need to buy him," Gershuni told the Knesset Committee for Foreign Workers. "It is enough to control him as long as benefit is derived from him."

According to a study by the American Civil Liberties Union in Berkeley, California, trafficking for purposes of slavery in households is in second place in terms of the number of people involved, after trafficking for prostitution. After identifying the problem several years ago, the United States enacted legislation to combat it. Until 2004, indictments were handed down against 77 people for coercive employment or commerce in human beings. Convictions were obtained in most of the cases. In 2002, for example, a California court sentenced the common-law wife of the Thai ambassador to Sweden to eight years in prison for having brought with her to the United States a household worker, whose passport she confiscated, then forcing her to work 20 hours a day, six days a week.

However, as befits the world's sheriff, the United States has taken the matter beyond the domestic sphere. In an attempt to eradicate the phenomenon throughout the world, the State Department publishes an annual report that ranks the efforts made by the world's countries to combat human trafficking. Since 2003 the report has referred not only to trafficking for prostitution, but also for bondage. To meet the minimal standards set by the United States for this report, a country must investigate, bring to justice and convict such traffickers and also take preventive measures against the phenomenon, including public education.

Not doing enough
Israel, the United States maintains, is not doing enough to combat the phenomenon. After being at the lowest level for one year - i.e., being listed as one of the countries that is not doing anything at all to eradicate human trafficking - Israel has, since 2002, been upgraded to the Tier 2 level of countries that are taking action against it, but not enough. Last year, the report added a "watch list," referring to countries that are about to be downgraded. In September 2005, Gershuni met with representatives of the State Department ahead of the publication of the annual "Trafficking in Persons Report" ?(available at www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/?)

Gershuni: "It was explained to me that a battle had been waged over whether Israel should not be downgraded, because of what was perceived as lack of seriousness in dealing with the foreign workers. I was also told that a Tier 2 country that is placed on the ?special watch list' is liable to find itself at the lowest level, which brings in its wake economic sanctions within a short time."

The 2005 report stated, in condemnation of Israel, that some of the foreign workers in the country suffer from nonpayment of wages, threats, coercion, physical and sexual abuse, debt bondage and restrictions on freedom of movement, including confiscation of passports. The report also noted that Israel does not have legislation against trafficking in persons for purposes of servitude. At the same time, it was noted in Israel's favor that there is a bill pending in the Knesset, which for the first time stipulates that trafficking in persons for purposes of servitude will be an offense, punishable by 16 years' imprisonment.

In fact, two bills were submitted to the Knesset last year, one by MK Zahava Gal-On ?(Meretz-Yahad?), who chaired the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on the Trading of Women, and one submitted by the government. The bills were passed on first reading andhe Justice Ministry will be asked to declare them continuing legislation so that the enactment of the law can be completed by the just-elected 17th Knesset.

The Justice Ministry says that other legislation exists under which traffickers in human beings for labor exploitation can be tried, but that it is important for a specific offense to be stipulated, just as trafficking for purposes of prostitution is a specific crime. However, the state moves slowly. It took a decade after women began to be smuggled into Israel to work as prostitutes until the state started to tackle the problem seriously - the original bill, for example, was submitted by former Labor Party MK Yael Dayan, not by the government - and this occurred in large part after the United States began to publish its annual report and Israel was listed as a Tier 3 country, which faced possible sanctions.

In the wake of the criticism leveled at Israel in last year's report, an inter-ministerial committee was formed to discuss the measures Israel has to take against trafficking for servitude and bondage. So far the committee has held three meetings. "Overall, the position of the state is that trafficking in persons for purposes of labor has not yet reached the dimensions of a phenomenon," Gershuni told the Knesset committee. However, she added, there have been recent cases in which it was alleged that people were brought here to work in domestic households "and were kept in conditions that amount to trafficking. It is true, apparently, that these cases are still the exception and not the rule, but they constitute a red light and oblige us to do our best so that the phenomenon does not grow and develop."

Morning ?til night
What, then, are the cases that threaten to place Israel on the blacklist? M.G., a Filipina, arrived in Israel in April 2004 through a manpower company after paying $3,900. At first she was sent to work as a caregiver for an elderly man in Hod Hasharon, but left after a few weeks of working from morning to night, cleaning the house of the man's son ahead of Pesach - a six-room villa with four bathrooms.

She asked the manpower company to find her a different employer, but quickly discovered that this was a mistake. The new employer, a woman, B.S., from Rehovot, did not want to spend money on food, and gave the caregiver only leftovers that she brought home from a club for the elderly.

"I went to sleep hungry," the caregiver told a volunteer from Moked - the Hotline for Migrant Workers ?(HMW?). "A Filipina friend sometimes brought me food, until the lady got angry. When I wanted to do laundry, she allowed me to use only a quarter of a bucket of water, and my friends had to do my laundry for me. I had to shut off the light in my room at 8 P.M., even though the lights were still on in the rest of the house. One day I didn't feel well and wanted to go to the hospital. The lady would not agree to take me even to a doctor and told me that if I did not feel well I just had to sleep."

In the wake of this incident, M.G. informed her employer's son that she was leaving. Because she had no other employer, she was arrested - but no action was taken against the abusive employer. M.G. was released with the assistance of the company that brought her over. She now has a good job with a woman in an old-age home.
Y., from Moldova, paid $4,000 to come to Israel and take care of an elderly man. When she got to the house, in Kfar Sava, she discovered that, contrary to what she had been told in Moldova, she would have to look after a couple, each of whom was 90 years old. Her passport was taken from her on the day she arrived. She received NIS 300 a week for working 24 hours a day, six days a week.

"I was not allowed to leave the house. The door was locked. I was hardly given any food. I would eat when they were not looking. I was not allowed to call anyone. The man told me that if I bought a phone card I would be able to call from a public phone, accompanied by him. But they would not let me go out to buy a card," she related. After about six weeks she fled and was subsequently arrested and deported, without receiving a salary. She will probably not even be able to cover the loan she took to come to Israel.

Currently being heard in a local labor court is the suit of a 35-year-old Filipina who has been in Israel for almost five years. Fifty months after she started to work in the country, her original employer was hospitalized. Under Interior Ministry regulations a foreign worker is allowed to work in Israel up to 54 months, and the woman knew she would have difficulty finding a legal employer for her remaining time in the country. Finally she found someone who was willing to hire her under one condition - that she have sexual relations with him. According to the suit and the complaint filed with the police, the relatives of the elderly man in question also stated that this was the exclusive condition for her legal employment.

Seeing no other choice, she agreed. But according to attorney Rachel Idelevich, from Kav La'oved, who is representing her, after a short time she was no longer able to bear the humiliation and asked her employer to let her be. He refused, and her requests to members of the family were similarly rebuffed. The worker suffered a mental breakdown, left the elderly employer and turned to Kav La'oved. The association is now trying to get the permit issued to the man to employ a foreign worker rescinded, so that future caregivers will not suffer the same ordeal.

Bringing Madam her tea
In most cases the victims of modern-day slavery are workers, and especially female workers, who came to Israel the usual way, through manpower companies, but found themselves in the hands of an employer from hell. However, there are also underground routes, which are nearly impossible to control.

Justina Fernandez was brought to Israel from Mumbai ?(Bombay?) in October 2000 by Sanjay and Patricia Shaha, an Indian diamond merchant and his wife, who have lived in the country for the past 15 years. According to the complaint submitted by Fernandez tthe labor court last year, she was paid a total of only $6,900 for four years and nine months of work - which averages out to about $200 a month, even though she worked in the family's home in upscale Ramat Aviv seven days a week, morning to night. "I have to bring Madam her tea in bed at 6:30 A.M.," Fernandez told Haaretz. "When there are guests for dinner I work until 2 or 3 in the morning cleaning up."

According to the charge sheet, Fernandez was rarely allowed to leave the house, apart from an occasional visit to a mall and once a year to attend the Christmas service at church. In her last year of work she was occasionally allowed to visit Christian holy places. In the interview with her, which was held at a shelter for women in emergency situations, to which she fled last year, Fernandez related that her employer used to frighten her by saying that it was dangerous to go out because buses blow up and because she was liable to meet people who would have a bad influence on her and tempt her to commit forbidden acts. "Madam told me that the Israeli girls I would meet would be my ruin," Fernandez said.

Despite the harsh conditions and the minuscule salary, which she received once a year, when she traveled to India to visit her family and her daughter, Fernandez did not try to leave her employers. She had nowhere to go and did not know that the laws in Israel apply to her as well, in contrast to the situation in India for foreigners. The last straw was her employers' refusal to allow her to go to India to attend her nine-year-old daughter's communion, a ceremony which bore deep meaning for Fernandez.
"My daughter cried on the phone all the time for me to come. My heart burned. I felt like I was in prison," she said. "My daughter cried on the phone because she wanted me to come. I did not understand how Madam did not understand - she is also a mother."

The only person Fernandez had met locally was a priest from Ghana in a church that she occasionally visited in Jaffa. He put her in touch with the HMW. For three weeks Fernandez tried to coordinate a meeting with the organization's director, Sigal Rosen, when her employers would be out of the house and she would be able to escape and return to India. They set up a few dates, but Fernandez always had to cancel. So as not to arouse her employers' suspicions, she used the mobile phone of one of the building's workers. On July 12, 2005, the couple went out to a restaurant. Fernandez packed her belongings in three garbage bags and went downstairs in the elevator as though going to throw out the garbage, in case anyone saw her, and then got into Rosen's car, which was waiting outside.

Fernandez filed a suit for NIS 250,000 against the Shaha family and a complaint with the Immigration Police for exploitation, false incarceration, nonpayment of wages and other charges. In their interrogation the couple claimed that Fernandez was free to go out at any time, and that they had paid her and given her vacation days according to Israeli law. In their statement they added that Fernandez's only goal was to extort money from them, and therefore "she fled from her place of work a few months before its termination, in a flagrant breach of discipline."

Fernandez stated in her interrogation that her employers kept her passport and gave it to her only when they took her to catch the plane for India on the three occasions that she flew there. In India the passport was taken by a relative of the Shaha family and returned to her when she was about to return to Israel. Asked about this by the interrogators, Sanjay Shaha said: "She gave us the passport to ensure that she was coming back." He said that she knew where the passport was kept and was free to take it. To which Fernandez retorts that if she had known, she would have taken it when she fled the apartment.
Contradictions crop up

Certain contradictions cropped up in Shaha's testimony. For example, he told the police that the passport was kept in a drawer with all the household documents, but the statement of defense said it was kept in a safe. In any event, the police were not persuaded by this and the interrogator wrote: "Concerning the suspicion of confiscation of passports, the respondents [the Shahas] are implicating themselves." Israeli courts have already noted that passport confiscation is associated with trafficking in persons, because it deprives people of their freedom. Despite this, and even though the couple implicated themselves in an offense for which the penalty is a year in prison, the police recommended that the case be closed "because it is of no public interest."

The police were not impressed by Fernandez's claim that she was forced to work against her will - a state of affairs which, under the law, is considered coerced labor and also carries a punishment of a year's imprisonment. In the interrogation Fernandez was asked, "Were you forced to stay in the country in the event that you wanted to leave?" She replied: "They said that I must remain until the visa runs out. Even if I complain to the police and go to the embassy, I must stay to work for them." The employer claimed he had paid her legally, but contradicted himself in part when he said that her salary "was not a pittance by any means, especially not in terms of domestic service work as it is customary in India." He also admitted that he had not drawn up a written contract with Fernandez, contrary to the Foreign Workers Law. At the same time, he told the police interrogator that he would be happy to accede to her request to pay Fernandez her salary for her last four months of work. He promised her that he would pay Fernandez "with the addition of a big tip," as the interrogator wrote in her summation. It goes without saying that the money was not paid.

'The situation is complex'
Commander Ziva Agami-Cohen, who heads the crime-fighting unit in the Immigration Police, was behind the decision to close the case. "Fernandez claimed that she was not allowed to go out, but her account was contradicted. They claim something else entirely. A reasonable prospect for conviction is required, and it did not exist in this case. For five years she kept her testimony to herself - why? She went back and forth to India. The situation is complex. Even if there were a law against trafficking in human beings for purposes of household labor, a situation like this would demand an explanation. She did not do anything active against the exploitation, the incarceration. With all my empathy for her, they also made a credible impression in the interrogation, and there is not enough evidence. The State Prosecutor's Office also agreed that the story, as it is, is insufficient."
Indeed, the State Prosecutor's Office accepted the police recommendation and ordered the case closed, and also rejected an appeal against the decision by the HMW. The spokesman for the Justice Ministry stated that the case was reexamined in the wake of the appeal, and "after a thorough examination of the totality of the investigative material and the allegations that were put forward in the past, the state prosecution reached the conclusion that in the light of evidentiary difficulties in the case, there is no place for changing the police decision to close the case."

The HMW insists that the case is of public interest and that there is enough evidence to place the family on trial. According to the organization, the police did nothing to verify the accounts of each side and to obtain evidence. The file contains only the transcript of the interrogations and two receipts, of NIS 2,700 each, which Shaha says he paid Fernandez in India, even though the name of the recipient of the money does not appear on them.

"They did not speak to the workers in the building, or to me, or to the priest," Rosen says. Asked why Fernandez waited so long before making her complaint, Rosen says that Fernandez did not think there was anything to complain about. "She thought that this is how things were supposed to be. It was only when she was denied permission to see her daughter that she decided to leave. And it was only after she heard from us about the minimum wage and other rights that she decided to complain."

At the beginning of this month a landmark petition was filed with the High Court of Justice against the state's decision to close the case, "which raises a serious suspicion of trafficking in human beings and offenses of exploitation, coerced labor, confiscation of passport, threats ... The petitioner was exploited and humiliated, incarcerated and threatened, and she spent her best years in a foreign country, in a closed house, far from her family and her little daughter. Is there any formula for quantifying the damage that was done her?"

This petition was filed by the HMW and by the Center for Clinical Education in the College of Management by attorney Nomi Levenkron, one of the driving forces behind Israel's struggle against trafficking in women for purposes of prostitution. "The suspicion is growing that even the authorities themselves, and not only the employers, are not clear about the nature of modern slavery," Levenkron writes in the introduction to the petition.

She notes, for example, that no local employer has ever been brought to trial for subjecting a worker to coerced labor - even though the law-enforcement agencies are aware of many cases of this kind. Further evidence of the fact that the system misunderstands the nature of bondage, she notes, is the opinion that because Fernandez was able to fly to India for a vacation, she was a free person. Her employers held both her money and her passport in order to ensure her obedience and she was not a free individual, Levenkron writes. Moreover, past judgments have already recognized the fact that women who were brought to Israel to work in prostitution are victims of human trafficking, even though they were free to wander the streets and even returned to their countries and afterward came back to Israel.

Cooks for diamond merchants
Closing the cases against employers of foreign workers is a typical reaction, says Rom Levkowitz, HMW's spokesman. "The same mantra of ?no public interest' keeps repeating itself. The moment it is not Israeli citizens who are involved, the approach is that the case has no implications for the Israeli society. That is the message that is being conveyed. They prefer simply to deport the complainants," he says.

The state not only makes things easy for people suspected of violating the law concerning foreign workers, it also makes it easy for them to bring workers into the country under circumstances that invite lawlessness. Last year, for example, the government decided that every Indian diamond merchant can employ a cook from India to supply his and his family's distinctive culinary needs. These cooks are not included in the quota of foreign workers that the government allocates in the realms of industry, agriculture, construction and social services.

"That decision was made after it was found that the Indian diamond merchants in Israel are contributing significantly to employment and to the state's foreign trade, and that permitting them to employ a cook is important to prevent an adverse impact on this population's way of life during their stay in Israel," attorney Shoshana Strauss, from the Industry, Trade and Employment Ministry, wrote in reply to a query by the HMW.

The organization's query was made in the wake of the Fernandez affair and the question arose as to how the Shaha family was able to employ her legally. From Strauss' letter it is apparent that in January 2005, and again in July 2005, the government adopted decisions with the goal of determining who is allowed to employ foreign workers who are not part of the existing quotas. The decisions, Strauss says, were intended to formalize various arrangements, which had existed previously in the form of procedures - some of which had been unclear and informal.

One such decision states that a permit is to be given to "diamond merchants, including one worker for each diamond merchant, and one cook from the diamond merchant's country of origin, in order to prepare food for the diamond merchant and his family in accordance with the precepts of their religion." The language of the resolution is not aimed specifically at Indians, but Strauss says that this is the intention. The ministry decided to issue 110 permits for Indian diamond merchants.

The merchants submit their request for employment permits through the supervisor of diamond merchants in the Industry and Trade Ministry, and are required to sign a commitment to uphold Israel's labor laws. In her letter to the HMW, Strauss promised to investigate the Fernandez case, but added that it cannot be inferred from it that all Indian diamond merchants keep their workers in conditions of servitude. The organization rejects this viewpoint and notes that in India, the wealthy tend to keep service workers in harsh conditions.

Fernandez has been in a shelter for women in emergency situations in the north of the country for eight months. She is forbidden to work and is in danger of being deported. In a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, six months ago, she asked to be recognized as a victim of trafficking - a status which makes it possible to work for a year in order to save up money and be rehabilitated. To date no reply has been received from the Prime Minister's Office. Last week Shaha offered her a compromise in court: to accept NIS 70,000 instead of the NIS 250,000 she is asking for. Fernandez rejected the proposal.

Source: Ruth Simai. Once we were slaves, now we're slavers. Haaretz.com (14 April 2006) [FullText]

The Latest Rehovot Craze Called Sudoku

It's hard to read the newspaper, take the subway, grab a cup of coffee or even mill around the watercooler without seeing or hearing about the latest national craze called Sudoku.

Publication of the first such logic-based number-placement puzzle occurred in an American magazine in 1979. However, Sudoku - short for Japanese words meaning "only single numbers allowed" - didn't really catch on until 1986 in Japan and till 2005 back in the U.S., as well as the rest of the globe. The first Sudoku world championship is scheduled to take place in Lucca, Italy, in March. (Sudoku should not be confused with another similar-sounding Japanese word, "sodoku," or spirillum fever, which one can contract from a rat's bite.)

Why Do We Like A Tease?

Many enthusiasts say the numbers game is highly addictive. But is trying to solve Sudoku puzzles and other brainteasers a way to keep one's mind young and active? Or is it simply a way to pass time?

There are several reasons why we do puzzles. The main reason, however, experts say is because puzzles give us a sense of being in control.

Most challenges in life can seem like they don't have solutions (and some don't). This can be frustrating. Brain teasers, on the other hand, are solvable - which boosts self-esteem and gives the solver a sense of accomplishment.

In addition, advocates of mental games say that by regularly exercising the mind, you keep it in good condition.

"Challenging one's brain in novel ways - such as with brainteasers - helps to increase stimulation and can be potentially beneficial to one's long-term mental functioning," said John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

, co-chair of the Mental Health Channel for Revolution Health Group's Medical Advisory Board.

Senior citizens and young people may benefit the most from cerebral amusements, according to experts.

Neurons: "You're Fired!"

A recent study from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland found that neurons in seniors' dormant brain cells are activated by the mental stimulation involved with such games and exercises. This, in turn, could help the brain function better in old age and fight off disease.

In students, such problem-solving puzzles not only expand their knowledge and vocabularies, but they also sculpt extra grooves in their young, impressionable, cauliflower-shaped gray-and-white-mattered organs.

Many youth have taken their "brainiac" passions a step further and transformed their hobbies into full-fledged sporting activities. Leyan Lo, a 20-year-old student at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, recently set a record time at a competition held by his school's Rubik's Cube Club. Lo solved the puzzle in 11 seconds. This topped a previous record of 11.75 seconds by Frenchman Jean Pons, who clocked the time at last year's Dutch Open.

Despite the record-setting time, Lo was unable to win the overall championship, succumbing to 15-year-old Shotaro "Macky" Makisumi, considered by many to be the fastest Rubik's Cube solver in the world. He is a 15-year-old Japanese national who's currently attending the Polytechnic School in Pasadena, Calif.

What was Macky's secret to winning so many matches in a row on his way to clinching the title? "I don't know. Faster first two layers," he told reporters, referring to his strategy of completing the first two layers of the puzzle before moving on to the last.

It's All In Your Head

Besides "going for the gold," psychologists say there are other benefits to challenging yourself to master mind games. "Children and seniors can both benefit from brainteasers because research has shown that when looking at the brain through an MRI or a CAT scan, brainteasers actually cause the neurons to fire faster, therefore increasing brain activity," said Dale Robinson, R.N., a Brain Gym instructor at the Tallahassee Senior Center in Florida.

"That being said, brainteasers can be very beneficial to anyone, as can other creative puzzles, movement, dancing and reading, to name a few," he added.
Grohol concurred. "It is generally understood that intellectual or mental stimulation may improve mental functioning," he said.

But not all agree with this assessment.

Margaret Gatz, a psychology professor at the University of Southern California, has written an article published by the San Francisco-based Public Library of Science that offered a different take. Too much concentration is placed on cognitive fitness and its benefits, Gatz said, particularly in those with Alzheimer's disease. "If mental exercise is widely believed to prevent [Alzheimer's], then individuals who do become demented may be blamed for their disease on the grounds of not having exercised their brains enough," she said.

Robinson agreed with the University of Edinburgh study and that brainteasers and similar word and mathematics riddles do have the ability to awaken brain cells that were dormant before play began. "Research is showing more and more that using movement and doing brainteasers increases the overall health of your brain," he said.

Meanwhile, scientists keep running experiments and churning out their study findings. But for a majority of the game players, puzzles like Sudoku are less about brain development and much more about the challenge - and, yes, the fun.

Source: Brainteasers, time-wasters? myDNA News (22 February 2006) [FullText]

Wadi Ara in Danger of Flooding: A Similar Storm Was Witnessed in Rehovot Several Years Back

The heavy rains that fell across Israel caused the Irron River to overflow on Wednesday leading to heavy flooding in Wadi Ara for the second time this week.

Road workers operated in the area to clear roads that had been blocked, while police and emergency workers were on call in case the situation worsens.

Israel's road works chairman Alex Vishnitzer revealed that in the course of three hours, 130 mm of rain fell in the area. He noted that it was an event that occurs every hundred years, and so the local infrastructure was not equipped to deal with it.

After the rains ceased in the area during the early afternoon, they were expected to resume later in the day.

Earlier in the week, five people were killed as a result of floods in Wadi Ara, in the Jordan Valley road north of the Dead Sea, and near the security fence around Kalkilya. The main road passing through by Umm el-Fahm was covered by a reported two meters of water, washing away a car passing on the road and drowning its driver.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, locals and officials in the Western Galilee were working to repair the heavy damage caused by the "mini-tornado" that struck the region on Tuesday.

Some of the 70 people injured, of which were 20 children, were treated at Nahariya Hospital; three of them remained hospitalized overnight.

The severe weather included heavy winds and hail. The winds damaged many homes, including pulling several doors out of place. Electricity was cut in some places after electric poles were blown down.

Appraisers from the Agriculture Ministry and from a natural disaster insurance company arrived in the western Galilee on Wednesday to assess the extent of the damage. The damage in the area was estimated to cost hundreds of thousands of shekels.

Head of the Julis Regional Council, Nadim Amar, told Israel Radio that government officials did not take interest and did not offer assistance. He said that dozens of homes were damaged and that several schools had to be shut down temporarily.

Amar related that the council appealed to the government to declare Julis a natural disaster struck area.

Eli Matzor, who witnessed the storm, told Army Radio that he saw a car lifted up in the air, hurled over a divider in the road and rolled over on the other side of the road.

Sa'id Kilwan from Majdal Krum related that he had no control over his car, "Only God controlled it." He said that it spun around five times. At first he reportedly couldn't get out of his car because it was in constant motion. Once he did manage to get out, he said, he was lifted up into the air.

The Megilot district near the north end of the Dead Sea was also hit hard by the severe weather.

Western Galilee agriculture, including both crops and greenhouses, was hit especially hard. Avocado, litchi and banana crops were severely damaged at Moshav Avdon. An avocado grower on the moshav related that he had never seen anything like this; he noted that all the leaves were shorn off of his trees by the hail.

Director of the Geophysics Department at Tel Aviv University, Prof. Pinhas Alpert, explained that a mini-tornado is the weakest type of tornado. "A tornado has a very distinct appearance. Its strength can be measured on a scale of 1-5. Looking at what we witnessed in the Galilee late Tuesday, I estimate that it was a level one tornado, the weakest in the tornado category.

However, even this storm carries with it extremely strong winds and is capable of inflicting plenty of damage," he said.

According to Prof. Alpert, a similar storm was witnessed in Rehovot several years back. "Although rare in our region, the Mediterranean has many more tornados than we believe," he concluded.

Though the storm died down, heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms will continue up north on Wednesday and spread to the center and the south of the country as well.

Source: JPost.com staff. Wadi Ara in danger of another flooding. JPost.com (5 April 2006) [FullText]

A Brief History of Passover

Passover celebrates the miracle that occurred more than 3000 years ago when, according to the Book of Exodus, God intervened on behalf of the Jews by freeing them from slavery in Egypt.

The celebration of Passover lasts for eight days and always begins on the fifteenth of the Hebrew, or lunar month, Nisan. In 2006, Passover begins at sundown on Wednesday, April 12.

Very strict rules surround what is eaten and how food is prepared during Passover. Only "kosher for Passover" foods are permitted. All chametz, foods with or related to leavening (ingredients that cause bread to rise), must be disposed of prior to the holiday.

One symbolic food that must be eaten is matzah which is unleavened bread that resembles a cracker. Matzah is consumed in place of other breads during the eight days of Passover to commemorate the haste with which the Jews left Egypt—their bread didn't have time to rise.

The seder is the most important part of the Passover period. It is a meal during which certain prayers are said and the story of the Exodus is retold. Everything is done in a particular order; the word "seder" actually means "order." For example, participants drink four glasses of wine. The origins of this tradition are still debated, but many scholars believe the four glasses symbolize four promises made by God to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.

The seder meal is significant to Christians, too. It was the matzah and wine of this ritual meal that Jesus shared with his disciples in what became known as The Last Supper. It evolved into the contemporary tradition of Communion, which is observed in many Christian churches today.

A seder plate is central to the ritual dinner at Passover. Seven symbolic foods rest on this special plate: matzah, charoset (a mixture of nuts, apples, and wine), a roasted egg, salt water, horseradish, parsley and a roasted shankbone. Each of these foods represents an element of the Jew's time in slavery.

Each person at the seder uses a Haggadah. The Haggadah retells the story of the Exodus, and guides participants through the seder from beginning to end.

The prophet Elijah is also central to the seder. He represents many things to the Jewish people, including the "poor wanderer." A glass of wine is left for Elijah at the seder table as a reminder that just as the Jews were slaves in Egypt, there are still those less fortunate in the world with whom we all must share our good fortune.

L'Chaim! To life!

Celebrate Passover eResources

Hallmark Passover Home

Send Passover Paper Cards

Seder to Remember

Free Passover E-Cards

Source: A Brief History of Passover. Hallmark.com April Holiday Resources (last viewed 9 April 2006) [FullText]

Rehovot Seder to Remember

This year, add a personal touch to your seder

How abundant are the reasons
for our thanks to God
for the many gifts
He gave us!
From the Haggadah

Because Passover commemorates such an important event in Jewish history — the exodus of the Jews from Egypt in ancient times — the Passover seder is far more than just a meal. While it is a welcome the chance to gather with family and friends and talk over a long dinner, it is also important to remember the true meaning of Passover.

Just how to bring that meaning to the seder table can be a difficult question. Many remember seemingly endless seders from childhood, trying to sit still through all the long Haggadah passages, listening to Hebrew they had not yet learned. The pride (and nervousness) of reciting the Four Questions, the anticipation of finding the afikomen, the seder meal itself, and of course the singing at the end of the evening — these things make the seder livelier, but the real purpose of the seder can still be elusive.

There are ways, though, to bring special resonance to the seder as both a religious occasion and a family gathering, by adding personal touches that gave each seder special meaning. One way is to have each person at the seder table read a selected passage from the Haggadah in English. That ensures that everyone — from the kids who are not quite ready to follow the Hebrew to the adults whose Hebrew has become a little rusty — stays involved in the story and the seder experience. (It also serves as a good refresher course for anyone who is faintly fuzzy on the meanings and symbols associated with the holiday.)

Here are some other ways to add significance and emotion to your seder.

Involve the Kids
Kids play an important part in the seder, but to ensure that Passover means more to them than just the present they get for finding the afikomen, try bringing them into the planning. Have your kids help you prepare the seder plate, and make sure they know the meaning of each item on it. Charoset tastes even better when we remember that it represents the mortar our ancestors used in their years of enslavement, and maror goes down easier if we think of it as a symbol of the bitterness of those years.

Honor Memories
Take a moment to remember loved ones whose presence at the seder table is missed. Choose a moment to say a brief word of remembrance. One time to consider is right before you invite Elijah in. This small gesture helps you stay connected to seders past and follows the Jewish tradition of honoring family.

Expand Your Horizons
If your seder meals are the same year after year, maybe this is the year to try something new. Many cookbooks feature Jewish cuisine from all over the globe, including places you might never have thought of. Try a recipe from a far-off land, and do a little research on the Jewish population there. You'll feel a bond with Jews everywhere — especially if the meal is good!

Pick Your Haggadah
Does your family have a Haggadah that's been passed down from generation to generation? That's a mitzvah! Try finding out as much as you can about the Haggadah — who bought it, when and where. Share this story with your seder guests — it will give them a renewed appreciation for the book they've been thumbing through for all these years. If your Haggadah isn't an heirloom, you might want to try a new one. You'll find that there's an amazing variety of Haggadot, from ones that are geared toward children to specialized versions for women, vegetarians, art enthusiasts and others. Finding the perfect Haggadah for your family will make reading it a pleasure.

These are just a few thoughts to get you started — there's virtually no limit to the ways you can add your personal touch to our ancient tradition. Happy Pesach!

Celebrate Passover eResources

Hallmark Passover Home Send Passover Paper Cards The History of Passover Free Passover E-Cards

Source: A Seder to Remember. Hallmark.com April Holiday Resources (last viewed 9 April 2006) [FullText]

Intrenet Security ABC for MyRehovot Users

Following are a few basic recommendations to assist you in protecting yourself from fraud on the internet.

Website Protection: Protect your PC

PC's are quickly becoming an integral part of our daily lives for online purchasing, bill payment, and other internet transactions. Therefore, the protection of the information you house on your personal computer has become increasingly important. The use of both personal anti-virus software and personal firewall to protect your PC are strongly recommended. Unfortunately, Israel Internet Service Providers (ISP) do little to combat hacker intrusions. It is therefore the best to rely on your own computer anti-virus and anti-hacker capabilities, then to holy trust your ISP. This is especially important when one is using Israel home standard "fast" Internet via ADSL or a Cable connection.

Links to instant downloads of essential software that helps protect your internet experience.

In case you seek free antivirus, firewall or spyware removal software tool, ask yourself a question: should liable security be paid for? Our research indicates it is impossible to get reliable protection without investing in Internet Security of your computer system. It cost it.

Essential Software A: Personall Firewall

Lavasoft personal firewall program by industry leader

A true "don't start net connection without it". It is good to protect live against hacker invasion, identity theft. Instant download. 29.95 US $ (why would leading Internet Security software package would be free?)

Anti-Hacker by Kaspersky lab LTD

Another leading world personal firewall software title. It costs 32.50 US $ per single license (Two licenses at 56.88 US$). Installation in minutes. Allows full protection. Stealth mode. Full configuration to allow just certain software titles to access Internet. Real time block and reporting of hacker attacks. Allows one-click block of Internet access when you are away from PC. Great for those running ADSL or cable connection 24 hours a day.

Essential Software B: Antivirus

Kaspersky Antivirus

A Leading World Antivirus by Industry pioneer and leader. Instant download and virus live shield. Kills prior infections with computer viruses. Effective worms and virus removal. Scheduled auto inspection. Screening and live antivirusprotection of incoming traffic (such as email messages) to make sure no virus invades your PC. Truly essential Internet Security title. Does not substitute Personal Firewall, however. Live update of new virus definition file from the trusted manufacturer web site. Home edition single license at 41.50 US$. Pro edition at 66.50 US$. Home edition two licenses at 64.33 US $. Pro edition two licenses at 116.37 US$.

Essential Software C: Anti-spyware

Lavasoft Ad Aware, Premier Anti Spyware

Is your computer hacked? Has it aquired malicious software while on the Internet? Kill malicious software now with this top Spyware-Killing Tool by Lavasoft, anti-spyware Industry leader. Cures PC when antivirus and firewall do not help to combat malware. This essential PC software by industry leader is truly "do not connect to the net without running it". AdAware costs 26.95 US$ and is available for instant download.

Essential Software D: Internet Safety for Kids

Child Control 2006

In brief, this software title provides optimal parental control for Win PC, ensures children safe Internet, and protects parents' files for just 29.90 US$ per single license. This most optimal parental control for all Windows-PCs (including Windows XP systems) includes great load of features. Set time limits for the PC and/or the Internet and block/filter unwanted Internet contents. Limit access to internal Windows components and personal folders. A protocol informs you at any time as to what happened on your computer and when. Access is protected via password. Several safety steps for young computer freaks that are too smart.

Notes on Passwords and Pins for online banking

Create unique passwords and personal identification numbers (PINS) and avoid using easily available information such as mother's maiden name, date of birth, or the last four digits of your Identification number. Use passwords on your banking and other accounts. Update/change your passwords regularly.

Rehovot Technology: Drive silently and carry an S-Chip

Paddling silently up a river is the sign of a good canoeist. Driving silently across the highway is the sign of a good car manufacturer. Thanks to the Israeli technology of Silentium, automakers such as General Motors will be able to give Americans a quieter ride.

Based in Rehovot, Silentium began working with GM two years ago with a $250,000 R&D agreement. The deal was that if Silentium could silence the air conditioners in GM's Yukon SUV, the U.S. manufacturing giant would help Silentium get its wheels wet in the American automotive industry.

It worked

Silentium fitted the GM car with its S-Chip ("S" for silence) technology. The chip studied and predicted what noises the HVAC (for heating, ventilation and air conditioning) would make and sent out wavelengths of the opposite phase, to dampen what would otherwise be heard. General Motors was so impressed by the results that it referred Silentium to Delphi, a GM subsidiary which supplies HVACs and other car parts to the entire automotive industry in the United States.

As part of the agreement, GM will have first rights to install Silentium's product in GM cars, which is a huge accomplishment in the competitive automotive industry.

"GM was convinced that Silentium offered a good demo," says Benny Kedar, GM managing director in Israel. "General Motors has connected Silentium with suppliers. That is what is important. There is now a direct link between Silentium and Delphi and I am just waiting to hear the good news."

Silentium's CEO, Yossi Barath expects the first prototype on the road by 2008.

"We have demonstrated to General Motors and GM engineers that we can embed our technology into the HVAC system in the car and reduce the noise," says Barath who agrees that some noise in a car is important for driver safety.

"We are not taking all the noise away," he told ISRAEL21c. "We give you the 'sound of silence', by making the annoying components of noise disappear."

Curious potential clients, especially European ones, have asked Barath, an engineer, if Silentium could silence the hum of Harley Davidsons. "This is one example," Barath notes, "where the noise of the machine is important for the driving experience. We wouldn't want to silence it."

Silent helmets, quiet airplane cabins and noiseless medical devices are on the company's agenda for the near future. In the meantime, it is continuing to build products for the computer industry, such as the silent rack mount system (an alternative to space-consuming server rooms in offices), and for the home HVAC market.

A partnership signed last month with a Canadian company, Venmar Ventilation, wholly owned by US-based Nortek, is expected to thrust Silentium into homes and industry around the world.

Venmar, based in Drummondville, Quebec, was looking for ways to quiet its ventilation systems. The company has a unique approach to recycling the warm air lost in return ducts leading outside the home.

"Venmar doesn't just exchange air, but makes sure all the money invested in warming the air isn't blown out. People were saying Venmar offered a nice feature and that it kept electricity costs down, but they were complaining that they couldn't sleep at night because of the noise," says Barath.

"This match will turbo-charge innovation at our Drummondville plant," said Daniel Forest, the VP of R&D at Venmar who will work directly with Silentium engineers to tailor products to Venmar's vents.

"Noise is emitted from everything related to ventilation," says Barath. "Venmar is mostly domestic, but we think once the products start selling, Nortek in the US will take it to industry as well."

Ventilation systems present a unique problem in the noise control arena. Both the mechanical parts of the fan and the air running through the ducts make noise. Unlike in some machines where the noise-generating source can simply be insulated, fans and ventilation systems cannot be blocked. Also, the kind of noise emitted from fans is in the lower frequencies (less than 1000 Hz) and not so easy to stop, even with insulation.

According to Barath, noise, whether the pitch is high or low can be heard by the human ear at frequencies of 0 to 20, 000 Hertz (Hz). A little above zero is the lowest or most bass sound we can hear; 20,000 Hz is the highest pitched audible sound. Noise is a type of energy that travels in waves that go on to hit our eardrums which then vibrate according to the length of the wave. Low sounds travel in long wavelengths and high sounds travel in short wavelengths.

Low frequency sounds present a big challenge for companies building mechanical parts. Based on Physics principles, as the sound waves get longer, more insulation is needed to block them. "That's why, if you have a pub next door you can still hear the bass guitar even after you shut your windows," says Barath.

'You can dig a hole deep underground or build walls 10 feet thick but these are not practical solutions to escaping low frequency noise pollution, the kind generated by machinery," says Barath. "Our technology works best with low frequency noise, which is the most common type of sound emitted by electrical devices. An acoustic sensor is coupled with an output actuator near the noise source.

"Through using algorithms, we have made a large array of microphones that can counteract the sound. This makes us different from other companies out there," says Barath.

Ever start up your old desktop computer and have it sound like a plane taking off? Or been annoyed by the hum of your neighbor's air conditioner in the summer months when your windows are open? Noise pollution which emanates from machines and fans is stressful on people. "Noise is one of the worst kinds of environmental pollution," notes Barath, "It puts a lot of stress on our brain and has a serious psychological effect, too, not to mention leading to deafness."

The idea for making a sound silencer didn't come out of thin air. Barath has worked for important Israeli companies; one he has taken to IPO on the NASDAQ. Earlier in his career, he headed the R&D department for the Israel Ministry of Defense where he worked on classified projects. Later, he joined Elbit, a defense and aerospace company. Silentium, which means silence in Latin, was founded in 1997.

Besides working in collaboration with companies such as GM, Intel and Venmar, Silentium plans on taking its own rack mount cabinet (a box providing a quiet and thermally controlled environment for communication) into offices in Boston and New York, where office space is limited; a second product, the ANC Quiet Fan is being marketed to IBM, HP and Sun as a silencer which sits on the back of a server unit to quiet computer noise at the source.

When asked if Silentium's technology could work on silencing in-laws or noisy neighbors, Barath responds to what he said is an old joke, "If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that question," laughs Barath, "I would be a very rich man. In-laws are much more complicated than fans. I could silence my mother-in-law if she had the right spectrum in her voice. But our engineers at Silentium are not magicians. Noise needs to be predictable in order for us to cancel it. I don't believe you can predict your mother-in-law."

Karin Kloosterman is a freelance reporter living in Israel.

Source: Karin Kloosterman. Drive silently and carry an S-Chip. Israel21c.org (9 April 2006) [FullText]

19 year-old Rehovot Resident Drowns in Lake Kinneret 4 Meters Away From Shore

A 19-year-old man from Rehovot on Saturday drowned on the eastern shore of lake Kinneret. This has been the first drowning case since swimming season opened on April 2.

A police investigation revealed the man came with three of his friends for a swim. They chose an undeclared beach without a lifeguard, intending to reach a raft several dozens meters away from shore and fish on it.

A few minutes after they began swimming the man's friends noticed that he had disappeared. They swam back to find him sunken two and a half meters deep some four meters away from shore. Police believe the man did not know how to swim.

The man was evacuated and Magen David Adom medics tried to resuscitate him, but their attempts were unsuccessful.

Naval police commander in lake Kinneret Inspector Lior Ben Simon called on the public to swim only in declared beaches with lifeguards and rescue equipment.

Source: Jack Khourie. 19 year-old Drowns in Lake Kinneret 4 Meters Away From Shore. , Haaretz (8 April 2006) [FullText]

Five Brothers Accused of Killing 19-year-old Sister Near Rehovot

A 35-year-old children's doctor from Lod, along with his four brothers, were arrested for allegedly killing their 19-year-ld sister, said police Thursday after a gag order on the case was lifted.

The girl, who was allegedly romantically involved with a Palestinian from Hebron, was drugged and then choked to death. According to police, her body was found two weeks ago in a sewage well in Rehovot. The motive for the killing, according to police, was "family honor."

Source: JPost Staff. 5 brothers accused of killing 19-year-old sister. JPost.com (6 April 2006) [FullText] [Report 2][Report 3]

Body in a Well Near Rehovot: Doctor, Four Brothers Arrested for Murder of Sister in 'honor killing'

A gag order was lifted on Thursday on the arrests of five brothers from Lod who are suspected of murdering their 19-year-old sister in the name of family honor.

The young girl, Rim Abu Ganem, was killed after her brother Suliman, a 33-year-old pediatrician at Assaf Harofeh Hospital, allegedly gave his brothers an anesthetic with which to drug her. According to the suspicions against them, her brothers, whose ages range from 20 to 33, choked her to death after she fell asleep. Rim's body was found two weeks ago in a well near Rehovot.

Rim had fallen in love a few months earlier with a Palestinian man, despite attempts by her family to betroth her to a resident of Lod. She insisted on maintaining her relationship with the Palestinian man, and ran away from home for a few days.

Police sources say that after Rim returned to Lod, police officers warned her that her life was in danger, and referred her to a women's shelter. She refused, however, and was killed shortly thereafter.

Source: Yuval Azoulay. Doctor, 4 brothers arrested for murder of sister in 'honor killing'. Haaretz.com (6 April 2006) [FullText] [Report 2][Report 3]

Kadima Convention Show Next to Rehovot

On Saturday night there was only one draw in the small Israeli town of Nes Ziona - the political party Kadima. The rally projected an image of party unity for the election. Young and old, some sporting Kadima T-shirts saying "Yes, Kadima", flocked to this town of 30,000 people to see some of Israel's top politicians in action.

Before the doors opened, hundreds of people milled outside the rally's venue, chatting on phones and dragging on cigarettes. Seeing this smartly dressed crowd, a casual observer might have thought the town was hosting a film premiere or staging the opening night of a hit play.

They would not be far wrong.

In political terms, Kadima has become the biggest show in town. When it comes to votes, the party is topping the political box office and expected to lead the next Israeli government, according to opinion polls. Established four months ago, Kadima was born out of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to evacuate Jewish settlements from Gaza and the West Bank. As leader of ruling party Likud, Mr Sharon's spilt the party with his decision. In the end, Mr Sharon and other senior Likud members left the party and formed Kadima.

But in January, Mr Sharon suffered a massive stroke and has been in a coma ever since. Drawing politicians and supporters from the left and the right of the Israeli political spectrum, Kadima aims to occupy the Israeli centre ground. Mr Sharon served as the lynchpin of political unity, a politician trusted by many Israelis, particularly when it comes to security.

Connecting with people

But even without the party's star attraction, the Kadima show goes on. Kadima says that we are willing to make peace with the Palestinians but not at any price and that's why I support the party. When the doors to the rally eventually opened, the normally stringent Israeli security seemed to have been waved as people trampled into the hall, their bags unchecked and their bodies un-frisked.

"I can see people from both parties [Labour and Likud]," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, wearing a black trouser suit, told the 1,200-strong crowd who sat at tables topped by vases of flowers.

"In the past we would have been fighting outside over ideological issues but know we're sitting down together." With former Labour leader and Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres sitting on the raised podium beside the minister, actions spoke louder than words.

Kadima's hold over the Israeli electorate is the party's pledge to continue withdrawals of Jewish settlements from the West Bank. Kadima leader Ehud Olmert has pledged to draw Israel's final borders by 2010.

Star attraction

For Lilach Ozery, who had given up a night in Tel Aviv partying to attend the rally, Kadima represents change. "It's something new," says the 22-year-old grabbing a quick coffee between rally speeches. "It's a party that wants to make the change and is connecting with the people. "Kadima says that we are willing to make peace with the Palestinians but not at any price and that's why I support the party." While most of the party's big hitters were present at the campaign, there were two glaring absences - Kadima leader Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon. The party's leader, Ehud Olmert, is regarded by many as an accidental Israeli prime minister in waiting. He is regarded as miscast in his current role, who adds little to the party's appeal. Instead, it is Mr Sharon, currently lying comatose in a Jerusalem hospital, who continues to be Kadima's star attraction.

Source: Martin Patience. Israel's Kadima steals the show. BBC News website (22 March 2006) [FullText]

Border Policewoman Found Injured and Dazed in Rehovot

A Border Policewoman was found injured and dazed at a hitchhiking post between Rehovot and Nes Tziona on Sunday. The woman's condition is not considered life-threatening, and police have opened an investigation on the matter.

A civilian passerby found the woman and called Magen David Adom paramedics to the scene. Upon their arrival, she lost consciousness and was taken to the Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot, where she gave a police testimony on what had happened.

According to the testimony, which was only partially coherent due to her condition, the woman left her Ashkelon home on the way to Border Police headquarters in Lod, where she has been serving over the past few days.

On her way to Lod, the woman said she exited her train in Rehovot instead of in Lod, for a reason she was unable to explain. Police sources said they were looking into the circumstances of the incident.

Source: Yuval Azoulay. Border policewoman found injured and dazed in Rehovot. Haaretz.com (2 April 2006) [FullText]

Not a Single Native English-Speaking Politician Was Voted into the 17th Knesset in the Elections 2006

Unrealistic slots, failure to pass threshold leave community out in the cold

Not a single native English-speaking politician was voted into the 17th Knesset in the elections on Tuesday, causing frustration and dissatisfaction - but not surprise.

"Of course I'm disappointed," said a tired Uri Bank, the U.S.-born candidate who was No. 16 on the National Union-National Religious Party list. "Unfortunately, the Anglo constituency is again left out and they don't have a voice in the Knesset."

Anglos were represented in a number of parties, including the joint NU-NRP ticket, Labor, Shinui and Atid Echad (One Future), among others. None, however, was in a realistic slot. Australian-born Guy Spigelman was No. 45 on the Labor list, while South-African born Jonathan Danilowitz was No. 7 in the Shinui party, which failed to cross the threshold and will not be represented in the new Knesset.

But some political activists say that the upcoming Anglo-free Knesset is not necessarily a sign of failure - simply because so few English-speaking immigrants dare to venture into the world of Israeli politics. "For every 100 Russian immigrants who try to get into the Knesset, maybe five are successful. And for every 100 Ethiopian immigrants who try, maybe one is successful," said Eli Kazhdan, a former candidate for Yisrael B'Aliyah.

"But there haven't been 100 Anglo immigrants who have even tried. The unfortunate reality is that time and time again, some of the most active and Zionist immigrants [from English-speaking countries] leave their political activism at Ben-Gurion airport. The number of Anglos getting involved is still too low for this to be considered a failure," he asserted.

For Uri Bank, this year's unsuccessful Knesset run was his second, and although he realized that his slot was not entirely realistic, the former Chicago resident said the results - which gave the joint NU-NRP ticket just nine seats - were "devastating." He insisted, however, that his personal disappointment was secondary to the blow Israeli voters delivered to the right-wing bloc.

"I intend to stay an ideological fighter for the Land of Israel, the people of Israel and the Torah of Israel," Bank, said of his post-election plans. "The fact that the majority of people in Israel don't think that we are right - in both senses of the word - doesn't mean that we are wrong."

Bank, who campaigned hard in Anglo population centers, said he will be getting a head start this time around, to ensure a large English-speaking presence in the Moledet party, of which he chairs the executive board. He was also one of the younger people on the joint list, so he knows he has time to solidify a political support base. "If Anglos become card-carrying members of Moledet four years before the next election, my quest for a higher spot on the list will be justified," he said.

Labor activist Guy Spigelman was No. 45 on the his party's list, although in the Labor primaries, he came in a close second for the slot reserved for young people, which at No. 27, would not have gained him admittance into the Knesset anyway. Spigelman is editor of Revival, the party's English-language news magazine and he has been active in Labor's educational platform, where he has been pushing a government student loan program similar to the one used in Australia. He was also an active campaigner in the party's bid to attract more English speakers.

"I wasn't surprised," he said of the Anglo absence in the upcoming Knesset. "But Anglo participation was more active this year than in the last election and it's a building process. Each election there will be more and more Anglos involved and eventually, we'll push through and have representation."

According to Spigelman, the English-speaking community has to "learn to organize better and recruit party members more efficiently" so that they can create a stronger grass-roots presence within individual political parties - something that Bank, his ideological counterpart on the right, would certainly agree with.

Yosef Israel Abramowitz, No. 3 on the Atid Echad (One Future) Knesset list and a resident of Boston, was here this week to campaign on Election Day. But his Ethiopian-Israeli political party, headed by Avraham Neguise, did not pass the voting threshold and he returned to the U.S. on Wednesday knowing that he would not be part of the 17th Knesset. "It was one of the greatest honors of my life to participate in this election and Avraham [Neguise] is looking at the big picture," he said.

A number of first-time Ethiopian-Israeli voters were confused about the voting regulations and were unable to cast their ballots as a result, Abramowitz said. But the party is already looking to regroup for the next elections when, by their estimate, an additional 40,000 Ethiopian voters will have joined the electoral rolls, including new immigrants and young Ethiopian-Israelis who are presently under the age of 18.

In other political parties, Anglo Knesset hopefuls were also unsuccessful. U.S.-born Baruch Marzel, head of the extreme-right Jewish National Front, failed to get past the voter threshold, while honorary Anglo Zvia Greenfield, who lived for several years in the U.S., was No. 6 for Meretz, which won just five seats. Shinui's Danilowitz was disappointed both by his party's poor showing and by the low voter turnout. "Voter apathy reflects poorly on us and our country," he said.

Meanwhile, despite their lack of success this time around, Anglo politics' two rising stars, Spigelman and Bank, insist that there will be Anglo representation in the 18th Knesset. "It will be me," each one said - separately - this week.

Source: Daphna Berman. Anglo candidates shut out of 17th Knesset. Haartez.com (5 April 2006) [FullText]

Rehovot Kaplan Hospital: Israel to deport Ephiopian Woman, AIDS patient

"In contravention of High Court of Justice rulings, the Interior Ministry has decided to deport a 40-year-old Ethiopian woman with advanced AIDS who is in Israel illegally. Her husband, 41, who also has AIDS, is an Israeli citizen who emigrated to the country 12 years ago. The Immigration Police arrested the woman two weeks ago at her Jerusalem home; and yesterday morning, she was taken to the detention center at Ben-Gurion International Airport to await a flight back to Ethiopia at midnight.

The woman's physician, Dr. Daniel Elbirt of Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, informed the Immigration Police explicitly that deporting her would spell the end of her treatment for HIV and be tantamount to "a death sentence."

The husband, N.Z., told Haaretz last night that he developed AIDS after moving to Israel in 1994, and has since been treated and monitored at the hospital. "Because of my health," he recounted, "I sought a partner who was also sick, so as not to infect other women." He met her five years ago.

"Because her health was worse than mine, we decided not to have children," he added.

The couple married in Paraguay in July 2001. Afterward, the husband applied to his local Population Administration office in Jerusalem to sort out his wife's citizenship, but was informed by the clerks that the marriage was not legal.

Until a few years ago, it was customary to perform Paraguay marriages in Israel, through a lawyer who mailed in the marriage forms to be legally authorized by the Paraguayan authorities. This method between an Israeli and a foreigner was controversial, and Israel banned it in 2002. However, since the couple had wed a year earlier, the Population Administration was obligated to legalize the foreign spouse's citizenship - as his common-law wife, if it refused to recognize her as his legal wife.

Last week, the High Court handed down a precedent-setting ruling that prohibits deporting illegal aliens who are the common-law spouses of Israeli citizens. N.Z. said he had tried for years to legalize his spouse's status. "Each time I came to the bureau in Jerusalem to ask what happened to the application, they told me, 'Don't worry, we've got your phone number and we'll call.'"

The call never came, but the details about the spouse residing here illegally were conveyed to the Immigration Police. N.Z. said his wife was initially held at a Hadera prison, then transfered to a special facility for AIDS patients at the Shmuel Harofeh geriatric hospital near Ramle.

"If they deport my wife, it's like sending me to the cemetery. She's the only one who looks after me. Everyone keeps their distance from me because of the disease," he said.

Advocate Yael Katz-Mastbaum was working yesterday to prevent the deportation. "The couple has a good reason to remain together, and in Israel, since they proved their couplehood to the Interior Ministry, years before the arrest, and in view of their special circumstances," she said.

The Population Administration said in response: "The woman was arrested two weeks ago, and we wonder why the reasons against deporting her were raised only before the flight. Since that is the case, she will leave the country, and her spouse can invite her to Israel."

Source: Relly Sa'ar. AIDS patient, in Israel illegally, facing deportation - despite Israeli spouse. (23 March 2006) [FullText]

Rehovot Apartments Sold and Rented

Second-hand apartments sold:

Rehovot: A 120-sq.m. five-room apartment on Sireni St. was sold for $194,000. Two four-room apartments in the “Dutch Street project” were sold for $147,000 and $149,000. A 90-sq.m. three-room apartment on Hirshensohn St. was sold for $133,000. A four-room apartment on Dulinsky St. was sold for $130,000. A 100-sq.m. four-room apartment on Ezra St. was sold for $88,000 (Diur Plus).

Tel Aviv: A 65-sq.m. three-room apartment on Misgav Am St., Kiryat Shalom, was sold for $86,000. An unrenovated 90-sq.m. four-room apartment on Hayarkon St. was sold for $210,000. A 140-sq.m. five-room apartment on Zvi Greenberg St., Azorei Chen, was sold for $385,000 (Re/MAX).

Bet Yam: A 100-sq.m. three-room apartment on Rothschild St. was sold for $120,000 (Glanzer).

Or Yehuda: An unrenovated 100-sq.m. four-and-a-half-room apartment on Jabotinsky St. was sold for $145,000 (Glanzer).

Rentals:

Rehovot: A 100-sq.m. four-room apartment on Herman Maas St. was leased for $570 a month (Diur Plus).

Tel Aviv: A 90-sq.m. three-room apartment on Dizengoff St. was leased to a high-tech company at $2,150 a month (Gush Dan Real Estate). An 80-sq.m. three-and-a-half-room apartment on Idelson St. was leased for $850 a month (Re/MAX).

Herzliya Pituah: In the Herzliya Marina, two 50-sq.m. apartments were leased to a high-tech company for $1,800 a month each in a one-year lease with an option to extend. A luxury two-room furnished apartment in the Herzliya Marina was leased for one year for $1,000 a month. A house on Shlomo Hamelekh St. was leased for two years at $5,000 a month (Anglo-Saxon).

Source: Guy Yamin. Apartments sold and rented. Globes.co.il (26 March 2006) [FullText]

"Not so polite" time saving tips — that work

by Bob Parsons

One of our most valuable possessions is our time — but unlike all our other assets, its sanctity is not protected by any law.

None of us seem to have enough time.
If you’re like me, you find it a challenge to get to all those things you want to do, in the limited amount of time you have available. Often, there just doesn’t seem like there are enough hours in the day. If this isn’t difficult enough, there are all sorts of 'time grabbers' that vie for our attention and our time.

We have to rely on our ingenuity to protect our time.
When it comes to protecting our time, the only real resource we have is our own ingenuity. At the bookstore there are rows of books that talk of nothing but time management. Most of them talk about traditional time saving ideas, such as keeping a good schedule, planning ahead, etc. I personally don’t use any of those things. Many of the people who work with me use them and to good effect —- but I simply am not disciplined enough.

I've learned a few things that work over the years.
I’ve learned through the years a couple of good time saving practices, and thought it might be worth sharing them here – as I don’t ever seem to see them anywhere else.

The telephone can waste tremendous amounts of time.
One of the things that can suck up our time is our telephone – landline or cell. I thought it would be interesting to share some time saving tips I use when I answer my phone – and if I’m in my office I always answer my phone.

If a stranger calls me they better get right to the point.
I insist that if someone is calling me and I don’t know them, that they immediately get to the point with what they want. In fact, if I have someone on the line and they start rambling and simply talking about who they are, I will chime in that they have 30 seconds to get to the point. If they don’t immediately get to the point, I hang up. Once they get to the point, if it’s something I’m not interested in, I will simply say, “I’m not interested,” and immediately hang up. If they are foolish enough to immediately call me back –I have found that often some knucklehead feels this tactic might work – I say once again, “I told you I’m not interested” and hang up again. Usually, they never call back.

It makes no sense to stay on the line with someone who has nothing of immediate interest.
I have seen people – it disturbs me to no end when it’s an employee of mine – who feel that they owe someone who is cold calling them, the time to listen to what they have to say. I could not disagree with this more. If the person on the other line does not have something of immediate interest to you, you owe them nothing. In fact, by staying on the line you are doing them — but most of all yourself — a disservice.

I particularly dislike calls from boiler rooms promoting bad investments.
One type of call that I find personally galling is from someone asking me to invest in this or that. It could be oil wells or some upstart company. Often, I will simply hang up on these without saying anything. Those who work in the boiler rooms that peddle this stuff understand and expect this type of response. Other times I simply say – before hanging up — “when I’m ready to trust my money to a complete stranger, I’ll give you a call.”

The situation gets sticky when someone you know personally calls.
The situation gets a little dicey when you have someone calling you that you know on a personal level, but who is using their personal relationship to pimp you for a business or some other favor – and the favor doesn’t interest you.

One type of annoying personal call.
One type of call I get from time to time is the one when someone says, “Bob, I’m between jobs or thinking about investing in such and such and thought that since you know this or that, we could spend an hour or so together so I can pick your brain.”

It's best to handle disinteresting personal calls quickly.
I’ve always found that in these types of situations it’s best to deal with the issue up front and be done with it. Putting it off to later only creates a snowballing bunch of hanging obligations – or people who become upset with you because YOU DID NOT GET BACK TO THEM! My typical response is that I really am not that familiar with the local industry job situation, and to suggest that the caller check out the job opportunities section on the Go Daddy website. If the question involves investment advice, I simply say that I’m the wrong guy to ask. I wish the caller well, say that I have to go and HANG UP!

Hanging up quickly allows you to avoid time wasting calls.
The most important thing to remember is to say you can’t help, be polite, say you have to go and then hang up. Do not allow yourself to get drawn into listening to an endless stream of dialogue that doesn’t interest you. Remember, you don’t owe that to the caller. Sitting there listening won’t get your job done or your blog written. You’ll still have to do that after the call ends.

Customer calls are always important to me.
If the caller is a customer, I always consider the call important and will usually listen to whatever the problem happens to be. I will ask for their name and phone number, and how long they will be at that number. Then I will have one of my customer service people get in touch with them and resolve the issue. Once again, I keep these calls very short and to the point.

Customer calls give me inside information. They let me know what to fix.
When customers call, particularly with problems, to my way of thinking they are doing me a favor. By calling me the customers are giving me inside information as to what might be wrong with my business, and letting me know what I can do to make it better. For me this is the most important type of call I receive. So I always pay attention to these calls.

I've got a few tips for handling voice messages.
I also found it makes sense to be careful as to how you respond to voice messages left on your telephone.

If someone wants me to return a call, I've got to know what they want.
If someone just leaves a name and phone number and I don’t know who they are and what they want, I will never return the phone call. This doesn’t, of course, include messages I receive from family and friends.

I very rarely return any voice message.
If someone leaves their name and number with a message without detailing what they want, it’s been my practice to very rarely return the call. For me to return any call, the message has to be understandable, it has to be of immediate interest to me and it has to be something that I want. If a message left on your phone doesn’t meet these criteria, I think it's nuts to return the call.

Messages left by customers always get handled.
If a customer leaves a message I will always have someone from our customer service department return the call. That assumes of course that the call relates to a problem with one of our products or a question concerning its use. If someone leaves a message saying they are a customer, and then want to sell me something, I smile – because there is no one I appreciate more than customers. That said, these messages are also subject to my earlier requirement of immediate interest and something that I want. Seldom will these calls be returned.

Email is another place where you can save a bundle of time.
You can save a tremendous amount of time by using similar tactics to handle your email. I'm very particular about the email messages I spend time reading. I expect any email I open to be both brief and to the point. If it's not both, unless it deals with a subject that interests me, I immediately hit the delete key. On a typical day I get about 100 to 150 non-spam email messages. Of course, spam messages go directly to the spam bucket. I never see them. For me to take the time to read any of the rest, the email must deal with a subject that concerns me at the moment and it must have a clearly stated message. Some of the things I appreciate are subject lines that give me an idea what the email is about, formatted paragraphs of two to four short sentences — nothing wastes more time than trying to decipher a huge unformatted blob of text — and no more than a screen of text. Basically if an email needs more than 5 to 10 seconds of my time it gets deleted mostly unread. I also make it a policy to never open "chain" emails.

It's really all about taking charge of your schedule.
Some readers after going through this article will think I’m rude. I understand that. When it comes to protecting my time I like to be polite, but it’s not a requirement for me – I’ll be rude if I have to be. All of us need to be jealous of our time – we have so little of it. If protecting my time means being short and to the point, then so be it. It will be me who enjoys the extra time I have available later. I will have earned it.

Source: Bob Parsons. "Not so polite" time saving tips — that work. BobParsons.com (17 November 2006) [FullText]