While Treating Palestinian Toddler, Israeli Doctors Discover and Cure Fatal Genetic Disease

The disease, which has yet to acquire a formal name, is a blood disease in which the immune system attacks itself; 'The Palestinian hospital could not diagnose the disease, and we didn't know at first what it was either,' Israeli physician says.

Ido Efrati, haaretz.com

Physicians at Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Kerem have discovered a genetic disease heretofore unknown in the scientific literature, and also succeeded in treating it.

The disease, which has yet to acquire a formal name and is known as TPP2 deficiency, is a blood disease in which a particular protein deficiency causes the immune system to attack itself, and leads to accelerated cell aging and severe side effects that cause death. It is most common in populations in which close relatives marry each other.

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Home Depot’s Inspiring Jewish Secret to Success

Bernie Marcus, co-founder of the Home Depot, talks about the business elements of philanthropy and how they are important in creating a successful impact on society.

Goat Cheese, Silan and Olive Galette Recipe

By Liz Rueven in The Nosher for MyJewishLearning.com

Cooking creatively to celebrate Tu Bishvat is a little like peeking into a mystery basket of unrelated elements on CHOPPED and wondering: now what?

Except that the ingredients we celebrate on this holiday are related because they are the seven edible species mentioned most frequently in the Bible (Deut.8:8). So our challenge is to find a way to bring figs, grapes, pomegranates, olives, dates, wheat and barley to the festive meal as we celebrate their abundance in Israel.

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For even more great ideas, visit our Hanukkah Holiday Spotlight Kit 

Four Lessons in Virtue from Martin Luther King, Jr.

‘I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be’

By MaNishtana for Tablet Magazine   

Every Martin Luther King Day I run into my fair share of articles that make it seem as though the only way for Jews to find a way into the conversation of MLK Day is to throw Abraham Joshua Heschel into the mix. But this entry point for Jewish media has never really sat well with me.

Don’t get me wrong; Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was a remarkable figure during the Civil Rights Movement. He marched arm in arm with King, among many others, in Selma in March 1965, and he was heavily active in conferences discussing race and religion. In footage broadcast on NBC in 1972, Heschel said: “God is either the father of all men or of no man, and the idea of judging a person in the terms of black or brown or white is an eye disease.”

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Look who's helping Syrian refugees as they get off the boats in Greece

The Island of Tears: Every day, thousands of refugees from Syria arrive by boat on the shores of the Greek island of Lesvos, hoping to find a new start in Europe. Waiting for them on the shore is a rescue team of doctors and nurses, both Arab and Jewish, from IsraAID: The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid.

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The Secret Jewish History of David Bowie

Seth Rogovoy for The Jewish Daily Forward   

David Bowie died of cancer on Sunday after a glittering five-decade career in pop music. The rocker won millions of fans across several generations by constantly reinventing himself, but who knew he had such a strong link to the Tribe?

Madonna had nothing on David Bowie when she came out as a devotee of Kabbalah in 1998. British rock star Bowie, who is much in the news right now for his terrific “comeback” album, “The Next Day” (Columbia/ISO) — his first new recording in a decade, widely and justifiably hailed as his best work since 1980’s “Scary Monsters,” — beat Madonna by 20 years or so when he sang about the sefirot, the mystical vessels of divine energy, in the title track of his 1976 album, “Station to Station.”

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When a US Soldier lost his legs in Afghanistan he did something shocking and amazing

From Israel Video Network

Inspired by Grandparents’ Holocaust Survival, Japanese Man Enlists in IDF

From the algemeiner.com

JNS.org – Daniel Tomohiro is not the typical Israeli soldier. His Hungarian grandparents survived the Holocaust, made aliyah, and fought in Israel’s War of Independence, but they then moved to Australia, where his mother met and married a Japanese man and moved to Iwata, Japan.

Now Tomohiro has come full circle and is serving in the Israel Defense Forces, undergoing basic training with the Nahal Brigade’s 50th Battalion. On Wednesday, his unit was scheduled to take part in a swearing-in ceremony at the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem.

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This new Israeli invention will make a phone call in a crowded place easier then ever

Silentium’s advanced anti-noise technology creates a “Quiet Bubble” around your head enabling a quiet and pleasant phone call.

The first booths have been installed in the Moscow subway system

The Great Bird Ziz

From Jewish Treats

In honor of National Bird Day, Jewish Treats would like to introduce one of the great creatures of Jewish legend, the Ziz. Whereas the term Leviathan (the giant primordial fish) has entered the modern lexicon, the Ziz is a creature only vaguely mentioned in primary sources.

The Ziz is cited in the Talmud:
Rabbah ben Bar Hana further related: Once we traveled on board a ship and we saw a bird standing up to its ankles in the water while its head reached the sky. We thought the water was not deep  and wished to go down to cool ourselves, but a Heavenly Voice called out: 'Do not go down here, for a carpenter's axe was dropped [into this water] seven years ago and it has not [yet] reached the bottom. And this, not [only] because the water is deep but [also] because it is rapid. Rabbi Ashi said: That [bird that Rabbah ben Bar Hana saw] was Ziz-Sadai (Baba Batra 73b).

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