56 Days
Every Zionist bookshelf should include a thick tome called "O Jerusalem" by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre. Chapter 1, describing the birth of the State of Israel begins as follows:
"In the afternoon of Saturday, November 29th, 1947, in a cavernous gray building that had once housed an ice-skating rink, in Flushing Meadow, New York, the delegates of 56 of the fifty-seven members of the General Assembly of the United Nations were called upon to decide the future of a sliver of land set on the eastern rim of the Mediterranean."
Fun fact: Be'er Sheva (population = 186,000), with its eight grandmasters, has more chess grandmasters per capita than any other city in the world! George Koltanowski, one of the greatest chess promotors of all time, has a blind chess (players play blindfolded) record of 56 simultaneous games - he won fifty of them after almost ten hours of play. Koltanowski, who used to play in Coney Island, Brooklyn, with such interesting fellows as the actor Humphrey Bogart, wound up in America by fortunate circumstances: a Jew, he was saved from the Holocaust because he happened to be playing a World Tournament in Buenos Aires when the war broke out and he didn't return to Europe. Another famous Jewish grandmaster, Mikhael Najdorf (who set the blind chess record before him, with forty-five games in 1947), also escaped the Holocaust by playing in the same tournament.
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New marching band to appear in the 2010 Parade - the Washington Showstoppers from Washington, DC! To watch the band in action, click here.
58 Days
Israelis sure know how to party! Tel Aviv’s “Allenby 58” has been rated one of Europe’s 10 best nightclubs (I know what you’re thinking, but we’re gonna ignore geography today). Global Hangover Guide informs us that "...the club has the best Israeli DJs, and occasionally hosts some of the best European ones. It is know for its female bartenders, who tend to be up-and-coming models."
Maybe you're the studious type, and clubbing isn't your cup of tea. In that case, you may be pleased to learn that the Hebrew University in Jerusalem is ranked 58th worldwide in both Natural Sciences and Social Sciences among QS World University Rankings for 2009. Not too Shabby!
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The Salute to Israel Parade is back to 11AM to 4PM! After much deliberation, we have decided to move the time for the Parade back to our usual hours. We are looking forward to seeing you bright and early on Sunday, May 23rd!
59 Days
Abba Eban, most famous as Israel’s Foreign Minister throughout and after the Six Day War, served as Ambassador to America and Israel’s delegate to the United Nations until 1959.
Anyone interested in Israel’s hip-hop scene? Sagol 59, an Israeli hip-hop artist from Jerusalem, is known for his rhythms and lyrics. He often does collaborations with Arab rappers, believing that music, not politics, is the real route to peace.
The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel’s first university (predating the State of Israel, in fact), is ranked 59th in the world for Arts and Humanities. Israel is the only country in the Middle East with universities ranking in the top 100.
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Over 120 marching groups are registered to participate in the 2010 Parade! For more information on how to register your group or how to designate a spectator spot along the Parade route for your group, click here or call us at: 646-467-8030.
60 Days
If you could think of one man who could really use a haircut from the Zohan, who would it be? Exactly, Donald Trump. But that’s not his only relationship with the Jewish State, tentative or actual. A few years ago he bought an old chocolate factory to start construction on its site of a Trump Tower in Ramat Gan, to become Israel’s tallest building. That Trump Tower was given a permit to be 60 stories high, though the plan was to build seventy stories. Alongside that deal, Trump’s partner Sonny Kahn bought 60 million dollars worth of land in Tel Aviv for development.
The Trump Plaza Tower, as it was to be called, is now being built by the Azorim Group. It is truly amazing to see skyscrapers sprouting up in a city that was no more than a sandy beach a bit over a century ago. Israel’s 60-year-old Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is surely proud.