Basic HTML Version
10 HASHALOM February
2017
February 2017
HASHALOM
11
Leonardo DiCaprio showcases Israeli
solar thermal plant on Instagram
American actor Leonardo DiCaprio took to Instagram on Thursday to post a photo of a future Israeli power plant that is expected to boast the
tallest solar thermal tower in the world.
“The arid landscape of Israel’s Negev Desert will look like a futuristic movie in the near future,” DiCaprio captioned the photo.
“The country is building the tallest solar thermal tower in the world above its dusty sands. Surrounded by 50,000 mirrors, the 250-meters high
tower should be able to produce enough power for about 5% of Israel’s population when it’s concluded.
“The sunlight will be reflected by the mirrors to a boiler at the top of the tower,” DiCaprio’s post continued. “The boiler will then be able to convert
them and heat water to steam to turn the turbine in a conventional power plant.”
DiCaprio was referring to the 121-megawatt Ashalim Solar Thermal Power Station, which is under construction in the Negev. Slated to go online
at the end of 2017, the project is one of the largest of its type in the world and the first concentrated solar power plant to be built in Israel.
Located on the grounds of a larger Ashalim solar complex, the plant is being constructed by Megalim Solar Power Ltd., a concession company
owned by the Noy Fund, BrightSource and GE Renewable Energy, with financing from Bank Hapoalim. Next to the solar thermal facility, the
government has also designated space for a 35-megawatt photovoltaic solar plant.
In response to DiCaprio’s post, Eran Gartner, CEO of Megalim, said that he and his partners “are very excited about the exposure given to the solar
thermal station.”
“At the center of the station, a tower at a height of 250 meters sticks out with a sunlight reception at its head,” Gartner said.
“Around it 50,000 mirrors concentrate the sun’s rays 1,000 times, to create steam to generate electricity.”
Gartner confirmed that the station was set to begin supplying Israel with green energy by the end of 2017, stressing the company’s pride in
bringing such technology to the Ramat Hanegev region.
“The project contributes to the realization of the vision of our country’s founders, to make the desert bloom,” Gartner said.
DiCaprio’s Instagram post shows a tall solar tower surrounded by a thick ring of shiny mirrors, with the rolling brown hills of the Negev as far as
the eye can see in the background.
A long-time environmentalist, DiCaprio established the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998, an organization that aims to protect the world’s
threatened ecosystems, through grants, public campaigns and media initiatives.
In 2016, DiCaprio was also the executive producer of a documentary he appeared in that examined global warming, called Before the Flood.
Asked by The Jerusalem Post why DiCaprio chose to post about Megalim specifically, Terry Tamminen, CEO of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation,
said that each week, the organization aims “to highlight the environmental challenges facing the world, but also to focus on solutions.”
“We were impressed by this large solar facility and wanted to share it as evidence that we can transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy in
all parts of the world (and need to do more things like this everywhere to address climate change),” Tamminen told the Post in an email.
By press time, DiCaprio’s Instagram photo had received more than 217,000 likes, garnering more than 2,100 comments. The self-described
“actor and environmentalist” has about 13.7 million followers on his Instagram account.
While many of the comments made claims like “it’s Palestine not Israel” or that the plant is “built on stolen land,” most praised DiCaprio for his
work fighting climate change and some even lauded Israel for its entrepreneurial spirit.
By Sharon Udasin - JPOST
JEWISH WORLD
Hollywood star shines light on tallest solar thermal tower in the
world being built in Israel
JEWISH WORLD
Researcher Dr. Yossi Ziv has researched Ethiopian Judaism and found an
amazing discovery: Ethiopian Jews’ customs and traditions extremely
similar to those described in Dead Sea Scrolls, Second Temple Era texts.
Dr. Yossi Ziv has been researching the religious rituals of the Ethiopian
Jewish population still in Ethiopia and discovered that they maintained
the same customs and traditions as the Jews of the Second Temple
period for the past two thousand years.
“It’s knowledge which hasn’t been written anywhere, and has been
preserved in their traditions,” the researcher said.
“They have been curating ancient customs that have disappeared from
the world. They provide examples of how the leaders of the nation of
Israel would have behaved during the time of the Second Temple.”
The professor released his findings at a seminar, whichwas held at the Kfar
Etzion Field School right before the Jewish-Ethiopian holiday of Sigid.
Ziv said that many Jewish-Ethiopian customs go against modern Jewish
practice, but perfectly align with customs and rituals described on scrolls
found in the Qumran caves and in books dating back to the Second Temple
Period. The Qumran Caves are where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found,
which include the third oldest HebrewBible ever found.
Some of these Second Temple Era customs include not lighting Shabbat
candles, adhering to an ancient custom prohibiting the use of fire lit even
before Shabbat started. Along with this, no flame is to be passed from one
vessel to another on Shabbat, even if it was lit before Shabbat came in.
“They don’t even adhere to the famous rule which says that ‘Shabbat
rules may be disregarded for the purpose of saving a life,’” Ziv said. “For
the Ethiopian Jews, the sanctity of Shabbat must be preserved, even at
the cost of human life.”
Evidence of this stringent observance of Shabbat was also seen in the
Dead Sea Scrolls.
Ziv added that there were different sects of Jews living during the
time of the Second Temple—the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and
Zealots—who all lived according to different beliefs and rituals. Jewish
rituals and customs today mostly take after the Pharisee tradition.
Another example in the differences between mainstream Judaism and
Ethiopian Judaism relates to sex during Shabbat. According to modern
Jewish tradition, marital relations are not only permitted, but encouraged
on the day of rest. Meanwhile, Ethiopian tradition holds that all sex
is forbidden on Shabbat so as not to sully the body. Examples of this
Ethiopian tradition have been found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The discrepancies between the more “modern” Jewish law and the law
of the Ethiopian Jewish elders—known as the Kessim—can be seen in
different areas of Jewish law.
According to mainstream Jewish custom, people in mourning refrain
from cutting their hair or shaving their beards for a specified period of
time, whereas Ethiopian custom is for mourners to cut their hair short
and shave their beards—another tradition Ziv saw written in texts
from the Second Temple Era.
“After theProphet Job underwent his bad tidings, it iswritten that he cut his
hair. It was also written in some of the writings of Isaiah and Ezekiel that
the Jews would cut their hair short during periods of mourning,” Ziv said.
Another prominent Ethiopian Jewish tradition is strict observance of
purity laws. For instance, when a woman is menstruating in Ethiopian
Jewish society, she is sent to live in a specified tent outside of the
village until she becomes “pure” once again, as is prescribed to be done
in the Temple Scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
This ritual purity is another reason why ritual circumcision is not carried
out in Ethiopian Jewish synagogues. Therefore, the circumcisions are
carried out next to the tent of the menstruating women, and often done
by the women. It is only after the first 40 days after a boy is born that an
Ethiopianmother can return to the village. If a girl is born, then themother
must wait 80 days. The baby naming would then occur in the village.
‘They were a part of us, but were then cut off’
The differences between the rituals and customs of mainstream Judaism
andEthiopian Judaismunderminedtheauthorityof thetraditional Ethiopian
Jewish leaders after they made aliyah to Israel, and even undermined the
Ethiopians’ claims that they are indeed Jews.
However, Ziv says that the customs and traditions of the Ethiopian
Jews and their strong resemblance to Jewish traditions during the
Second Temple Period only serve to strengthen their connection to
Judaism as a whole.
“I’m convinced that this community was a part of the nation of Israel
during ancient times, but theywere cut off. We don’t knowwhen or why,
but it occurred before the Pharisic tradition became the mainstream
Jewish tradition,” Dr. Ziv said.
“The Jews of Ethiopia lived in exile and in complete isolation from
the rest of the nation of Israel. However, they continued to keep the
traditions of our forefathers up until this very day.”
Ethiopian Judaism nearly identical to that practiced during
Second Temple Period
By: Yael Freidson - YNET
Israeli-Ethiopian elders performing the
Sigid ritual in Jerusalem (Photo: Reuters)
Ethiopian women at the Sigid festival
(Photo: Reuters)
Ethiopian Jewish women in Jerusalem at
the Sigid ritual (Photo: Reuters)
Kessim Israeli-Ethiopian leaders
(Photo: Reuters)