22 Kislev, 5763
Jerusalem

Upcoming Events for the Week of December 
(Open to Press Coverage) 

CHANNUKAH EVENTS

·         Saturday Night, 30 November, Moscow, Russia. Lighting of the Chanukah candles with Israeli pole vaulting champion Alex Averbuch. Averbuch, who became European Pole Vaulting Champion, will light the Chanukah candles with the Jewish community of Moscow. He will also light candles with the Jewish community of Siberia, where he will visit Jewish Agency offices and tour Agency facilities.

·         Sunday-Tuesday, 1-3 December, Kiev, Kharkov, Ukraine. 15 gifted Israeli children who won the "Wonder Children Festival" award will give musical performances together with local children.

·         Monday, 2 December, Kibbutz Tzor'ah, 14:30. "In the Footsteps of the Maccabbees." Some 1,000 teens and young adults from the Former Soviet Union, Ethiopia and Argentina, who are in Jewish Agency educational programs, will participate in this central Jewish Agency Chanukah event, which will take place in the area of Maccabim. Participants will light a giant-size menorah, tour this region, where the Maccabbees had originated and fought, and will attend an artistic performance. Jewish Agency Treasurer Shai Hermesh will participate in this event.

·         Monday, 2 December, Jordan Valley. Torch bearing relay run along three routes to Sartaba, in the Jordan Valley. The event will take place with the participation of the Division of Jordan Valley Settlement of the World Zionist Organization.

·         Wednesday, 4 December, Ramat Rabin Sports Center, Carmiel. A Day of Sport for the Jewish Agency's Northern Region in memory of First Sgt. Doron Hershkovitz, who fell in the line of duty in Lebanon. A ceremony will be held in Kibbutz Hazorea.

·         Wednesday, 4 December, Jerusalem. On-Line Candle lighting Ceremony. Dozens of schoolchildren will light the sixth Chanukah candle in a ceremony which will be transmitted on the internet from the Jewish Agency's "Smart Room" situated in the Agency's Kiryat Moriah Educational Campus.

Saturday-Tuesday, 30 November-3 December Jerusalem, Inbal Hotel. The International Jewish Demographic Conference. The first conference held by the Jewish Agency's newly established Jewish People Policy Planning Institute. Experts from the USA, UK, France, Latin America and Russia will discuss issues concerning demography of the Jewish People. Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor will address the conference on Monday, 2 December at 12:30.

Sunday, 1 December.

·         London, UK, Alexandra Palace. Israel-Expo Exhibit. Over 1,000 exhibitions will be mounted in this special fair to promote Israeli products. At the fair, it will be possible to purchase Chanukah gifts, jewelry, books, Judaica, cosmetics from the Dead Sea and many other goods. The Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland is organizing the event.

Monday-Wednesday, December 2-4

·         The "Third Conference on the Balance of Israel's National Strength and Security," organized by the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, with the participation of the Jewish Agency. Two special sessions to be held on Wednesday, 4 December from 16:45-22:00 (the 11^th and 12^th sessions) with topics of cardinal interest, pertaining to the Jewish People, as an element in Israel's National Security equation will be discussed. Jewish Agency personalities will play major roles in these sessions. Dennis Ross, Chairman of the Washington Institute and Jewish Agency's Jewish People Policy Planning Institute and Professor Yehezkel Dror, Founding President of the institute and Mr. Avinoam Bar-Yosef, its Director-General, will speak on the 11^th Session "The New Political Frontiers" and Jewish Agency Director-General, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Giora Romm, Prof. Sergio DellaPergola who also heads the Jewish Agency's Jewish Demography initiative and Mrs. Carol Solomon, member of the Executive of the Jewish Agency Board of Directors, will report on the findings of a Jewish Agency-led Think Tank paper on "Demographic Developments in the Jewish World: Predictions and Implications," in the 12^th session "The Jewish World, Trends, Influences and Political Implications"(which will be devoted to the issues of demographics, and Arab anti-Semitism). Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor will speak in the closing session of the conference, in which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will give an address.

Tuesday, 3 December

·         Jerusalem, 08:00. Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor will meet with Jewish leaders from Chicago.

·         Ramat Aviv, Diaspora Museum, 20:30. Jewish Agency chairman Sallai Meridor will address a conference for Jewish Museum Directors. 30 Directors of Jewish Museums from throughout the world will participate in this conference, which is organized by the Rich Foundation.

Milestones in the History of Zionism, Israel and the Jewish People

·         4 December 1951. The beginnings of Sderot and Kiryat Melachi, development towns, which grew from transit camps into cities.

·         5 December 1938. The "illegal" immigrant ship Jaffa brought 734 immigrants to the shores of Netanya.

·         6 December 1882. The city Zichron Ya'akov was founded.