In the presence of Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, a free-trade agreement was signed in Jerusalem this week between the two countries in an effort to improve the trade balance between them. During the ceremony, President Zedillo praised the relations between the two countries as well as between his government and the Jewish community in Mexico.

On his visit to Israel, Ernesto Zedillo was accompanied by a large entourage of ministers, economists and senior members of the Jewish community, among them Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Keren Hayesod, Daniel Liwerant. According to Liwerant, this is the first agreement to be signed between Israel and any Latin American country, and this points to a change in Mexican foreign policy and an openness towards Israel.

Mexican Jewish community leaders participated in the signing ceremony and in a banquet held in honor of the guests with President Ezer Weizman and Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Liwerant, who also serves as a member of the Jewish Agency's Board of Governors, pointed to the economic importance of the agreement and to the political aspect of the visit.

"The large entourage which included Jewish community representatives, is evidence of the extent to which the President views the community as a real partner to Mexico's social and economic development", says Liwerant. "I hope that this visit will raise the level of relations between Mexico and world Jewry."

The Jewish community in Mexico numbers 40,000. Although the Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Aleppo communities have separate institutions, the community has a strong and effective organizational infrastructure. One of the community's most outstanding institutions is the Central Education Committee which organizes educational projects and seeks to reinforce the link with the State of Israel. This body supervises formal and informal Jewish education in Mexico. Mexico has a high-caliber Jewish university which is recognized by the Education Ministry and specializes in preparing people for professions - especially teaching. In the area of informal education, more than 10 Zionist youth movements operate in Mexico. They hold weekend activities as well as organizing summer camps.

The Jewish Agency has more than 30 emissaries who are active in formal education institutions. Two emissaries work in informal education. Hundreds of Jews from Mexico visit Israel each year as part of the Jewish Agency's Aliyah Movement programs.

Chabad's 50th rescue flight arrived in Israel last week carrying children from the nuclear disaster area of Chenrobyl. There were 21 children from the highly contaminated areas of Belarus and Ukraine. This flight marks a milestone in the Chabad organization's efforts to rescue Jewish children from towns and villages that were blanketed by radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Children on flight #50 came from Gomel in Belarus, Zhitomer and Kiev in Ukraine, and also the city of Cecersk (Chechersk) located adjacent to one of several 'dead zones' in Belarus. These contaminated areas remain closed to human habitation and visitation without special permission. These children are among hundreds of families that were left behind in areas of dangerously high levels of radiation due to a lack of sufficient housing for relocating families following the disaster.

Of the children from Cecersk none have living fathers and all carry Belarussian documentation verifying that their debilitated health is due to Chernobyl and that their fathers' premature deaths were the result of radiation exposure suffered while cleaning up the Chernobyl reactor following the explosion. All of the children suffer from serious illness including partial blindness, untreated diabetes, and severe thyroid dysfunction.

Now in its 10th year of operation, Chabad's Children of Chernobyl has brought a total of 1,925 children to Israel where they live on campuses created to meet their special medical and educational needs. According to the current schedule of one rescue flight per month, CCOC is planning a festive worldwide celebration for the arrival of its 2000th child in August.

Upon the flight's arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, Yossie Raichik, director of the organization, explained "Fifty is the number of Jubilee - of freedom - when the Torah tells us "Return to your land and to your family." These children and the 1900 who came before them are now free from fear and from disease; they have returned to Israel, their land, to the embrace of their family, the Jewish people."

The Jewish community of Toronto is very concerned about youth violence, says UJA Federation of Toronto President, Alan Sandler. "Since last December, we have been looking at ways to address some of the challenges that families and youth are facing."

One way the community is trying to make a difference is by initiating new neighborhood youth programs. The long-term goal is to invest in youth leadership by helping to improve teen skills, social relationships, academic opportunities and available jobs.

Funding provided by UJA Federation will pay for a youth worker and other required programs as needed. A special focus of the youth worker will be to consult current neighborhood organizations to help fine-tune existing services and facilities. As new ideas surface, events, outings, and programs will be planned and implemented.

Programs spearheaded through this initiative will be coordinated by Jewish Immigrant Aid Service (JIAS), a UJA Federation beneficiary agency, and will be open to both Jewish and non-Jewish young people. Jewish organizations which provide services to youth and families will join community representatives on an advisory committee to evaluate the situation in an ongoing effort to address the needs of the community.

"Teens need challenging recreational and social programs to help take positive roles within the community," says Sandler. This sentiment is echoed by the Jewish Agency's emissary in Toronto, Offer Isseroff, who points to the positive role played by the Zionist youth movements, and especially their summer camps, in creating young Jewish leadership.

"There are four youth movement emissaries - representing Hashomer Hatzair, Betar, Habonim Dror, and Canadian Young Judea -- working with some 2,000 young Jews from all over Canada," says Isseroff. "The Jewish Agency, together with the UJA Federation of Toronto and the Zionist youth movements, is working towards the creation of a Zionist Youth Council that will serve as a steering committee to address relevant issues of concern to Jewish youth."

• 7,850 new immigrants from the former Soviet Union arrived in Israel during the first two months of this year, a 4% increase over the same period last year.

• 1999 saw a 6% increase in the number of Jewish youngsters arriving in Israel within the framework of the Israel Experience program, organized by the Jewish Agency's Education Department, in an effort to become familiar with the country and experience Israel at first hand. In all, 15,700 youngsters came to Israel, of these 3,200 on long-term programs.

• 20,000 olim have come to Israel from Georgia over the last decade. At the end of the month an official soccer game will be held for the first time in Ashdod between Israel and Georgia. The Football Association decided to hold this friendly match in Ashdod, due to the high proportion of Georgian olim in the town.

• $ 60 million - this is the Jewish Agency's overall investment during 1999 in the former Soviet Union, allocated mainly to activity in the areas of Aliyah and Jewish Zionist Education.

• $46 - the average monthly wage in Azerbaijan. In 1999 the number of olim from Azerbaijan grew by 9% and amounted to 1,237. Over the last decade, 31,982 olim have arrived from Azerbaijan.

• $16,000 - Jewish Agency support for "Ahiezer," an enrichment program which assists Ethiopian children in reducing educational gaps and provides them with the tools and confidence to succeed in their elementary school studies. This is just one of hundreds of social and educational projects supported by the Jewish Agency and aimed at strengthening Israeli society.

A group of Holocaust survivors, known as "flight victims", has been severely neglected when it comes to issues of compensation. These are the people who fled their homes literally one step ahead of the Nazis, and often with dire consequences to themselves and their families. Nevertheless, because they did not actually live under Nazi occupation, they find themselves disqualified when compensation is paid.

This issue was discussed at the meeting of the German Foundation on the distribution of a DM 10 billion fund to Holocaust survivors. The meeting, which took place this week in Washington, DC, was hosted by the US State Department.

"We would like to see this special group - many of whom live in Israel today - receive benefits from the Foundation," said the Jewish Agency's representative, Bobby Brown, who is also representing Rabbi Michael Melchior, Israel's Minister for Israel Society and the World Jewish Community at the meeting. Sallai Meridor and Israel Singer, co-chairmen of the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) are hoping that this important group of Jews, who suffered tremendously during the Holocaust, will be taken care of at last.

Another subject discussed was compensation for survivors who qualify as slave laborers. "We are pushing for each person in this group to receive a sum of about DM15,000," says Bobby Brown.

Those who were forced laborers are expected to receive DM 5,000 from the fund from the German Foundation. Jewish forced laborers, who represent only a small percentage of these survivors, were in labor camps mostly in Bulgaria, Hungary and Greece.

A meeting in Israel of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany will take place next week to determine the position to be taken in further discussions with the Austrian government. There will also be a meeting next week of the WJRO Executive, to be co-chaired by Sallai Meridor and Israel Singer.

Under the banner of "No to Haiderism," a seminar took place this week at Kiryat Moriah in Jerusalem. Participants included Chairman of the Jewish Agency and the Zionist Executive, Sallai Meridor, Jewish Agency, Treasurer Chaim Chesler, MK Yosef Lapid (Shinui) and Director of the World Jewish Congress in Israel, Dr. Avi Beker.

Meridor stated that negotiations must not be held with Austria concerning restitution of Jewish property and compensation to Holocaust survivors as long as the extremist right-wing Freedom Party is part of the Government. He reminded the audience, that for 50 years, different Austrian governments refused to negotiate the issue of restitution of property. He questioned why they prepared to do so specifically now with the Freedom Party as part of the coalition.

Chesler noted that on March 15, the World Zionist Organization will organize a candlelight march from Yad Vashem to the Binyanei HaOoma International Convention Center, where a mass protest meeting will be held against Haiderism. He added that it makes no sense that while mass demonstrations took place in the capitals of Europe, not a single demonstration was held in Israel.

MK Yosef Lapid, a native of Hungary and himself a Holocaust survivor, stated that the events in Austria aroused harsh memories. Hungary, too, like Austria said that she was one of the victims of the Holocaust, whereas she was among the biggest collaborators with the Nazis.

Beker stated that after former UN Secretary-General Dr. Kurt Waldheim's past as a Nazi collaborator was uncovered, he was forbidden to enter the United States and is still forbidden to do so.

Over 55 million pages of documentation and 80,000 books will be housed in Yad Vashem's new Archives and Library Building, which was officially inaugurated this week. The Archives' collection includes personal testimonies, Nazi documentation, records of Nazi war criminal trials, diaries and memoirs. The Library boasts the largest collection in the world of published material on the Holocaust.

"The Archives and Library are the information repository on which the structure of remembrance rests," says Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate. The new building will contain and preserve this material -- as well as that still to come -- to assure appropriate conditions with state-of-the art technological tools, for its processing and presentation to scholars and all interested persons for generations to come.

The main donor organization contributing to the Archives and Library Building was the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The Claims Conference, a long-term partner which contributed to the establishment of Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, has continued to fund its development programs

The Los Angeles Jewish Federation's Museum of the Holocaust is sponsoring a contest for students in grades 9 - 12 this month. Called the Jay Shalomi Holocaust Arts and Writing Contest, the competition requires entrants to meet with Holocaust survivors, learn their stories and communicate the experience through visual arts, writing or multimedia projects.

"This contest allows high school students to connect to survivors and to take advantage of our living links to learn about the Shoah," says Roz Rothstein, who developed the event to honor the memory of her father, Jay Shalomi, the only one of his family to survive the Holocaust. "What better way is there than to learn first-hand from a survivor. It gives the participant the opportunity to develop a one-on-one relationship and to really feel what went on during that horrible time from someone who might very well have been around the same age as the student."

Also taking place this month is the 17th annual program offering teachers training on the Holocaust. The Jewish Federation's Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust will co-sponsor this four-part program offering opportunities to learn from distinguished scholars, educators, resource specialists and survivors' eyewitness accounts on this terrible period in the history of the Jewish people.

The Chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, Sallai Meridor, this week once again expressed his opposition to changing the Law of Return. "In order to ensure the Jewish majority in Israel, we must guarantee continued aliyah," he said. "If we curtain the Law of Return we will strike a mortal blow at aliyah and Zionism and create a incalculable schism between the people of Israel and the Jewish people." Meridor stressed that Israel's function is to assist those olim who are non-Jewish halachically to re-join the Jewish people and Jewish tradition in order to open hearts and not to shut the door in their faces.

He was speaking at a special session of the Knesset Immigration and Absorption Committee at which public personalities participated following calls to change the Law of Return because of the high number of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are not Jewish according to Jewish law. Speaker of the Knesset Avraham Burg also stated that the Law of Return should not be tampered with. "It is not only a fight against Jews from the former Soviet Union but also against Jews from the West, half of whom are Reform and Conservative who define their Judaism differently from the halachic definition." Prof. Asa Casher from Tel Aviv University, one of Israel's leading philosophers, said that at this point the Law of Return should not be touched "We have not yet finished the era of establishing the Jewish national state.", he said. "There is no full constitution; there is no comprehensive peace with our neighbors, ;and the majority of the Jewish people does not live in Israel. When we come to determine the right of the grandchild of a Jew to immigrate to Israel, we must see in front of us his grandfather who was persecuted for being Jewish. No Jewish group has a monopoly on the Jewish people."

Prof. Ruth Gabison, of the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University, suggested separating the "Right of Return" from the right to become a citizen of the State of Israel. In her opinion, the right to become a citizen must be contingent upon an oath of loyalty, familiarity with the Hebrew culture and language, and social integration. However, she conceded that perhaps from a tactical point of view, it is still to early to change the law. The head of the Liaison Bureau, Zvi Magen, called for sensitivity in all the discussions pertaining to the Law of Return and to remember that about half of the Jewish people around the world are married to non-Jewish spouses.

MK Naomi Blumenthal, Chairman of the Immigration and Absorption Committee of the Knesset, however, supported the need to amend the Law of Return due to the large number of new immigrants who are not halachically Jewish.

More than one hundred individuals from the Ukraine who are eligible for aliyah experienced their first Shabbat at a Jewish Agency seminar near Kiev. This was their first such experience. With this gathering, the Jewish Agency launched its new educational program for potential immigrants who are not halachically Jewish who are candidates for conversion. With the help of this program, the hope in Jerusalem is that their absorption into Israeli society will be easier.

The program will include 100 hours of instruction on basic topics that include Jewish thought and Jewish history, the Jewish life cycle, the calendar, prayer, the Land of Israel, Bible, Shabbat and holidays. "The idea is that when they come to Israel they will know something about the State and Judaism," says David Ben-Naeh, Director of the Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora in the World Zionist Organization. According to him, immigrants who wish to convert, the 100 hours will be credited to the study time required for conversion.

In January the Jewish Agency set up an inter-departmental Administration for Jewish Identity under the chairmanship of Rabbi Richard Hirsch, Chair of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) Department; Amos Hermon, Chair of the Education Department; Amos Lahat, Acting Director of the FSU Department. Staff members include Ben Naeh, Dr. Yitzhak Rize, Head of Special Projects in the FSU Department; Uri Ohali of the Education Department , Mrs. Ira. Dasevski from Machanaim, an educational body made up of Russian immigrants to Israel, and Rabbi Raphael Ostro of the Conversion Administration of the State of Israel.

"I want people who make aliyah to come with a feeling of pride in their Judaism, in their history, and the fact that they represent a glorious nation that has contributed so much to the world in the area of religion, culture, science, and other fields," says Rize.

Each weekend a new group of potential converts will be initiated into the program with a Shabbat experience at the Jewish Agency's center. Shlomo Neeman was sent from Israel to coordinate the program in conjunction with Eli Yitzchaki, head of the JAFI delegation to Ukraine and Moldova, with the assistance of the local emissaries.

A similar program will begin this weekend in Moscow, in cooperation with the JAFI delegation to Russia, Belarus, and the Baltic States. Alla Levy, head of the Jewish Agency's Delegation in Russia, is in charge of this program. In the coming weeks, a similar program will be held in St. Petersburg.

The Jewish Agency has allocated $1.5 million for this study program in the countries of the Former Soviet Union.

After a 70-year break, the Reform Movement this week renewed its activities in Odessa in the Ukraine. This was reported by Israel Rashel, Jewish Agency emissary.

According to Rashel, the Reform community in Odessa has 20 members who form the active nucleus of the movement in the city. The community's leaders believe that they will be able to expand their ranks rapidly and attract new members. The official ceremony, which announced the revival of the community's activities, was led by Rabbi Alex Duchovny - the only Reform rabbi among 23 rabbis currently operating all over the Ukraine.

Rabbi Duchovny said that the first Reform community had begun operating in the Russian empire at the end of the 19th century in Odessa. However a few years after the Bolshevik revolution in the 1920's, this activity was wiped out by the authorities.

Alex Duchovny was born 50 years ago in Kiev. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, he decided to revive Jewish culture and tradition in the Ukraine. In 1994 he left Russia to study at the Leo Baeck College in London where he met his future wife Arlene Wallhouse, who is currently a Reform rabbi in the UK. After qualifying as a Reform rabbi, Duchovny returned to the Ukraine in August last year and began his activities in the Reform movement.

"In recent years the Reform Movement's activities in the Ukraine have gained momentum," says Duchovny. "Over the last 5 years, the movement has increased from 5 to 24 communities all over the Ukraine. Over the next year we hope to establish 11 more communities", says the Rabbi. "The dedication of the Odessa community has particular historical significance and we are all very happy about it, particularly as this is the town where the movement's activities were stopped 70 years ago."

In addition, says Israel Rashel, this week a delegation of rabbis from the US paid a visit to Odessa to take a close look at Jewish activity in the town. The delegation, The UJC Rabbinic Cabinet, included 13 rabbis and representatives of all streams of Judaism. The rabbis, who came from all over the US took a close look at Jewish Agency, JDC and Habad activity. The delegates visited an ulpan and youth club run by the Jewish Agency, a Habad kindergarten, the Odessa synagogues, they met with parents of children who study in Israel on Jewish Agency youth programs, and toured a variety of Jewish sites around the city.

According to Rashel, the rabbis were deeply impressed by the scope of Jewish activity relative to the limited resources at the community's disposal. According to Jewish Agency estimates, the Jewish population of Odessa numbers 26,000.

For the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution, a circumcision ceremony was held last week for five Jewish boys in the town of Taganrog in southwest Russia. The ceremony was organized by the Jewish Agency's representative in the town - Alexander Luchbitzki, who brought the mohel and provided refreshments for those invited.

"Until now, Jews in Taganrog who wanted to fulfill this ritual had to travel hundreds of kilometers to the largest town in the region, Rostow-on-Don in order to find a mohel," said Luchbitzki. "Now they have this possibility in more convenient conditions here in the town, and in keeping with all the traditional requirements."

On this occasion, a relatively large group of 12-19 years olds was formed, all members of the Jewish Agency youth club, who expressed their desire to fulfill the commandment in their home town. Luchbitzki invited the mohel, Yeshayahu Shachit, who came specially from Moscow to perform the ceremony. The event took place in the apartment of one of the local Jewish activists. Parents of the boys, Jewish Agency representatives and community members participated.

It is worth noting that the mohel, Yeshayahu Shachit, himself a Russian immigrant from the early 1990's who studied in Jerusalem, was inducted as a mohel at the Brit Yitzhak center and since 1996 has traveled all over Russia performing circumcisions.

Jerry Rozicher, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Rostow-on-Don, who supervises activity in Taganrog, expressed the hope that such events would now take place more frequently. "The Jews here have been separated from their traditions for many years and I will make every effort in order to assist them to return to their roots." His next project will be Jewish weddings with a rabbi and traditional Jewish huppa. "I promised the youngsters in the community that anyone who wants to have a traditional Jewish wedding will receive the help of the Jewish Agency, and we will pay for a klezmer band for the whole evening," says Rozicher.

Taganrog is the birthplace of the renowned author Anton Chechov, and is situated in the southern part of European Russia, on the shores of the Gulf of Taganrog on the Azov Sea. The Jewish Agency estimates that there are 2,000 Jews out of a general population of 300,000 in the town. The Jewish community in Taganrog was wiped out during the Second World War, and has only recently begun to revive. The Jewish Agency delegation there runs a youth club, a Hebrew learning center and organizes a variety of social activities for the community. In 1999 174 people made aliyah from Taganrog, an increase of almost 100% over 1998.

Swing dancing events, environmental activism in Israel, Havdallah services, book talks and speakers are attracting hundreds of single Jewish adults in the 30 - 50 age group in Toronto, thanks to continuity grants from UJA Federation of Toronto, organizations like Kolel - A Center for Liberal Jewish Learning and the Bloor Jewish Community Center.

"Every program we did last year," says Florence Marantz, Program Director of the Bloor JCC, "had some kind of interest or educational component. There was no pressure to meet someone." This non-threatening approach seems to be working, as each month 150 to 200 men and women are drawn to attend a variety of programs.

In addition to projects directed towards singles, the Toronto Federation's continuity grants have been earmarked for Israel Experience scholarships and subsidies, as well as for other programs promoting Jewish identity, culture and education.

"These grants encourage partnerships between groups and organizations in Toronto," says Susan Jackson, the Toronto Federation's Director of Continuity. In the past four years over $500,000 for more than 100 initiatives has been allocated.

This past weekend, 85 college students from the San Francisco Bay area who participated in a Birthright trip to Israel earlier this winter, took part in a Shabbaton at the Marin Headlands Institute. "This was a pilot program aimed at the broader issue of how to translate the Birthright experience into a lifetime of commitment," says Lisa Gann-Perkal, Jewish Agency emissary and the director of the San Francisco Israel Center, which helped organized the program together with Hillel houses on four campuses -- Berkeley, San Jose State University, San Francisco State University, and Sonoma State University.

The weekend, which included interactive events and reflections on the trip, featured leading local and Israeli personalities including Brian Lurie, former Executive Vice President of national UJA and currently President of the San Francisco's Field Museum, and Israel Prize winner Professor of Philosphy, Asa Casher.

While the Israel Center has already held several trip reunions, the Shabbaton was aimed primarily at making the transition from "a good time" to ongoing involvement in the Jewish community through educational, cultural, social, or voluntary programs as well as opportunities to return to Israel," says Gann-Perkal. She notes that this is the first time such an event has been held for returning Birthrighters and that she will be happy to assist other communities.

The Israel Center, which was established three years ago at the initiative of San Francisco Jewish Community Federation -- which encompasses a vast area from Sonoma wine country in Northern California to Palo Alto -- is funded by the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Agency's Education Department. The underlying premise is to enhance people sense of Jewish identity by proving a link with Israel.

The underlying concept of San Franciso's Jewish Museum is L'chaim - "To Life." Plans for a new 100,000 square foot avant garde structure designed by Berlin resident Daniel Libeskind, were unveiled last week before San Francisco's Redevelopment Agency. The three-story angular building -- which is expected to be completed in late 2002 -- that intersects an old power station is based on the Hebrew word "chai" meaning life -- interlocking forms that incorporate the letters chet and yod.

According to Victoria Shelton, the museum's public relations and marketing coordinator, the museum focuses on "new ways to engage with deep traditions that have something to teach us about the fundamental experiences of being human, yet which have the flexibility to continually reflect who we are today. The Jewish tradition, against all odds, has continued to be one of those sources: a generative force in human culture, and an ever-changing framework for addressing the eternal question: how do we lead a good life?"

The museum, which is now housed in the Jewish Federation building, will feature an unfolding series of 18 exhibitions that reflect the diversity of Jewish thought and experience. Key themes in the Jewish experience with universal relevance such as Memory, Language, Laughter, Debate, Land, Law, Time, and Conscience will be addressed, showing how they form a matrix that together weave the fabric of Jewish identity and serve as points of intersection between Jews and the larger society. The Series will use a wide range of media and artistic expression -- art and sculpture, film, video, interactive exhibitions, sound installations, performance, storytelling -- to bring the visitor into engaging encounters with the key themes it addresses.

The design also includes huge windows in the shape of the Hebrew letters peh, resh, dalet, and samech that spell out the Hebrew word pardes, which in mystical thought alludes to the complexity of Jewish experience.

A famed architectural theorist, Libeskind has taught at some of the world's leading universities including Yale, the University of Chicago, and the University of London. His previous architectural projects include the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Shoah Center in Manchester, England.

"Daniel is a quintessential architect for this project," says Shelton. He was able to immediately grasp what our vision is."

"The Jewish Museum San Francisco is an institution that will deal with the continuity of themes through Jewish history, and their impact on the contemporary Jewish identity," Libeskind says. "My design embraces the building's history, preserving the old Power Substation's industrial character and retaining the skylights and the brick facade. In contrast and complement to this experience of history, the visitor will also experience the reconfigured spatial form of the new extension, showing that history does not come to an end but opens to the future."

Fragments of the Book of Deuteronomy never publicly displayed before will make their debut this coming week in Chicago, says Dan Bielski, Jewish Agency emissary in Chicago. They will be part of a special exhibition organized by Chicago's Field Museum in conjunction with the Israel Antiquities Authority featuring portions of 15 different Dead Sea scrolls.

Bielsk adds that exhibit aroused a great public interest in Chicago and especially among the Jewish community. Chicago Mayor Richard Daly is due to open the exhibit, which will take place in Chicago's largest museum. School children from Jewish and public schools are expected to visit the exhibit.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, written over 300 years on parchment and papyrus in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, include sections of Leviticus, Hosea and other Biblical books as well as secular documents such as the Community Rule, a manual of daily conduct, and a calendrical document. The scrolls were first discovered in 1947. Over the next two decades eight nearly complete scrolls were found as well as 100,000 fragments.

The three-month long exhibit will also include 80 artifacts from Qumran, the ancient settlement on the shores of the Dead Sea. These exhibits include coins, leather sandals, a scroll storage jar, and a pottery inkwell. The exhibit will be led by senior researchers in this field. A special conservation lab will enable the public to see how conservationists from the Israel Antiquities Authority restore fragments.

Transport Minister, Yitzhak Mordechai, took a forced leave of absence this week, following a police investigation against him, on suspicion of sexual impropriety and harassment against a female employee at the Ministry. This is the first time in the history of the state that a minister is under investigation for sexual harrassment.

"The notion of baptized Jews having to make life and death decisions as to whether they would be crypto-Jews (Jews who practiced their Judaism secretly) is an aspect of Jewish history that fascinated me," explained Dr. Renee Levine Melammed, assistant Dean of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, the JTS Israeli affiliate. Melammed, who also heads the Schechter Institute's interdisciplinary M.A. program in Women's Gender Studies and Jewish Studies, will receive this year's National Jewish Book Award in the categories of Best Research in Sephardic Studies and Best Research in Women's Studies for her book, Heretics or Daughters of Israel: The Crypto-Jewish Women of Castile, published by Oxford University Press in 1999.

Melammed based her work on hitherto unpublished documents from the Spanish Inquisition. "Uncovering the lives of these women reveals that so many of them had sacrificed so much in order to preserve their Jewish identity. I felt their stories had to be told," she says.

Through the lens of the Inquisition's own records, Melammed's book focuses on the crypto-Jewish women of Castile, demonstrating their central role in the perpetuation of crypto-Jewish society in the absence of traditional Jewish institutions led by men. Drawing extensively on the secret records of heresy trials instigated by the Inquisition, Levine Melammed shows how many "conversas" (Jewish women who converted to Christianity) acted with great courage and commitment to uphold their religious heritage, seeing themselves as true daughters of Zion.

The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, with its Graduate School of Advanced Jewish Studies, Rabbinical School for the Conservative Movement in Israel, and School of Jewish Education, is affiliated with the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the Masorti/Conservative Movement.

The Mayor of Jerusalem Ehud Olmert and the Minister of Tourism Amnon Lipkin-Shahak attended the inauguration of a unique display of Holyland models -- from the Second Temple to the Third Millennium. The exhibition, that was opened to the public this week in Jerusalem, will eventually move to a permanent site at one of the kibbutzim located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The temporary display of 70 amazingly detailed models represents only 30% of the planned exhibit, and is reminiscent of the attractive Madurodam site in Holland.

"This park will attract many tourists and Israelis alike, " said Minister Lipkin-Shahak. "Being able to see such a quantity of existing sites and buildings from all over the country in one place will pique everyone's interest."

The new exhibition, constructed by Park Mini Israel, depicts the dramatic changes the Holyland has witnessed: the development of Jewish life; the evolvement of Christianity; the emergence of Islam; and the creation of the State of Israel. This collection of amazingly detailed and accurate scaled models (1:25) covers important religious, archeological, historical and national sites built in the Holyland during the Second Millennium.

"I am sure that many people will come to see these models, to study them in preparation for their visits to the real historical sites and buildings," said Mayor Olmert.

The "Gallery of the North," which was set up by the Jewish Agency's Northern Region to showcase the Artwork of new immigrant artists while easing their absorption in Israel, will open a special exhibit next week entitled "Immigrants Create Aliyah."

The work of twenty-eight young artists living in Jewish Agency absorption centers and kibbutz ulpanim in the north of Israel will be displayed. "The artists, many of whom are well known in their countries of origin, have brought with them a high level of professionalism and the influence of their native traditions as well as new techniques and approaches," says Zvi Kahana, the Director of the Northern Region. The artwork encompasses a range of media, including painting, graphics, sculpture, as well as practical art forms such as working with precious metals, ceramics, embroidery, and woodwork.

Ten of the artists came to Israel as part of the Jewish Agency's Selah program - an academic preparatory program for high school graduates from the former Soviet Union.

While Brazil celebrates its famous carnival with singing and dancing, and New Orleans, the Mardi Gras, Israel is gearing up for Purim. This year, being a Jewish leap year, Purim falls on March 21, 14 Adar Bet II. (There are two Adar months in a leap year.)

Israel becomes a merry place on Purim. The streets are filled with parades and festivities, and people don masks and fancy dress. According to Jewish custom, the Scroll of Esther is read aloud, with much jeering and noise whenever Haman's name is mentioned. Most Jews eat a variation of the triangular "Haman's ears" biscuits (hamentaschen). On this day, the Jews celebrate their victory over Haman's attempt to wipe out the Jews of the Persian Empire. .

In walled cities such as Jerusalem, the festival is called Shushan Purim. The festivities take place one day later, in commemoration of the battle in Shushan, then the Persian capital, which was also a walled city and where the battle against the Persians took place one day later. This year Shushan Purim will be celebrated on March 22

If you've always hankered after far Eastern delicacies, but were prevented by kashruth restrictions from indulging in such gastronomic delights as stir fried bok choy or hunan braised fish, you will be delighted to learn about the American-Asian Kashrus Services. The five-year old company, which is now associated with the London Beth Din according to its marketing director, Samuel Meyer, has a full-time office in Asia that supervises 50 factories - 15 in China, 25 in Malaysia, and ten in Indonesia. The company, which was established in response to the growing demand for kosher Asian food among consumers in Israel, Europe, and North America provides kosher supervision for 30-40 products, ranging from palm oil to tapioca to coconut milk powder.

Consumers also include Muslims, who will purchase kosher food if they cannot find "halal" products (foodstuffs produced in accordance with Muslim dietary laws), as well as vegetarians. "We're very strict about animal contents," says Meyer.

Ingredients:
1 medium aubergine
250 grams of beef, with no fat

To be soaked in:
2 teaspoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of brandy
A little fresh black pepper

Oil for deep frying
2 tablespoons of oil
1 crushed ear of garlic
1 teaspoon of ginger, crushed
A little spicy pepper sauce
2 spring onions, cut in 5-6 cm. Pieces
1-2 tablespoons of caramel

For Gravy:
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of dry, white wine
1 tablespoon of vinegar
1 teaspoon of sugar
sale, white pepper

Preparation

1. Cut the aubergine width ways without peeling, and then cut into long "fingers", 1 cm. thick.
2. Cut the piece of meat into long strips, 5-6 cm. thick, and then slice thinly.
3. Mix the marinade in a bowl and soak the pieces of meat for several hours.
4. Mix the gravy ingredients in a bowl.
5. Heat the oil for deep frying, and fry the aubergine "fingers" until they brown - about 3 minutes. Remove from oil and drain well.
6. In a large, wide frying pan heat the 2 tablespoons of oil and fry the garlic, ginger, pepper paste and onion for a minute.
7. Add the meat, and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the fried aubergine and caramel to the pan and mix well.
8. Add the gravy, bring to the boil and serve immediately.

The meat should be marinated in advance, and the aubergine fried ahead of time, but the meat should be cooked immediately prior to serving.

Bon appetit - B'teavon!