A must-see for Israeli Jews (Haaretz - Israel News)
- Atheist nuances
Marshak represents other chapters - such as Chapter 1 and the beginning of Chapter 2 in the Book of Genesis - and additional chapters in the Pentateuch, the Prophets and Writings, which were harbingers of atheism, perhaps the first in Western culture. An approach akin to atheism always has been a part of Jewish culture, even in the pre-biblical period. Similarly, in traditional rabbinic literature, there are passages that express the views of the biblical-era atheistic school. The only people who can easily meet Marshak are young Jews whose minds have not yet been molded. Marshak's principal activity is thinking. He does not give advice to anyone, not even a Bar Mitzvah boy. In addition to a large library, which Scott's and Nachtner's offices lack, Marshak's room contains the components of a scientific laboratory. Granted, the equipment is primitive and antiquated, as Marshak is quite an elderly man. Nonetheless, Marshak's surroundings attest to the fact that he is a person who investigates, asks questions, expresses doubts and is never satisfied. From his few words, we learn that he also has no answer to human suffering and that he knows this. Nevertheless, Marshak does the right thing when he has to.
The three wise men are no doubt authentic Jews. "A Serious Man" lets every "good Jew" choose which of the three kinds of Judaism represents him. Since Jews and Judaism are manifestations of universal humanism, the movie is an invitation to every "serious man" or "serious woman" - whether Jewish or non-Jewish - to choose a worldview. All those who see this profound film will have no doubt about what the Coen brothers chose.
Israel’s first ‘clean tech’ college opens its doors
- The clean tech revolution is beginning to sweep the world. The UN predicts that 8.5 million people will work in the green sector by 2030, while the US, Europe and other countries have made available massive amounts of money for clean technology development.
Israel is no exception. There are more than 150 companies in the clean tech field here that didn’t exist just two years ago, Mediatech CEO Yariv Inbar told The Jerusalem Post Monday. But, he said, there’s a problem.
“Companies are looking for quality well-trained people, but they can’t find professionals. Many are self-taught, but few have learned how to work in the clean tech sector in an ordered fashion,” he said.
To that end, Mediatech, which is part of the Matrix information systems company and runs their training colleges, have teamed up with GreenAgenda to create the first college to retrain mid-career professionals for the clean tech sector. Matrix Greentech College will begin its first course at the end of April. The two initial course offerings will be technical jobs management in the clean tech sector.
“So far, no one is retraining people,” Inbar said, “though there are the beginnings of such programs within environmental engineering programs.”
Matrix has colleges across the country that already train hi-tech professionals. While the first course will be held in Tel Aviv, they plan to offer future courses in Haifa, Jerusalem and elsewhere.
OECD Review of Agricultural Policies: Israel 2010 (OCDE Librairie de l'OCDE)
Israel’s agriculture is unique amongst developed countries in that land and water resources are nearly all state-owned and that agricultural production is dominated by co-operative communities. Israel is a world leader in agricultural technology, particularly in farming in arid conditions. This Review measures support provided to Israeli agriculture and evaluates the effectiveness of current agricultural policy measures. Israel has made progress in removing policies that distort trade, and resource allocation and support to agriculture is lower than the OECD average. However, the government still plays an important role. The report suggests further agricultural policy reforms to reduce costs for consumers and taxpayers and to improve the efficiency of current policy measures.
A special focus of the report is the environmental performance of Israeli agriculture. This is already an issue with scarce land and water resources, accentuated by the overarching issue of climate change. The Review examines agriculture’s performance with respect to water resources and pollution, soils, biodiversity, air emissions and climate change. It concludes that strengthening policy coherence, especially in improving the management of water resources in agriculture, is important.
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