Other news:

Moshe Idel, professor of Jewish thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and doctor in the philosophy of the Kabbalah is to receive a honorary degree from the University of Haifa. The award ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 25, at 20:30, in the University's Safdie auditorium. During this festivity, honorary degrees will also be awarded to Eliezer Rafaeli and to Prof. Itzak Zambir (both from Israel) and to Prof. Endel Tulving (from Canada).

Moshe Idel served as a visiting professor at many universities and institutions worldwide, including Yale, Harvard and Princeton universities in the USA and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. His work includes: "Kabbalah: New Perspectives and Messianic Mystics", "Hassidism: Between Ecstasy and Magic", "Black Fire on White Fire: An Essay on Jewish Hermeneutics, from Midrash to Kabbalah" and "Absorbing Perfections: Kaballah and Interpretation", published in the US. In 1999, he received the Israel Prize for excellence in the field of Jewish philosophy. In June, he is to receive the prize of the "Haim and Sara Ianculovici" Foundation in Haifa. Last month, he was awarded the Koret Prize for Jewish thought for his book "Absorbing Perfections", which is to be published this year in Romanian by Polirom Publishing House.

Prof. Idel (56 years old) was born in Targu Neamt (Romania) and emigrated to Israel in 1963.

Should anyone look for information on "the History of Zionism" on the Internet, they would find the addresses of many web pages hosting books or other materials which refer to the international congress in Basel, in 1897. But none of these sources mentions that, prior to the congress in Basel was the Zionist Congress in Focsani, Romania, in 1881…

This omission was pointed out at the congress of the Israelis born in Focsani, which was held on Friday, May 16, 2003, at Beit Shalom Aleichem in Tel Aviv. Attending the event was historian Raphael Vago, who showed that "the town of Focsani represents the crossroads where the highway of Zionism starts" and that Jews from Focsani emigrated to Eretz Israel with their families long before Theodor Hertzl's theoretical Zionism was born.

The initiator and organizer of this meeting was Zwi Ben Dov, author of "Focsani - The Story of a Community", written in Hebrew and containing a chapter in Romanian. The book was launched on this very occasion. Prof. Vago considered Zwi Ben Dov's work to be very well documented and valuable from a historical point of view.

Internal Affairs minister Abraham Poraz, who came to Israel when he was a child and who speaks Romanian, stated he was always proud of his origin. He pointed out that "the Jews coming from Romania sought and managed to integrate into the country's population not as Romanians, but as Israelis, giving people of great value in all fields. And even though future generations will no longer speak Romanian, it is important that the tradition and history of the Jews in Romania be carried on".

Among the guests of honor of the congress were: gen. (res.) Moshe Nativ, president of AMIR (The Unitary Organization of Jews from Romania), counsel Itzak Artzi, president of the World Union of Jews from Bucovina, dr. Valeria Mariana Stoica, ambassador of Romania in Israel and Moshe Nagor, president of the League for Friendship Israel-Romania. Moshe Nativ said that "the young generations want to find out more about the origin of their predecessors, especially nowadays, when we know that the Hatikva national anthem was born in Romania, that the first Yiddish theater was created in Iasi, that the first Zionist congress took place in Focsani… This is why it is important that a museum be founded in order to immortalize the tradition and the achievements of the Jews from Romania…"

Correspondence from dr. Izu Eibschitz, president of the Foundation

The "Haim and Sara Ianculovici" Cultural Foundation will celebrate in a festive manner 25 years of existence on Thursday, June 12, 2003. The event will take place at 17:00, at the Haifa City hall.

On this occasion, the Foundation will award its cultural prizes for 2003.

The winners are:

Dr. Izu Eibschitz, president of the Foundation, will deliver the opening speech. He will also be the moderator of the festivity. Other speeches will be given by: dr. Valeria Mariana Stoica, ambassador of Romania in Israel, Prof. Lou Rozeanu, winner of the International Prize in Tribology (the wear of materials), counsel Itzak Artzi, president of the World Union of Jews from Bucovina, dr. Shlomo Leibovici Lais, president of the World Cultural Association of Jews from Romania (Acmeor) and engineer Moshe Nagor, president of the League for Friendship Israel-Romania. The future mayor of Haifa (who will be elected on June 3) will be invited to deliver a speech.

The Foundation aims at acknowledging and encouraging creators born in Romania and their offspring, who activate in fields such as Zionism, the Holocaust, research on Judaism and on the history of Jews from Romania, prose, poetry, art and music. Furthermore, the Foundation tries to discover and to acknowledge creators from Romania in the fields of culture, science, technology and art who were recognized by Israeli and international institutions and who deserve honor and gratitude from the organizations of the Jews born in Romania.