On December 20, the Israeli Knesset approved in the final reading a bill on state funding of higher education for demobilized soldiers of mandatory and extended service.

While it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere – for some, this means snow outside the window, for others, rainy days, as in Israel – summer reigns in South America.

Department for the Promotion of Aliya co-organized the event where thousands of people in New York City’s Times Square viewed an empty Shabbat table set for 224 people, symbolizing the 224 hostages held captive by the terrorist group Hamas.