World

UNDER THE RADAR

Slice Of Life

Heartwarming "news" from Israel.

Marcy Oster
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem

L

ebanon and Israel are at war
— over hummus.
Over the weekend of May 8-9,
some 300 chefs in Lebanon created a plate
of hummus weighing more than 23,000
pounds, or 10 tons — more than doubling
an Israeli record that was set in January.
With an official Guinness World
Records representative on hand, the chefs
reportedly used eight tons of boiled chick-
peas, two tons of sesame paste, two tons of
lemon juice and 154 pounds of olive oil.
A day later, Lebanese chefs continued
the food frenzy of record setting, frying up
11,381 pounds of falafel.
The weekend feat shattered the record
set by 50 chefs in the Arab-Israeli village
of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem in January,
when they created a four-ton plate of
hummus to beat a record set in Lebanon
several months earlier.
Lebanon and Israel long have had duel-
ing claims over which culture came up
with hummus. Lebanese chefs accuse
Israel of stealing the product, and export-
ing and marketing it around the world as
an Israeli creation.
"If you enter any good hummus res-
taurant in this region, you will see Jews
and Muslims, Palestinians and Israelis
sitting at the same table, eating the same
food;" Shooky GRIM, an Israeli who blogs
about hummus, told CNN. "I think in the
end this rivalry will show that we in the
Middle East have far more in common
than the things that divide us:'
No shortage of chickpeas has been
reported in the region.

2.1 Cell Phones
Israelis are more technologically con-
nected, work longer hours and are more
educated than they were a decade ago,
according to a recently released report of
Israel's 2008 census.
The average Israeli has 2.1 mobile
phones, according to the report. Some 71
percent of Israeli households have per-
sonal computers and nearly 91 percent
of those households have an Internet
connection. In 1995, 27 percent of Israeli
households had a personal computer.
In 2008, 26 percent of Israeli families
lived in rented homes, an increase in

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May 20 2010

This four-ton bowl of hummus, prepared in the Israeli-Arab town of Abu Ghosh in January, was bested in mid-May in Lebanon.

the number of renters. Some 66 percent
owned their residences.
About 10 percent of the population
is age 4 or younger; those 85 and above
make up 1 percent of all males and 1.5
percent of all females.
The average work week for Israelis in
2008 was 40.5 hours — 45.2 hours for men
and 35.5 hours for women. In 2008, about
10 percent of Israelis spent fewer than eight
years in school, 47 percent spent nine to 12
years in school, 21 percent spent 13 to 15
years in school and 21 percent had more
than 16 years of formal education.
Roughly 29 percent of Jews in Israel
were born abroad, according to the 2008
census, compared with 62 percent in 1961
and 42 percent in 1983.
The Central Bureau of Statistics' 2008
census included visits to 400,000 Israeli
households and a telephone survey of
250,000 individuals. Previous censuses were
conducted in 1961, 1972, 1983 and 1995.

Bad Investments
Israeli companies that trade on the Tel Aviv
Stock Exchange are a bad religious invest-
ment, a haredi rabbinical court has ruled.
The Badatz rabbinical court, whose
rulings are observed by much of the
ultra-Orthodox community, has decreed
that Jews should not buy shares in Israeli

companies because they violate Jewish law
by operating on Shabbat or use suggestive
advertising.
The prohibition includes companies
owned by religiously observant business-
men.
The Badatz-appointed financial invest-
ment supervisory committee began work-
ing two years ago to set criteria for "kosher"
investments. The committee's rabbis con-
cluded that nearly every publicly traded
company violates Jewish law in some way.

packages of cheese, cottage cheese and
milk, while the Strauss Group and Tara
Dairies lowered prices, Israel's business
daily Globes reported. Tnuva and Tara also
invested a combined $1.7 million in pre-
Shavuot advertising.
"There is heavy consumer traffic at the
refrigerator during the holiday and it will
happen whether we participate in the
party or not;' said Michel Ben-Weiss, the
health and wellness division general man-
ager at Strauss.

Pride Week
For the first time, an Israeli ministry will
be a sponsor of Israel's gay Pride Week.
The week of events, titled "Love Thy
Neighbor," will commemorate Liz Trubeshi
and Nir Katz, two young Israelis who were
murdered at a gay community center in
Tel Aviv last year.
Israel's Science, Culture and Sport
Ministry will kick in $13,000 to fund a
pride village in Tel Aviv's City Center dur-
ing Pride Week, which runs June 4-12.

Healthy Grins
Israeli children may be smiling more now
that pediatric dental care is part of the
health care basket.
The Cabinet approved the inclusion of
dental care for children up to age 8 at a
cost of nearly $47 million a year. The plan
will go into effect in July.
Free services will include twice-yearly
checkups, a cleaning and twice-yearly X-
rays. Fillings and extractions will cost a
nominal fee.
"There must be healthy and open com-
petition in providing dental care to Israel's
children:' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said.
Israel has approximately 2,000 heath
fund dental clinics and 5,000 independent
dental clinics.

Food Fight
Israel's top three dairy companies are bat-
tling for customers for Shavuot this week,
when dairy product sales jump by nearly
50 percent for the dairy-oriented holiday.
Tnuva Food Industries supersized its

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