eretz » our Israeli homeland Shmuel Rahmani/Times of Israel Overcoming Obstacles Miki Berkovich and Tal Brody after winning the European Cup championship in April 1977. Dream Team One of Israeli filmmaker Dani Menkin’s earliest memories is being taken by his father out into the streets of Tel Aviv on Feb. 17, 1977. There they joined the huge crowds celebrat- ing the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team’s victory against the Red Army Moscow team in the semi-finals of the European Championship. Menkin, who was 7 at the time, was one of 150,000 ecstatic revelers crammed that night into what is now Rabin Square. Now 46, Menkin has never forgotten that euphoric moment and was recently compelled to memorialize it through his new documentary film On the Map. The Maccabi Tel Aviv team’s against-all-odds defeat of the Soviet superpower’s team electrified the nation. In a post-game interview, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s American- born captain Tal Brody expressed Israel’s mood: “We are on the map, and we are going to stay on the map — not just in sports, but in everything!” Less than two months later, in a slim one-point victory, Maccabi Tel Aviv beat the highly favored Italian champions Mobilgirgi Varese to win the European Cup finals. Since then, Maccabi has made it to another 17 European championship final games and won five of them. Foundation Polls Israelis On Trump Loten Aroch was born with cerebral palsy. During her senior year in high school when Israel Defense Forces officials visited, her desire was to be a sol- dier just like everyone else. Parents, teachers and friends gently attempted to dissuade her so she wouldn’t get let down. Her parents even accompanied her to army reg- istration where they received the doctor’s verdict that she was exempt from army service, but Loten wasn’t deterred. She joined the Special in Uniform program as a volunteer and, after one year of vol- unteering, was accepted as a fully enlisted soldier and received her choger, the army identification card. Now, Loten reached another milestone — she was promoted to corporal. “Special in Uniform is a very unique program that enables young people with autism and other disabilities to join the Israel Defense Forces and, in turn, Israeli society,” said Nina Paul of Cincinnati, the Jewish National Fund’s Women for Israel president and member of JNF’s task force on disabilities. “We are very proud to be here today to support them and Loten.” Donald Trump — Jerusalem Post Loten Aroch’s dream was to serve in the IDF. Lior Mizrahi/Flash90/Times of Israel — Renee Ghert-Zand, Times of Israel Beyond The Reach? A study by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel found that real wages among non-government employees were similar to those in 2001, even though labor productivity rose 15 percent. In other words, workers have no more buying power despite producing 15 percent more. Gilad Brand, author of the study, said the stagnant real wages are not because employers are failing to increase pay but because housing and food have become disproportionately more expensive in Israel in the last decade. People who own their own apartment are doing OK, Brand said, but the rise in apartment prices has changed the distri- bution of income in the economy. This rise in apartment prices adversely affects those who haven’t accumulated enough capital for a down payment — 40 December 8 • 2016 The upscale Mamila neighborhood in Jerusalem. now averaging about $156,000 — a daunting task for the 32 percent of Israelis who don’t own one. — Simona Weinglass, Times of Israel A new poll conducted by the Ruderman Family Foundation in Newton, Mass., found an overwhelming 83 percent of Israelis envision President-elect Donald Trump as a “Pro-Israel president.” The study polled 500 Israelis that when asked if President-elect Trump would be a Pro-Israel president, 83 percent responded with a yes, while 17 percent thought otherwise. The poll, conducted by Dialog, asked Israelis a number of questions surrounding their views on the recent U.S. presidential election, its impact on Israel and if the anti-Semitic events that have occurred in the U.S. since the election are troubling. The poll also revealed that 42 per- cent of those surveyed think there is “no chance” that Trump will scrap the Iran Nuclear Agreement, only 3 percent think the President-elect will undoubtedly execute on his promise to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem; and 48 percent are concerned about the increase in anti-Semitic incidents that were reported in the U.S. since the Trump victory on Nov. 8. “Our poll of Israelis regarding the new U.S. administration and its impending impact on Israel and American Jewry shows that Israelis are optimistic that President-elect Trump will be a friend of Israel while at the same time they are concerned about the growing incidents of anti-Semitism in the United States and its impact on the American Jewish community,” said Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which focuses on strengthening the relation- ship between Israel and the American Jewish community. “Israelis have faith in a strong rela- tionship between the United States and Israel, but are worried about the new reality for their fellow Jews in America.”