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From a story today on the Jerusalem Post's website:

Israel is ready to begin direct talks with the Palestinian Authority as early as next Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in advance of this week's Arab League meeting in Cairo. The Arab League meeting is expected to rule on whether or not the Palestinians should hold direct talks with Israel.

Netanyahu's statement, however, does not necessarily bring the direct talks any closer. In the course of the briefing, Netanyahu said that the Palestinians do not actually want to hold direct talks and that they hope that the Arab League will block such talks.

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Through Update and other venues, the Birmingham Jewish Federation will continue to provide context to help people better understand Israel's difficulties and dilemmas and the continued refusal of the Palestinian leadership to enter into authentic negotiations to end the conflict.

Jewish Agency head and former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky connecting with young Jews during a visit to the former Soviet Union.

By Richard Friedman, Executive Director

As I watched Israeli teens from Rosh Ha'ayin entertain our community Saturday night at the Levite Jewish Community Center, one number in particular struck me. It was about Jews from all over the world returning to our ancient homeland upon Israel's rebirth as a modern state in 1948.

We should never take this miracle for granted. The rebirth of the Jewish people in our ancient homeland is one of history's most dramatic miracles. The Birmingham Jewish Federation, through raising funds to help Jews settle in Israel and become part of Israeli society, has played a role in this saga ever since Israel's rebirth 62 years ago.

Happily, the aliyah (immigration to Israel) continues. The Israeli news service Arutz Sheva reports that "1,000 olim (new immigrants) from France, Britain, South Africa, and various countries in South America will arrive in Israel this week to build their lives in the Jewish state."

Reflecting on this latest influx, Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky said, "At a time when Israel is dealing with delegitimization around the world, it is important to see that our brothers throughout the Jewish world not only support us, but even choose to join us and make aliyah to Israel."

The Jewish Agency, which facilitates aliyah and builds Jewish identity and connections to Israel worldwide, is one of the 32 agencies funded by dollars raised through the BJF Annual Campaign. Sharansky, a famous Soviet Jewish dissident in the 1970s and 1980s, was eventually set free by the Soviet Union and immigrated to Israel.

JEWISH RENEWAL

Another reflection of our BJF efforts is the renewal of Jewish learning, worship and peoplehood that has taken hold in the former Soviet Union the past 20 years. Programs the BJF have funded have helped make this happen. The magnitude of this Jewish awakening was reflected in a story on the Jewish Agency's website this week. Here is an excerpt:

Limmud, a festival of Jewish learning and culture, drew 1000 Russian speakers from around the world to Jerusalem for a July 21-23 conference. This year's theme was Nobel prizewinners born in the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and in Israel.

"In my eyes, Limmud is a great achievement because most of the participants are saying what my friends and I used to say after the 1967 Six Day War in our underground learning sessions: That we are discovering our nation, discovering our culture," Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky told the crowd at the opening event.

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If you are a donor to our annual BJF campaign, the Birmingham Jewish Federation thanks you. Everyday in so many ways your dollars continue to to strengthen Israel and the Jewish people.

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Update ran a story recently about the 50th anniversary of the publication of the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird." The world famous book and movie are set in Alabama, and the anniversary celebration had a specific connection to Birmingham.

Birmingham native and Update reader Sandy Jaffe (pictured here), who now lives in Boston, had her documentary-in-progress, "Our Mockingbird," previewed at the celebration in Monroeville, the hometown of Harper Lee, the book's author. USA Today even highlighted Sandy's film as part of its coverage of the festivities.

"Our Mockingbird" examines how Lee's coming of age novel is a lens to view the issues of race, class, gender and justice -- past and present. Threaded through the documentary is the story of two racially different Birmingham area high schools -- Mountain Brook, where many members of our Jewish community live, and Fairfield -- whose co-production of the play "To Kill a Mockingbird" illustrated the lasting power of this story.

Says Sandy, "To Kill A Mockingbird's message of tolerance resonates in our national dialogue today as strongly as it did when I was growing up Jewish in Alabama during the 1960s." Sandy is currently working on completing "Our Mockingbird," which is being partially-funded by the Alabama Humanities Foundation. For more information, contact sandy.ourmockingbird@gmail.com.

The Birmingham Jewish Federation congratulates Sandy on her outstanding work. One purpose of our BJF Update is to keep current and former members of our Jewish community connected with one another, especially as members of our community continue to make an impact locally, nationally and globally. As always, we thank those who contribute to our BJF Annual Campaign. Your dollars make Update possible.

email: update@bjf.org

web: http://www.bjf.org