It's Not All Bad!

The news Out There is pretty grim. Religious extremism, threats of nuclear attacks from (and against) Iran, bad economy, sicknesses, a Democratic president that people are feeling kind of “meh” about, and a Republican field filled with rich anti-abortion homophobes.

Plus, the weather is rainy and dreary, which is a good thing in Israel, of course, but still, getting rained on while flinging your groceries into the car feels pretty wet and miserable in any country.

So, to remind us that it’s not all nuclear war and traffic jams, here’s a roundup of Happy News:

Let’s start with the News desk:

Sephardim and Ashkenazim learn together. In a country where even our divisions have divisions, it’s nice to hear about people just getting along. A Haredi Beit Yaakov school in Tel Zion (near the West Bank city of Ramallah), welcomes girls of all heritages—Ethiopian, American, French, Russian, Moroccan and Mexican. Haredi schools are known for often practicing open discrimination against students of Sephardic descent, and discrimination against Ethiopians occurs with regularity. But at this school, any student who meets the religious requirements is welcome, without regard to skin color or lineage.

Now onto Health:

Israel develops cancer vaccine. Israeli researchers developed a cancer vaccine that is currently being tested against a type of blood cancer called multiple myeloma. The vaccine has just started Phase III clinical trials at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. Basically, the vaccine trains a person’s body to destroy cells that have a certain molecule; that molecule is usually found only on cancer cells. The vaccine will be able to treat cancer and prevent it from recurring. If all goes well, the vaccine should be available in about six years. (Of course, this just begs the question why news like this never makes the mainstream media, but everyone reports on Netanyahu (allegedly) saying that the “New York Times” and “Haaretz” are two of Israel’s biggest enemies. However, that line of thinking will lead us into Sad and Angry, which is not the goal of today.)

And now for Sports!

Jewish guy wins Jeopardy! Jason Keller brings home $213,900 during his nine-episode run on Jeopardy! So much to kvell about here, such a smart boy: His winnings were the sixth-most in Jeopardy’s history, and the most of the current season. His nine-day streak is one of the show’s longest. Since he won at least five games, he is guaranteed a spot in the Tournament of Champions. And what does Mr. Keller want to do with his big winnings? Visit Israel! And not just hit the tourist spots. He wants to visit the Tel Aviv Scrabble Club, which (Fun Fact alert!) is one of the world’s largest and will soon be holding its annual tournament.

In Technology news:

Get out your AA batteries! Better Place cars are on the road! Better Place is an Israeli company whose mission is to make the world…well, you can figure it out. It has been building the first electric vehicle network in Israel, and just this week, on its fourth anniversary, the company released its first electric cars. The cars themselves are made by Renault, but the infrastructure is 100% Israeli. Held together by hummus. These quiet roadsters aren’t available at your local dealership yet, because the national infrastructure needed to make the cars functional isn’t completed. But Better Place expects that you, Mr./Ms. General Public, will be able to purchase these cars later in 2012.

Let’s see what’s new in Weather!

Snow! And rain! So much that Mt. Hermon was even snowed in. Despite my earlier grumblings about soaked grocery-flinging, the rain is truly a wonderful thing. For Hermon-skiers and Kinneret-watchers alike, the more wet stuff, the better. No worries that the Kinneret is going to overflow, since it is still, unfortunately, way below the optimal water line, but at least we’re headed in the right direction. And still another month (or so) to go!

To wrap up, let’s visit the Entertainment world:

Israeli movie shown at Sundance. Israeli film student Adi Kutner, with a meager budget of $800, produced a short video that was chosen to screen at the Sundance Film Festival, aka Indie Movie Nirvana. And let’s not forget the new acclaimed TV show “Homeland” winning Best TV Drama at the Golden Globes. The show, of course, is based on the Israeli TV show “Hatufim” (Prisoners of War). Controlling the media, no; making it a more enjoyable place to be, definitely.

So, I hope there was something in this news report to brighten up your day a little. Yes, the bad stuff is Out There, and we need to think about it and deal with it. But every so often, we can also wallow in the good stuff.