Much is said about life in Israel; the challenges are counted, the fear of the various regional threats are often talked about, the unique difficulties entailed with living in Israel are recounted time and again, yet a recently published poll by the Central Bureau of Statistics which tracked the social trends in Israel during 2011 reveals that the majority of Israelis are very pleased with their lives. Eighty-eight percent of Israelis are content with their lives, and 52.3 percent believe their lives will improve …More

More than 8 million people now reside in Israel, according to the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics. By 2025, the number of residents is expected to rise to 10 million. In 2012 alone, Israel’s population grew by 145,000 people, and 160,000 people were born. More than 20,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel, Israel National News reported. More than 75 percent of the country’s residents are Jews, or 6 million, the same number as the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. About 20 …More

They walked up a tree-lined path through stony hills to a square, white building--men in black hats, beards and frock coats; in T-shirts and jeans; in sweaters, slacks and velvet kippahs. They came by the hundreds--19-year-olds looking for a match, 40-year-olds losing hope that they would ever find one, boys of 15 praying for the unmarried. They had come for a special ceremony: They would blow 1,000 shofars, encircle the building seven times and recite penitential prayers led by a master of Jewish mysticism. …More

Rafael Medoff, JNS.org They may not wear those classic blue “kibbutznik hats,” but some Ethiopians, Sudanese, and Eritreans may soon be establishing Israeli-style communes in eastern Africa. It’s part of an innovative project launched by young Israelis to deal with the problem of the tens of thousands of African refugees who have slipped across the Egypt-Israel border during the past several years. An estimated 60,000 refugees and migrants from Sudan, Eritrea, and other African countries have …More

A short ride on a luxury wooden bicycle can take much longer than expected in south Tel Aviv. The roads are fine, Maxime van Gelder says, “but people keep asking you to stop and take their picture with the bike.” Van Gelder, the 22-year-old marketing director for the 2-year-old boutique Dutch bicycle maker Bough Bikes, was in Tel Aviv this month to help establish the city as the company’s fourth international market, after New York, London and Berlin. Bough, based in the city of Alkmaar, …More

Last week’s elections in Israel certainly gave us a few surprises. But an overlooked, and positive, surprise of Election Day 2013 wasn’t how many votes were cast, rather how many shekels were unloaded. Israeli retailers are reporting that consumer spending on Tuesday’s Election Day overtook traditional, popular shopping days in Israel, including Passover and Rosh Hashanah. Traffic to malls, movie theatres, stores, and markets was extremely brisk. The reason: many Israelis took the entire day off …More

Every year, hundreds of eager 18-year-old girls from all over the world step off the plane at Ben Gurion airport to spend a year studying in seminaries across Israel. These girls, also known as ‘sem girls’, devote their whole academic year to Judaic study programs. Although learning is a major aspect of the seminary year, there are other important experiences that motivate many recent high school graduates, especially from America, to spend their gap year in Israel. For Talia Epstein, who hails from …More

The IDF's female soldiers have long filled positions throughout the entire military spectrum, some of them serving as pilots, intelligence officers, naval officers, and search and rescue workers. In recent years, the opportunities open to women in combat units have grown, including through the establishment of the mixed-gender Caracal Battalion, in which women and men serve together as combat soldiers. The IDF reached a new milestone in 2006, establishing its first company consisting entirely of female combat …More

Sgt. Joseph Aranov had never envisioned himself as a soldier, but by the time he turned 20 he felt something in his life was missing – something more tangible in his quest to rediscover his Jewish identity and roots, a way to give back to the country he holds so dear. "I felt like I can do more than just sit in a college classroom; I am young and have energy," he explained. "I wanted to help others and contribute to the State of Israel." During his soul searching and contemplation, Aranov was reminded of …More

Lise Stern, JNS.org Picture a wedding in an ancient Roman amphitheater on the shores of the Mediterranean. Or in the mystical city of Safed, the sun setting over the Galilean Hills. Or in the multi-level garden by the Tower of David in Jerusalem. All these are possible options for destination weddings in Israel, a growing industry. “It is estimated that there are over a thousand weddings annually of people from abroad coming to get married in Israel,” says Lian Matias, who operates the website …More

An Israeli gay couple married 10 months ago in New York has asked an Israeli family court to validate a spousal support agreement. Elad Aflalo Farber and Roni Farber Aflalo on Sunday asked the Ramat Gan Family Court to recognize their agreement--the first time a legally married gay couple has done so, according to Haaretz. Previous recognitions of same-sex spousal support agreements involved common-law spouses. The couple registered their marriage with the Population, Immigration and Border Authority, as they …More

NoCamels Team, NoCamels - Israeli Innovation News A new method to kick old habits? A new Israeli-Russian Facebook application is trying to harness the power of social media to help people give up bad habits using their friends' power of persuasion. The service is called “I stopped” and was created by SCORE:plug, founders of the popular dating application Dating-IL. I stopped is based on a simple and smart method called “positive peer pressure.” The method uses the influence and support of …More