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6 HASHALOM April
2017
April 2017
HASHALOM
7
MiriamStoodFromAfar
By Natalia Kadish
Miriam had such faith in Hashem!
She sent the only gateway to
redemption down the river to be
taken by literally the daughter of
the other side, Pharaoh. Yet she
still had faith that G-d would take
care of her brother.
Moses at the Burning
Bush
By YoramRaanan
An angel of the L-rd appeared to
him [Moses] in a flame of fire from
within the thornbush, and behold,
the thornbush was burning with
fire, but the thornbush was not
being consumed. So Moses
said, “Let me turn now and see
this great spectacle: why does
the thornbush not burn up?”
(Exodus 3:2–3)
The burning bush, sometimes identified as an acacia tree
covered with red flowers and fruit, creates the impression of being
illuminated but not consumed. Here in the painting, as Moses
approaches the bush to investigate its special lights, his figure is
overshadowed by the greatness of the vision. “I must turn aside,”
says Moses when he sees the burning bush, humbled by the
vision and aware of his smallness. He is engulfed in the heat of
revelation as everything around the bush glows red hot. Tradition
tells us that for seven days and nights Moses pleaded with G-d
before accepting the mission to redeem the people of Israel and
bring them to Sinai to receive the Torah on a mountain that was
also ablaze.
The Exodus
By YoramRaanan
They shall take [some]
of the blood and put it on
the two doorposts and
on the lintel... And the
blood will be for you for
a sign upon the houses
where you will be, and
I will see the blood and
skip over you...
It came to pass on that very day that the L-rd took the children of
Israel out of the land of Egypt with their legions. . . This day will be
for you as a memorial. (Exodus 12:7, 13, 51)
The Splitting of the
Sea
By YoramRaanan
“Then the children of Israel
came into the midst of the
sea on dry land, and the
waters were to them as a
wall from their right and from
their left.” (Exodus 14:22)
The painting began as a beautiful abstract landscape. Wanting to
find something greater, the artist painted over the previous painting
and a huge wave emerged, like a wall of water. This opened a new
pathway through the sea. As a gentle light seeps in, illuminating the
pathway, it parts and forms walls of water. Much depended on the
artist’s willingness to reach deeper and break through the barrier
of mere prettiness. The way it was painted reflects what it is. Every
day is a spiritual crossing, searching for the gifts hidden within
the sea. Even though the Israelites crossed the sea thousands of
years ago, the parting of the sea remains a timeless metaphor for
taking a leap of faith, forging forward to discover hidden treasures.
Time for Passover
By Erik Kucera
This work represents the
holiday and its meaning.
On the bottom left you
will see a representation
of the
afikomen
, “hidden”
just below the six sections
of the Seder plate. The six
circles are representative of the Seder plate, and foods found on
the Seder plate are written in Hebrew.
In the middle is a clock of sorts. The clock shows when Passover
starts—in the first month, Nissan, on the Jewish calendar, and
between the third and fourth months on the Gregorian calendar.
Within the Star of David we see a depiction of the Exodus, including
the pyramids and the splitting of the sea.
My intention was to depict images from the past with a modern
flair, to symbolize that we should always remember the past, and
always celebrate this day for generations to come.
Overflowing Blessings
By YitzchokMoully
“My Cup Runneth Over” is a familiar
expression quoted from Torah. And
indeed it is true - at least for my life.
All we need to do is look around and
count our blessings, to see all the
wonderful things G-d has provided
for us and the great opportunities
we have. Lift your cup and raise a
toast - L’chaim to G-d.
The biggest foreign takeover in Israeli financial history is obviously
a landmark for Israeli business and innovation, but even more
than that – it is a milestone in the rapidly evolving revolution of
the driverless car.
As a deal, Intel’s $15.3 billion purchase of Mobileye dwarfs
anything Israeli that was ever bought, eclipsing, for instance,
Google’s purchase of the driving navigation system Waze for
$966 million, and exceeding by 50% last year’s combined foreign
purchases of Israeli firms.
The Mobileye deal is big not only in terms of cash, but also in
terms of its place in Israel’s history of technological innovation.
The 18-year-old Jerusalem-based Mobileye has established
itself as a major producer of driving assistance systems that
are now built into cars, warning drivers of approaching vehicles,
pedestrians, obstacles and road margins.
Mobileye holds 70% of this vital innovation’s global market. The
system, which deploys cameras and sensors, is in the same
league as such famous Israeli inventions as drip irrigation, the
computer flash drive or the Iron Dome missile interceptor.
Still, pivotal though such technologies were in many respects,
they could not be classified as historic inventions on par with, say,
the telephone, the radio or the steam engine.
Mobileye’s current focus, the driverless car, is on par with
such landmark inventions, though it should be noted that, as
an abstract idea, the driverless car is not Israeli. It has been
around for decades and is now part of a global industrial race for
technological posterity.
That race – which also involves Tesla, Google and Apple – has
already generated cars driving autonomously on highways from
Silicon Valley to Jerusalem’s Menachem Begin highway, where
Mobileye’s driverless car has already made successful test drives
in actual traffic.
Initially using a lone chip-bearing camera placed on the
windshield, Mobileye’s system is now in the process of
morphing into eight cameras and sensors that will surround the
vehicle and scan its surroundings so comprehensively that it will
nonchalantly change lanes and pass cars, much like ordinary
Israeli drivers, only more responsibly.
The driverless car’s revolution will be about much more than
comfort. Equipped with built-in navigation systems, it will also
solve parking problems, since it can lead itself to spots far from
congested commercial centers.
Demand for vehicles will thus also plunge, and with it car prices,
since the autonomous vehicle will drive by itself between parents’
workplaces and their children’s schools. This will enable many
households to shed their second car.
This is in the nearer future. Soon after that, the one remaining
car will also vanish, because the typical way to get somewhere
will be to order a car through a smartphone app, board it at one’s
doorstep and then let it return to its operating company.
Most strikingly, the autonomous car will drastically cut road
fatalities, because it will remove from the roads the reckless
driver who is one of modernity’s most efficient killers, harvesting
annually 1.5 million fatalities and injuring a further 50 million
people worldwide. Consequently, car insurance fees will
plummet, as will car maintenance costs.
This may sound like science fiction to many people, but to the
automotive, computer and financial industries this future is just
around the corner, as the Intel-Mobileye deal attests.
Whether Mobileye’s role in this revolution will indeed justify the
hefty bet Intel has just made remains to be seen. As of now, it
can already be said that Israel’s technology sector is today at
the forefront of the race for the creation of the industrialized
world’s next big thing.
ISRAEL
JEWISH WORLD
PassoverArtGallery
Analysis: Israel’s biggest ever tech deal is
science fiction come to life
By Amotz Asa-El – JPost
Equipped with built-in navigation systems, it will also solve parking problems, since it can lead itself to spots far from congested
commercial centers.
- Chabad.org