NETANYAHU'S FIFTH Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was tasked by President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin on April 17 with forming Israel's 35th government after a majority of 65 to 45 of those elected in party lists recommended him for a fifth term. “Us and them is over,” Rivlin said. “From now on, it's just us.” The final results were: Likud 35; Blue and White 35; Shas 8; United Torah Judaism 8; Hadash-Ta'al 6; Labor 6; Yisrael Beiteinu 5; Union of Right-Wing Parties 5; Meretz 4; Kulanu 4; and Ra'am-Balad 4. CALIFORNIA ATTACK A gunman opened fire at The Chabad of Poway Synagogue in San Diego on April 27, the last day of Passover, killing Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, and wounding three others, including Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein. Witnesses said Gilbert-Kaye jumped in front of the rabbi, who despite his hand wound continued his sermon, saying: “We are strong. We are united. They can't break us.” Also wounded were a girl, 8, and her uncle, 34, from Sderot. Police said the suspect, John Earnest, 19, of San Diego, turned himself in for what was termed “a hate crime” against Jews. 3-D HEART A team of Tel Aviv University researchers announced on April 15 that they had printed the world's first 3-D heart using human tissue. “This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers,” said TAU's Prof. Tal Dvir. The researchers said that one day, perhaps in a decade, scientists will be able to produce human hearts and other organs suitable for transplant. 3 MOTHERS HONORED Iris Yifrach, Bat-Galim Shaer, and Rachelle Fraenkel, the mothers of three teenagers – Eyal, Gil-ad and Naftali – who were murdered by terrorists near Hebron in 2014, will light a torch together at Israel's 71st Independence Day ceremony. The three women, who became advocates for unity during Operation Protective Edge that summer, will “elevate the unity of our people,” said Culture Minister Miri Regev, noting that this year's theme is “The Israeli Spirit.” Jeff Finkelstein, President of the Pittsburgh Jewish Federation, will light a torch on behalf of Diaspora Jewry, following the terrorist shooting at his city's Tree of Life Synagogue on October 27, 2018 in which 11 people were killed. SYRIAN DEAL The IDF announced on April 28 that two Syrian prisoners held in Israeli jails had been transferred to Syria via the Quneitra crossing in the Golan Heights. Their release came after the return of the remains of fallen IDF soldier Sgt. Zachary Baumel earlier in April from Syria with the help of Russia. They were named as Hamis Ahmed, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in a plot againt IDF soldiers, and Zidan Tuil, who was convicted of drug smuggling in 2008. KALIVER REBBE The Kaliver Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Taub, a Holocaust survivor who dedicated his life to preserving the memory of the Shoah in the Haredi community, died on April 28 at 96 at his home in Jerusalem. At his funeral that day, it was announced that his step-grandson, Rabbi Yisrael Mordechai Yoel Horowitz, 28, would take over the Kaliver dynasty. Taub and his wife were reunited after the Holocaust, and moved first to Cleveland and then to Israel in 1962. He was not able to have children or grow a beard due to the experiments conducted on him in Auschwitz by Dr. Josef Mengele. He published Kol Menachem, a 13-volume compendium on the Torah and Jewish holidays, and Shema Yisrael: Testimonies of devotion, courage, and self-sacrifice, 1939–1945, a collection of first-person accounts of Holocaust survivors. RARE COIN A 1,600 year-old gold coin was found by four Israeli ninth-graders from Kibbutz Yifat during a school trip in Nahal Zippori in Galilee, the Israel Antiquities Authorities announced in April. The coin features the face of Byzantine emperor Theodosius II, the Roman leader who abolished the presidency of the Sanhedrin, which was centered in Nahal Zippori. On its flip side, the coin has an image of Victoria, the goddess of victory.
