Thousands of Jewish people celebrated Zot Hanukkah, the last day of Hanukkah last week. In front of the Wailing Wall in East Jerusalem, kids were running and playing, adults praying. With the end of Hanukkah Jerusalem prepares for Christmas. Hanukkah is a Jewish festivity that usually falls around December. It’s an eight-day holiday commemorating the rededication of the Second Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt in 200 BCE.

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon to protest against rabbis who invited Israelis to not sell or rent apartments to non-Jewish people. The demonstration was organized by civic right and peace movements and supported by the Israeli most important leftist political party, Meretz. It took place in front of the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem.

A bunch of Jewish women are defying the laws of the State of Israel and the orthodox rules of the religion of Abraham. They are women determined to assert their right to pray in front of the Western Wall of the ancient temple of Jerusalem with a copy of the Torah. They propose reforms to the oldest monotheistic religion in the world, but they are derided by religious radicals and risk jail.

Firefighters have managed to fully contain the fire that has devastated the forests of Mount Carmel, in the north of Israel. Al Qaida claimed the responsibility, Hamas said it was a divine punishment, but Israeli authorities are still investigating. After 77 hours of battling the flames in northern Israel, Israelis and international firefighters have finally managed to fully contain the most serious environmental disaster in the history of Israel. At least 42 people have died and the blaze caused the devastation of 50 square kilometres pine forest near Haifa - the third largest city in Israel - and the evacuation of more than 17,000 residents, including 600 prison inmates.

Hundreds of Jews gathered on November 29 - the 22nd day of the Jewish month of Kislev in the year 5771 - at the Wailing Wall for a large prayer rally for rain, following a day of fast called upon by Chief Rabbis of Israel. Services at the Kotel - the square created in front of the Wailing Wall - were lead by Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar, Chief Rabbi of Sephardi Jews, and HaRishon LeTzion, Chief Rabbi of Sephardi Jews and President of The Great Rabbinical Court.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contacted an American politician to apologize for having praised Fidel Castro’s remarks about Israel and Jews. In a September interview with The Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro defended Israel and Jews and criticized Iran saying that “no one has been slandered more than the Jews” and that the Iranian President Ahmadinejad should stop denying the Holocaust.