Magic Statistics

A seemingly unlikely instance of inter-faith co-operation is taking place in Israel’s Negev Desert.  An orthodox rabbi has given money collected from evangelical Christians to aid impoverished Bedouin Arabs.

A Bedouin clan of 250 people, including 110 children, were forced to abandon their possessions and flee their former home after armed conflict with other clans.  They pitched their tents near Rahat, Israel, but a huge storm two days after Christmas left them homeless and destitute.  They received assistance first from Israeli government agencies and then an international Jewish-Christian charity.

The clan was evacuated by Israeli rescue services and housed in a school.

"I contacted the government but did not receive a response," says Rahat Mayor Talal al-Kirnawi. "It was urgent because I needed the school for January 7" after the holiday break, he says.

"So I thought of Rabbi Eckstein… I know he has a big heart." Rabbi Eckstein heads the "International Fellowship of Christians and Jews", a non-governmental organisation founded in the US in 1983.

Rabbi Eckstein’s organisation relieved the plight of the Bedouins with funds raised from firmly pro-Israel American evangelicals.

h/t: Big News Network.com - Breaking Religious News

Previous related post: UN official praises Israel

Next time you read a report claiming that the Arctic is melting away, keep this tidbit in mind.

Our local Environment Canada official says that Yukon experienced cooler than average temperatures during 2006.

Whitehorse’s average annual temperature was below average for 2006.Bill Miller, of Environment Canada, said Friday that unlike southern Canada, the city was on the colder side of average by about 0.5 C.

“The entire Yukon was colder than normal. Everybody else seems to be above normal,” he said in an interview.

The average annual temperature in Whitehorse, Miller added, was -1.2 C compared to the the [sic] average, tabulated using average temperatures from 1971 to 2000, of -0.7 C.

Even though our average annual temperature was below freezing, Whitehorse was the warmest of eleven places for which averages were compiled.  The coldest, with an overall 2006 average of -7.9 C, was Old Crow.  No surprise there.

(The story appeared in yesterday’s print edition of The Whitehorse Star, but the link is behind a subscriber wall.)

Previous related posts:

• Hey, Environment Canada: Winter’s not over yet
• Not much blogging from Yukon yesterday