73 Reasons to Love Israel

2. Kol Yisrael Chaverim - Israelis are unparalleled at helping a stranger in need.

3. Every two meters you walk here is a mitzvah.

4. Yerushalayim is the holiest city in the world, where the Beit HaMikdash will be built.

5. The glue on Israeli stamps is kosher.

6. In 2021, Israelis were rated as the 12th happiest people in the world, and continue to rank among the highest.

7. Birthright (Taglit) has funded 600,000 participants to explore their Jewish homeland - that's the number of men over 20 - 60 who left Egypt.

8. Har HaZeitim cemetery is the world's oldest continuously used cemetery.

9. On Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron, cars stop in the middle of the highway to commemorate our true national heroes.

10. 40,000 Israeli teens visit the death camps and ghettos of Poland each year.

11. Israel is the only country in the world to have entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees. It is also the only country with more trees today than 50 years ago.

12. Over 500 million birds of 200 different spe- cies migrate through Israel twice a year, from Africa to Eurasia in the summer and back again for the winter.

13. Israel recycles 90% of its wastewater. Spain is the runner up, recycling only 20% of its own wastewater.

14. Also highest in the world, 93% of Israeli homes use solar energy for water heating.

15. Israel boasts 25 wildlife protection programs.

16. Israel has the highest rate of vegans per capita worldwide, an estimated five percent of the population.

17. The cherry tomato was developed by the Agricultural Faculty at Hebrew University.

18. Drip irrigation technology invented in Israel is used to preserve water around the world.

19. Israel has over 140 wineries.

20. Israel has the most lawyers per capita, more museums per capita and more orchestras per capita than any other country in the world.

21. Israel tops the list of countries in annual publication of scientific papers.

22. Israel boasts the world's second highest per capita rate of new books published. For a week in June, Israel holds Shavua HaSefer (Book Week) to celebrate local literature.

23. Israel has more start-ups per capita than anywhere else in the world, and is second only to the USA in absolute numbers.

24. Israel is 0.1% of the world's population, but receives 20% of its cyber technology investments.

25. 12 Israelis have won Nobel prizes for achievements in peace, chemistry, liter- ature, and economics.

26. Motorola Israel is credited with having invented the first cellphone.

27. Waze and Mobileye are both Israeli start-ups.

28. Israel has a theater of only blind and deaf actors, and a cafe with only blind and deaf waiters.

29. The most popular Israeli song ever is Arik Einstein's "You and I will change the world." "אֲנִי וְאַּתָה נְשַּנֶה אֶת הָעֹולָם"

30. Israel is paving the way worldwide in terms of the number of COVID-19 vaccinations administered.

31. An Israeli company designed ingestible cameras that can help diagnose cancer and digestive system disorders.

32. Israel became the first country in 2012 to outlaw underweight models from performing in fashion shows.

33. Israel performs more in-vitro fertilizations per capita than any other country, and fertility treatments are covered by national health insurance.

34. The Iron Dome's cutting edge missile interception technology has knocked down over 85% of missiles aimed at Israeli cities since 2011.

35. Upon being sworn in, every IDF soldier receives a Tanach.

36. Since 1953, when Israel was just five years old, the Israeli army has come to the immediate aid of over 20 countries during times of crisis and natural disaster.

37. At age 85, the IDF's Brigadier-General David Laskov was pronounced by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest soldier in the world.

38. 75% of Jewish Israeli households light Shabbat candles.

39. Water bar and refrigerator promotions advertise Shabbat settings.

40. Israeli radio stations announce what time Shabbat comes in every week.

41. Pet stores sell hamantaschen for dogs ahead of Purim.

42. The IDF publicizes videos of its soldiers eating matzah on Pesach.

43. Even in prison, prisoners enjoy a matzah-baking day and a Pesach Seder.

44. On holidays, public busses display signs saying: Chag Sameach!

45. Israelis (including every subgroup) have more children than any other Western democracy.

46. 62.5% of mothers with four or more children work full time.

47. In this baby-loving country, complete strangers will offer to hold your baby for you.

48. Bamba (the peanut snack) is one of the most common first words for babies.

49. In 2012, Israel ranked 12th out of 59 developed countries for participation of women in the workforce.

50. In 2017, Israel was ranked the 8th safest country for women.

51. The ambucycle was invented by an Israeli, saving thousands of lives.

52. Thousands of first responders - Jews and Muslims together - volunteer to save lives 24/7.

53. On Yom HaZikaron, flower shops offer free bouquets to grieving families.

54. Israelis set a Guinness World Record by donating hair for cancer patients.

55. In Israel, you can walk in the very footsteps of Avraham Avinu.

56. You can shiver on Mount Hermon and sweat in the Negev Desert on the same day.

57. Wherever you are in Israel, you can reach a beach within two hours.

58. One of the greatest archeological finds of the century was discovered in Israel. The scrolls of Qumeran contain the oldest copies of Tanach, and have been invalu- able to scholars.

59. Israel is the home of the kibbutz. Israel's first kibbutz, Deganya, was founded by a group of 10 settlers.

60. Admission to the world's largest Holocaust memorial museum - Yad Vashem - is free. After the Kotel, it is Israel's most visited site.

61. You can hike from the northern tip to the southern tip of Israel in a month, via Israel's National Trail.

62. Although often mistaken for a crater, Machtesh Ramon is actually the only geological structure of its kind in the world.

63. The desert just north of Eilat is home to the world's oldest known copper mines, said to be from the times of Shlomo HaMelech.

64. In Israel, you can dunk in a mikveh and pray in a synagogue from 2,000 years ago.

65. The Carmelit, Haifa's underground rail- way, holds two world records: it is the world's shortest underground, and it is the underground train with the most extreme slope.

66. Holocaust survivor Shoshana Ovitz recently celebrated her 104th birthday at the Kotel with many of her hundreds of descendants.

67. Golda Meir was the world's third female prime minister.

68. When COVID-19 broke out, Israel's President Reuven Rivlin took to Facebook to livestream an hour of reading children's books to entertain children across the country.

69. When COVID-19 broke out, former Soviet Prisoner of Zion, Natan Sharansky, shared tips for living in isolation.

70. In Israel today, there are close to 200,000 men and women engaged in full time Torah study, arguably more than ever before in Jewish history.

71. Israel has 70+ yeshivot hesder, with 10,000 students combining Torah learning and army service.

72. Thousands of women engage in high level Torah study in hundreds of midrashot and seminaries across Israel.

73. No matter what happens across the globe, Israel will always be a home and a haven for every Jew.