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The Tel Aviv Museum of Art has won Best Museum Award in the prestigious Travel and Leisure Magazine Award 2012 for their new Herta and Paul Amir Building, which opened November 2, 2011. Travel and Leisure which is considered one of the most influential travel magazines in America, commended the Tel Aviv building, stating that "In contrast to many dramatically shaped new art museums, it succeeds in being at once breathtaking and deferential to the art on display." While architect and T+L judge Billie Tsien, said: "The Tel Aviv museum is quite a piece of sculpture, but it is a sculpture that accepts art."

The 195,000-square-foot, $55 million building, was designed by Preston Scott Cohen, Inc., of Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The freestanding concrete-and-glass building is a tour de force of complex geometry and light-filled space. The unique structure includes five levels - two above grade and three below - which twist from floor to floor, to accommodate large, rectangular galleries within the compact, irregular site.

The Museum campus is located in the heart of Tel Aviv, immediately adjacent to the Golda Meir Cultural & Art Center (with the New Israeli Opera and the Cameri Theater) and the Beit Ariela Municipal Library. The existing main building, a 175,000-square-foot structure by Dan Eytan and Yitzchak Yashar, opened in 1971 and was expanded with an 11,300-square-foot Sculpture Garden (opened 1996) and the 32,300-square-foot Gabrielle Rich Wing (Dan Eytan, 1999).

Today is the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat, a historically minor Jewish holiday that has gained momentum and become an important day in Israeli history. While we all know that Rosh Hashana is the official new year for the Jewish calendar, today’s holiday of “Tu Bishvat” is celebrated as the “New Year of the Trees.” A symbolic day of revival and rejuvenation, it is often chosen as the inauguration date for Israel’s major institutions. For example, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, celebrates its birthday on Tu Bishvat. The cornerstone-laying of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem took place on Tu Bishvat in 1918, and the Technion in Haifa, which was recently announced to be partnering with Cornell to build New York City’s new high tech campus, was inaugurated on Tu Bishvat in 1925.

In a sense, the entire State of Israel, founded in 1948, embodies the spirit of Tu Bishvat. The sprawling forests in Israel are largely the result of afforestation efforts by organizations like the Jewish National Fund, which, thanks to planting over 240 million new trees, made Israel one of the only country in the world who entered the 21st century with a net increase in trees over the last century. While everyone knows the history of Jerusalem and its amazing history, perhaps it is Israel’s second largest city, Tel Aviv, that tells the story of “new Israel.”

Tel Aviv, famous today for its party scene and restaurants all situated next to gorgeous Mediterranean beaches, would have been unrecognizable a century ago. In the early 20th century, the area which is now Tel Aviv was nothing put sand dunes as far as the eye could see. When the population began to boom in the 1920s, Tel Aviv’s city council began to think about planning the new city to be able to expand by Patrick Geddes, a Scottish botanist. Today, Tel Aviv’s green imprint is evidenced every time you walk down its most famous streets, like Rothschild Boulevard, which features a “green belt.” This Saturday, February 10th, there will even be a special English-language tour of Tel Aviv’s “green” avenues.

Of course, like any good holiday, there needs to be delicious food! Think of it as a passover Seder, substituting matzoh and brisket with Israeli fruit and nuts. Check out this recipe below for an almond and orange braid (makes about 2 7″ braids), courtesy of Haaretz.

Say what you want about Madonna, but numbers don’t lie. The pop legend’s Super Bowl performance on Sunday was the most watched of all time, with 114 million people tuning in.  The next time she sings “Like a Virgin,” it will be to a maximum crowd of 8 million - assuming everyone in Israel attends her show in Tel Aviv. The 53-year old star can still bring it, and bring it she will on May 29th, when she begins her first tour since 2009.

The 2012 tour will include 90 shows, her most extensive yet, according to Arthur Fogel, CEO of Live Nation Global Touring, the worldwide producers of her tour. The tour is all going to promote her new album, “MDNA” which releases on March 26th. Tickets for the Tel Aviv show will go on sale February 10th, and you can bet they will be selling out in record time. In addition to Israel, her tour will take her to 26 European markets, and she’ll touch down in late summer for a series of 26 shows across North America, including a September 6th show at Yankee Stadium.

There’s a certain bit of symmetry with this tour. Her last tour, “Sticky & Sweet” wrapped up in Tel Aviv, where her upcoming tour is soon to begin. Israel of course has a very special place in Madonna’s heart, as she has long embraced Jewish mysticism, Kaballah.

By Vicki Cobb

Here, he is a household name, a national hero in the eyes of these bright students. Nine years after his untimely death, Ilan Ramon, the first and only Israeli to travel to space, is a powerful inspiration for the hundreds of Israeli students reaching for the stars.

On my recent trip to Israel, I witnessed the dedication of the Frank Family Aerospace Center at The Zimmetbaum High School in Arad, one of the schools in the ORT network. Dr. Charlotte K. Frank, a board member of the America –Israel Friendship League and Senior Vice-President of McGraw-Hill and its generous benefactor, launched a fully equipped computer classroom, planetarium and roof observatory to encourage today’s high school students to dream big.

Today, February 1^st, 2012 is the ninth anniversary of the shuttle Columbia’s ill-fated reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere after a fifteen-day mission at the International Space Station.  All seven of its astronauts perished, including payload specialist Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli Astronaut. Ilan’s mission sadly was never completed. On that Saturday afternoon, as two nations were holding their collective breaths, the Columbia mission came to its tragic end.

Ramon has become a contemporary Jewish hero and a symbol for Israel’s prominence in science and technology. For Israelis, they see Ramon’s legacy as a continuation of its founder, David Ben-Gurion. Ben-Gurion’s vision for Israel emphasized excellence in science and technology as essential for the survival of the Jewish State.  He felt that Israel’s place in the world would be defined by its achievements in science..

Today, Ben-Gurion’s vision is realized in Israel’s high-tech entrepreneurship, second only to Silicon Valley. The recently announced partnership between Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to create a state-of-the-art applied sciences campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City is just the latest example of foreign investment in Israel’s “Silicon Valley East.”

Ilan Ramon was a product of the Israeli education system, and a model for the nation’s values.  From my recent visit to Israel I learned that when it comes to being pioneers, Israelis are not only cultivating the arid land, but also not afraid to reach for the stars. Ilan Ramon’s legacy lives on.