Africa, at least Kenya, has been blessedly out of the news today. We are more than halfway to Shavuot and writing every day has become difficult. What will I say today that will be meaningful? And then it happens!
I have a friend, Yossi Abramowitz, Yosef to you now that he is wearing a suit. He is wearing a suit because he is now running for President of Israel. Really. Why? Because he believes in Israel. He has lived there now for 10ish years. His mother is my good friend Devora Abramowitz with whom I celebrated lots of chaggim together with and from whom I inherited much of Yossi’s library when he moved with his wife Rabbi Susan Silverman to Israel. Our congregation in Lowell boasts the first solar ner tamid (eternal light) in the country. But Yossi has taken solar power to a whole different level. His company, Arava Power Company, founded with David Rosenblatt and Ed Hofland at Kibbutz Ketura. Its goal is to supply 10% of Israel’s electricity needs through solar energy. He has called solar energy, the “energy of peace”; in an 2008 interview he said “To realize that the same sun shines equally on all of us, is owned by none of us, and can supply our energy needs in abundance, inherently promotes peace. The sun doesn’t recognize borders.” “A Renewable Light to the Nations: An Interview with Arava Power Company’s Yossi Abramowitz”
This was Yossi’s Facebook Status today:
