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Medical marijuana advocate Montel Williams was speaking recently in the basement of Washington, DC's Israel Baptist Church to a group of 150 residents of the neighborhood. The mission of the popular former US talk show host and sufferer of multiple sclerosis? To gain the support of the residents for his plan to open a medical marijuana facility on a nearby street.

Read more: Israel’s medical marijuana program wins praise

Squares, circles and triangles.

For Israeli designer Ronen Chen (www.ronenchen.com), fashion is about geometry.

"There was absolutely nothing in my background that pointed to fashion design," says Chen, born in 1965 in Ramat Gan just east of Tel Aviv. "I thought I would be an architect, because I liked lines and geometric shapes and I knew how to draw."

Read more: Ronen Chen's inexpensive designer success

In the face of the natural catastrophe that has beset Bulgaria and caused the regrettable loss of life, Israel wishes to express its full solidarity with the Bulgarian people.

Israel conveys its sympathy to Bulgaria and would like to assure its citizens of our compassion and support on their day of mourning. We stand firmly on the side of our Bulgarian friends and are willing to do whatever they require in order to bring assistance and support.

Our thoughts and feelings of friendship are with the people and government of Bulgaria in this difficult time. We send our condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones, and our wishes of quick recovery to all those injured and affected by this disaster.

Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar—celebrated this year on Wednesday, February 8, 2012—is the day that marks the beginning of a “New Year for Trees.” This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

Legally, the “New Year for Trees” relates to the various tithes that are separated from produce grown in the Holy Land. These tithes differ from year to year in the seven-year shemittah cycle; the point at which a budding fruit is considered to belong to the next year of the cycle is the 15th of Shevat.

We mark the day of Tu B’Shevat by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. On this day we remember that “man is a tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19) and reflect on the lessons we can derive from our botanical analogue.