Ra

Ra or Re, in Egyptian religion, sun god, one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. Ra was chief of the cosmic deities and was sometimes called the creator and father of all things. Early Egyptian kings alleged descent from him and added his name to their own royal titles. Ra had several manifestations, the most common being those of the hawk and the lion. He was depicted as sailing across the sky in a celestial barge during the day and battling the forces of evil and darkness by night. Various other Egyptian gods were frequently identified with him, such as Amon and Atum.

Ra, symbol for the element radium.

ancient Thera formerly Santorini

Island, southern Cyclades, Greece. The remaining half of an exploded volcano, it surrounds a lagoon with volcanic cliffs rising to almost 1,000 ft (300 m). It was settled in the Bronze Age; Minoan remains date to before 2000 BC. One of the largest known volcanic eruptions occurred on the island circa 1500 BC, depositing ash and pumice as far away as Egypt and Israel. The eruption has been linked to such phenomena as the miracles of the Exodus and the sinking of Atlantis. Excavations have revealed a rich Minoan city buried under the volcanic debris. It was resettled by Dorian invaders circa 1000 BC.

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or Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen

(born March 27, 1845, Lennep, Prussia—died Feb. 10, 1923, Munich, Ger.) German physicist. He taught at the Universities of Giessen (1879–88), Würzburg (1888–1900), and Munich (1900–20). In 1895 he discovered rays that did not exhibit properties such as reflection or refraction and mistakenly thought they were unrelated to light. Because of their mysterious nature, he called them X-rays. He later produced the first X-ray photographs, showing the interiors of metal objects and the bones in his wife's hand. He also did important research in a wide variety of other fields. In 1901 he was awarded the first Nobel Prize for Physics.

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(born Nov. 28, 1887, Munich, Ger.—died July 1, 1934, Munich-Stadelheim) German leader of the SA. He rose to the rank of major in World War I. Soon thereafter, he helped found the Nazi Party. A supporter of Adolf Hitler, he offered Hitler the use of his private strong-arm force (later the SA). After brief imprisonment for his part in the Beer Hall Putsch (1923), Röhm went to Bolivia as a military instructor (1925–30), but he was recalled by Hitler to reorganize and command the SA. Röhm's ambition that the SA supplant or absorb the regular army came to be opposed by Hitler and his advisers. On the pretext that he and the SA were preparing to overthrow Hitler, Röhm was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives.

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Estuary of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, between Uruguay and Argentina. It is about 180 mi (290 km) long, with a maximum width of 136 mi (219 km) at its mouth, but it narrows gradually to the northwest as it approaches Buenos Aires. Discovered by the Spanish in 1516, it was explored by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520 and by Sebastian Cabot (1526–29). The first permanent settlement in the area was at Asunción in 1537.

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(born April 4, 1858, Bazoches-en-Houlmes, France—died Sept. 27, 1915, Paris) French novelist, poet, playwright, and philosopher. He worked 10 years at the national library; his dismissal resulted from an allegedly unpatriotic article in the Mercure de France, a journal he had cofounded. A painful skin disease later kept him a semirecluse. One of the most intelligent critics from the Symbolist movement, he had a major role in disseminating its aesthetic doctrines. His 50 published volumes are mainly collections of essays.

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River, western Russia. Europe's longest river and the principal waterway of western Russia, it rises in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow and flows 2,193 mi (3,530 km) southeastward to empty into the Caspian Sea. It is used for power production, irrigation, flood control, and transportation. The river has played an important part in the life of the Russian people, and in Russian folklore it is characteristically named “Mother Volga.”

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Estuary of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, between Uruguay and Argentina. It is about 180 mi (290 km) long, with a maximum width of 136 mi (219 km) at its mouth, but it narrows gradually to the northwest as it approaches Buenos Aires. Discovered by the Spanish in 1516, it was explored by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520 and by Sebastian Cabot (1526–29). The first permanent settlement in the area was at Asunción in 1537.

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(born April 4, 1858, Bazoches-en-Houlmes, France—died Sept. 27, 1915, Paris) French novelist, poet, playwright, and philosopher. He worked 10 years at the national library; his dismissal resulted from an allegedly unpatriotic article in the Mercure de France, a journal he had cofounded. A painful skin disease later kept him a semirecluse. One of the most intelligent critics from the Symbolist movement, he had a major role in disseminating its aesthetic doctrines. His 50 published volumes are mainly collections of essays.

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Ra'anana (lit. "Fresh") is a city in the southern Sharon Plain of the Central District of Israel. Ra'anana is bordered by Kfar Saba on the east and Herzliya on the west. In 2006, it had a population of 80,000.

History

Ra'anana was founded in 1921 by the Ahuza Alef Society of New York, one of several societies formed in the United States to purchase land in Palestine and establish Jewish agricultural plantations.

On April 2, 1922, the first group of pioneers from the USA and Canada, consisting of four members of the Ahuza society, three laborers and two armed guards, set out by wagon from Tel Aviv and pitched a tent on the land. In its early days, the settlement was called "Raananya." The Arab neighbors called it "Amerikiya" because so many of the early residents spoke English.

Demography

Ra'anana has a large English-speaking population. The number of French immigrants is also on the rise.

Industry & Commerce

Ra'anana has an industrial zone in the north of the city and is home to many high-tech companies, among them Emblaze, Hewlett-Packard, SAP, Texas Instruments, Amdocs and NICE Systems. Microsoft's head office in Israel is located in Ra'anana. Ahuza Street, Ra'anana's main boulevard which runs through the city from east to west, is lined with shops, restaurants and cultural centers.

Education

The city has 12 elementary schools, 10 middle schools and 8 high-schools. Education level in Ra'anana is considered to be one of Israel's highest. It also has special educational frameworks for gifted students and for students with different disabilities such as autism.

Parks and museums

The park of Raanana is the largest urban park in the Sharon area. The park was established for the benefit and pleasure of Ra'anana's residents and the city's visitors. The Ra'anana Municipality invested a large budget in establishing the park and continues to invest in its ongoing development. The park's administration and employees ensure its cleanliness and upkeep as well as the security of its facilities for the welfare of its visitors. It offers myriad possibilities for rest and relaxation, walking and bike paths, as well as activities on the sports fields and a visit to the zoological garden with its petting corner for children. In addition the park offers a beautiful lake. Its clover shape is reminiscent of Raanana's city emblem. There are two fountains in the lake and pedestrians can cross over it on the bridge. The lake is surrounded by special gardens, including the Seven Species garden, and there are pleasant shaded walking paths alongside the lake.

The Founders Museum presents the story and lifestyle of Raanana's original settlers, from the arrival of "the Ahuza Alef-New York Association" (at the beginning of the century) until Raanana became an official local council in 1936.

Religion

Though the majority of Ra'anana residents are secular, there is a sizable religious minority, mainly consisting of Modern Orthodox Jews, many of whom are Western immigrants. There are several synagogues around the city, and there is also a small Hasidic community of Clevelander Hasidim, led by the Clevelander Rebbe of Ra'anana, Rabbi Yitzchok Rosenbaum. The chief rabbi of the city is Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz.

Sports

The main soccer club of the city is Hapoel Ra'anana. In basketball, the city is represented by Bnei Hasharon who play at the MetroWest high school. With a large population of American expatriates, the Ra'anana Express are an inaugural team in the Israel Baseball League.

Mayors

• Baruch Ostrovsky (1931-1959)
• Michael Pasweig
• Yitzhak Skolnik
• Benyamin Wolfovich
• Zeev Bielski (1989-2005)
• Nahum Hofree (2005 - present)

Twin cities

- Opsterland (Netherlands), since 1963 (Being the first to twin, a central street in the city is named "Opsterland".) - Bramsche (Germany), since 1978 - Boulogne-Billancourt (France), since 1994 - Verona (Italy), since 1998 - Tainan (Taiwan), since 1999 - Atlanta (United States), since 2001 - Goslar (Germany), since 2006 References External links Official municipal website North Raanana's Environment Organization