Interestingly, the diplomatic ties between Estonia and the region of Palestine have a longer history. The Republic of Estonia appointed an Honorary Consul to the British Governor of Palestine in 1929 and the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Estonia was located at Litwinsky House. Today, Estonia and the State of Israel consider themselves similar in many ways. Both countries are proud of being modern young states ready to accept the technological and security challenges of the 21st century. Both countries are recognized world leaders in the IT and cyber security realm and both boast an impressive number of start-up companies. The contacts and cooperation between Estonia and Israel, in their private as well as public sectors, are expanding to include the whole realm of economic and technological innovation.
A Jewish presence in Estonia was first recorded in 1333, but their numbers remained small until the 18th century. The Republic of Estonia granted Jews cultural autonomy in 1926 – the first country in Europe to do so. This cultural autonomy was renounced in 1940 as a result of the Soviet occupation and restored after Estonia regained its independence in 1991.
Today there is a smaller, but very dynamic and active Jewish community in Estonia, numbering approximately 2000 members. There is a synagogue (reopened in 2010) and Jewish Cultural Center in Tallinn as well as a Jewish school, kindergarten and social center.
The Litwinsky House is an outstanding architectural building in Tel Aviv. It was built by Yaakov Elhanan Litwinsky (1852-1916), a well-known businessman who immigrated from Odessa. Before that he had purchased one of the original sixty-six lots in Ahuzat Bayit, the nucleus of the future Tel Aviv. The house he built with his family at 22 Achad Ha’am Street was one of the most impressive homes in the new neighborhood.
Christian tradition calls the village of Ein Karem, located to the west of Jerusalem, the "City of Judea". The Virgin Mary visited Ein Karem while carrying her unborn child Jesus and according to the New Testament, she met her cousin St. Elizabeth there, while she was also pregnant with her son, John the Baptist. On the hillside above the village there is a large, magnificent gold-domed church which is part of the Russian convent complex that was built in honor of that visit. Construction of the convent and the church began in the 19th century, initiated by the head of the Russian religious mission to the Holy Land. These buildings reflect the deep Russian religious involvement in Eretz Israel toward the end of the Ottoman Period, when tens of thousands of devout Russians made the pilgrimage to the Holy Land every year.
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