The Provost of Trinity College, Tom Mitchell, returned this week from a visit to Israel with his wife and Prof Sean Freyne, acting director of the Chaim Herzog Centre for Judaic and Middle Eastern Studies. The Israeli Ambassador, Zvi Gabay, said the Trinity group established contacts with Israeli academics, particularly at the Chaim Herzog Centre at Ben Gurion University. Herzog, who was born in Dublin, was the sixth president of the state of Israel. He died a year ago this month. Gabay recently presented the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, with a copy of Living History, Herzog's autobiography. Israel has issued a special commemorative stamp, above left, to mark the first anniversary of his death.