Jerusalem’s Jaffe family is well-known for its connections with the Great
Synagogue. It is also known as a musical family as well as a family that
is deeply committed to United Hatzalah, which provides prompt medical services
for the sick and injured. That would explain the presence of a fleet of Hatzalah
ambucycles in the plaza of the Great Synagogue last week as members of the
Jaffes’ extended family of United Hatzalah volunteers came to celebrate the end
of bachelorhood for Arie Jaffe and to provide a motorcycle escort for him and
his bride, Michal Greenberg, from the synagogue to Teddy Hall where the wedding
feast was held.
Arie Jaffe, a United Hatzalah paramedic, is so dedicated
to saving lives and alleviating pain that on the Saturday prior to his wedding
when just after he was called to the Torah he was alerted to an emergency
situation in the street outside the synagogue, he rushed outside without
hesitation. An elderly man had been hit by a car and was seriously injured.
Jaffe’s brothers and cousins, who are all medics, brought lifesaving equipment
from the synagogue and did what they could to assist the man until the arrival
of a Magen David Adom mobile intensive care unit. So it was small wonder that
there was a large United Hatzalah representation at the wedding, from founder
and president Eli Beer and chairman Zev Kashash to younger paramedics in their
late teens and 20s. The groom’s father, Elli Jaffe, is an acclaimed
international conductor in addition to his work as choir master at the Great
Synagogue, so it was par for the course that this particular wedding would be
exceptionally musical – and indeed it was.
The choir was in excellent
form, as were cantors Moshe Stern and Yaakov Motzen and singers Avremi Roth and
Yonatan Razel, who individually serenaded the bridal couple. The happiness of
the bride and groom was reflected in the way they smiled at each other
throughout the ceremony, which was much more extensive than is generally the
case.
This was almost like a royal wedding, with grandparents of the
bridal couple being escorted down the aisle to the accompaniment of a group of
musicians. Accompanied by her own mother and the mother of the groom, who each
carried twinkling candles, the bride was led to the dais in the center of the
synagogue, where she sat on a sofa as she awaited the groom, who had been led to
the bridal canopy by the two fathers. The groom then donned a white kittel
(ceremonial robe) with a little help from his mother, Jacqueline Jaffe, who by
that time had moved to join those members of the wedding party who were standing
beneath and around the canopy in front of the ark. The groom was led by the two
fathers to veiled the bride’s face and was led back to the bridal canopy by his
parents, after which the bride was led to the canopy by her parents, Aryeh and
Orit Greenberg of Givat Shmuel. The mother of the bride looked so youthful that
many people mistook her for one of the matrons of honor, especially because her
stunning black gown fitted in with the purple-and-white color scheme of the
matrons of honor and flower girls.
The ceremony was conducted by Tel Aviv
Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, who knows both families well and was able to speak
about them with familiarity. He noted that the groom’s late grandfather, Major
Maurice Jaffe, who had initiated and supervised the construction of the Great
Synagogue, would have been very proud to see his grandson married there. He said
he was delighted to see the groom’s grandmother, Ella Jaffe, who has remained an
influential force at the synagogue.
All of the groom’s uncles and
brothers, each sporting a lilac tie, participated in the official ceremony.
Toward the end of the ceremony, as the groom was about to break the glass in
memory of the destruction of the Temple, the whole congregation sang, “If I
should forget thee O Jerusalem.” At the conclusion of the ceremony the ark was
opened and the bride and groom turned toward the Torah scrolls in a moment of
private contemplation, after which they were ushered out by a group of singing
and dancing relatives and friends, made up mostly of members of United Hatzalah.
Guests included many religious figures, such as Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo
Moshe Amar; United Torah Judaism MK Yisrael Eichler, who is also an emissary and
spokesman for the Belzer Rebbe; Science and Technology Minister Prof. Rabbi
Daniel Hershkowitz; former justice minister Moshe Nissim and his wife Ruth;
director-general of Shaare Zedek Medical Center Prof. Jonathan Halevy; former
cabinet secretary Aryeh Naor and his wife, Supreme Court Justice Miriam Naor;
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra director-general and former prime ministerial
advisor Yair Stern; and retired diplomat and bestselling author Yehuda Avner and
his wife Mimi, who will soon be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary.
Later, at the elegant wedding feast, wandering violinists walked around the
tables playing to the guests.
■ THEIR FAMILIES knew each other in
Zimbabwe when it was still Rhodesia. Jerusalemite Audrey Alhadeff
Shimron, executive director of Hadassah’s Offices in Israel, and Sol Chadowitz,
a New Jersey-based Judaica artist, met at the dedication of the ner tamid
(“eternal light”) that Chadowitz created and donated to the Moshe Saba Masri
Synagogue in Hadassah’s new Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower. Chadowitz
expressed his delight not only at the reunion, but also for where the permanent
home of one of his creations would be. “I am grateful that I could accept this
commission and that my work would be here in Jerusalem,” he said. The eternal
light, in copper and three colors of blown glass, resembles an oil lamp and
flame.
■ FOR AUSTRALIANS and New Zealanders, the most significant day in
the calendar is Anzac Day, commemorated in Australia on April 25. Anzac
Day ceremonies were initially held in memory of members of the Australian and
New Zealand Army Corps who fell in the Gallipoli Campaign during the World War
I, but later included Anzacs who paid the supreme sacrifice in any battle. The
date was chosen in respect to the huge number of casualties suffered during the
pre-dawn-landing by the Anzacs in Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. Altogether 8,709
Australians and and 2,721 New Zealanders died in the Gallipoli
campaign.
Gallipoli has become an annual place of pilgrimage for
Australians and New Zealanders, especially those descended from the original
Anzacs who fought there, but also for Australian and New Zealand political
leaders. Yet according to Barry Rodgers, one of the directors of the Australian
Light Horse Association (ALHA), “there’s more Anzac history in Israel than there
is in Turkey.” In fact, Rodgers intends to make sure that Israel receives a
permanent place on the map of ALHA delegations traveling to areas in which
Anzacs have been involved in conflict.
He made the declaration on Sunday
at the dedication of a monument that is temporarily housed on the lawns of
Kinneret College, where a tribute ceremony was held this week in memory of the
14 soldiers killed in the battle for the Semakh Train Station adjacent to the
college, which is located on the banks of the Sea of Galilee.
It was
quite a sight to see 15 of the grandchildren of the Australian forces who fought
there 94 years ago come riding on horseback across the lawn, dressed in WWI army
uniforms.
The battle was one of the last cavalry charges in Western
warfare and is a fascinating story that captures the nostalgia of another era,
said Dr. Giora Goodman, a historian and professor of the Department of Land of
Israel Studies at Kinneret College. Other speakers included college president
Prof.
Shlomo Gepstein; Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser; head of the Society
for the Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites Omri Shalmon; chairman of the
Society for the Preservation of the History of World War I Avi Navon; and
Australian Ambassador Andrea Faulkner, who said that she was impressed by the
care shown by Kinneret College and various societies to this aspect of history,
which is such a significant sign of friendship between Australia and
Israel.
Most of the speakers spoke about the importance of the battle in
liberating the north of the country from Ottoman rule and the role of the
victory in shaping the future of the world. Kinneret College, the Society for
Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites, the Jordan Valley Regional Council, the
Rashi Foundation, the Prime Minister’s Office and Israel Railways have joined
forces to restore the historic train station at Semakh and to maintain the
history of the heroism that took place on the site by transferring Kinneret
College’s Center for Land of Israel Studies to the restored building. For Edward
and James, the grandson and great-grandson of Howard Hedley Taylor of the 11th
Light Horse Regiment, who was killed in action on September 25, 1918, this was a
great moment of closure. Grandson Edward has been researching Australia’s role
in the Palestine Campaign for years and was finally able to stand in the very
place where his grandfather died a heroic death.
The event was a mix of
sadness and joy. The sad part was when Rodgers asked people to remember
the horrors of the battle and the fear of the horses against the sound of
bullets and artillery. But the joy was the rousing rendition of “Waltzing
Matilda” led by folk singer/guitarist Kent Paisley, who lives on nearby Kibbutz
Hamadiya in the Beit She’an Valley with his Israeli wife Ilanit and their two
children, Eitan and Sinai. Paisley’s grandfather served in the 10th Light Horse
Regiment in the Sinai Desert.
Standing out in the crowd among the 40 or
so visiting Australians was Elizabeth Dillon Hensley, dressed in the red-caped
uniform that was worn by nurses during the WWI.
Her grandmother, Elsie
May Marsh, had been a nurse in the region and her grandfather, Dr. Horace
Downing had tended to wounded soldiers. Her grandparents met in Dartmouth, Kent
where both had been sent to look after wounded soldiers during their
rehabilitation, and later went back to Australia to get married. Many
Australians living in Israel or on a special course, such as a group of students
from Melbourne’s Mount Scopus College, were also present, as was another
visiting Melbournian, Richmond Football Club CEO Brendon Gale, who was on his
first visit to Israel but promised it wouldn’t be his last. Several of the ALHA
people also pledged to return.
■ UNLIKE THE situation in the employment
sector, there is no cut-off age for people who want to run for the Knesset. It’s
not certain whether former MK and former Israel Ambassador to the United States
Zalman Shoval is the oldest person with a finger in the political pie in the
current Knesset election contest, but perhaps if he gets in, Shoval, who
according to Calcalist, the economic tabloid published by
Yediot Aharonot, is
running on a Likud ticket, may propose legislation that enables all capable
people regardless of age to remain on the job for as long as they are able to do
it properly, without being forced to go out on pension.
Shoval is 82 and
is a successful banker and a partner in an upscale real estate development
company. While it’s doubtful that President Shimon Peres will yield to pressures
to return to the political arena as head of a left-leaning coalition, the fact
that people are looking to the 89-year-old for leadership is yet another proof
that clichés, while holding a grain of truth, do not represent the whole truth.
In other words, the world does not belong exclusively to the young.
■ IN
OTHER quasi-political news, the fact that he’s ranked high on the Yisrael
Beytenu Knesset list did not interfere with Yair Shamir’s other business at
hand. Shamir, 67, who is the son of late prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, who died
this year, is the chairman and managing partner of Catalyst Investments, which,
together with Cukierman Investment House Ltd., runs the prestigious annual
Go4Europe Conference. The 10th such conference opened this week at the Tel Aviv
Hilton. The aim of the conference was to address current fundraising issues and
to establish strategic alliances in Europe with a major focus on the hi-tech,
biotech and green-tech industries.
The conference hosted key
decision-makers, business representatives and parliamentarians from Israel,
Europe and Russia. The long list of senior speakers included: Israel’s Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Intelligence Dan Meridor; OTTO Group general manager Luc Muller; Agricapital
Corporation chairman Rurik Halaby; Skolkovo Foundation Chief Investment Officer
Alexandre Lupachev; Rainbow Medical chairman Yossi Gross; Linde Healthcare head
of innovation and development Bob Lieberman; former Edmund de Rothschild Group
CEO, director of Cukierman & Co. and vice president of the World Jewish
Congress Roger Cukierman; Novartis Venture Funds managing director
Dr. Florent Gros; and technology guru Yossi Vardi. In the course of
conference, Michael Federmann, who heads the boards of Elbit and the Dan Hotel
Chain, was given a Life Achievement Award in recognition of his contribution to
Israeli industry and the strengthening of relations between Israel and
Europe.
The presentation was made by Shamir, who said that he and
Federmann had known each other for some 25 years, since the time when Shamir
retired from the IDF and went on to head Scitex, from where he proceeded on to
the Elite chocolate company.
Soon after, Shamir had received an angry
phone call from Federmann’s father, the late Yekutiel Federmann, who had yelled
at him: “What do you think you’re doing? Don’t you know that Israel’s future
lies in technology?” Shamir had been somewhat embarrassed, but he knew that the
senior Federmann was right, and after two years returned to his natural
technological habitat as the chairman of Israel Aerospace Industries.
■
THE EUROPEAN Union has an important peacemaking role in the Middle East, not
just for the sake of Israel but for all the peoples of the region, President
Shimon Peres told High Representative of Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for
the European Union Baroness Catherine Ashton when the two met at his official
residence last week.
Ashton, who was an hour late, came to the meeting
directly from an earlier meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who had
kept her waiting. When Ashton arrived, Peres congratulated her on the European
Union joining the list of Nobel Peace Prize laureates and said that contrary to
some opinions, he firmly believes that the EU was deserving of the award.
Everyone was criticizing Europe for the economic crisis, he said, but for the
first time in 1,000 years, there is no war in Europe. It is better to have no
war and a budgetary crisis than the other way around; “People don’t understand
the value of peace,” he said. He also commended the EU for trying to prevent war
in the Middle East and noted that there is a lot of bloodshed in the region. The
fact the Europe, the United States and the United Nations took sanctions against
Iran is much better than bloodshed, he said. By continuing in this vein, the EU
will not only avoid bloodshed in the Middle East, he added, but will save Iran
from itself.
He was confident that the sanctions are beginning to have
effect and that Iran is becoming convinced that it must bow to international
pressure. “If we can bring Iran to peace and responsibility, let’s do it
economically without belligerence,” he said. What the EU and the US have done
against great odds, declared Peres, “is a concert for peace.” Acknowledging that
Europe has a long history of fighting but a short history of cooperation and
collaboration, Ashton said that coming together to solve problems was a far
better option. The EU which is currently made up of 27 member countries will
soon have once more, which is very significant, she said, by way of proving that
cooperation is contagious.
She was hopeful that the EU would find a way
to overcome the tragedies and challenges confronting the world because
“bloodshed is the worst alternative.”
■ VETERAN JOURNALIST Izhak
Hildesheimer, who currently works for Makor Rishon, who was among the
journalists who went to Ethiopia to write about the last of the Ethiopian Jews
who will be brought to Israel, accompanied the planeload of Falash Mura who
arrived in Israel from Ethiopia this week. For Hildesheimer it was more than
just a journalistic assignment. It was the fulfillment of a lifelong
dream.
His great-great grandfather, Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer of
Eisenstadt, Germany, who was a noted halachic authority, in 1864 accepted the
Ethiopian Jewish community as true Jews and called for them to be recognized as
such. By 1908, his ruling had been endorsed by chief rabbis of 45
countries.
Hildesheimer was of course not the first leading rabbi to
issue such a ruling. Records show that Egypt’s Chief Rabbi, David ben Solomon
ibn Avi Zimra (Radbaz), recognized the Ethiopian Jewish community some 500 years
ago.
■ IT IS amazing what people will do to raise money for a good
cause. Many take part in marathon races in which they are sponsored for
distance ridden, run or swam. Others may do more dangerous things, such as
climbing high mountains. A case in point is Dr. Godwin Godfrey, a surgeon from
Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza, Tanzania, who spent four-and-ahalf years
training in pediatric cardiac surgery at the Wolfson Medical Center (WMC)
through Save a Child’s Heart. His training was funded by the Isadore and Bertha
Gudelsky Foundation.
Godfrey decided to join the Climb your Heart Out
group on Mount Kilamanjaro in an attempt to reach SACH’s fundraising goal of a
million dollars. The climb, organized by the Friends of Save a Child’s Heart in
Melbourne, Australia, also included Americans, Brits, Israelis and Tanzanians.
Although the climb was tough and the weather vicious, all the participants
responded to the challenge and reached the summit, albeit without quite
completing the million dollar goal. The sum raised so far is $904,000.
■
BRITISH AMBASSADOR Matthew Gould and wife Celia scored a hat trick in that this
week they launched the third Holocaust survivors’ club in Bnei Brak. The Café
Britannia club for the ultra-Orthodox community actually opened its doors in May
2012 for a running in period and is now fully functional with a variety of
activities. Some 100 Holocaust survivors attend the club. Programs focus on
health issues, exercise classes, lectures on healthy ways of living and other
activities, as well as enrichment programs and lectures related to the life
style of the haredi community.
At the opening ceremony Gould said, “We
believe very firmly that you deserve respect. And you deserve to be
happy. And you deserve our thanks because after everything you’ve been
through, you came here and built this country. Therefore Café Britannia
is our way to say thank you. It’s our way, the way of the Jewish community in
the UK, to say thank you. This is why we are setting up these clubs throughout
Israel.”
Four more clubs will be established by the end of 2014. This
will be done with the assistance of Israel’s Ministry for Welfare Services and
the Foundation for the Benefit of the Holocaust Victims in Israel.
One of
the community’s primary issues is loneliness, and the clubs’ objective is to
help the community to cope with this problem..
■ CONVENTIONAL WISDOM says
that in Israel, everything is politics. But it’s amazing how many politicians
who are standing for Knesset election take time out for sport. Former prime
minister Ehud Olmert is known for being an avid sports fan who can reel off
local and international statistics with computer-like speed and
accuracy.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman is also a sports fan, and on
Tuesday when interviewed in the early morning by Israel Radio’s Yaakov Ahimeir,
who wanted to know about the essence of the Likud-Yisrael Beytenu agreement,
Liberman, before turning to the subject at hand, congratulated Beitar Jerusalem
on its dramatic victory over Hapoel Tel Aviv which had been witnessed the
previous evening by some 18,000 spectators, and commented that he hoped that
this was indicative that Beitar is returning to its former
glory.
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