Grapevine: Putting the truth out there

Two Hebrew University students plan to launch an Internet site with the aim of testing the veracity of what politicians say.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Netanyahu holding document 521 (photo credit: Courtesy/Wikicommons)
Netanyahu holding document 521
(photo credit: Courtesy/Wikicommons)
■ TWO HEBREW University students, Shani Keynan and Sefi Keller, plan to launch an Internet site next month with the aim of testing the veracity of what politicians say. It’s not a matter of promises they make and don’t keep but of statements paraded as gospel that are not entirely true or are downright lies. With Knesset elections scheduled for some time in 2013, it’s important for the voting public to know which politicians are more trustworthy than others.
Keynan, 26, and Keller 23, do not have a particular axe to grind. Keynan is secular and a member of the Labor Party’s Young Guard, a factor that will not prevent him from catching any member of the Labor leadership out in a lie, while Keller is religious and identifies with the Right. The name of their site is Politiwatch.
■ THERE WERE several celebrations at the Hazvi Yisrael synagogue in Talbiyeh this past Shabbat, but the one that seemed to touch everyone most was the 90th birthday of Eliezer Zylberman, who has been the congregation’s treasurer for the past 45 years. Zylberman also calls out for the kohanim to deliver the priestly blessing each week, and last Shabbat he also read the Haftara in a clear, firm voice.
Afterwards, Larry Wachsman, another longtime congregant, seeking to compliment him, wished him well on his 80th birthday.
Zylberman wasn’t buying it. “You can’t fool me with numbers,” he said. “I’m an accountant.”
Aside from donating his time and his services and a library to the congregation, Zylberman has donated two Torah scrolls, one of which belonged to his great-grandfather, who was killed in an Arab riot in the Old City.
■ CHANGING HIS status has become a habit for well-known Jerusalem businessman Simo Tobol who, inter alia, is the owner of Canela, a midtown restaurant often frequented by government ministers and lesser politicians. Last month Tobol celebrated his new status as honorary consul of Moldova. A week later he inaugurated his logistics center for construction supplies for building contractors and commercial enterprises in Modi’in, and this week at a glittering event at The Avenue in Airport City, he married his longtime significant other, Ronit Sultan.
It’s difficult to say which of the three events excited him more, but it’s safe to say that from a business point of view, for him and his brothers Boaz and Oren, the logistics center in the Modi’in industrial zone appears to be a good investment. Building contractors and real-estate developers from all over the country showed up at the inauguration, which was also attended by Modi’in Mayor Haim Bibas, Modi’in city engineer Rami Ziv, a large representation of the Tobol family and all the senior executives of the Tobol Group.
■ FANS OF the Hassidic Song Festivals of bygone years showed up in droves at Beit Avi Chai this week and were able to travel down memory lane as clips from the various song festivals were projected behind live performers – in some cases, older versions of the people on screen. Among the singers were Duo Reim, Miri Aloni, Jimmy Lloyd, Edna Lev, Hanan Yovel, Shuli Natan and Dano Golan belting out the songs they sang at the festivals.
The song that Shuli Natan sang was not part of any hassidic song festival, but it has become the anthem of the capital and the substitute anthem of the nation. It was, of course, “Jerusalem of Gold,” a song that has penetrated the hearts and souls of Jews everywhere, as so many of the songs written by Naomi Shemer have done. The audience spontaneously joined in as did the orchestra conducted by Menashe Lev- Ran, who used to conduct the orchestra at the Hassidic Song Festivals.