SOUTH AFRICAN Ambassador Fumanekile Gqiba and his wife Vuyiswa were recently blessed with their third child, a sabra, who even if she loses her birth certificate and passport will never be able to forget where she was born. They've named her Israela. "We had no choice," said her proud father.
n IT MAY not work for everyone, but many people have discovered that there is life after retirement, and that it can often be rewarding. Ruth and Yitz Greenwald, well known in British Olim circles, used to manage Tack - Training Consultancy. Following their retirement a few years back, Yitz became an enthusiastic amateur cook. Recently one of the Greenwalds' dinner guests was Oshrit Yamin, who happens to be in public relations and who was aware that celebrity chef Israel Aharoni was in the process of putting together a new television series based on Jewish food from different countries. Having sampled Yitz Greenwald's culinary fare on several occasions, Yamin suggested that he would make a good candidate for the show, and could present cuisine eaten by British Jews. The outcome was that after being interviewed and videotaped several weeks ago, Greenwald passed the audition and last Thursday spent four hours at the Herzliya Studios while the episode in which he was participating was captured on camera. The 30-40 minute show moves along without any glitches and viewers who don't read the credits would never realize how many people are involved in lighting, cameras, make-up and other preparations to create that smooth effect.
At Aharoni's request, Greenwald brought along one of his fish pies, together with boiled and fried fish balls which his wife had made that morning. According to the Greenwalds, the frying of fish in oil was introduced in England during the 17th century by Sephardi Jews. The program began with Aharoni preparing a fish pie under Greenwald's direction, after which Greenwald helped Aharoni to make fish and chips. The session ended with a glorious English trifle produced by Aharoni.
Ruth Greenwald, who had never been in a television studio before, was fascinated to see what goes on behind the scenes, especially when it came to simultaneously watching the live action and the monitors. She was delighted with Aharoni's professionalism and his delicious sense of humor.
He and Greenwald had an instant rapport and got along very well. Aharoni, who is quite slim these days, used to have a much fuller figure and Greenwald asked him how he had managed to shed so much weight. Aharoni said that he works out for an hour in the gym every day and had managed to lose 30 kilos. Greenwald said that he had been somewhat concerned about the trimmed down Aharoni because there was a sign in the Greenwald kitchen that stated: 'You can't trust a skinny cook." Truth was, however, that the Greenwalds had brought it with them. Aharoni thought that this was a great hoot and asked Greenwald to bring it out on the show. He was so taken with it that he asked if he could keep it - and naturally the Greenwalds said that he could.
n THERE IS no denying that President Shimon Peres has become somewhat more aware of his Judaism, as distinct from merely being Jewish, since assuming the presidency. One of his first functions was to complete the writing of a Torah scroll, and since then he has been involved in similar events in Israel and abroad and he has participated in other religious activities. He has also revived the Bible Study group at Beit Hanassi. So it hardly comes as a surprise that he decided this year not to celebrate his 85th birthday on August 2, which is the actual date (though it was previously listed as August 16), but to wait until August 21, which coincides with the 20/21 of Av depending on the time of day that he was born. Of course that makes him nearly three weeks younger, but as so many of his guests have often commented, as far as having his finger on the pulse is concerned, he's usually the youngest person in the room.
n GUEST SPEAKER at the Israel, Britain and the Commonwealth Association luncheon last week was Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief David Horovitz who felt very much at home with an audience that largely consisted of British expats. It meant that he could talk the English that he'd been brought up to speak rather than American English, which is the style of the Jerusalem Post. Many of the American-born staff members of the Post, he said, don't know what he's talking about when he uses such typically British expressions as "a spanner in the works." Horovitz, who last spoke to IBCA 10 years ago, was happy to meet childhood friends of his mother as well as one of his former teachers from London's Jews' Free School.
Horovitz, who had been asked to speak about elections here and there, said that experience had shown the foolishness of trying to predict the results of forthcoming votes in Israel and the US. As for Israel and its present woes, Horovitz pointed out that by relative standards "things are great" in areas such as security and the economy, although he stressed the use of that word "relative" and said that the momentum in the region is profoundly discouraging. When analyzing Israel, he went on, we have a certain tendency for self-flagellation and sometimes underappreciate how much has been achieved here these past 60 years. Alluding to the corruption that has permeated the political arena, Horovitz said it was misleading to make comparisons between the leaders of today and the icons of yesteryear, "both because we did not scrutinize them then the way we do today" and "because we've raised our standards." Still, he said, when Israelis consider the propriety and the expertise of our public figures, there is a great deal of cause for concern.
n IT HAD become an annual tradition for journalist Eric Silver and his wife Bridget to give this columnist a ride back to Jerusalem from the residence of the British Ambassador following the celebration of the Queen's birthday. They didn't follow through this year because they were abroad. Then Eric fell ill and was subsequently diagnosed with the aggressive cancer that took his life only a few weeks later. Although he was given large editorial obituaries in both The Jerusalem Post and Ha'aretz on the day of his funeral, not everyone who would have wanted to pay their last respects found out in sufficient time to get there by mid-morning, nor did they necessarily find time to pay a condolence call on the family. But many did get in touch with Bridget Silver, not only to express their sorrow but to ask for sufficient advance warning so that they would not miss the consecration of the tombstone at Har Hamenuhot in Givat Shaul.
