Grapevine: Talking of governmental ethics

The extent to which members of the government abide by or violate the rules of ethics will be discussed at the Jerusalem Center for Ethics.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Olmert in court on day of sentencing, May 13 (photo credit: POOL)
Olmert in court on day of sentencing, May 13
(photo credit: POOL)
THE INCARCERATION of a former president, the trial of a former prime minister, aspersions of sexual harassment which put a blot on the reputation of a senior government minister, the recent release from prison of a former finance minister and the upcoming trials of two or three mayors on charges of corruption, may have titillated a broad sector of the Israeli public, but have shocked others.
The above are only some instances of misconduct on the part of high-ranking public servants. The resultant publicity to which each has been subjected has caused many qualified candidates for other important public service roles to have second thoughts, and decide not to run – for fear that a skeleton in the cupboard, which may have been so minor they forgot about it, will be brought to the surface by relentless news hounds and come back to haunt them.
The extent to which members of the government and the Knesset abide by or violate the rules of ethics will be discussed on Sunday, June 8, at the Jerusalem Center for Ethics in Mishkenot Sha’ananim. Participants in the day-long conference will include present and past justice ministers Tzipi Livni and Yaakov Neeman; former Supreme Court judges Dorit Beinisch and Eliyahu Matza; legal experts Profs. Suzie Navot, Yitzhak Zamir and Mordechai Kremnitzer; Israel’s foremost authority on ethics Prof.
Asa Kasher; MKs Tzachi Hanegbi (a former justice minister who was found guilty of a breach of ethics) and Miki Rosenthal; as well as former MKs, journalists who cover the Knesset and other well-known figures.
Among other subjects, they will be discussing how ministers and MKs will relate to lobbyists and external forces with vested interests, under the new rules of ethics.
RARE THOUGH it is for the National Library on the Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus to have an event in English, the one it had last night, with Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks speaking on “Home of the Book for the People of the Book,” was a sell-out well in advance of his lecture. There is a possibility for those who missed out to hear him tomorrow morning at the Great Synagogue, but here too only the early birds will enjoy that privilege – because the synagogue can cope with only so much overflow, and then will have to close its doors.
FOR CENTURIES the two main languages of Diaspora Jews were Yiddish and Ladino. A concert of folk songs in both languages as well as Hebrew will be given by the orchestra of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, under the trilingual title “Zise Kinder Yoren,” “Shnot Yaldut Metukot” and “Dulses Anyos De Mi Chikes” – all of which translate to “Sweet Childhood Years.” The concert, at 1 p.m. on Friday, June 6 at the National Library, has been arranged by composer and musician Racheli Galai, who will also be moderating the event.
Entry is free of charge, but advance registration is essential. Telephone 074-733-6336.
YET ANOTHER synagogue is going up in the Old City. This week, in the presence of many rabbis and other dignitaries, Construction and Housing Minister Uri Ariel, together with Deputy Religious Services Minister Eli Ben-Dahan and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, laid the cornerstone of the Jewish Quarter’s Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue, which is being rebuilt.
Prior to the War of Independence, Tiferet Yisrael stood alongside the Hurva Synagogue. Both were destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948, and the Hurva was rebuilt in 2010. The cost of rebuilding the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue is estimated in the range of NIS 50 million.