IN THE SMALL reception room at Beit Hanassi looked not unlike a stage scene from the Cameri Theater, with impromptu texts provided largely by veteran actresses and Israel Prize laureates Orna Porat and Hannah Meron, who had everyone else including Beit Hanassi staff members in stitches.
The group had come to Jerusalem to present President Shimon Peres with the Cameri's 65th anniversary book written by Prof. Gad Kenar, who was present along with graphic designer Itamar Wexler and editor Rivka Meshulach, Yigal Weinstein, chairman of the Cameri's executive board, veteran actors Yosef Carmon and Shlomo Vishinski, architect Amnon Rechter, whose late father Ya'acov Rechter designed the theater, and of course Cameri director-general Noam Semel.
Porat and Meron were playing up while waiting for Peres to free himself from another meeting. Porat was particularly excited because Peres had been the first to sign her petition to have the Cameri auditorium named for Yosef Millo, one of the Cameri founders who had given her, then a young immigrant from Germany, the chance to act in this country.
The Tel Aviv Municipality had given its approval only the previous day, and Porat was still excited and running away with herself, so much so that Semel, with a grin on his face, had to tell her to behave. But it was pointless asking her to do anything related to decorum. As soon as Peres entered the room, she rushed up to him and embraced him.
Carmon and Meron each performed small but powerful vignettes, and Kenar, in presenting some of the history of the Cameri, said that a theater historian had to be part of the theater and that he was grateful to have been permitted the opportunity to have so many wonderful experiences in real time.
Semel told Peres that they brought the first copy of the book that goes on sale next week, to the first citizen of the country. Peres, who is an avid theater fan, noted that the Cameri was there before the establishment of the state and that it contributed greatly to Israeli culture. Television is ratings, he said, but theater is quality. "I stand before the heroes of culture," he said, "and I thank you in the name of the nation."
FOLLOWING REPORTS in the Hebrew media that swimmer Inbal Pezaro, who won a silver medal at the Beijing Paralympics, had not received the customary congratulatory phone calls from people at the top of Israel's political pyramid, the powers that be decided on a better-late-than-never tactic and both Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called from Jerusalem on Monday to tell her how proud they were of her. Shahar Zubari, who won a bronze medal at the regular Olympics last month, received an on-air phone call from the PM, was feted like a king and has already been signed for product endorsements.
According to the Hebrew press, Shula Zaken, Olmert's former bureau chief, and Arkadi Gaydamak have become buddy-buddy in recent months.
A double-page spread in last week's issue of Yediot Yerushalayim details the extent to which Gaydamak relies on and consults with Zaken, whose advice he obviously values, especially in matters related to the Betar soccer team. Though it seems unlikely on the basis of surveys taken to date that he will succeed in his quest to be mayor of Jerusalem, if by some strange quirk of fate he does get in, chances are high that Zaken will be his bureau chief just like she was to Olmert when he was mayor.
THEIR MANY friends who live anywhere up to an hour's walking distance from the Hanassi Synagogue in the capital's Rehavia neighborhood crowded into the synagogue's reception room to partake of the huge kiddush hosted by Barbara and Marvin Wachspress in celebration of their 50th anniversary.
To those who congratulated him and said that they hoped to be around for the 60th anniversary, Marvin replied that they weren't waiting that long for another celebration but every year would have a party of some sort to celebrate the anniversary of their jubilee.
Half a century of living together is no mean feat, but at Hatzvi Yisrael congregation there are two couples who in recent weeks celebrated 65 years of marriage. Sonia and Sidney Levine celebrated their 65th anniversary and her 88th birthday; and Greta and Eliyahu Munk celebrated their 65th anniversary and the birth of three great-grandchildren.
Many of the people from both congregations were excitedly anticipating the 15-day AACI Black Sea cruise on which they were embarking the following morning (last Sunday), which inter alia will explore Jewish heritage sites.
MANY OF the residents in the former Diplomat Hotel in Jerusalem, which was long ago converted into an immigrant absorption center, are familiar with Yiddish and joined in lustily when Roz Grossman from Kfar Saba and her brother Shimmy Gewirtz from New York (and planning to make aliya with his wife Elana in November) put on a Yiddish vaudeville performance that was good enough to grace any stage.
The two come from a musical family of eight siblings - four sisters and four brothers who are all extremely musical. When they were children, they were so poor that most of the time their mother played a simulated piano with a keyboard made out of cardboard, but she heard the music in her head.
Once a week, she took her brood to where there was a real piano, and every now and again the whole group or just some of them would perform on Yiddish radio. They still perform separately and together, and the feisty Grossman, who like her brother is also a multi-talented instrumentalist, is a spontaneous performer who will belt it out anywhere, anytime.
Her audience just loved her. They're used to her breaking into song, but they wanted to get 75 minutes worth in one session - and they did. Not bad for a lady of 82. Her son, Danny Grossman, the director of the Israel office of the American Jewish Congress, came in at the tail end of the concert.
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