City Notes: TA adorns Kadishman sculpture with emojis for Purim

A round-up of news from around the nation.

By COMPILEDNATHAN WISE
Children proffering mock ‘mishloah manot’ march in last year’s Adloyada parade (photo credit: SHARON HENNESSY)
Children proffering mock ‘mishloah manot’ march in last year’s Adloyada parade
(photo credit: SHARON HENNESSY)
CENTER
Ahead of Purim, the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality pasted three giant emojis to cover the diagonal circles at Habima Square in the city center.
“Rising” is built of three steel spheres that rise diagonally to a height of 15 meters creating the appearance of something that defies the rules of gravity; it is fashioned from a series of statues Menashe Kadishman created in the late 1960s and donated to the city.
Last October, the sculpture, which has become one of the most iconic symbols of the city, was covered in a giant brassiere as part of a campaign to raise awareness for breast cancer.
The municipality posted a photo of the sculpture on its Facebook page to mixed reactions. Some said that Kadishman himself would not have agreed to the move, to which the city replied that his family approved. Kadishman died last year at the age of 82.
Israel’s biggest Purim parade rocks Holon’s streets
Israel’s largest Purim parade, Adloyada, took place in Holon on Thursday under the theme of Israeli television with a focus on characters from children’s programs both past and present.
Organizers noted that the first Israeli broadcast was by Educational TV in 1966, coinciding with the Independence Day march. “Ever since then, television has been an inseparable part of Israeli culture, leading to today’s multichannel and diversified television.”
The parade featured a variety of exhibits, 4,500 dancers, bands, orchestras, drummers, street theater, Israeli and international acrobats and more.
Coming all the way from Ireland were The Crabs, three-meter high bouncy characters who jumped high and interacted with the crowd. Coming all the way from Russia were creature- like acrobats on crutches wearing puffy 3D butterfly and elephant costumes.
The exhibits from this year’s parade will be on display in the Mediatheque Square until March 27.
Prestigious GMIC mobile Internet conference lands in TA
Billing itself as the world’s most influential global mobile Internet conference, GMIC held an event this week in Tel Aviv. With events all over the world, including Beijing, Tokyo, Jakarta, Bangalore, San Francisco, São Paulo and Taipei, conference organizers say it is where mobile Internet influencers gather to learn about the latest innovations and connect with industry thought leaders.
GMIC Tel Aviv 2016 explored the various aspects of the mobile ecosystem and brought global investors and innovators to Tel Aviv to share their frontier ideas and describe how technologies and innovations take a step ahead to inspire the future. GMIC said Tel Aviv was chosen because of Israel’s status as a “global hub of start-ups and innovation,” due to the success of venture capital investors in the Israeli market, and due to the “profound humanistic culture” that Tel Aviv has to offer.
The conference included a G-start-up competition with 10 finalists chosen from 250 entrants from 34 countries.
NORTH
Memorial concert held for Lt. Hadar Goldin
Family members and friends of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed in battle in the summer of 2014 in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge, gathered last week at the Shuni Amphitheater in Binyamina for a concert to mark what would have been Goldin’s 25th birthday.
The memorial concert under the banner “For the smile” included the artists Harel Skaat, Leah Shabbat, Idan Amadi, Eran Tzur and Kobi Aflalo. Goldin’s body was taken by Hamas and has yet to be returned to his family.
Admission to the concert was free, but the 1,700 available tickets were very quickly claimed.
The Goldin family said it was moved by the event. “The enormous interest in the concert and the participation of the artists is heartwarming and we very much appreciate everyone. I would like to repeat that Israeli pride will return when Israeli society and its leaders will stand steadfast behind the principle that the State of Israel does not leave its soldiers behind,” Simcha Goldin, Hadar’s father, said.
A few days before the concert, UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon met in New York with visiting Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and urged the return of the bodies of soldiers Goldin and St.-Sgt. Oron Shaul to their families in Israel.
SOUTH
Packed Purim event at Midreshet Ben-Gurion
Midreshet Sde Boker, an educational center and boarding school, also known as Midreshet Ben-Gurion, held a Purim party last week that was so popular that police had to advise the public not to come, adding that visitors would not be allowed in. There was no room for people to park their cars after an estimated 10,000 attended the parade.
The high school emphasizes environmental issues, so naturally the Purim parade was itself environmentally friendly. In keeping with the school’s tradition, the students constructed the parade’s floats from recycled or recyclable materials such as steel, newspaper and bottles.
On the sidelines of the parade were stationed food carts, artists’ booths and areas for children’s activities.