Grapevine: Gifting the Negev

The Beersheba Children’s Museum was officially launched last week.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint Arab List (photo credit: REUTERS)
Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint Arab List
(photo credit: REUTERS)
■ IT IS difficult to imagine how much poorer Israel would be without the input of philanthropists from around the world, who have contributed so much to the building of the country – providing funds for the creation and maintenance of museums, hospitals, schools, universities, community centers, cultural centers, parks, gardens and more.
Some philanthropists opt to focus on a certain geographic area within Israel, while others give to projects in different parts of the country and invest in Israeli business enterprises.
Among the latter are Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel, whose family foundation has given tens of millions of dollars to projects here. Among the beneficiaries of their largesse are the Israel Museum, the new Israel antiquities campus adjacent to the museum and overlooking the Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus, designed by Moshe Safdie; the Mandel Leadership Institute Jerusalem, which trains social and educational leaders and also offers programs for senior civil servants; the Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev, created in conjunction with Ben-Gurion University; the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University; the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, which received $25 million towards the construction of its new campus; and more recently, the Beersheba Children’s Museum, which was officially launched last week.
President Reuven Rivlin specially took time out from meetings with politicians to go to Beersheba for the official launch of the museum and the affixing of the mezuza. Mort Mandel, 93, the chairman and key family representative of the Mandel Foundation, was on hand, as was Beersheba Mayor Ruvik Danilovich.
Rivlin, a doting grandfather who was the event’s keynote speaker, noted, “Children are the most precious treasure we have. They are a joy and a blessing for which we bear a heavy responsibility; they are our future, and it is on them we place all our hopes and dreams. Thus, the opening of a children’s museum is something very exciting – especially in Beersheba, the capital of the Negev.”
Rivlin saw the museum as a place of inspiration that will spark the curiosity and fire the imaginations of the children who visit it. He emphasized its significance within the context of the development of the Negev, declaring that the area’s cultural development must not be neglected in favor of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The president was particularly pleased with recent developments in the Negev, commenting that for too long the area had received only lip service, with few tangibles to follow.
Danilovich said the museum was in the spirit of David Ben-Gurion, in that it combined a dream, vision, faith and creative thinking.
Afterwards, Mandel, Rivlin and Danilovich proved that something of the child remains in every adult – eagerly playing a game of Negev Monopoly.
■ ELSEWHERE IN the Negev but a little later in the week, Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint (Arab) List, demonstrated he was no less interested in solving the problems of resident Arabs than in promoting a two-state solution. Last Thursday, he began a march from the Negev to Jerusalem toward the resolution of an internal problem – the plight of the Beduin living in unrecognized villages, in which there are no state-provided community services such as water, electricity and schools.
A lawyer by profession, Odeh has long advocated for the recognition of these villages, which in total number around 40. Many if not all of them existed before the creation of the state, but a series of governments from both the Left and Right have refused to recognize them, saying they are illegal.
Some 100 people marched with Odeh to the capital. His intention was to present a petition to Rivlin on Sunday, but the president was in Singapore attending the funeral of leader Lee Kuan Yew, and did not return to Israel until Monday night. Odeh had the opportunity to pursue the matter on Tuesday, at the opening session of the 20th Knesset.
■ EVERY COMMUNITY needs teachers and social workers. While such professions are regarded as extremely important, those who engage in them literally perform a labor of love in relation to the paltry remuneration they receive. The result is that fewer people are opting for these vital professions.
To give them a little more incentive, Israeli entrepreneur and philanthropist Leon Recanati launched an annual prize for outstanding teachers and social workers, which was awarded last week for the ninth consecutive year at a ceremony at the Bat Yam Cultural Center. Eleven teachers and three social workers were selected from among hundreds of applicants.
It was almost a Yesh Atid Affair. Presenting the awards was former welfare and social services minister Meir Cohen, while the moderator was Esther Piron, mother of former education minister Shai Piron.