Jerusalem Grapevine: Karate for kids

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Hanukka (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Hanukka
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
■ CHRISTMAS THIS year it coincides with Hanukka, making it a festival of lights in more ways than one. However, the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute are celebrating early with a concert on Monday, December 12 at Notre Dame Jerusalem Center performed by members of the Young Musicians European Orchestra conducted by Paolo Olmi. The program will include works by Tchaikovsky, Paganini, Bottesini and Bach.
The concert has been organized by Emilia Romagna Concerti, Venice International University, and Emma for Peace in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Israel and the Italian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv, and is under the auspices of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, UNESCO and Regione Emilia Romagna. Entrance is free of charge. The performance begins at 8 p.m..
■ THE JERUSALEM Center for Public Affairs is hosting a lecture by Dr. Raphael Israeli on Tuesday, December 6 at 10 a.m. at its premises at 13 Tel Hai Street. Under the title of “Old Historians, New Historians, No Historians: The Derailed Debate on 1948,” Israeli will deal with the question as to whether Israel was born in sin.
Alleged atrocities launched by the Jews during the 1948 War, the birth of the Palestinian refugee problem, the conduct of the War of Independence, and the ensuing issues of the Arab-Israeli conflict refuse to disappear 70 years later.
Israeli contends that these recriminations are exaggerated and some historians are guilty of not having consulted the Arabic sources, which he says show that the basic hatred and rejection of nascent Israel by the Arabs would have remained unchanged regardless of Israel’s actions.
Born in Fes, Morocco, Israeli currently teaches Islamic, Chinese, and Middle Eastern History at the Hebrew University. He has been a fellow of the Jerusalem Center since the 1970s and is the author of more than 50 books and some 100 scholarly articles in the fields of Islamic radicalism, Islamic terrorism, the modern Middle East, and Islam in China and Asia. The lecture will be conducted in English. Admission is free of charge, but registration is required.
Email: ahuva@jcpa.org or telephone (02) 561-9281 or fax (02) 561- 9112.
■ THERE WERE quite a number of nonagenarians at the 40th anniversary gala dinner of the Hazvi Yisrael Synagogue at the Inbal Hotel this week, headed by 98-year-old Prof. Hillel Blondheim, the founder of the congregation, who was given a citation, and who recited the grace after meals. In the afternoon prior to the dinner, synagogue chairman Kenneth Collins sent out a notice stating that the executive board had decided to support the Neveh Tzuf appeal for funds to replace the 18 houses burnt last Friday night in the blaze that swept the country for much of last week. By the evening, one of the people involved in the campaign said that she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity. People were offering not only money, but clothing, household utensils, furniture and even free use of second apartments.
■ FOLLOWERS OF the martial arts are familiar with the name of karate champion Danny Hakim, who has fused relationships between Israeli and Palestinian youth by teaching them martial arts under the heading of “Budo for Peace.” Hakim is both a social activist and a philanthropist and among the other hats he wears is that of chairman of Kids Kicking Cancer Israel, a non-profit organization that provides weekly classes for children, both inpatient and outpatient, in the mind-body techniques found in the martial arts.
Hakim is a veteran Australian oleh, as is Dr. Harvey Belik, who is also heavily involved with Kids Kicking Cancer. People wanting a good laugh while simultaneously supporting the work of KKC will have the opportunity this coming Saturday evening December 3, when American comedian, actor, script writer and producer Elon Gold, appears in a KKC fund raiser hosted by comedian Benji Lovitt with a short presentation by some of the children in the KKC program.
Gold is very well known in the US and beyond and has appeared on The Tonight Show no fewer than 10 times, starred in the FOX sitcom Stacked and has a stand-up special out on Netflix. His performance for KKC will be at Yad Lebanim, 147 Ahuza Street, Ra’anana, at 7.30 p.m. The doors open at 7 p.m.