By GREER FAY CASHMAN
THERE'S NO way to avoid Ninette Taib and Yehuda Levy, whose names keep cropping up all over the place. The couple ranked first and second, respectively, in this month's listing by entertainment magazine Pnai Plus of the 50 most popular, inspiring and charismatic personalities in the modeling and entertainment industries. Third place went to supermodel Bar Rafaeli.
Of course, it's always interesting to know who made it onto this kind of list by the skin of his teeth - and in this case the lucky 50th-place slot went to actor Liam Avni. Taib's ex-boyfriend, Hashir Shelanu star Ran Danker, scored 22nd place, while Levy's former girlfriend, actress Efrat Boimwald, didn't make the list.
APPEARING LAST week at the Neurim Youth Village near Netanya before highly appreciative solidarity missions from Hadassah, United Jewish Communities and the World Zionist Organization was singer Shalva Berti, who delighted the audience with her amazing vocal range and dramatic good looks. The program for the evening included numerous speeches and several musical acts.
At one stage prior to Berti's appearance, organizers acknowledged the presence of Shlomo Mola, the first and so far only Ethiopian member of the Zionist Executive. Mola was held up as a role model for the large number of Ethiopian immigrant youth evacuated from an absorption center in Safed and brought to the Neurim facility. Organizers noted Mola's long trek to the Promised Land - he arrived in Israel from Ethiopia on foot - and his rise to a place on the Zionist Executive, but no mention was made of his degrees in law and social work.
Berti, who refused to allow organizers to cut her act short, hails from a Yemenite background and remarked on the similarities between Ethiopian and Yemenite Jews. Her grandfather, she said, came to Israel on foot with his five wives. Seconds later, a larger than life photograph appeared above the stage of her grandfather flanked by four of the wives. Berti didn't say which, if any of them, was her grandmother.
THE FUTURE of the witty TV satire Fixed Game may be in jeopardy. Gur Alfi, a regular on the series, announced several months ago that he wanted to leave the permanent cast to focus on other productions. Now, Lior Shlein, who has also been with the show since its start, is being courted by Channels Two and Ten to host a late night talk show. Shlein, whose curly mop of hair has become as much a part of his persona as his sense of humor, has not yet decided on his future, but if two of the show's stars leave, it's not a promising sign for the series, despite Alfi's commitment to make frequent guest appearances.
Alfi has another project to think about: he'll appear in a new YES series in October, I Didn't Promise You, in which he'll star alongside veteran stage, screen and radio personality Alex Ansky.
FABULOUS DANCER Anna Aronov is the true star of TV reality contest Dancing with the Stars, in which the sometime model is partnered with retired international soccer star Haim Revivo. He's widely perceived as Israel's best ever footballer, but despite their success together, Aronov has made it clear that she will not be participating in a third season of the hit show. She finds the work too strenuous and demanding, though she's certainly taught Revivo a thing or two about fancy footwork.
MANY ESTABLISHED singers occasionally take a break from their regular performance schedules to record music with and for children, Uzi Hitman and the late Naomi Shemer among them. Sarit Hadad, who achieved another hit in a career-long series last year with pop album Miss Music, is now working on her own kids album, The Princess of Happiness, which she's making in collaboration with accomplished producer Moshe Datz.
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