Grapevine: No site in sight for Prime Minister's Residence

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Police investigators arrive at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence (photo credit: YONATHAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Police investigators arrive at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence
(photo credit: YONATHAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
All the major newspapers carried items on the State Comptroller’s report on the numerous problems related to the planning, construction, budget and faulty communication between the entities involved in a new facility to house both the Prime Minister’s Office and the Prime Minister’s Residence. The report indicates that long after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is out of office, residents of Rehavia-Talbiyeh will still suffer the discomfort of protest rallies.
An in-depth investigative report last Friday by Yediot Aharonot’s Itamar Eichner indirectly throws some light on the reason Netanyahu did not appoint former Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat as finance minister nor to any other ministerial position. In their various meetings over the years, Barkat failed to fully inform him of the Jerusalem Gateway plans, which interfered with the security regulations set down by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for the proposed new office/ residence. Moreover, the Jerusalem Gateway plan was approved after it was known where the project for the prime minister would be built. Now, after wasting time, money and effort, a new site in a non-residential area has to be found, which means a further delay of several if not many years, and a strong possibility that the Prime Minister’s Office and Residence may ultimately not be part of the National Precinct, a factor that runs contrary to the initial intention.
■ WITH THE month of Elul looming on the horizon comes the knowledge that this is a time of introspection, for personal auditing and planning for the future. It is also a time of joy, friendship and celebration – in honor of which there will a Matan musical Hallel for Women on Zoom to mark Rosh Hodesh Elul next Friday, August 21, at 8:30 a.m. The service will be led by Rabbanit Oshra Cohen, Rabbanit Etta Bendavid and Hedya Kavnor. Details are available on the Matan Facebook page.
■ THE JERUSALEM Great Synagogue, which has been closed for several months, is unlikely to reopen for the High Holy Days. In a message to congregants, especially those who made a point of coming from abroad each year to be part of the Great Synagogue’s “global family,” acting president Zalli Jaffe writes: “... for the first time since its founding four decades ago, the Synagogue might be closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You may not be able to be at tefilot (prayers) this year together with our Jerusalem Great Synagogue Family, but with God’s help you will join us for many, many future years. We are here to stay!”
His late father, Dr. Maurice Jaffe – who was the director of the adjacent Hechal Shlomo, then the seat of the Chief Rabbinate – was appointed chairman of the Great Synagogue building committee, in which capacity he oversaw the fundraising and construction of what was the largest synagogue in Jerusalem until the construction of the palatial Belz synagogue. The principal sponsor of both Hechal Shlomo and the Great Synagogue was the late British philanthropist Sir Isaac Wolfson.
■ THE MALKI Foundation, named in memory of teenager Malki Roth – killed in a terrorist explosion on August 9, 2001, in what was then the Sbarro Pizza Parlor on the corner of King George Avenue and Jaffa Road – has announced that due to coronavirus, it will be unable to hold its annual Rainbow of Music fundraising event to aid its work in helping families with children who have serious mental or physical disabilities or both, who want to care for them at home.
Those who already purchased concert tickets have several options available to them. They can hold on to their tickets and use them whenever the concert is eventually held; they can receive a refund, although the ticketing agency will take a small cancellation fee over which the Malki Foundation has no control; or the ticket payment can be treated as a tax deductible donation to the Malki Foundation, which like all charitable organizations is suffering from loss of income during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the foundation has issued a video via email to its regular supporters in which Richard Shavei Zion, director of the Ramatayim Men’s Choir – which has performed gratis at the Rainbow of Music for the past eight years – talks of the privilege of being part of what he considers holy work, and shows clips from previous concerts.


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state comptroller