Grapevine: Full bodies of work

Model agent and television personality Betty Rockaway was among the celebrities attending a body-painting contest at Dizengoff Center.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Betty Rockaway 88 224 (photo credit: Courtesy )
Betty Rockaway 88 224
(photo credit: Courtesy )
MAKE-UP ARTIST Giora Shavit, who is one of the best known professionals in the business, decided to organize a body-painting contest at Dizengoff Center this week, and for added attraction brought in well-known personalities as judges. Making appearances were model agent and television personality Betty Rockaway, actress Ruby Porat Shoval, former beauty queen and proprietor of beauty salons Ravit Assaf, hair stylist Jacqueline Lichtenstein, fashion designer Yuval Caspin, fashion photographers Yaki Halperin and Avi Valdan along with colorful Dizengoff Center owner, former MK Shmuel Flatto Sharon and his significant other Clara Khouri. Contestants came from all over the country, and it was difficult to tell whether passers-by in Dizengoff Center gawked more at the celebrity panel or at the painted bodies. BEN GURION University Professor Rivka Carmi, the first woman president of a university in Israel, Orna Porat, the queen of Israeli theater who was born a German gentile and who came here after the Second World War with no knowledge of Hebrew, and Professor Anita Shapira of Tel Aviv University, who has become the definitive voice of the history of Zionism and of leading figures in the Zionist movement, were honored this week by Hadassah and the Women's Zionist Organization of America. At a ceremony in the Knesset they were named Women of Distinction, joining the ranks of other women who broke through the glass ceiling to become recognized for their individual merits. The ceremony was held in the presence of Knesset Speaker, Dalia Itzik, MK Amira Dotan and Hadassah National President Nancy Falchuk. Hadassah does not give awards to politicians in office - with the exception of an award it gave to Shimon Peres when he was still in politics - but it may consider Dalia Itzik in the future. As acting president of the state for six months and as the first woman Speaker of the Knesset, she has most definitely broken through the glass ceiling. THE ISRAEL Ireland Friendship League, which is this year celebrating its 40th anniversary, is working in association with the Friends of Meir Hospital Medical Center to host a gala benefit concert on Sunday, June 29, with a special live performance by Kahlol - the Celtic Camel led by composer Uri Miles, who will present a fusion of Celtic and Middle Eastern melodies. Also on the program is the 12 Tones Vocal Ensemble, Israel's unique a Capella choir whose renditions include a lot of humor. Irish Ambassador Michael Forbes, who unfailingly supports the League's activities, Jewish Agency chairman Ze'ev Bielski, IIFL chairman Malcolm Gafson and Meir Hospital President Asher Elhayani along with the mayors of municipalities served by the Meir Hospital Medical Center have signified their attendance. The hospital in Kfar Saba has its own auditorium, which is where the concert will take place. SURPRISINGLY, SDEROT Mayor Eli Moyal did not show up for the opening of the Australian Film Festival in Sderot, although he had been scheduled to attend. Among those who were present for the screening of Lucky Miles, were Australian Ambassador James Larsen and Public Security Minister Avi Dichter. Also in attendance was the delegation of the Australia-Israel Cultural Exchange that included AM Chairman Albert Dadon; Senator Michael Forshaw, Labor party; Senator Brett Mason, Liberal Party; Michael Danby, Member of the House of Representatives of Australia, Labor Party; Peter Khalil, advisor of the Australian Government and Warwick McFadyan, senior editor of The Age, one of Australia's most prestigious morning newspapers. Dichter spoke compellingly about his hope that Sderot would be a place of festivals and peace, and that this festival during a ceasefire was, he hoped, a prelude to such a time. A large number of local residents including numerous teenagers came to demonstrate their appreciation for the AICE effort. EVEN THOUGH she arrived a day later than expected at the Meridian Hotel on the Dead Sea, where no less than 19 rooms were prepared for the actress who rose to international fame through her role as Charlotte York in Sex and the City, Kristin Davis and her entourage still received the red carpet treatment. At her media conference in Jerusalem last week, Davis admitted that she didn't know too much about Israeli politics but in touring Jerusalem and seeing the close proximity of Jews and Arabs, she admired their seeming ability to make it work. NUMEROUS CHILD Holocaust survivors gathered at Yad Sarah in Jerusalem this week for the opening of an exhibition of photographs of child Holocaust survivors from Buchenwald concentration camp. The most famous survivors of the camp are Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and acclaimed documentary film maker Claude Lanzmann, though many others have also achieved international repute. The exhibition, through the use of 100 photographs, traces the lives of 15 survivors. Among those attending the opening was French Minister for the Environment Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, who was part of the entourage of President Nicolas Sarkozy, Jean Gutman, the head of OSE, the French organization that played a vital role in the rescue of children during and after the Holocaust, Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog, Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, Lau and Wiesel. The exhibition will remain on view till July 7.