For several weeks now, the organizers of White City Shabbat have been urging people living or staying in Tel Aviv to join in the effort to bring about the largest-ever Shabbat dinner, with the aim of getting it into Guinness World Records. The date, June 13, is fast approaching. The venue is Hangar 11 in the Tel Aviv Port, and the purpose is to provide a great show of Jewish unity at a Shabbat meal that will be presided over by Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau. The repast will be mehadrin kosher and will meet the principles of Shabbat-observant participants. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a Kabbalat Shabbat concert, followed by candlelighting and a short address by the captivating Rabbi Lau. Also present will be an official Guinness adjudicator who is flying in specially from London to ensure the event conforms with all the requirements needed for a world record; it is therefore essential for participants to be on time. The event or perhaps more accurately the kosher happening that will incorporate a lot of secular participation, is co-sponsored by the: White City Community, City of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Tel Aviv Rabbinate, Hangar 11, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, ROI Community, Am Yisrael Foundation, Chabad On-Campus in Tel Aviv, Golan Heights Winery and Ernst & Young. Even so, participants are being asked to donate what they can afford, between NIS 50 and NIS 100. For further details, to register and to reserve a group table : www.WorldsLargestShabbatDinner.eventbrite.com ■Last Thursday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, participated in a special ceremony in Bat Yam, in which the municipality recognized young volunteers who are lending their time and service to a variety of enterprises; each was given a citation by Mayor Yossi Bachar. The Netanyahus had a personal interest in the event. Their younger son, Avner, opted to do a year of national service prior to his mandatory military service and is doing his community service through a Scout group, of which he is a member. ■ Hindi Day was celebrated this week at Tel Aviv University, where Indian Ambassador Jaideep Sarkar announced the awarding of the Bharat Darshan Fellowships, under which up to six deserving students of Hindi from TAU will be given round-trip tickets to India. There, they will spend a month interacting with Hindi departments at universities, attend Hindi conferences and gain firsthand insight into Indian cultures. Hindi is the fourth most-widely spoken language in the world. Hindi is one of the official languages of India along with English, and is the native language of most of the people living in northern Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi. Hindi is also spoken in some other countries such as Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad. According to the Indian Embassy, about 800 million people either speak Hindi as their native language or know it as a second language. Sarkar does not think it at all strange that Israeli students are interested in Hindi, as more than 40,000 Israelis visit India each year. This year's Hindi Day event also featured Hindi poet Balli Singh Cheema, Hindi films and popular songs from these films, a sitar tabla concert, a quiz on India and of course, a sampling of Indian cuisine. ■ Mention the name Saban in Israel, and everyone immediately associates it with entertainment mogul and avid supporter of the Democratic Party Haim Saban. But when the powers that be at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev were deciding on who was deserving of an honorary doctorate, they looked elsewhere in the Saban family and conferred it on his wife, Cheryl Saban – though Haim was as proud as if he had personally received the award. A philanthropist and advocate on women's issues, Cheryl Saban created the Women's Self-Worth Foundation to provide micro-financing programs to women in the US and Israel. She has a doctorate in psychology and is the author of What is Your Self- Worth? A Woman's Guide to Validation, drawing on her own life experiences. Two musicians who are members of the rock band The Lions of Judah, which Haim Saban managed and in which he played bass, were in the audience to cheer on his wife in her moment of glory. ■ Tel Aviv has long been known as the gay capital of Israel, and the annual Gay Pride Parade attracts lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adherents from all over Israel and beyond. Before any other city in Israel, Tel Aviv took an enlightened attitude towards the LGBT community, and this year the municipality is spending more than NIS 2 million not only on gay pride, but on gay rights. This year's route for the 16th annual Gay Pride Parade has been slightly changed from its predecessors. The starting point at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 13 is the Meir Garden, where there will be a major happening with the participation of Mayor Ron Huldai. The parade will begin at 1 p.m. and move along Bograshov Street, and conclude with another happening at the Sir Charles Clore Park. Some 125,000 people are expected to participate, including 25,000 gay people who are specially flying in from abroad.
