City Notes: Russian-speaking Taglit participants party in Tel Aviv

A round up of news from around the nation.

By COMPILEDNATHAN WISE
Water (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Water
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
CENTER
More than 900 Russian-speaking Taglit- Birthright participants celebrated at the Taglit Creative Energy event.
Held at the Tel Aviv Convention Center, it “honored Israeli culture, youthful creative energies of Tel Aviv and the contribution of Russian-speaking immigrants,” the organizers said. The event included an education fair exposing the participants to learning opportunities in Israel, as well as cultural activities and workshops celebrating Israel’s arts. The fair concluded with a dance party.
“The 900 participants join more than 45,000 Russian-speaking Jews from around the world who have helped us achieve our vision of building a bridge between Israel and the Jewish communities worldwide,” enthused Taglit-Birthright CEO Gidi Mark. “We want to expose all young Jewish adults to modern Israel and its culture alongside the history and Jewish heritage, and we are very excited to launch this event specifically for Russian- speaking Jews.”
The event was made possible by the Genesis Philanthropy Group, a private foundation that has worked with Taglit for the past nine years, whose mission is to develop and enhance a sense of Jewish identity among Russian-speaking Jews worldwide.
NORTH
Haifa court fines clinic for lack of seating
The labor court in Haifa fined Hair Clinic Laboratories for preventing one of its workers from performing her job while seated, a requirement that is prescribed by Israeli law.
Justice Asaf Harel ordered that Hair Clinic compensate its former employee for not providing her with a chair and for wrongful dismissal after she complained about the situation.
The employee, who treated clients’ hair and scalp, said she was forced to administer the treatments while standing.
She said that even during breaks, a seat was not always guaranteed.
Harel rejected Hair Clinic’s argument that the employee’s work was “dynamic” and could not be carried out while seated.
He ordered the company to pay the plaintiff NIS 63,000, as well as legal costs.
Northern farmers demonstrate over water
Hundreds of farmers, representatives of regional municipalities and other officials demonstrated in the Galilee along Highway 90 in protest over a bill that is before the Knesset to nationalize the private water producers. According to the farmers, it would turn the Mekorot national water company into a monopoly.
The farmers formed a caravan of some 150 tractors and pick-up trucks along Highway 90 between the Hula Valley and the Galilee Panhandle, causing heavy traffic.
The farmers are concerned that the new law would make Mekorot the sole body responsible for the entire country’s water production and pricing.
They argue that the farmers in the North would suffer most from the law because the area does not have access to the water produced by the desalination plants in the center of the country, and thus would make them completely dependent on Mekorot.
“The government must understand that we farmers who live on Israel’s northern border say that this bill will not become law because water is our lifeline.
We are fighting for the agriculture and for our livelihoods,” said Rafi Noy, CEO of the Galilee Water Cooperative.
Guy Ben-Dor, a farmer from the village of Yesud Hama’ala, said that the bill could be a “fatal blow” to agriculture in the North.
“It would be unbelievable for the price of water to go up and for Mekorot to become the exclusive manager of all the water,” he said.
Quadruplets born at Rambam Medical Center
Quadruplets were welcomed at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. The three girls and one boy were born premature at 27 weeks, with weights ranging between 550 and 900 grams. The 30-yearold mother became pregnant following fertility treatment, and they were delivered by cesarean section. All the babies were being treated in the intensive care unit of the hospital, where they were on respirators. Three of the babies were in stable condition.
The last time quadruplets were born at Rambam was in 1988. The event is more rare today than in the past, even with in-vitro fertilization.
SOUTH
French chefs cook with SOS children in Arad
For the fourth annual French Culinary Week, 28 of France’s top chefs cooked at 24 restaurants across Israel. SOS Israel villages for children at risk hosted a number of the chefs at their villages in Arad and Migdal Ha’emek. The chefs, some of whom have been awarded Michelin stars, held a workshop for the children and mothers of the villages, where they demonstrated how to prepare sumptuous gourmet meals even with the simplest ingredients found in most home kitchens. The chefs and children made meat and vegetable dishes, various French baked items and desserts.
The culinary event was sponsored by the French embassy in Tel Aviv and Guillaume Gomez, chef at the Elysée presidential palace in France.
SOS Israel was founded in the 1970s and has two villages that are home to more than 200 youngsters ranging in age from six to 23, who are referred by social welfare services.


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