Gaon a guest of Ramat Gan

Bar Ilan University will confer honorary doctorates at a ceremony on its northern campus, where President Reuven Rivlin will be among the recipients.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
■ THOUGH BORN in Jerusalem and a former member of the Jerusalem Municipal Council, singer and actor Yehoram Gaon will be celebrating Jerusalem Day in Ramat Gan, where he will be the guest of honor in a program organized by the Ramat Gan Municipality at the Ramat Gan Theater on Sunday. Also appearing on the program are the Duo Re’im (Israel Gottesdiener and Benny Rosenbaum) and the Ramat Gan Dance Ensemble.
■ BAR-ILAN University, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, held a gala dinner on Thursday night to mark the occasion, and chose to do so in Jerusalem at the Yehuda Hotel, with Jerusalemite Dore Gold, former ambassador to the UN and currently president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, as guest speaker.
On Monday, BIU will confer honorary doctorates at a ceremony on its northern campus, where President Reuven Rivlin will be among the recipients. Other Jerusalemites will be Yehoram Gaon, who will always be associated with Jerusalem, even though he no longer lives in the capital; and Rabbanit Chana Henkin, the founder and head of Nishmat, the institute for advanced Torah study for women.
■ FORMER DEPUTY minister of religious affairs, Israel Prize laureate and founding director of the State Conversion Authority Rabbi Haim Drukman recently led an official Bnei Akiva delegation on a visit to Poland, where he was born. At age 12, Drukman was able to escape the Nazi oppressors and came to the Land of Israel in 1944. In his early teens he studied at the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva in Kfar Haroeh and later served in the Bnei Akiva Nahal nucleus of the IDF.
In 1964 he founded the Ohr Etzion Bnei Akiva High School, which he still heads. He has been the head of the central body of Bnei Akiva yeshivot and ulpanot in Israel since 1996.
The delegation visited former death camps and ghettos, as well as the graves of renowned hassidic leaders and of members of Bnei Akiva who were murdered by the Nazis. The delegation also visited the area where there had been a Bnei Akiva training farm to prepare members for aliya.
■ AT DOCAVIV at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque at 10:30 a.m. today (Friday) there is a screening of Shores of Light, directed by Yael Katzir. A discussion on the film will include producer Gady Castel, Prof. Fabrizio Lelli and the Italian cinematographer Elio Bisignani.
The film sheds light on the seldom-told story of the thousands of Holocaust survivors who arrived after World War II in Salento, southern Italy, almost on the edge of Italy’s boot. The local population received them with open arms and allowed the refugees to rebuild their lives under the warm Mediterranean sun. They thrived in the friendly environment, married and had hundreds of children, even as they prepared to immigrate to what was then Palestine.
Now, almost seven decades later, three women born in Santa Maria di Leuca and living in Tel Aviv return to Italy to see if they can find a trace of their parents’ brief stay there. Enchanted by the place and enamored of the people, these women shed light on a previously little-known reality: that of life immediately after the war. The film weaves rare archival footage and testimonies into a poignant story about the hope that shone from the coastline along Italy’s boot.
■ BRINGING FORMER models back to the runway seems to be one of the latest fashion trends. It’s not uncommon to have one or two former fashion models who are now over 40 but still slim and attractive participate in a showing of new season’s creations. But Yaron Minkowski has gone a step further and will be using several former models to show off his Spring/Summer creations for 2015. The former models will be joined a handful of aspiring models. All in all, there will be 15 models parading along the catwalk.
The choice may have been inspired by the audience, most of whose members are somewhat senior in age. The occasion is the annual gala fund-raiser by Friends of WIZO, who each year come together at the home of a WIZO member or supporter in Herzliya Pituah, dine on palate-pleasing cuisine and cast an eye on Minkowski’s latest offerings.
The show is scheduled for Tuesday at the home of Haya Shaked. Guests will pay NIS 1,000 per plate, with all proceeds going to a crèche for infants from economically deprived families in South Tel Aviv. Among the invitees who have indicated their attendance are Dame Shirley Porter; World WIZO President Tova Ben-Dov; Linda Sagol of Keter Plastics; Betty Crystal, who chairs the Friends of WIZO; and many other socialites.