Quand meme.....

Despite recent events, life in Israel continues.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Quand meme..... (photo credit: Wikicommons)
Quand meme.....
(photo credit: Wikicommons)
WHILE MANY events were canceled or postponed due to the current situation, some organizations and institutions purposely organized events to keep up the morale. The Japanese Embassy canceled an Ikebana demonstration that was scheduled to be held today on the embassy’s premises in the Tel Aviv Museum Tower within the context of its many celebrations of 60 years of diplomatic relations with Israel.
Conversely, Yung Yidish held a traditional Yiddish tisch last night, presided over by Mendy Cahan at the Fishka nightclub in south Tel Aviv. There were songs and stories, a little dancing and lots of food and drink.
Earlier in the week, Francophiles showed up at the French Institute in Tel Aviv to meet with historian Georges Bensoussan, the editor-in-chief of publications of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Paris.
THE HUNGARIANS are obviously optimistic about the future and have chosen the propitious date of November 29 for a book launch at the Hungarian Embassy on Pinkas Street in Tel Aviv. Hungarian academic Géza Komoróczy, who is one of the best-known and most influential scholars of the Jewish history of Hungary, will be visiting Israel to launch his book The Jewish Face of Hungarian History.
Komoróczy is a former director of the Center of Jewish Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The book is the result of his in-depth exploration into Hungarian Jewish history. Komoróczy will deliver a lecture on the subject at the launch.
TWO DAYS later, on December 1, members of the Austrian Cultural Forum will gather at the Tel Aviv Museum to hear celebrated Austrian violinist Thomas Albertus Imberger perform with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, playing works by Mozart, Goldmark and Beethoven.
SOUTH AFRICAN expats living in Israel are expected to respond to Telfed’s invitation and flock to the Ra’anana Music Center on December 3 in celebration of the South African Spirit and Mood through Music. The guest of honor will be Prof. Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, an acclaimed composer and head of the Music Division at the Wits School of Arts. The event is being held in conjunction with The Israel South Africa Chamber of Commerce.
When he became aware that Zaidel-Rudolph and her husband were planning to visit Israel, Daniel Galay, a well-known Israeli composer and pianist and recipient of Israel’s 2009 Prime Minister’s Award for Composition, thought it might be an excellent opportunity to strengthen the cultural relations between Israel and South Africa by showcasing Zaidel-Rudolph’s work in Israel. The idea appealed to the Israel South Africa Chamber of Commerce, which gave its backing to the concert.
Zaidel-Rudolph works within the realms of contemporary classical “art music,” where she merges the music of the West with the indigenous pulse of Africa. She has also made an impressive contribution to Jewish music in Johannesburg. She was the first woman in South Africa to obtain a doctorate in composition. In 1995 at the request of president Nelson Mandela, Zaidel-Rudolph rewrote South Africa’s national anthem.
Concert organizers are hopeful that Minister for Culture and Sport Limor Livnat will be able to attend. Livnat has a musical background, as she is the daughter of popular singer Shulamit Livnat. It is more or less in the cards that South African Ambassador Ismail Coovadia will be in the audience, as well as several other diplomats.
OVER THE past few days, many lone soldiers from within Israel and abroad.have been called up to serve in Operation Pillar of Defense. The Lone Soldier Center has set up a 24-hour emergency hotline to answer pressing needs and is collecting urgently needed winter gear for these soldiers. What they need are warm jackets, hats, long underwear and various other items.
WHILE MANY weddings and other celebrations have been canceled or deferred for fear that they would be disrupted by rockets, two former lone soldiers managed to defy the odds. Ariel Rafnowicz and Lia Bachar from Kibbutz Barkai got married this week in Pardess Hanna. Rafnowicz came to Israel from Buenos Aires under the Jewish Agency’s Na’ale program. After completing high school, he became a tank driver in an artillery unit. Bachar came from Colombia and initially attended the ulpan at Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael from where, with the help of Tzvika Levy, who is responsible for lone soldiers on kibbutz, she eventually went to live on Kibbutz Barkai. After joining the IDF and being sent to the Air Force, she felt very much alone and cried a lot, though she never regretted the decision she had made to live in Israel and to serve the country.
Their romance started when Rafnowicz invited Bachar to his room to use his computer so that she could speak on Skype to her mother and sister. It was Levy who introduced them and made sure that even though they were lone soldiers, they did not stay lonely for long.
Although he had received emergency call-up orders for the army, where he serves as a reserve officer with the paratroopers, Levy managed to obtain sufficient leave to attend the wedding, stand under the canopy with the bride and groom and pose for photos with them. As far as Rafnowicz and Bachar are concerned, Levy is their surrogate father.