By GREER FAY CASHMANUAE AMBASSADOR Mohamed Al Khaja (left) with Dr. Michael Mirilashvili.(photo credit: Courtesy)
Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis met last week with Ines Demiri, the chief of mission of the embassy of Kosovo, which is located in Jerusalem. Although Demiri does not have ambassadorial status, she is often referred to as ambassador in deference to the fact that she is her country’s first diplomatic representative in Israel. Akunis and Demiri discussed future bilateral cooperation in tourism, transportation, science, the economy and innovation. They agreed to establish teams from the Regional Cooperation Ministry and the Kosovo Embassy to advance joint projects.Extremely pleased with the manner in which their meeting had progress, Akunis told Demiri: “The entire nation greatly appreciates your government’s decision to place your embassy in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, despite the usual threats from those who lag behind regarding relations with the State of Israel.” He asked Demiri to convey this message to the president and people of Kosovo.■ ANYONE LIVING in or visiting Tel Aviv-Jaffa, is familiar with the mammoth light rail construction project which is part of mass transport in the Gush Dan Region. NTA Metropolitan Mass Transport Systems Ltd., a government company founded in 1997, is responsible for the design and construction of a network of light rail routes, the first of which will be the Red Line whose future station stops NTA has already published.One of the stops will be the Bloomfield Stadium, saving soccer fans lots of travel time and money, in that their cars will not be stuck in Tel Aviv’s all too frequent traffic congestion, and they won’t have to worry parking lot fees and fines. Popular as it is, it is doubtful that many of the people who flock to Bloomfield Stadium for sporting and entertainment events know much about its history or its funding.The groundbreaking for the project took place in September 1960, and the first game was the Derby between Hapoel and Shimshon in October, 1962, which means that next year, the recently upgraded stadium will be the venue for several events celebrating its 60th anniversary. Funding for the initial project came from a number of Canadian Jewish charities, but mainly from brothers Louis and Bernard Bloomfield. The Bloomfield wealth began in oil exploration in Western Canada and expanded into banking and Law.The Bloomfield brothers helped to establish the Lady Davis Foundation which was dedicated to bringing refugee scientists and scholars to Canada. American born Lady Davis spent much of her life in Paris where she created a vacation colony for poor children. With the outbreak of the Second World War, she moved to Montreal, where she remained until her death in December, 1963.Several years prior to her death, the Bloomfield brothers helped her to set up another foundation which supports Canadian Jewish charities. She named the Bloomfields as the executors of her will, and they in turn created the Lady Davis Fellowship Trust in Israel which gives substantial grants to the network of 18 Amal Schools that function under the auspices of the Histadrut. The two brothers were passionately Zionist, and following their deaths, Bernard’s wife Neri, who was a Zionist powerhouse in her own right, took over the administration of the Lady Davis Trust. After Neri Bloomfield died, her son Harry and daughter Evelyn continued the family legacy.Harry, a lawyer, who heads the family law office of Bloomfield & Avocats is a fifth generation Canadian who has continued the family association with educational projects in Israel with various universities in addition to the Amal Schools, and sits on the Boards of Governors of Tel Aviv University and the Haifa Technion. Two of his three sons are TAU alumni. Among the major projects that he has overseen is the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem, named in memory of his father and uncle.He is particularly thrilled, honored and proud that NTA has decided to name the Red Line stop nearest the stadium ‘Bloomfield Stadium.’ Initially NTA had decided to name the stop after the nearest cross street, but logic prevailed, and knowing that not all passengers heading for a soccer match would know the name of the street, NTA decided to erase all doubt as to where they should alight. “My late father and uncle would be so proud to see their family name memorialized in the city and country they had lived for and loved,” says Bloomfield.■ IN HIS many “getting to know you” travels around Israel, United Arab Emirates Ambassador Mohamed al-Khaja visited the headquarters of Watergen, an Israeli producer of machinery that extracts fresh drinking water out of thin air. Watergen’s machines provide an important solution to many areas around the world that suffer from scarcity of water. Al-Khaja met with Dr. Michael Mirilashvili, the company’s president, as well as the company’s executive team. The meeting took place following the recently signed partnership agreement between Watergen and the UAE-based Al-Dahra company. The two companies had already begun distributing machines in the UAE and the region.■ FOLLOWING THE murder in June 2014 by Palestinian terrorists of three yeshiva students – Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel – there was such an outpouring of national solidarity with the families of the three students that their parents, Racheli and Avi Fraenkel, Iris and Uri Yifrah, and Bat-Galim and Ofir Shaer, together with then-Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat initiated an annual Jerusalem Unity Prize. Since then, winners have been announced at the President’s Residence.Speaking at this year’s ceremony, which was attended by current Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and representatives of the Social Equality Ministry, President Reuven Rivlin noted that the same sense of national solidarity prevailed in response to the Mount Meron disaster. “We saw people standing in line to donate blood for the casualties. We saw people from Arab villages close by to the place of the tragedy setting up refreshment stations for those who had got out and for the families who had come to search for their loved ones. We saw the people of the Tel Aviv neighborhoods around Abu Kabir bringing food and cold drinks to the families who were waiting, with heavy hearts, to identify their loved ones who had lost their lives in the shocking tragedy. At the end of the day, and however hard it is for us to remember it, we are better than they tell us... At the moment of truth, we are one human fabric,” he said.This year’s winners of the Jerusalem Unity Prize were: The Shorashim inclusive school in Natur, Ramat HaGolan, the Desert Stars school for Bedouin leadership, and the Almogim school in Kiryat Yam, which is in an area of urban regeneration.In the national category, the winner was Be’liba Choma/A Wall at its Heart, a program that encourages young Israelis to change the discourse between secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox through a program that allows un-mediated encounters and cooperation, and also to open up Israeli society to young ultra-Orthodox people.In the international category, Jewish educator in Israel and the Jewish world Avraham Infeld, a founder of Birthright, Hillel and the Reut Institute, was a natural choice.■ ON SUNDAY evening May 9, the Hazvi Yisrael Synagogue in Jerusalem will host Eli Groner, a former director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office and former economic attaché at the Israel Embassy in Washington. He will speak on the development of Jerusalem and Israel in recent years.Groner, who has an impressive CV, is a native New Yorker, and when he was 15, the family relocated to Israel and settled in Jerusalem. Groner had a hard time in yeshiva because he didn’t speak Hebrew, but what saved him was his basketball prowess.After pre-military training he joined the army, enlisted in a paratrooper unit, then enrolled in an officers’ course. Following his discharge from the IDF, he studied communications and political science at Bar Ilan University, after which he worked for a while in the spokesman’s office of the Jerusalem Municipality before joining The Jerusalem Post as an economics reporter. After four years on the beat, he returned to the US to study for an MBA at NYU. He then went to work at McKinsey & Co. consulting firm, where he rose quickly through the ranks. After four years away from Israel, he came back to head the McKinsey office on home turf.After a couple of years, Groner decided that he wanted to try his hand in public service, saw a newspaper advertisement for an economic attaché to work at the Israel Embassy in Washington, applied and got the job. Some of his achievements as economic attaché came to the attention of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As it happened, soon after Groner’s return from Washington to Israel, the position of director-general in the Prime Minister’s Office became vacant. Groner set up a meeting with Netanyahu, whom he had never met previously. The two got along well, but rumor has it that Groner was eventually forced out for refusing to approve Sara Netanyahu’s demand that the PMO finance the cost of renovating the Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea. These days, Groner is the managing director of Koch Disruptive Technologies, a post that he has held for the past three years.■ THE 81st birthday of Efrat Chief Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is coming up on May 28. Riskin is the founder and emeritus chancellor of the Ohr Torah Stone network of high schools, colleges, seminaries and rabbinical schools whose alumni go out to spread Jewish light in the world. In celebration of Shavuot and Riskin’s birthday, his students, congregants and admirers have organized a special evening featuring four channels of diverse Torah lessons and fascinating online conversations on Zoom. The sessions begin on May 11 at 6 a.m. through to 6 p.m. Wednesday.The list of classes, and the Zoom links are available at https://bit.ly/337IP6zgreerfc@gmail.com
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