Grapevine: Mazal tov, David Geffen

LAST WEDNESDAY, a white-haired man wheeling a shopping trolley entered The Jerusalem Post editorial offices and proceeded to unload pastries, vegetables, and fruit. Historian Rabbi David Geffen had come to celebrate his 85th birthday. His writings have frequently appeared in the Magazine, The Jerusalem Post daily, and The Jerusalem Report.

Geffen, who grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, as an only child, revealed that he had been born on his father’s birthday, which was November 1. When his mother arrived at the hospital to give birth, she asked the medical team to make sure the baby was born on November 1 because she had forgotten to buy her husband a birthday gift. Geffen’s grandfather was well known for giving kashrut certification to Coca-Cola. What is less known is that he also gave it to Pepsi.

Israeli entertainers perform at funerals for fallen soldiers

■ ISRAEL’S SHOWBIZ personalities are legendary when it comes to volunteering during wartime. They entertain troops on battlefields and inside army bases. They visit hospitals to sing to wounded soldiers. They are now also singing to evacuees in hotels, hostels, guest houses, and community centers, and at weddings, where one or both parties are in the army.

There is a trend these days for entertainers to sing at funerals because so many of the fallen soldiers were aged between 18-21, and their favorite singers and songs were known to their close relatives and friends. So the favorite singer of a fallen soldier is asked to attend the funeral and sing the song the soldier loved best. This is also of tremendous comfort to the family. There is something about music that stirs the soul.

This past Tuesday, several well-known entertainers got together for a prayer for peace concert at the Jerusalem Theatre, where entry was free for evacuees from the South and North. The concert was dedicated to the hostages being held by Hamas, murdered civilians, fighting soldiers, and soldiers who fell in battle.

 The entertainers included The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gil Shohat, as well as David D’Or, Keren Hadar, Miki Gavrielov, Daniella Lugassy, Eliav Zohar, and Simon Cohen.

Many of the entertainers are also spending hours listening and talking to wounded soldiers, families of the hostages, and displaced civilians.

Evacuees flock to Jerusalem's Great Synagogue

■ LIKE SIMON COHEN, who is a trained cantor and singer of different musical genres, Yitzchak Meir is an exponent of many genres, particularly Carlebach melodies. Meir was the guest cantor at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue last weekend, and despite the absence of the choir, his powerful voice rang out beyond the last row in the synagogue’s spacious women’s gallery.

Meir has an echo chamber in his voice, which adds to the verve of his singing. It was natural for him to lead a Carlebach-style service, but more so on this occasion, since the 29th anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach had been marked earlier in the week.

For the past month, the Great Synagogue has been inviting evacuees from the North and the South to join in the services, and it seems that the invitation has been taken up, with attendance at Shabbat services more extensive than usual. It was difficult to tell the difference between locals and evacuees in the men’s section, but in the women’s section it can safely be assumed that the majority of those wearing head scarves were evacuees, while those wearing hats were locals.

The King of Klezmer

■ JERUSALEM HAS temporarily said goodbye to the “King of Klezmer,” Avrum Burstein, who is currently in the United States, where he is staying indefinitely. Burstein is best known for the basement concerts that he and fellow klezmer artists have given for many years in an old building on Yermiyahu Street in Romema.

The basement was the original headquarters of Yung Yidish, founded by Mendy Cahan, who later took it to Tel Aviv, where it has been centered in larger premises at the city’s Central Bus Station. Yung Yidish houses an amazing library of Yiddish books, magazines, and newspapers, most of which have been culled from deceased estates. It also promotes the teaching of the Yiddish language and stages cultural events in Yiddish, including cabaret. With the bus station slated for demolition, Cahan is now seeking a new home.

Meanwhile, during the past week, Burstein has performed in New York’s Monsey and Crown Heights neighborhgoods. Before arriving in the US, he spent several days in Budapest, where he also performed. Wherever he goes, he takes his accordion, clarinet, and violin – key instruments for klezmer musicians. In his basement, he also promotes Yiddish culture; while in America, he hopes to teach the spirit of klezmer to more musicians.

Born in Jerusalem in 1971, he has been playing klezmer music since he was a boy, and teaching it for more than 30 years, with particular emphasis on the melodies of the Breslav Hassidim. His grandfather, a Breslav hassid, came to Jerusalem from Poland in 1934.

Burstein is not the only entertainer in his family. Several of his relatives are in some form of show business. Not all are religious. Among the non-observant is Hollywood actor and filmmaker Mike Burstyn, who lived in Israel for many years and is the son of internationally renowned Yiddish stage actor Pesach Burstyn.

Jerusalem Foundation took action after October 7 massacre

■ IN A newsletter sent to donors, Alan G. Hassenfeld, chairman of the New York-based Jerusalem Foundation, Inc. wrote: “The board of the Jerusalem Foundation, Inc. took immediate action following the events of October 7, voting to allocate $1 million from its endowment to meet emergency needs in Jerusalem, working in close coordination with our foundation team on the ground there and with the city municipality.

“We have done so as a clear demonstration of our commitment to providing support where there are gaps in funding from other sources, and where the foundation’s history, relationships, and networks position us to be uniquely effective.

“We are giving special attention to basic needs, like food and shelter, for people displaced or made especially vulnerable by these extraordinary circumstances, and are keeping a strong eye on the developing social and psychological needs precipitated throughout all of Jerusalem’s communities by the trauma of these times.

“As the immediate crisis hopefully begins to recede, we plan to identify critical longer-term needs where our work of the moment can be an example for donors and friends who will want to join us as the way forward into stability and rebuilding emerges more clearly.”

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