Grapevine, December 31, 2023: Culinary ecumenism and economic recovery

When he first joined the coalition government, National Security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was considered by many, including people on the liberal Right, to be a disaster. In the interim, he has proved himself to be the king of chaos and controversy.

Some political pundits say that his shenanigans are part of a campaign to keep him in the spotlight because he aims to be the next prime minister of Israel, and in the effort to realize that ambition, needs to constantly remain in the public consciousness. Likud ministers and legislators will of course close ranks to prevent Ben-Gvir from ruling the roost, but we’ve had political surprises in the past, so it’s best to be alert.

Fleur Hassan-Nahoum highlights culinary ecumenism in India

Even before Basma Henno’s Noor restaurant in the Galilee Druze village of Jullis became kosher to be able to feed Jewish soldiers guarding the northern border, deputy mayor of Jerusalem Fleur Hassan-Nahoum posted a tweet about culinary ecumenism in India (with an accompanying video of Nahoum and Sons bakery, her husband’s 121-year-old family business, at Kolkata’s New Market in West Bengal). “On Christmas Eve this may possibly have been the only place in the world where Hindus stood in line to buy Christmas cakes made by Muslim chefs in a Jewish bakery to celebrate a Christian festival,” Hassan-Nahoum wrote.

A reply she received from Paris-based Israeli diplomat Fares Saeb indicated that what happens in India is like another normal day in Israel where you can find Muslim and Jewish customers buying kosher food from a Druze restaurant owned by Christians in a mixed city. He signed with “wishes for peace and normality for us all.”

That wish will be echoed throughout Israel next weekend when the patriarchs and congregants of Eastern churches celebrate Christmas.

Consensus on the Left and the Right

There is consensus on the Left and the Right of the political aisle that, despite waiting for the day after the war to get back to “normal,” it is already imperative to begin to get the country back on its feet economically. To this end, there will be numerous economy-themed conferences in the coming months. In fact, they’ve already started. Among the first was a hi-tech forum hosted by Dun and Bradstreet with participants including MK Orit Farkash-Hacohen and Mellanox founder Eyal Waldman, who emphasized the importance of hi-tech to Israel’s economy, and what a mistake it had been to make a severe cut in the budget for the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA). Farkash-Hacohen underscored the need for investing in value-added areas, noting that hi-tech generates three times the revenues of any other industry. At a conference hosted last week by Calcalist, the economic supplement of Yediot Aharonot, President Isaac Herzog urged the government to prepare a viable economic plan, calling the recovery of the economy “imperative.” 

As was to be expected, politics played a prominent role in the discussions with New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar declaring that a Palestinian state encircling Israel was an explosive belt that would be a constant hell in the lives of Israelis. Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid predicted that in 2025, the government would be much smaller, the army much larger and that troops would be stationed between the last house in Kibbutz Be’eri and the Gaza border. Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Liberman warned that these days, the threat from the North is significantly greater than from the South.

What is paramount in planning the economy’s recovery is accurately determining priorities. With numerous solidarity fundraisers abroad, millions of dollars are being earmarked for Israeli causes – but not always the most urgent.

Many organizations and institutions are jumping on the bandwagon of the Diaspora’s concerned generosity. To this end, the government economic plan should contain an advisory section and a list of urgent needs.

It has already been estimated that rebuilding and repairing the physical damage incurred on and since October 7 will cost billions of dollars. It might be beneficial if philanthropists in Israel and abroad, would adopt specific projects, just as they do hospitals, universities, and yeshivot, and that each new building on kibbutzim and other southern communities as well as some in the North, bear the names of the donors. That wouldn’t let Israel’s government off the responsibility hook, but it would ease the burden and give donors a good feeling – and a better understanding of communities living beyond the big cities.

Upcoming conference on energy 

Another economy-oriented conference in the field of energy is scheduled for January 9 at the headquarters of the Council for a Beautiful Israel at 80 Rokeach Street, Tel Aviv. Discussions will focus on how the war is affecting the economy in a plethora of energy-related fields. Curiously, the minister for Energy and National Infrastructure is not listed among the speakers. But that may be because the conference organizers did not know whether the projected swapping of roles between Energy Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen would actually take place.

Matanyahu Englman

When State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman was appointed in 2018, it was widely assumed that he wou ld be a lackey to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In addition, there were allegations that he was a misogynist. Neither assumption proved true. Englman has demonstrated time and again that he is on the side of justice and will not tolerate any form of injustice. While Netanyahu has said that the security foul-up and other events that led to October 7 will be investigated after the war, Englman has already initiated a preliminary investigation that he intends will be free of politics. His staff will look into the responsibilities of individuals at the state, military, and civic levels.

Olympic Judoka visits wounded soldiers

Olympic Judoka Peter Paltchik is among the athletes visiting wounded soldiers in hospitals around the country. Insofar as all the soldiers are heroes to the nation, athletic champions are heroes to the soldiers. The soldiers whom Paltchik visited at Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv were interested in hearing about his experiences in the Tokyo Olympics, and about his career in general – from personal losses to victories. They were also extremely interested to learn about his rehabilitation process after he was seriously injured. The message he delivered was “faith is beyond logic.” Paltchik’s visits were coordinated with Delta Israel.

Delegation of Jewish university students visits Israel 

No compliment is more appreciated than one which was not sought. Last week, when a delegation of Jewish university students from the United States and Canada visited the President’s Residence, the writer of this column found herself sitting next to Benjamin Himmel who attends Penn State University. After initiating an introduction and discovering whose company he was in, he exclaimed “I love The Jerusalem Post” and to prove he was not fabricating, produced his cell phone to show that he reads it online every day. He also said that he loves “Grapevine” because it contains so many items that one doesn’t read about elsewhere. Needless to say, it made this writer’s day.

Physician on board

In movies about airline passengers, there is often a scene in which a flight attendant asks whether there is a doctor on board. Inevitably a physician rises from his or her seat, attends to a passenger who has fainted, had a heart attack, or epileptic fit, and saves the passenger’s life. That occasionally happens in real life too.

A man in his 70s was on an El Al flight from Bulgaria to Israel last Tuesday when he experienced a diabetic emergency. A vigilant flight attendant noticed that the elderly passenger had lost consciousness and needed immediate assistance. Dr. Nathan Ungar, an aviation physician and long-time United Hatzalah volunteer, happened to be on board. As a physician who frequently accompanies ill patients in flight, Ungar had developed a prior rapport with the crew, who immediately approached his seat and informed him of the emergency.

Ungar quickly made his way to the distressed passenger and found him slumped in his seat, having barely regained consciousness, and perspiring profusely. The passenger managed to inform Ungar that he was diabetic. Suspecting low blood sugar levels, Ungar requested the onboard doctor’s kit from the flight crew. This kit, equipped with essential medical equipment and medications for various in-flight emergencies, is standard on every flight. Ungar also requested a jar of honey while waiting for the crew to bring him the medical kit. The honey arrived immediately, and Ungar administered it to the patient. As soon as the kit arrived, Ungar checked the patient’s blood sugar levels and was relieved to see that they had risen due to the honey, yet the blood pressure and saturation levels were low.

Suddenly, the patient lost consciousness again, and his breathing became shallow. Ungar moved him to the galley floor and enlisted the help of another passenger to elevate the patient’s legs. He connected the patient to oxygen, opened an IV line, and administered fluids to the patient who slowly regained consciousness.

Given the man’s unstable condition, having lost consciousness twice, Ungar recommended that the pilots make an emergency landing at the nearest airport. Since the patient was unable to return to his seat, Ungar sat in the galley jump seat next to the flight attendants and closely monitored the man’s condition until the plane made an emergency landing at Rhodes International Airport. Emergency crews from Rhodes promptly came on board and transported the patient to a nearby hospital for further care. The patient is now stable and recovering nicely.

Reflecting on the incident, Ungar said how happy he was to help save a life. “I’m blessed to have been in the right place at the right time,” he said, though usually when he saves a life, it’s on the ground and not in the air.

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