Grapevine, May 29, 2024: Latter-day Zionists

All three recipients of awards at the annual B’nai B’rith Awards Ceremony in recognition of Excellence in Diaspora Reportage sounded like emissaries of the Jewish Agency, as they extolled the beauty of living in Israel, and Israel as a preferred location compared to countries in which antisemitism is currently rife.

Elad Simchayoff, Channel 12 European correspondent, filmed while he covered a massive pro-Palestinian anti-Israel demonstration, exhibited great courage in a frightening situation.

In his speech, he noted that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but there are people who choose to repeat history.” October 7 is an example and a date on which Israel and all Jews were forced to choose as they encountered verbal and physical violence “such as we have never known before,” he continued.

Relating to what he had witnessed abroad, Simchayoff said that Jews in the Diaspora have to choose every day to stay where they are and face hatred.

Without being judgmental, Simchayoff nevertheless implied that they would be better off in Israel. Yet for all that, he obviously understood that most of them will choose to remain in the countries in which they live. “Because of them, we’re not alone,” he said, “and because of us, they’re not alone.”

Even though they choose to live elsewhere, Simchayoff paid tribute to Diaspora Jews as being “tremendous patriots for Israel.”

Canaan Lidor, the Jewish World reporter for The Times of Israel, spent several years in Amsterdam, which he and his wife found to be a wonderful place, but after a decade they missed Israel, and they realized that Jewish communities in the Diaspora are living in a perilous moment, unwanted by the surrounding society.

So they came home to Israel, where the cost of living is expensive, and the quality of life is on a different level. But this does not bother them.

“We need money,” Lidor said, speaking from a national perspective, “but most of all we need humans, and to work creatively across the aisle.” Acknowledging that he’s a Zionist, Lidor called on Diaspora Jews to come to Israel.

Veteran singer Ilanit, who sang two popular songs from her vast repertoire, was the recipient of the Naomi Shemer memorial citation for fostering Israel-Diaspora Relations through the Arts.

Her parents arrived in pre-state Israel in 1939, having left Poland just in time. The family later moved to Brazil, but after a few years returned to Israel.

Ilanit, who in 1973 was Israel’s first-ever Eurovision Song Contest contestant, and later traveled widely to give performances, said that she had many opportunities to build her career in Europe, but as far as she was concerned, the only place in which she wanted to live permanently was Israel.

Among the speakers were Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, who gave a Zionist lesson on ancient history which to some extent is paralleled by current events; and former government spokesman Eylon Levy, who urged all present to speak up for Israel and to speak out against antisemitism.

Graduation ceremonies tinged with sadness

■ COMMENCEMENT AND graduation ceremonies at institutes of higher learning are supposed to be happy affairs, but in too many cases in Israel, they are tinged with sorrow by the fact that some of the new students lost a sibling or a parent in the October 7 massacre; or a student due to graduate fell in the war against Hamas.

Cases of the latter last week cast a pall on the annual honors ceremonies at Reichman University, where the families of the late Maj. (res.) Dor Zimel and Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Joseph Gitarts were awarded the Dean’s Certificate of Excellence for the academic achievements of the two fallen soldiers.

Zimel, who was 27 years old when he fell, served as a deputy company commander in the 8103rd Battalion of the IDF’s Etzioni Brigade, and was a third-year law and government student at RU’s Harry Radzyner Law School.

On April 17, a month before his planned wedding to his fiancée, Shir – to whom he had proposed during the war – Zimel was critically wounded in a Hezbollah drone attack on the community of Arab el-Aramshe on the Lebanese border. He succumbed to his wounds a few days later, and his family, in a noble gesture, donated his organs to save the lives of seven people whom they did not know.

Gitarts, who was 25 years old at the time of his death, immigrated to Israel from Russia at the age of 13. He was a soldier in the IDF’s 179th Reserve Armored Brigade’s 7029th Battalion, and a second-year computer science student at RU’s Raphael Recanati International School.

On December 25 Gitarts was killed by an anti-tank missile during a battle in the southern Gaza Strip. Before entering Gaza, he had written a letter to his parents that was published after his death and moved many people with its poignant words: “I would do the same thing if I could choose again. I came to this decision by myself and stuck with it until the end. I fell proudly for the sake of my people. I have no regrets.”

In his remarks RU President Prof. Boaz Ganor said: “Reichman University is proud of its sons and daughters, who in one moment put everything aside and set out to fight for the defense of our homeland. Tragically, nine of our students did not return from the battlefield, and we continue to await the return of Idan Shtivi, who is being held hostage in Gaza.

“Dor and Joseph epitomize excellence and the values of Zionism, leadership, freedom, and responsibility, which are at the core of our university’s ethos. There is no greater pain than knowing that they are not here to enjoy the fruits of their labor. We share in the sorrow of their families, and are grateful to them for honoring us with their presence.”

National Library of Israel holds small events

■ THE NATIONAL Library of Israel (NLI), whose official opening was postponed time and again because construction had not been completed, was finally ready for its gala series of events, with invitations sent out for the week of October 22, 2023.

But then came October 7, and the gala opening, with all that it entailed, was not just postponed but canceled.

Nonetheless, smaller events have been held to honor the many donors for whom (or in memory of their family members) various areas of the library have been named.

In mid-May, Australian-Israeli millionaire Sir Frank Lowy and sons David and Steven were joined by President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal, NLI chairman of the board of directors Sallai Meridor and CEO Oren Weiberg, Alrov Group founder Alfred Akirov and his wife, Chava; Ray Shipping owners Rami and Yael Unger; former prime minister Ehud Olmert and his wife, Aliza; Sir Ronald Cohen; former president and CEO of Bank Leumi Rakefet Russak-Aminoach and Reem Aminoach; economist Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg; Executive Director of the Institute for National Security Studies and former head of Military Intelligence Tamir Hayman; KPMG Somekh Chaikin chairman Gad Somekh and his wife, Nitzan; and multidisciplinary artist Sigalit Landau in dedicating the library’s centerpiece – the Hugo and Ilona Lowy main reading halls.

A second space, the Hugo and Ilona Lowy Special Collections Reading Room, enables the presentation and study of archival and rare materials. This magnificent room, with its old-world feel, was designed to display the renowned Valmadonna Trust Library, a collection of 13,000 rare printed Hebrew books and manuscripts, considered the finest of its kind in the world.

The dedication ceremony also included the unveiling of a statue, Hugo, sculpted by Landau, which was commissioned by Frank Lowy, in memory of his father. Hugo Lowy was clubbed to death on the Auschwitz railway platform by an SS soldier for refusing to leave his prayer shawl and phylacteries behind. The NLI in Jerusalem is probably the most suitable place in which to honor his memory in perpetuity.

The National Library's educational programs

■ THE NATIONAL Library also conducts a variety of educational programs in conjunction with the Education Ministry and with the support of generous individuals and philanthropic foundations.

The 2024 National Library of Israel Prize for Pedagogic Excellence in memory of Canadian-Israeli architect David Azrieli was awarded earlier last month at a festive ceremony, in the presence of ministry officials, library senior executives, and distinguished representatives of the Azrieli Foundation.

Now in its third year, this prestigious award is given to teachers who have initiated significant processes to strengthen humanities education in their schools; teachers who have cultivated in their students a desire to expand knowledge and academic horizons, while emphasizing research, reading and writing skills.

Dozens of teachers across the country were nominated by students, teachers, parents and principals, and the winners were selected by a committee comprised of public and education network officials, as well as representatives from the library and the foundation.

The three prizewinners will share a NIS 115,000 monetary award made possible as part of a five-year NIS 3.75 million gift from the Azrieli Foundation for the Israel National Center for Humanities Education, Israel’s training center for humanities educators, which the NLI runs in collaboration with the ministry.

This year’s prizewinners are:

Efrat Amit Leibovitz – pedagogical coordinator and teacher of literature and student affairs at Tichon Hadash Tel Aviv Yitzhak Rabin, who developed a three-year program for teaching the humanities to middle school; a program about civics and Judaism; and a course for educators on the teaching of the Oral Torah.

Shay Gillis – Jewish thought studies coordinator and Oral Torah teacher at the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Charles E. Smith High School for Boys in Jerusalem, for creating lesson plans, for remote and on-site teaching, self-learning tasks, and a wide selection of cultural and art sources. These lesson plans led to a profound change in the school’s teaching methods.

Anat Sade-Amit – literature studies coordinator at ORT Melton, Bat Yam, a school on the social periphery with a diverse student population.

Sade-Amit believes that enjoyment and love of literature is essential, and has developed unique teaching methods and tools to enable each student to improve their skills of expression, leading to the publication of a book of poetry by her students.

Sade-Amit also initiated a learning community for students to teach other students, and formed a group of 11th graders who go once a week to study philosophy and literature at Tel Aviv University.

Honorable mentions were awarded to: Anat Mor-Eilat of Beit Yerach High School and Ruth Ash-Argyle of the Leo Baeck Education Center.

Neta Shapira, director of the NLI Education Department, notes that at complex periods of national crisis and war, the role of teachers becomes ever more important. “Even in difficult times we know that, to endure and survive each crisis, we must continue to learn and teach.

“We are proud to honor these teachers who have accompanied thousands of teenagers through the difficult years of pandemic, crises, and war, and help them give meaning to their lives and our lives as well.”

Danna Azrieli, chairwoman of the Azrieli Foundation Israel and chairwoman of the Azrieli Group, stated that “teachers are at the forefront of sparking curiosity in the younger generation to ask questions, be inquisitive, experience reading, and explore different worlds, both near and far. These experiences will help them grow into better people as part of a healthier and more inclusive society.”

MKs active in support of hostages families 

■ TWO FORMER Labor Party MKs, Emilie Moatti and Stav Shaffir, have been extremely active in their support of the families of the hostages still in captivity in Gaza. Moatti even suggested to German Ambassador Steffen Seibert that he host a morning meeting between representatives of the hostage families and ambassadors and other senior diplomats of countries whose nationals were or are among the hostages.

Seibert, who has been a constant presence with the hostage families, readily agreed.

The meeting, which took place at the German Embassy last Friday, included ambassadors and other high-ranking diplomats from Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Portugal, Serbia, Romania, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

People from the embassies represented have been in frequent contact with the families of the hostages. At the meeting they all reiterated their call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, including the bodies of the dead, some of whom were murdered in the October 7 massacre and taken to Gaza.

Seibert tweeted afterward: “These days have been particularly devastating for the hostages’ families. I thank their representatives for their time to meet today over a dozen ambassadors and diplomats in our embassy and share their stories and demands. Our common goal, ever more important: Bring them Home.”

US Ambassador Jack Lew tweeted that he had attended a meeting with hostage families, fellow ambassadors, and representatives of 14 countries whose citizens were taken captive on October 7.

“Standing together reinforces our common efforts to free the hostages and underscores our solidarity as we work to bring them home,” he wrote.

Moatti, in a message of appreciation that she tweeted, noted that Seibert had been involved not only with families who hold German citizenship but also with those who don’t.

Ireland's recognition of a Palestinian state is no surprise

■ ISRAEL, PARTICULARLY the Foreign Ministry, should not have been the least bit surprised at Ireland’s recognition of a Palestinian state. It was bound to happen eventually, given Ireland’s own history of bloodshed and reconciliation – but particularly at the present time. Though Ireland has repeatedly condemned Hamas, it has long advocated for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

At the present time, Ireland’s representative to the Palestinian Authority is Feilim McLaughlin, who happens to be married to Ireland’s Ambassador to Israel Sonya McGuinness. There must be some very interesting conversations in their household.

■ JOSH ARONSON, Maariv’s UK-based correspondent, is a die-hard fan of Manchester United Football Club, as was the late Yonatan Rapoport, a dual national citizen of the UK and Israel who was murdered at his home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 while protecting his two children, Yosef, nine, and Aluma, six, who survived the Hamas attack.

In a personal tribute to Rapoport, Aronson wore a T-shirt bearing Rapoport’s image to the FA Cup. Aronson said that he was pleasantly surprised by the fans who saw him and sent a warm message to the families of the hostages and the State of Israel.

Great-grandson of Menachem Begin serves in Gaza

■ GRANDSON OF former minister Bennie Begin and great-grandson of the late prime minister Menachem Begin, Ariel Regev, is a paratrooper who participated in heavy fighting in Jabalya in Gaza, and he’s not the only combat soldier who comes from a well-known family which could have sent him to some faraway island barely touched by civilization, but which instead supported him or her when they answered the call to duty.

Violence on Mount Meron

■ POLICE BRUTALITY is deplorable under any circumstances, but so is civilian violence and irresponsibility, especially when it comes from the ranks of the purportedly pious.

There was no excuse for police using a truncheon on a senior citizen, nor was there an excuse for the vulgar epithets hurled at police by those same pious souls who refused to accept the safety regulations that allowed limited access to Mount Meron in order to avoid repetition of the catastrophe of three years ago in which adults and children were trampled on and 45 people, including children, were killed in the crush.

Had the two chief rabbis, Rabbi David Lau and Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, together with leaders of religious political parties, held a joint press conference urging people to consciously choose life rather than endanger it, the shameful, unholy Lag Ba’omer scenes might have been avoided.

The ferocity with which some of the ultra-Orthodox attacked police was indicative that, with a little discipline, they would be of far greater use to the army than to the yeshiva or the kollel.

Grief does not distinguish between faiths and nations

■ GRIEF AND pain do not distinguish between faiths and nations. The loss of a loved one is painful at any time, but more so in circumstances of violence known to survivors in both Israel and Gaza.

Someone has to convince Benjamin Netanyahu that the longer the war goes on, the less likelihood there is of any of the hostages surviving.

Antisemitism at University of Melbourne

■ AS SOMEONE born and raised in Melbourne, I found it somewhat painful to read the riveting article about antisemitism at the University of Melbourne that was written by Tammy Reznik and published in The Jerusalem Post earlier this month.

Some of the most distinguished Australians, including many Jews, are or were alumni of the university, including an impressive number now living in Israel, such as Mark Regev, a former media adviser to Netanyahu and later an Israel ambassador to the UK.

Among those who graduated long before the establishment of the State of Israel are two former governors-general, Sir Isaac Isaacs and Sir Zelman Cowen, who were each legal experts.

Isaacs, was also the first Australian-born governor-general and had previously held the post of chief justice.

Cowen, an internationally recognized expert on constitutional law, was a faculty member and a guest lecturer at many universities in Australia, England, and the United States. He also served as dean of the Law Faculty at the University of Melbourne.

Another highly distinguished Jewish alumnus was Gen. Sir John Monash. A brilliant student, he graduated from the university with bachelor’s degrees in arts and law and a doctorate in engineering.

He worked as a civil engineer, and during the First World War was a brigade commander. After the war, he was put in charge of the repatriation of Australian troops from Europe.

After returning home himself, he was appointed or elected to several important posts, such as head of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria; president of the Rotary Club; and president of the Zionist Federation of Australia.

Kfar Monash, in the northern part of the Sharon, is named in his memory, as are streets, towns, and neighborhoods in Australia. But perhaps most important in today’s toxic climate is Monash University, which was founded in 1958 in his native Melbourne, and which has a large Jewish student population as well as a multidisciplinary Center for Jewish Civilization.

If the university student situation in Melbourne continues to be a hotbed of fear and violence, what will happen to a university named for a Zionist Jew, with a large number of Jews among students and faculty staff, Jewish education programs, and philanthropic support from Jewish foundations and affluent Jewish individuals? Will the university change its name to Mabruk, Maheer, or Mahfuz?

More recently, the Melbourne Jewish community has been shocked by antisemitic vandalism, including death threats that were daubed on the wall of the largest campus of Mount Scopus College, the pioneer Jewish school, which this year is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

Many of its alumni, including some living in Israel, went straight through from kindergarten to high school graduation.

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