Grapevine, March 24, 2024: Star attraction

Regardless of the reason for the suspension of Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy last week, in the eyes of the Israeli public, he has celebrity status.

He appeared last Wednesday at the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem with HonestReporting executive director Gil Hoffman. 

Each of the two has a vast following, but the reception that Levy received from the audience was like that of a movie star. He was applauded and cheered several times throughout the evening, and both he and Hoffman spiced the serious subject of media wars with humorous comments that caused the audience to laugh, without losing its concentration on the gravity of the subject.

The two also complimented and complemented each other. Hoffman, who was the first speaker, prompted the first laugh when he said it was pleasing for him to be the understudy for Levy and the garnish on the main course. Levy responded by saying “Gil, I’ve always liked you,” which raised another laugh.

The last laugh of the evening came during question time when a gentleman at the back, who happened to be Hoffman’s father, singled him out and prefaced his question by saying: “I taught him everything he knows.”

Sami Rohr Prize ceremony moved from National Library of Israel to Begin Center

■ THE SAMI Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature (awarded on alternative years for fiction and non-fiction at award ceremonies held alternatively in New York and Jerusalem, now in conjunction with the National Library of Israel) had originally scheduled its awards ceremony at the National Library of Israel last year, at a date very close to the library’s official opening.

As the date approached it became clear that the building was not yet ready for major events, so the gala literary event was moved to the Begin Center. This year, when the library building is in full swing, the ceremony will be held in New York. Meanwhile, the non-fiction finalists for this year have been announced, and the winner will be announced next month, with the awards scheduled for June.

The finalists are Jeremy Eichler for Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance (Knopf); Michael Frank for One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for the Lost World (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster); Oren Kessler for Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict (Rowman & Littlefield); and Natalie Livingstone for The Women of Rothschild: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Famous Dynasty (St. Martin’s Press).

"War and Peace" exhibition to open in Jerusalem

■ WAR AND Peace are on the minds of Israelis these days and of Jews in communities around the world – as well as the political leadership of a number of countries. Wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as elsewhere in the Middle East are affecting economies, mental health, security, racist attitudes, and more.

Helen Borowski, born in Melbourne, Australia, to Holocaust survivor parents, and now living in Jerusalem, is an artist who grew up surrounded by Holocaust survivors. War has never been far from her consciousness, even though there has never been a war in Australia.

‘War and Peace,’ Borowski’s solo exhibition – not Tolstoy’s classic novel – will open on Wednesday evening, March 27, at the Harmony Cultural Center, 1 Koresh Street, Jerusalem.

Her exhibition of paintings and drawings explores the concept of home through all aspects of her identity, during times of war and peace. It will remain on view until April 10.

Upcoming Jaffa seminar in honor of former Ottoman governor

■ REGARDLESS OF the state of relations between Israel and Turkey, what cannot be ignored is Turkey’s historic role in this country prior to its defeat in World War I.

Although Jaffa has become an adjunct to Tel Aviv, and urban renewal has brought many Jews to what was primarily an Arab area, one of the most beautiful relics of the Turkish era is the Saraya Cultural Center by the Jaffa clock tower, where many interesting events are held.

Coming up on Thursday, March 28, at 3.30 p.m. is a seminar devoted to the 19th-century governor of Jaffa, Muhammed Abu Nabbut Agha, who was responsible for much of its construction, and left behind a historic heritage and a cultural legacy.

600 Jewish Australians doxxed by pro-Palestinian activists

■ DOXXING IS a word that may not appear in the lexicons of many English speakers living in Israel. Doxxing is the publishing of private information against an individual’s will, in order to intimidate them or otherwise damage their reputation.

In February, a group of 600 Jewish Australians were doxxed by pro-Palestinian activists. Many of them were then subjected to an orchestrated campaign of hate. Businesses were ruined; death threats were made, and people were forced to flee their homes. Jews were not of course the only victims of doxxing. 

Because of its rising prevalence, the Australian government has announced a public consultation period ahead of anticipated anti-doxxing legislation.

The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA), headed by Jeremy Leibler, a partner in one of Melbourne’s leading law firms, intends to make a submission to the government on this matter. Before doing so, the ZFA issued a call to Australian Jews to provide testimony in the event that they had been doxxed.

New York's Lower East Side to hold Greek Jewish festival

■ KEHILA KEDOSHA Janina Synagogue and Museum (KKJ), one of only a handful of active synagogues that remain on New York’s Lower East Side, will host its ninth annual Greek Jewish Festival on Sunday, May 19.

The Greek Jewish Festival celebrates and showcases the unique Romaniote and Sephardic heritage of the Jews of Greece; authentic kosher Greek foods; homemade Greek pastries; live Greek and Sephardic musical and traditional dance performances; an outdoor marketplace; educational activities for children; cooking demonstrations; and much more.

As far as its director Andrew Marcus is aware, “This is the only festival of its kind in the world.” However, that’s not quite so. There’s an annual Jewish festival in the Polish city of Krakow’s old Jewish Quarter, every summer, that includes lectures, concerts, dance recitals, films, theater, and cooking demonstrations. Presumably, similar efforts are made in other countries to preserve Jewish culture and traditions.

The Greek Jews in New York are joined by several Jewish organizations that co-sponsored the event. Other sponsors include various history museums, Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, the Panepirotic Federation of America, the National Hellenic Society, and other non-Jewish partners.

The festival will begin at 12.30 pm. in front of KKJ’s landmark historic synagogue at 280 Broome Street, between Allen and Eldridge Streets.

For KKJ president Marvin Marcus it’s perfectly natural to have non-Jewish co-sponsorship of a Greek Jewish Festival. “As a Lower East Side native, I grew up experiencing different cultures among neighbors. The Greek Jewish Festival is our way of sharing our traditions with the broader Lower East Side and the people of New York,” he explains. It sounds like a lot of fun.

Israeli chef abroad receives Michelin star

■ ISRAELI CHEFS abroad are creating quite a reputation for Israeli cuisine. Matan Zaken, the 31-year-old Jerusalem chef joins Shalom Kadosh, Chaim Cohen, Assaf Granit, Meir Adoni, Eyal Shani, Einat Admoni, Yossi Hadad, Yotam Ottolenghi, and others giving foreign diners a taste of Israel in their own countries.

Zaken is the owner of the Nhome restaurant in Paris, where he offers an ever-changing nine-course blind-tasting meal and was recently awarded a prestigious Michelin star.

Considering that he opened his restaurant only a year-and-a-half ago, the Michelin recognition is paving the fast lane to fame, particularly as the establishment serves only evening meals and has room for no more than 24 diners at any given time.

Raised in Jerusalem’s Katamon neighborhood until just after his bar-mitzvah, Zaken was an adolescent when his family moved to France. He worked in his uncle’s restaurant in Avignon while simultaneously studying at the local hotel school and did his internship in the restaurants of some of France’s top-notch chefs, all of whom have Michelin stars.

When he was 18, Zaken returned to Israel as a lone soldier and served in the Golani Brigade. His home away from was on Kibbutz Holit, one of the kibbutzim in the Gaza border areas that was attacked by Hamas.

He was strongly tempted to return to Israel and volunteer as a reservist, but he has a non-Israeli team working with him in his restaurant, and if he left, they would be unemployed – so he stayed. In some ways, he can do more for Israel in France by talking to the people who frequent his restaurant and helping to correct false impressions about Israel.

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