Grapevine September 22, 2024: Happy birthday, Mr. President!

Happy birthday, Mr. President!

■ TODAY, SUNDAY September 22, is the birthday of President Isaac Herzog, who is now 64 years old, but still manages to retain a boyish grin.

Other well-known people celebrating a birthday today are former Education and Sport minister Limor Livnat and singer, songwriter and composer Ariel Zilber who turns 80. In his secular days, Zilber had a mop of curly hair. These days, he has more hair on his chin than on his head. Both Livnat and Zilber are the offspring of mothers who were famous singers. Livnat is the daughter of Shulamit Livnat and Zilber the son of Bracha Tzfira, who was also a songwriter, singer, musicologist, and actress. Shulamit Livnat, who was the songstress of the right-wing underground movements in the pre-state era, remained a right-wing activist after the state was established, and was often given a hard time by people on the Left. Limor Livnat was for many years a member of the Likud Party and a Bibi loyalist. Like so many others who once enjoyed a close relationship with the PM, she has stepped back and now looks at him with an exceedingly critical eye and is among those who believe that it’s time for him to go.

■ FOR HERZOG, this is not the happiest of birthdays as he has been caught in the eye of a storm involving the centenary celebrations next June of the Hebrew University, where a number of outstanding figures will be awarded honorary doctorates, It is almost a given that one of the honorees would be the president of the state, but some members of the committee which is considering the various nominees who have been proposed have rejected Herzog on the grounds that he is too political, having been scathingly critical of judicial reform, and that he supports the changing of the guard in the police force. Citing recent incidents of police violence, some faculty members say that in light of this, to honor Herzog would be like spitting in the face of students participating in demonstrations and getting hurt. Those in favor of Herzog being honored argue that he has spoken out on the importance of unifying the nation, toning down the negative rhetoric of opposing factions, and engaging in dialogue. The final decision is due in November, and may come at a time when Herzog is in the United States, which could either save him embarrassment, should he be omitted from the list of honorees, or add to his embarrassment as he will be in the US to address the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, where in addition to Jewish leaders from across the country, he will be meeting with Sheryl Sandberg, the American philanthropist, who is so active in raising awareness of Hamas sexual violence against women, and who has formed a close friendship with his wife Michal who is also active in raising awareness of sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas, as well as violence against women in general.

Getting back to the Hebrew University, it will be extremely interesting to see who will be in attendance in relation to the eminent personalities who were present at the opening in April 1925. Among them were Lord Arthur Balfour, British High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel, Chaim Weizmann, who would later become the first president of the nascent state of Israel, Chief Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook, Chaim Nachman Bialik, leaders of the various Zionist movements, and government representatives of the US, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Greece, Germany, Poland, and Austria.

Between now and June next year, Herzog will have plenty on his plate and will have concerns other than whether or not he will be slighted by the Hebrew University.

Even if he is not honored by HU, in November, Tel Aviv University, which is Herzog’s alma mater, will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the dedication of its Ramat Aviv campus, which was attended by then-President Zalman Shazar and former prime minister Levi Eshkol. If TAU decides to hold a ceremony to mark the anniversary, Herzog will undoubtedly be invited and honored.

Other anniversaries

■ SPEAKING OF anniversaries, this year is the 40th anniversary year of Operation Moses which heralded the mass immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Thousands of Ethiopian Jews are still waiting to be reunited with their families, but those living in Gondar are now facing difficulties in getting out and others who have been denied by a series of Israeli governments are still waiting, Their relatives in Israel cannot understand why some members of their families were approved and others not, especially in cases of siblings whose brothers fell in battle while serving in Israel in Defense Forces, were denied the right to join their mourning families in Israel and had to mourn alone in Ethiopia. It’s well past time to bring them all home. Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, who appears to be somewhat more compassionate than his predecessors, should remember that his spiritual leader, the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, recognized Ethiopian Jews as full Jews. This would give them the right to immigrate under the Law of Return. Arbel could make history by allowing all of those who have been waiting for decades to come home.

■ THE RECENT strike in Brooklyn, New York, which helped to facilitate the Jewish divorce of a young ultra-Orthodox woman, Malky Berkowitz. Her husband, who had physically assaulted her, had refused for four years to release her. The strike, was initiated by another haredi woman Adina Sash. Newspaper reports, including in The Jerusalem Post, did not state whether Sash had been exposed to secular literature, but it’s quite possible that she got the idea for a sex strike from the ancient Greek play Lysistrata, which was written by Aristophanes more than two thousand years ago. The sex strike in which women refused to have physical relations with their husbands, was used to stop the war between Athens and Sparta and continued for quite some time until a peace treaty was signed between the two. If only that strategy could have been employed in the Middle East, one can imagine how much needless bloodshed it would have prevented.

■ PEOPLE WHO care about Israel and Israelis are racking their brains to come up with new fund-raising ideas in order to help different sectors of the population. Some of these ideas are related to sport. For instance, 17-year-old American golf enthusiast Max Margolis of California, together with his father Michael Margolis, has been working hard to raise money for Israel, and one of the ways he is doing it is through golf in which other golf enthusiasts are donating money for each time that he hits a hole in one. Margolis came to Israel to raise money for OneFamily which supports victims of terrorism and their families. His aim was to hit 100 holes in one in the space of a day, beginning at 6 a.m. and continuing till nightfall. He received lots of encouragement and cooperation from the Caesarea Golf Club, and succeeded in reaching his goal, much to the delight of OneFamily chair Chantal Belzberg who was full of praise for the young man’s efforts.

It was not the first time that the young Margolis had used his golfing skill to raise funds. He had done so previously in the US on behalf of St Jude’s Hospital which specializes in combating cancer.

At the end of the game, Max and students of the Youth Golf Academy hosted 20 young survivors who had been injured during the Hamas assault on October 7.

Caesarea Golf Club CEO Lior Prety commended Max’s initiative and said that it had been a privilege to partner with him in this venture.

■ IN ANOTHER sport fund-raiser taking place today, Sunday, DLA PIPER, an international law firm has recruited the major law offices in Israel to support the Shalva organization, which assists people with disabilities and special needs.

DLA Piper has organized a basketball tournament in which lawyers and youth with disabilities will play together at the Shalva National Center in Jerusalem, and all the money raised will be ear-marked for the Shalva organization’s project that integrates these young people with disabilities and special needs into the IDF, the Border Police, Unit 8200 and other essential security providers. The project is called Rising in the Ranks.

Participants will include Roy Batt, a graduate of the project who gave meaningful service in the Border Police and is now returning to serve there permanently.

The recent triumph of Israel’s Paralympic team in Paris, is proof that people with disabilities can still be high achievers.

At a time when leaders of haredi communities are still fighting against mandatory army service for haredi youth, young men and women with disabilities are fighting to serve in whatever capacities they are assigned.

There are signs of change in haredi youth, some of whom feel that they should take part in defending the security of the state and not with prayers and religious studies alone. One can do both.

All kinds of people can change. Attitudes do not have to be set in stone. Singer Aviv Geffen was staunchly anti-military and refused to serve in the IDF when he was young, gradually changed his mind about the importance of military service, His older son Dylan, who has received his initial call-up papers, can hardly wait to get into uniform.