By GREER FAY CASHMANMichael Kovner(photo credit: WWW.MICHAELKOVNER.COM)
JERUSALEM-BASED artist Michael Kovner, who is well known in Israel and the United States for his landscapes and cityscapes, attended the Israeli premiere of Ezekiel’s World at the Khan Theater, based on his 145-page “graphic novel.” The book was his first foray into comics, and was adapted for the stage by playwright Jenny Levinson. It was initially performed in New York and is inspired by Kovner’s father, the famous poet and Vilna Ghetto partisan Abba Kovner, who studied art before the war and who was one of his son’s early art teachers. The plot weaves fact and fiction, with historical events remaining in the genre of fact and the rest being fiction sprinkled with fact but painting a less romantic picture of the main character than that of the public persona of Abba Kovner. During the Second World War Kovner headed a partisan group, after the war joined the Hagana and after Independence became a captain in the Givati Brigade.Abba Kovner lived on Kibbutz Ein Hahoresh, which was founded in 1931 – 15 years before he moved there – by members of Hashomer Hatza’ir from Eastern Europe. Kovner had been a member of the movement in Vilna. He was one of Israel’s leading poets and historians and played a leading role in the design and construction of several Holocaust monuments including Beit Hatfutsot – Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in Tel Aviv, which is now known as The Museum of the Jewish People. A heavy smoker, Kovner developed cancer in his vocal cords. The cancer spread to other parts of his body and he died in 1987 at age 69.Ezekiel, who is modeled on Abba Kovner, is older by six years, and instead of cancer, suffers from chronic arthritis. Many things between fathers and sons are left unsaid until it is too late. This was also the case in the Kovner family, and the graphic novel was Michael Kovner’s way of continuing to speak to his father and explore his many-sided complex personality.ANGELICA AFTER Hours, a new social club, founded by Suzie Frankel, Michelle Katz and Marcus Gershowitz, will be launched this Saturday night at the famed Angelica Restaurant on the King David strip. Now that Shabbat is ending late, many restaurant proprietors are thinking twice about whether it’s worth opening for a Saturday night clientele. The happy solution at Angelica is a Saturday night club where people can mingle and network in a convivial environment. Aside from the ambiance and the culinary fare, the benefit of the venue is that it is easily accessible via public transport and that there is ample parking space for cars within easy walking distance. In addition, the restaurant is located in the heart of the hotel belt, so if visitors to the city want to mingle with English-speaking Israelis, all they have to do is walk down the street or walk across the road.EMUNAH B’SIMCHA is an offshoot of Emunah that assists financially strapped newlyweds in Israel who have completed or are currently serving in the army or national service by providing them with home starter kits, which include all the essentials for building a new home with pride and dignity. In addition, Emunah B’Simcha runs a borrowing boutique where there are beautiful gowns in different sizes for all occasions.Women can borrow them at no cost and feel like a million dollars when attending a wedding, bar mitzva or any other dressup occasion. The organization also hosts numerous fund-raising events with all the proceeds going to needy couples and families.The next such event is a screening of Beneath the Helmet, the highly acclaimed documentary about Israelis going from high school to the army. Produced by Raphael and Rebecca Shore, with the writing by the distaff side and directed and edited by Wayne Kopping, with Baruch Goldberg, and Oren Rosenfeld as co-producers and Aviv Vana as director of photography, the film will be screened at the Lev Smadar Cinema, 4 Lloyd George Street, off Emek Refa’im, on Thursday, May 14. The significance of the date should not be lost on anyone.