PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu will be the keynote speaker at the Christian Media Summit being hosted on Sunday, November 3, by the Friends of Zion Museum.
By GREER FAY CASHMANPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Memorial Service for the Victims of the Yom Kippur War at the Herzl Memorial Hall in Jerusalem, October 10 2019(photo credit: GPO/AMOS BEN GERSHOM)
■ APPLAUSE DURING a Sabbath synagogue service is unusual, especially in an Orthodox synagogue, but it came in a spontaneous burst last Saturday as Zalli Jaffe, acting president of the Great Synagogue, extolled the virtues of the synagogue’s chief cantor, Chaim Adler, who was celebrating both his 80th birthday and his retirement.The morning service had been led by Adler’s grandsons, who proved that the apple had not fallen far from the tree. Jaffe thanked both Adler and his wife, Shoshana, for what they have done to enrich the lives of congregants, after which it was only natural for the congregation to endorse what he said with a round of applause.■ PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu will be the keynote speaker at the Christian Media Summit being hosted on Sunday, November 3, by the Friends of Zion Museum. Christian radio alone reaches more than 100 million people on a daily basis. Whatever message Netanyahu wants to convey will get as broad an audience as Israel could possibly imagine.■ THE 20TH annual Wheels of Love bike ride in aid of Alyn Orthopedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, Jerusalem, is scheduled to take place in the Galilee November 10 to 14, with an anticipated 500 riders from 12 countries participating and aiming to raise $3 million to help the children of Alyn.Today, when there are seemingly more bike riders on the pavement than pedestrians, there’s nothing uncommon about a bike ride around the country. But when the first Wheels of Love bike ride was held in 2000 at the start of the Second Intifada, there were only nine riders, all immigrants from the US and England. Together they raised $67,000.Since then, the enterprise has grown by leaps and bounds, both in terms of participants and the money-raising target.At that time, Alyn was also smaller, with 100 staff members, 120 hospital beds, 40 children being treated full-time, plus 300 children being cared for in five different clinics. Today, almost everything is coordinated in the one location. More than 400 staff members care for 500 inpatient children each year, plus 3,000 outpatients. As the population grows, so does the number of children with special needs related to various physical and/or mental disabilities.“Medicine must partner with rehabilitation therapy, family support and a fair chance for education, if we are to succeed in providing a child with a future of possibilities,” says Alyn director-general Dr. Maurit Beeri. “This partnership is afforded to us by our annual WOL ride. The funds raised allow us to give the children the treatments and therapies they require, rather than limit the care to the basic needs that are covered by the Israeli national healthcare system.”■ DESPITE THE recent opening of a secondhand book store on Keren Hayesod Street, just around the corner from her office at 19 Washington Street behind the YMCA, orthodontic dentist Dr. Debra Katz, who annually supports Melabev by turning her professional premises into a bargain center for secondhand books for adults and children, is doing so again, and expects to do well, because all the books that she is selling are priced at NIS 10 and are part of joint charity affair.The books are donated by supporters of the cause. She donates her premises and her time – plus a few books of her own – and people who buy the books are donating to Melabev, which cares for people with dementia and Alzheimers, and relieves their families of the burden of full-time care. People who work at Melabev know how to give affection to patients, and to provide them with activities that will keep them happy and occupied.
The book sale is being held from Monday to Wednesday, November 4 to 6 from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., but for bookworms who want the best choices for themselves and their children, there will be a presale on Sunday, November 3, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Anyone taking advantage of the presale offer is asked to contribute NIS 50 to Melabev. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the money changing hands is for books alone.People unfamiliar with the area who may have difficulty in finding the venue are advised to stand by the street signs at the nearest corner and phone (02) 624-8655, so that they can tell Katz where they are, and she can then direct them from there.
