At a farewell for American Ambassador Richard Jones, entertainment was provided by The Isradixie Band.
By GREER FAY CASHMANJazz good 88 224(photo credit: Courtesy)
AT A farewell for American Ambassador Richard Jones held at Van Gogh at the Tel Aviv Port by the Israel America Chamber of Commerce, entertainment was provided by The Isradixie Band, which though it doesn't include a single American, does represent what America and Israel have most in common - both are countries of immigrants where the natural culture is spiced with the cultures of immigrant populations.
The Isradixie Band, which was formed in 1979 by trumpet player Avram Agashkin Felder, who came to Israel from Russia, comprises Israelis Yossi Regev, Aharoni Ben Ari, Shai Buxboim and Amir David, plus Jacques Sani from Algiers and Merton Cahm and Paul Moore who are both from England. The band has performed on television and at jazz and klezmer festivals in Israel and around the globe.
A LITTLE rub on the ego seldom goes astray. Dr. Arthur Eidelman, former chief of neonatology and pediatrics at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, professor of pediatrics at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's School of Medicine, was awarded the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award of Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine graduation ceremonies at Lincoln Center in New York .
That the award acknowledged his accomplishments at the end of his professional career was obviously appreciated, but what was of greater significance, as far as Eidelman was concerned, was that the award was for his activities in Israel, meaning that Israel in general played a part in his award and the medical care system in Israel in particular was recognized.
Eidelman is best known for pioneering neonatal care in Israel after immigrating from the US in 1978. He served as the first president of the Israel Neonatal Society, as founder of the Israel Board of Neonatology, and as neonatal consultant to the Health Ministry. Currently, he is a visiting professor of pediatrics at Einstein, where he had once served as director of newborn services prior to his move to Israel. A member of Einstein's class of 1963, he received his bachelor's degree from Yeshiva University. World-renowned for his expertise in breastfeeding, he has consulted throughout Eastern Europe, as well as in Uzbekistan and India.
MEMBERS OF the Foreign Press Association, most notably from Reuters, AP, AFP and the BBC, have been playing informal five-a-side soccer games for the past year or so, and decided to combine the last game of the season with the FPA's 50th anniversary Euro Finals, which were shown on a big screen at the Kraft Stadium in Jerusalem.
More than 50 soccer players and scores of supporters turned out to make the initial FPA five-a-side Football Cup a roaring success. Despite the warm weather and the fact that the players are amateurs, the quality of the football was high and the enthusiastic friends and families were treated to several notable performances and enjoyable matches.
In the final analysis the Reuters Galacticos Geriatricos prevailed, seeing off Los Yanquis from AP 3-1 in a tense and hard-fought final.
Les Rosbifs from the BBC and Los Sancho Panzas, a team of Spanish journalists, also put in stellar performances to make it to the semi-finals before gracefully bowing out.
Itzik Ederry from Contact provided the big screen so that spectators and players could view a somewhat more important match. The less important though no less exciting match was organized by Gil Malka and Eli Berizon of Reuters and the overall event was organized by Julian Rake. Regular Sunday evening soccer sessions will resume in September.
FOR A long time the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI) was reluctant to become involved in the Jonathan Pollard affair, primarily because although many of its members are politically active, the AACI is an apolitical organization. For that very reason it has been able to serve Americans and Canadians of every stripe.
Those of its members who have been active on Pollard's behalf have tried many times to put his case on the AACI agenda at annual general meetings, but were unsuccessful. Now it seems that even those people who in the past kept their distance are outraged by the discriminatory practice to which Pollard has been subjected. The most recent AACI newsletter contains a paragraph stating: "AACI has been empowered by its membership to assist in the efforts on behalf of Jonathan Pollard to be released from prison. Please check the following Web sites: 'Justice for Jonathan Pollard' and 'Bring Jonathan Pollard Home.'"
This might bring just a modicum of comfort to Esther Pollard, who has been fighting in the US and Israel in hopes of securing her husband's release.
SPONSORED BY the Peres center for Peace, Cecilia Bohan, director of photography for the International Herald Tribune and former foreign photo editor of The New York Times, was in Israel this week to participate in a "Borders of Reality" symposium devoted to Israeli and Palestinian photojournalism.
The symposium was part of the "Frames of Reality" project that explores different aspects of photojournalism through lives in the Middle East, and enjoined Palestinian and Israeli professional photojournalists in 12 workshops held in Beit Jalla and at Hadassah College in Jerusalem. The meetings included guest lectures with leading photojournalism professionals. As part of the project an Internet social network was established, through which participants from Gaza could also participate. Bohan, awarded two Pulitzer Prizes for news and feature photography for the The New York Times, was an instrumental part of the team. She photographed scenes of conflict in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Participating alongside her at the symposium were Palestinian publisher Hanna Seniora, Israeli journalist Itai Engel and Israeli photojournalist Eldad Rafaeli.
THE ANNUAL Shenkar College fashion show by graduates of the fashion design department will be held this Tuesday evening, July 8, at Stoch in Kibbutz Gaash. The show is under the patronage of Honigman, which over the years has employed a number of Shenkar graduates, some of whom later opened their own studios and became household names.
Two days later, on Thursday, July 10, the fashion and jewelry design departments of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem will hold its annual fashion show on campus. The latter event will also include a shoe exhibition by Aya Bentur, jewelry by Naama Bergman and striking design work in fashion and jewelry by other graduates.
