Israel’s Paralympic team will be feted again and again in days to come, after returning home from Paris with 10 medals, including three gold. Traditionally, the Paralympic team always scores more medals than the Olympic team. The three gold medals were won by tae kwon do exponent Asaf Yasur, who made his Paralympic debut this year, rower Moran Samuel, who has won medals in all four Paralympic Games in which she has competed, and swimmer Ami Dadaon, who won two gold, one silver and won one bronze, the latter bringing the number of medals won by Israelis to 10 in total.
This week, the team was given a special reception at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, where Executive Director Efrat Duvdevani, who had held the same position at the president’s office during Shimon Peres’s era as president, recalled that in 2012, he was the first president of the state to host the Paralympic team, believing deeply that people with disabilities were entitled to equal opportunities. The Paralympic athletes had been welcomed with warmth and affection by Peres before and after going to their games in London and Beijing, she said.
Moshe Matalon, the chairman of the Paralympic Committee, said that the ethnic mix in the Paralympic team reflected Peres’s dream of sports bringing together people of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds in peace and harmony.
The Peres Center has, for more than 20 years, encouraged Arab and Jewish youth to engage in different sports together. Regarding soccer, the center has brought celebrities and dignitaries to the field to start the game by kicking the ball onto the field.
Among the many people present was MK Simon Davidson, a former champion swimmer, who was also at the recent reception hosted by President Isaac Herzog for the Israel Olympic Team. Herzog also hosted a reception for the Paralympic athletes before their departure for Paris.
For Samuel, 42, her gold medal was her last Olympic medal. She will not be competing again because she wants to devote more time to her children. However, she may be seen at the Los Angeles Paralympics in 2028 in her capacity as a coach.
The Peace Walk
On the subject of peace, International Peace Day falls on Saturday, September 21, and is marked in many countries including Israel by a Peace Walk. This year’s Peace Walk has been organized by the Community of Mindfulness in Israel, which is made up of peace-loving Jews and Arabs.
In order to avoid controversial, confrontational issues, participants will walk together in silence for nonviolence, reconciliation, peace, and hope. There will be no flags, banners or placards, though participants are asked to either wear white or carry a white flower. The meeting point from which the walk will start out at 5 p.m. is the YMCA at 26 King David Street, Jerusalem. This is an ideal venue, as even in war time, the Y has been an oasis of peace and harmony among Jews, Muslims, and Christians who swim together in its pool, attend Rotary Club meetings in one of its dining rooms, and sip coffee together on the terrace.
Modi Rosenfeld
LAUGHTER IS the best medicine, remains one of the most popular and enduring aphorisms of Reader’s Digest and is apparently the motto, the mission, and the mitzvah (good deed) of American stand-up comedian Modi Rosenfeld, who this week helped to launch a new Jewish humor exhibition at ANU Museum of the Jewish People. Proceeds from the event that was organized by the Friends of ANU Museum were earmarked for the benefit of children of families that have been displaced from their homes.
Moderated by veteran theater manager and artistic director Noam Semel, who has a wealth of anecdotes up his sleeve and, if he wanted, could easily launch a new chapter in his career by simply telling stories. The evening included a conversation between Semel and Rosenfeld about Jewish humor and about Rosenfeld’s career.
Rosenfeld, who was in Israel on October 7, flew out on the same day after several performances in Israel, to fulfill a tour obligation in Paris, where his performances were sold out. He wasn't sure what to do about his act because everyone was in shock, and he wasn’t sure whether making his audience laugh at such a time was appropriate.
In the final analysis, he decided to go ahead and helped to lift the somber mood as everyone began laughing together. It was only toward the conclusion of the performance that he began to speak about the massacre and then asked the audience to stand and sing “Hatikvah.” He realized immediately what a powerful force for unity “Hatikvah” – the Hope – is, and that’s how he has been ending his shows ever since.
In addition to Friends of the Museum, the audience this week included colleagues from the entertainment industry such as singer-songwriter Miki Gavrielov and actress, writer, and producer Noga Milstein. As always, Yehuda Raveh, the chair of the Friends and his wife Tami were present, as were Museum CEO Dan Tadmor, and CEO of the Friends Hamutal Einhorn. Also in the audience were former basketball star Tal Brody and his wife Tirza.
Brody, 81, recently became the presenter for a company that produces sophisticated hearing aids. In the commercial, he advises listeners not to allow a hearing impairment to disturb them and recommends the hearing aid that he uses. The fact that he is so open about it helps people with all kinds of impairments to overcome difficulties and embarrassment and to focus on their abilities rather than their disabilities.
IT’S AMAZING how many Israelis go abroad for graduate and post-graduate studies. It’s a well-known fact that Israelis who were not admitted to Israeli universities to study medicine, often go to Hungary, Romania, and Italy, where some opt to stay, make good reputations for themselves as physicians, and then are wooed back home by Israeli universities and medical centers. But there’s no limit to the subjects studied by Israelis in universities around the world. In addition to regular Jewish Diasporas, we also have Israeli diasporas which to a large extent comprise former students who decided to stay on foreign soil. This is also the case with those who study in British Universities, but happily, many of them come home and form alumni associations. One such group is the Oxford Israel Alumni Society which was inaugurated earlier this year at the Residence of the British Ambassador.
Realizing that the calendar would be somewhat crowded toward the end of the month, the OIAS held a pre-Rosh Hashanah reception at the Shibolet Law Firm in Tel Aviv, with the participation of dozens of Israel’s distinguished Oxonians, as well as guests from Israel’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs., the British Council, and the London School of Economics.
Guests enjoyed breathtaking panoramic views of the Tel Aviv skyline before hearing opening remarks from OIAS co-chairs attorney Simon Kotlerman and Dr. Aviv Yehezekel, attorney Ido Shomrony, partner at Shibolet & Co. and Society member, and Dan Oryan, a former ambassador of Israel to North Macedonia and current head of the Public Diplomacy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Inspiring keynote speeches were delivered by Alma Gadot Perez, until recently the country director of the British Council in Israel, who captivated the audience with a lecture on intentional networking, and Anat Peled, a promising Israeli journalist at The Wall Street Journal, who shared her personal experiences covering the war in Israel.
“Supporting internationalism among Israelis is key, particularly in challenging times like these. Our Society proudly supports this mission, growing to over 200 high-impact members in just six months,” said Yehezkel.
Economic hardhsip
ECONOMIC HARDSHIP is one of the casualties of war. Hard hit over the past year are owners of small businesses, who to a large extent are women, whose incomes according to various studies, have decreased by 50% and more.
Yozmot Atid, an organization that encourages female entrepreneurship, has been working for more than a decade with women from peripheral areas in helping them to establish and develop their own businesses, and thus achieve greater financial and personal independence. The women they work with come from a variety of backgrounds: Orthodox, secular, North African, Sephardi, Ashkenazi, Bedouin, Druze, Muslim Arabs, Christian Arabs, and more.
There are currently 1,100 women in the program. Over the years, more than 6,000 women have been guided by Yozmot Atid which is supported by strategic partners such as Bank Hapoalim, Fiverr, L’Oreal, Wohl Trust, USAID, Federation of Detroit, the Azrieli Foundation, and others.
Yozmot Atid was founded by social entrepreneur Nissim Bar-El and is now operated by CEO Tsofit Gordon and chairperson Bat Sheva Moshe. Yozmot Arid believes that female-led micro-business endeavors can lead to a culture of peace when women from all backgrounds get together for business fairs at home and abroad.
To this end, it has organized a business fair to be held at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel Hotel in Jerusalem on Monday, September 16, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, with the participation of both Jewish and Arab businesswomen.
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