Last week when Shaul Goldstein, the CEO of Noga, the Independent System Operator that oversees Israel’s electrical systems, warned that Israel is unprepared for a national blackout in the event of a war with Hezbollah, he was shouted down. Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen and Israel Electric Corporation CEO Meir Spiegler each said that Goldstein didn’t know what he was talking about, and that his remarks only served to create panic among the population. Goldstein subsequently acknowledged that he had been irresponsible and may have exaggerated, but remained convinced that Israel must take necessary precautionary measures to protect its power grid, which is identical to that of Beirut.
Remember the female soldiers who warned that Hamas was up to no good, and no one took any notice? Some of these soldiers also shared their concerns with their families who have been testifying unofficially to what the young women saw.
MK and former cabinet minister Ze’ev Elkin, when interviewed on KAN Reshet Bet, said that he knows Goldstein well, and knows him to be a very serious individual. If he has issued a warning, said Elkin, it should be heeded.
It is important to note that Noga is contracted by the government to oversee Israel’s electrical systems.
Just think of some of the things that are part of our everyday lives that depend on electricity: computers, telephones, washing machines, ovens, checkout counters in shops, check-in counters at airports, financial services at banks, and money changers, public transport, hospital equipment and so much more. Israel simply cannot afford to ignore Goldstein’s warning – even if he’s wrong. Better to invest in protecting the grid than to suffer consequences if we don’t and Goldstein is proven to be correct. The last thing he wants to say is: “I told you so.”
Hebrew Book week
■ HEBREW BOOK Week is invariably marked by references to Israel’s first Nobel Prize laureate Shmuel Yosef Agnon, more commonly referred to by the acronym of his two proper names – as Shai Agnon, best known for his epic novel Tmol Shilshom. Thus, when Reshet Bet newsman and cultural program anchor Ron Nissiel wanted to interview contemporary writer Shahar Pinsker on his book about Jews, writers and coffee houses, he naturally chose the famous Jerusalem coffee house Tmol Shilshom, which was established 30 years ago by the late David Ehrlich, lover of books, writer, and restauranteur, who died suddenly, a little over four years ago, at the age of 60.
In addition to serving coffee, Tmol Shilshom has a wide-ranging library and an extensive dairy menu and hosts cultural events featuring novelists, short story writers, poets, and musicians. These events, always full-house affairs, have included the late Yehuda Amichai, Amos Oz, and Meir Shalev; and current writers David Grossman, Haim Be’er, Eshkol Nevo, Etgar Keret, Gil Hovav, Zeruya Shalev, and others, several of whom found their inspiration while sipping coffee on the premises, especially the late Aharon Applefeld, who wrote all his novels in coffee houses, whether in Israel or abroad.
Pinsker’s book, which is available in both English and Hebrew, is called A Rich Brew in English, and in Hebrew, Am Hasefel (“People of the Cup”), a word play on Am Hasefer (“People of the Book”). Contrary to what many people think, said Pinsker, coffee houses originated in the Middle East, and not in Europe. Even the word coffee is taken from the Arabic – kawa.
According to Pinsker, when coffee houses came to Europe, they proved to be places where Jews could enter freely without suffering any form of discrimination. Agnon, he said, loved to sit in cafes which, while democratic, were places of tension where patrons argued about politics and economics. Occasionally, there were antisemitic incidents, but not very often.
Commemoration days
■ THERE ARE so many international days honoring or commemorating different groups and events that the 365 days in a year are inadequate to accommodate them all. Some are more important than others, such as International Widows Day at the beginning of this week, which was particularly poignant for new widows who have lost their husbands in war. Unfortunately, the numbers are increasing daily and in Israel will continue to do so. Of course, a loss is a loss is a loss, and the pain of each new widow has little or nothing to do with the circumstances under which her husband died. In addition to the special organization of IDF Widows and Orphans, several widows have set up their own organizations, having realized that other women who have lost their soul mates are walking around in a state of bewilderment and bereavement. One such woman, Hadas Dissen-Glick, was widowed at 29 when her husband Yossi died of a heart attack, leaving her with four children aged from seven months to seven years.
Glick founded a widows organization so that women in her position could help each other emotionally and with advice on how to cope and on many other issues. Knowing that they were not alone helped them to get back to normal life and even to enjoy themselves and be happy. In an interview in Maariv, Dissen-Glick told journalist Ilana Schotland, that there are more than 16,000 widows and widowers in Israel and more than 29,800 orphans.
Another widow with a similar idea is Joelle Eckstein, the widow of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ). Widowed in February 2019, Eckstein wasn’t able to function for the first two years of her new status. She couldn’t even absorb what she was reading, tending to read the same text over and over again. She missed the intimacy of a spouse – shared ambitions, embraces, trips together – a whole host of things that had disappeared from her life. Before being widowed herself, she had tried to comfort a friend who had become a widow but hadn’t realized the depth of the pain and loneliness her friend was experiencing – until it happened to her. This led to The Eckstein Project, which includes sending care packages to new widows with a note explaining that people in similar situations are available to visit them in their homes or to invite them to social events, picnics, lectures, etc. – but most importantly to give them a hug. They simply need that caring contact with another human being – particularly one who understands the enormity of their loss.
May Golan’s decision
■ FOLLOWING A totally insensitive and irresponsible decision by Social Equality Minister May Golan to close down the Arab emergency information center which, in addition to providing red alerts, also advises Arab citizens about education and work opportunities, her ministry should change its name to Social Inequality Ministry. Golan has been a controversial political figure, but this recent disregard for a large percentage of the Israeli public during wartime is unacceptable. Most Arab towns and villages are located in the north of the country and not all Arabs are fluent in Hebrew, relying heavily on the information center. Golan contends that there are other sources of information for them, and there is no need for the government to cover the cost of maintaining the center. Yet when Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel, it doesn’t differentiate between Jewish and Arab communities. Both are equally vulnerable.
■ IS THE Israeli media turning right? Following the establishment of Channel 14, which might well be known as Bibi’s Broadcasters, it seems that Channel 13, owned by international philanthropist and billionaire businessman Len Blavatnik, is going in the same direction with the decision to appoint former Likud MK Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich as the channel’s new CEO. Although there is no shortage of good, right-wing journalists, for some reason, it is generally presumed that all journalists are leftists. Perhaps that’s because every professional journalist knows that there’s more than one side to every story, and tries to present all sides, or at least two, in reporting on controversial issues. This factor generally does not go over well in ultra-right-wing circles. As far as is known, Blavatnik has not interfered in the operations of Channel 13, but it is known that he has lost a lot of money on the venture and that he is interested in trimming the payroll.
It is thought that Shamalov-Berkovich will perform a hatchet job and that the focus of news broadcasts by the channel will move sharply to the Right. Attacked in various media by Channel 13’s intrepid investigative reporter Raviv Drucker, who recently revealed a series of improprieties on the part of Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Shamalov Berkovich is wary of giving spoken interviews for fear of being misquoted or having her words distorted. She asks that questions be addressed to her in writing. Drucker is certain that Shamalov Berkovich will bring Channel 13 to ruin. There are rumors that there are people who want to buy Channel 13, but as yet, Blavatnik is reportedly not interested in selling.
He may learn from the experiences of Ronald Lauder and the late Yossi Maiman, who each invested millions in the now defunct Channel 10 with which Lauder was associated for 11 years, before deciding, after losses amounting to $130 million, that he’d had enough. Even before sinking his money into Channel 10, Lauder, in what was a combined investment and philanthropic gesture designed to advance Israel’s media industries, invested in Jerusalem Capital Studios, near the entrance to the city, but six years ago, decided that it was time to let go. JCS provided production communication services for foreign television outlets and individual electronic media journalists.
Israel Musicals’s production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
■ IT’S EASIER to catch flies with honey than with vinegar, according to the old adage. In last Friday’s Grapevine, there were a couple of errors in the item about Israel Musicals’s production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which will be playing at Jerusalem’s Masrati High School in Arnona, Jerusalem on July 1-4. Contrary to what was published the starting price for tickets is NIS 85. Jerusalem is the only location for this particular production, and there will be no Hebrew subtitles. Rebecca Ehrenpress, who has the responsibility of marketing Israel Musicals asked for a correction which she was told would appear in the next Grapevine. She followed up with another email with rare wording. “I know it was an honest mistake. Your friend’s grandson, Boaz, is an actor in our play and kindly reached out to you. The article looks great. Thank you very much.” When someone does that, there’s no way to refuse them.
The story of Chagit Leviev Sofiev
■ AT APPROXIMATELY the same time as The Jerusalem Post held its annual conference in New York early this month, the BeSheva Communications Group also held its New York conference. Some of the speakers appeared at both events. One who didn’t was Chagit Leviev Sofiev, who spent her childhood in Bnei Brak, but now lives in the Big Apple where she is a highly successful businesswoman.
The name may ring a bell, Leviev Sofiev is the fifth of the nine children of billionaire businessman and philanthropist Lev Leviev and his wife Olga. The family has diverse business interests spread out in different parts of the world, and Leviev Sofiev, 37, is the CEO of the Leviev Group in the United States which deals in real estate, hi-tech, and diamonds. In addition, she heads the American branch of the Leviev Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the family’s charitable enterprises. Somehow, she also manages to be a good wife and a caring mother to her five young children. In an interview that she gave to Rivka Goldfinger that was published in BeSheva last week, Leviev Sofiev spoke of a carefree, happy childhood in Bnei Brak where she could play safely in the park whenever she felt like it. Her children growing up in New York don’t enjoy the same kind of freedom, she said, and in New York, she is fearful for their safety and doesn’t allow any of them to go out alone.
When she was an adolescent, the family moved to Belgium for a couple of years. At school, she spoke French and Flemish. English was also one of the languages spoken in the school. At home, they spoke Hebrew and Russian. The polyglot existence has been of use to Leviev Sofiev in both her business and social relations.
She’s not the only member of the Leviev brood who works. “We all do,” she said of her eight siblings.
In addition to keeping her finger on the pulse of all Leviev activities around the globe, she also works to strengthen Jewish education to ensure that Jewish youth have a stronger and more defined sense of identity. As for Israel, she does not forget where she came from and contributes greatly to the war wounded and to Israel’s public diplomacy.
Appointment ceremony of 109 judges
■ PRESENT AND past members of the Supreme Court were among the hundreds of people gathered at the President’s Residence on Sunday for the appointment ceremony of 109 judges – something that was unprecedented in Israel’s 76-year history. Among them were former presidents of the Supreme Court Dorit Beinish and Esther Hayut. Beinish was the first female president of the Supreme Court, succeeding the legendary Aharon Barak. As yet, there is no successor to Hayut who stepped down last October after turning 70, which is the cut-off age for judges, though it’s younger in other professions and has no limit in politics. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who will turn 75 in October, is currently the oldest member of Knesset, but he still has a way to go to beat the record of Shimon Peres who was the longest-serving member of Knesset, spending 48 years as a legislator, until elected as Israel’s 9th president in 2007, when he was a few weeks shy of his 84th birthday.
Isaac Herzog, who is arguably the busiest and most widely involved president of Israel, will also go down in history as a breaker of tradition. During his three years in office, Herzog has broken quite a few traditions – though not always at his own initiative or at the suggestion of his staff.
One tradition that was broken this week was the appointment ceremony of the new judges. Traditionally, their bios are read out by the Supreme Court Registrar or manager as each comes to pledge allegiance. But this year, the task was given to veteran broadcaster Dan Kaner, who appears to be a favorite at the President’s Residence, as he has been the master of ceremonies at other events there. Aside from that, the ceremony, usually held in the morning in the main hall of the complex, took place in the evening beneath a tent on the grounds because the main hall could not accommodate all the spouses, parents, grandparents, children, and siblings who accompany the appointees, in addition to the large list of judicial and legislative dignitaries.
Although previous presidents may have stopped to chat with attendees after an event and even agreed here and there to pose for selfies, Herzog makes a point of inviting individuals and families to pose for photos with him, which may be a kind gesture, but detracts somewhat from his status. On Sunday, family groups were lined up for more than half an hour after the ceremony.
Third-age individuals in the entertainment business
■ GETTING BACK to the subject of age, people are increasingly living to a triple-digit age, and in many cases continue to work in places where there is no mandatory retirement age, or where there is mandatory retirement, but are able to simply continue at their places of employment at a much lower salary. Those who are social entrepreneurs keep on with what they’ve been doing. Sociologists and psychologists maintain that such activities and other forms of social contact help to prolong life. A person who has few if any social contacts, they say, vegetates, withers away, and dies.
That may explain why people of the third age in the entertainment industry are still busy, and why they continue to attract large audiences.
According to some sources, it’s also part of the nostalgia craze that hit Europe during the COVID pandemic. People who were stuck in their homes due to health curfews imposed by local and national authorities, began, out of boredom, to look at what was stored in their attics and cellars. They discovered gramophones, long-playing recordings, old-fashioned tape recorders, and other objects that have been made “passe” by progress. Many of their finds were still usable, and in Europe, gramophones and records have returned big time.
In an era of nostalgia, it stands to reason that people of more advanced age, have memories and songs of bygone years to share.
That may explain why Shlomo Artzi 74, continues to fill amphitheaters and Leah Koenig, 94, along with Gila Almagor, 84, continue to be the queens of the Habimah stage; Yehoram Gaon, 84, is having a concert tour around the country; Yossi Alfi, 79, is still running his storytelling programs; Rivka Michaeli, 86, is still starring in productions throughout the country; Tuvia Tsafir at 78 is as beloved a character as ever; Liora Rivlin, 79, after a long career as an actress embarked on a singing career a couple of years back, and performs regularly. There are many others in their 70s and 80s. Prize-winning composer Nurit Hirsh, 81, attributes it to nostalgia and to an escape from reality. When people go back into the past, the focus is usually on the good, rather than the bad.
The return of foreign airlines
■ THE GRADUAL return of foreign airlines to Israel is hopefully an indication that incoming tourism is on the revival track.
Nechama Ronen and Ofer Bloch, chairman and CEO of the Maman Group, were at Ben-Gurion Airport for a number of tourist-related events. These included the selection of Laufer by United Airlines (UA) to provide ground services to its passengers and planes, which heralded the start of their cooperation. The first flight under this partnership took off safely from Tel Aviv to New York, marking a good start.
Female entrepreneurs collaborate with cosmetics giant
■ FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS from Israel’s social and geographical periphery, who are professionally involved in the beauty industry, (makeup, facials, face-and-body painting, and more), participated in the first cycle of a collaborative program with cosmetics and skincare giant Lancome and the Future Initiatives Association. The event, which included lectures and training sessions, was attended by Aya Monk, CEO of L’Oréal Israel’s luxury division, and Zofit Gordon, CEO of Future Initiatives.
Training was delivered by business mentors and included dedicated workshops in digital fields such as TikTok, content creation, and photography, plus information about business plans, pricing and cash flow management, marketing, and more. The new program is an integral part of Lancome’s social agenda, aiming to empower women and help them achieve independence and self-fulfillment through education and professional training.
Strategic artistic partnership
■ COLLABORATION IS apparently in the air. The Phoenix Group and Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art have entered a strategic partnership under which Phoenix will give its patronage to Shenkar and together the two will build a new campus under the title of Alef of Tomorrow. The campus will be located on the Alef site in Rishon Lezion and will become the communal “home” of Shenkar alumni based on a new, innovative ecosystem. Work, social and cultural outlets, research and development, and creativity will all be under one roof.
Orit Efrati, chair of the Shenkar Board of Trustees, and Shenkar president Sheizaf Rafaeli emphasized the importance of this new initiative in ensuring the continuity of creativity and the contribution to Israel’s history of creativity beyond study programs, fashion shows, and exhibitions.
Phoenix CEO Eyal Ben-Simon said that he was very excited to embark on this new venture which believes is the beginning of Israel’s new cultural horizon.
