Entrance, obviously

When I first came to Israel in 1971, there were not many things happening in Jerusalem.

But one of the events that did take place was the Jerusalem International Book Fair. As avid readers we used to go there, browse among the thousands – no, sorry – tens of thousands of volumes in English, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and many other languages.

Angola and Romania

Two publishers in one corner

The Book Fair is for publishers to present their books, new or older publications, best sellers or less well known. They present books in almost all categories – literature, on art, crafts, professional topics, movies, history – local and worldwide and much much more.

It is also more friendly to the public, with reading areas and chairs for more comfortable browsing.

Every day there are some 25 events going on, such as

Panel Discussion on “The Digital Age – A new definition of publishing

Book presentations with the author

Dialogue between two authors – Israeli and visitor

Poetry Readings

Book Launches

Authors signing books

Special Exhibits

and much more

The Book Fair of course begins with the Opening Ceremony in the presence of Israeli leaders, especially the President of Israel. During the Opening the Jerusalem Prize is awarded. This year to the British writer, Ian McEwan.

Israel Radio Broadcasting

Even if you can’t make it there, you can still get some feel for what’s going on. A special corner was set up as a broadcasting station for Israel Radio. Interviews with writers, publishers and other involved in bringing all of this to us all.

It’s always great to see how many people still come browse for and buy books, especially in this age of electronic information. It is said that there are more readers per capita in Israel and that they read more books than anywhere else.

The Jerusalem International Book Fair takes place this time of the year every 2nd year in the Binyanei Ha”Omah Convention Center.

Opening hours usually is from 10 am to 10 pm on weekdays, and Friday to 1 pm.

If this is of interest, the best way to get further information is to google (as I did) Jerusalem International Book Fair.

Full photo coverage

Often the shopping malls create special events, and on Friday mornings it is often a food market. Since weekends in Israel are Friday-Saturday, Friday morning is a great time to hold special events, such as food markets. Shoppers can either have breakfast, lunch or brunch or even better buy food for taking home, so they don’t have to cook over the weekend.

Friday morning a couple of weeks ago the Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv hosted a food market. From the look of it most shoppers were happy and content, and even more so when they got the surprise of their lives.

Among the shoppers were members of the Israel Philharmonics and its choir.

The noise level at such events is quite high, but the Philharmonics managed to quieten everybody when it struck up the chords and full version of Verdi’s Il Trovatore and Rigoletto.

I was not there, but saw the news broadcast in the evening. And when I saw the clip on YouTube, I knew I had to share it with others.

So let nobody tell you that Israel doesn’t have talent and initiative. Enjoy!

I like to start my week with something funny, and nothing has ever been funnier to me than Yaacov Kirchen and his Dry Bones. This time I have also included his comments on why (see below). I try to stay away from politics on this blog, but sometimes it is just not possible.

We live in an age of a great religious war.

The Islamist enemy seeks to overwhelm and subjugate the planet. Their goal is to erase all other religions and belief systems. This attack on cultural diversity and freedom of thought has come at a time when the West is most vulnerable. Most people in the West seem to have lost their religious belief and cannot really accept that they are facing an enemy that truly believes that they are carrying out the orders of an omnipotent, supernatural being.

These Westerners, blind to the truth, are convinced that there must be some “other” motivation behind the suicide bombings, the rioting, the terrorist attacks, and the hatred! Some motive that could be satisfied by improving economies, fighting poverty, relinquishing land, or some other “rational” concession. Strangely, even the government of Israel refuses to play the religion card and to announce that we are the Chosen People living in our Promised Land, having returned from exile as prophesied in both the Bible and the Koran.

An exception is, of course, the millions of Evangelical Christian Zionists in America. A community that a majority of Jews have been taught to mistrust. If you are one of those Jews please check out CUFI, Christians United For Israel.   (ed. I agree especially with the last paragraph)

Slava Ganelin

Within the music world Israel is best known for within classical music from the Israel Philarmonic to the many soloists and conductors.

A field of music less prominent, but no less popular within Israel, is jazz. If you happen to be in Israel, and in particular in Jerusalem, and you want to hear international level jazz, you are in the right place.

Beginning Nov. 25 the sixth annual Jazz Globus Festival will run through to December 2. Most of the event will take place in the Nahlat Shiva area in downtown Jerusalem. The host of the event is the small, but excellent Harmony Hotel.

During the festival 120 musicians and 22 bands from Israel and from around the world will play to the delight of the audiences. International names include jazz guitarist Alexei Kuznetsov, trumpeter Igor Shirokov, the jazz ensemble Round Band and pianist Tony Pancello.

Israeli musicians, many of international renown, include Slava Ganelin, Michal Cohen, Robert Anchipolovsky, Yuval Tabachnik, Ivri Boruchov and Dmitry Grodsky.

All the events will take place in the Harmony Hall of the Harmony Hotel. If you are lucky you may catch some of the musicial jamming it up in the lobby of the hotel prior to the concert, or even during the day.

When: Nov. 25 through Dec. 2
Where: Harmony Hotel, Nahlat Sivah, Jerusalem

Tickets can be purchased at the Jerusalem Cultural Center, Hillel St. 27, just prior to concerts. Price per ticket – NS 60.

To see full program of the Jazz Globus Festival

To give you a taste of what you may experience, I found this video on YouTube of two of the visiting artists, who will be performing at the Globus Jazz Festival in Jerusalem – Robert Anchipolovsky and Tony Pancella from a previous visit to Israel

If you are visiting Israel at the moment or within the next two weeks, you may possibly take part in one of the world’s most prestigious film events, The Jerusalem Film Festival.

The festival is the brain child of Lia van Leer, who inaugurated the first festival on May 17, 1984. Lia van Leer and her husband Wim (z”l) were the founders and moving spirit behind the establishment of the Jerusalem Cinemateque in the Hinnom Valley, but strongly supported by George Ostrovsky, of Brazil and Paris, as well as former mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek (z”l) and the Jerusalem Foundation.

Since its establishment the Jerusalem Film Festival has matured into its present form, stretching over 10 days, showing 150-200 films in all genres and celebrating the best of international feature films, documentaries, Jewish experience of identity and history, television dramas, directors, and of course encouraging the blossoming Israeli film industry.

The Festival has move outside the building and showrooms of the Cinemateque building in Jerusalem and this year also offers showing in public places without entrance fees, such as the new Alrov-Mamilla Mall, The Ticho House and other places.

The Festival every year honors film makers with Life Achievement Awards. This years awards go to Theo Angelopoulos, Yosef Shiloah, Nurit and Yitzhak (Ijo) Shani and the Sam Spiegel School of Film and Television.

There will also be special lectures or talks, a way for the public to meet festival guests. These guests will focus on varius subjects: Karin Albou will talk about Le Chant des Mariees, Theo Angeloppoulos on The Dust of Time, Gerald Peary on Criticism, Audience and Changing Reality, and Valie Export on Can Art Still Shock.

The Festival will for many Israelis and Jerusalemites take over their lives during these coming 10 days, starting on July 9th. As said, if you happen to be in Jerusalem during this period, hurry up and book tickets (if they are still available).

The official site of The Jerusalem Film Festival.

Summer is here. As a matter of fact weather wise June seemed to have become July. Summer in Israel begins, for most people, as schools let out for the long summer break – a full two months. As in many other countries the question is now “What to do with the kids?”

Scout Camp

Luckily there are lots of activities for the children, if you can afford it, and unfortunately not all families can.

During July and in some cases even the beginning of August, the children will go to summer camp. For the younger children they are day camps with hours a little longer than regular school days. For older children it can also be sleep-over camps. The cost of these camps vary greatly depending on the area, who are the organizers, the amount of activities etc.

But not all children go to camp and even those who go will not go for the whole two months. The end of August is probably the hardest time for all in Israel. This is the time when everybody will be off, no more camps, only one thing to do if you work and that is to take holiday at this time.

Tel Aviv Beach

Yes, hotels get overcrowded. The beaches and swimming pools barely have room for the early birds. All activities geared to children are filled to capacity. This is also the time when Israelis travel abroad with their children. So airfares are high. Local hotel rates are high.

And to top it all off – July/August – is a term well known to all Israelis. These are the two hottest months, so much so that songs are written about it.

If for some reason you need to deal with the authorities at this time of the year, you better fortify yourself with lots of patience and some good reading material, while you wait.

But there are also lots of great activities during this time. This year, starting on July 12th, Israel is once again hosting the Maccabiah Games, a kind of Jewish Olympics.

There are film festivals, especially the world renowned Jerusalem Film Festival, and many other events to keep the summer busy, and to make us stop thinking about the heat.

This is Israel and life continues, and we come through it with flying colors. But come September 1, you can hear the whole country sigh a sigh of relief; “Phew, we did it once more”.

Israel’s top singer, Shlomo Artzi, sings his song “Hom Juli-August” (July-August Heat)

Please leave comment, or suggestion on what you want to know about Israel

The story of The Israel Philharmonic is a typical example of the development of the Jewish people in Palestine and the State of Israel.

In 1936 Bronislav Huberman, a Polish born Jewish violinist and musician, foresaw the Holocaust. He persuaded 75 Jewish musicians in major

At home with Zubin Mehta

European orchestras to immigrate to Palestine and be part of the “materalization of Zionist culture in the fatherland.”

The opening concert of the Palestine Philarmonics took place on December 28, 1936, in the Levant Fair Hall in Tel Aviv, conducted by Arturo Toscanini.

From its very beginning The Philharmonics set the tone, not just musically, for traditions that still accompany it till today. World renowned conductors and soloists and singers were and still are attracted to perform with the orchestra. In 1940′s it conducted several tours through the Middle East, as well as performances for the Allied forces and the Jewish Brigade in the Western Desert.

When the State of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948 in the Tel Aviv Museum (today Independence Hall), it was the natural choice to have The Philharmonics play the anthem, HaTikva. It was around this time that the young Leonard Bernstein began many years of involvement with the Philharmonics. In 1950 the Philharmonics was on its first tour of USA, soon to be followed by its first European tour.

With Leonard Bernstein

Finally in 1957 the Orchestra received its own home, the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv. It could now finally expand its subscriber basis, something that is still the backbone of the orchestra. New names, from Israel and abroad, attach themselves to the Orchestra, such as Zubin Mehta, who later becomes its Musical Director, or become almost permanent performing visiting artists, such as Yitzhak Perlman, Yitzhak Zuckerman, Daniel Barenboim, Jaqueline de Pre, Placido Domingo and many many others.

The orchestra has and still continues its tradition of performing not only to its subscribers in Israel, but also travels extensively throughout the world. It has over the years made many recordings, and continues to experiment and renew itself. In the 1990′ it began a new tradition
of working with some of the best Israeli non-classical performers and composers.

For a much longer and more detailed description of the history and achievements of the Israel Philarmonic Orchestra, please follow this link straight to the Orchestra’s website in English.

For a much longer and more detailed description of the history and achievements of the Israel Philarmonic Orchestra

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