Some of the silliest examples: Talitakumi in front of Jerusalem’s HaMashbir LeZarchan, a strangely out of place wall-and-clock structure intended to replicate the front of a girl’s school that was razed to make room for the department store. The gate leading to Gymnasia Herzliya in Tel Aviv was thrown up by sentimental, well-meaning people in recognition of the original structure, demolished to make way for the Kolbo Shalom. And does anybody know that the Gan HaIr mall and residential complex was named for the municipal zoological garden that once stood there?

The most unsung of all are the movie houses, most of them shuttered for decades, fall deeper and deeper into disrepair until they are destroyed to make room for malls, tall buildings and parking lots. No one remembers Tel Aviv’s majestic Mugrabi Cinema or Jerusalem’s historic Edison.

Nonetheless, a small victory was achieved a little over a week ago when high-rise developers were forced to change a plan to tear down Bay Yam’s historic Savion Cinema. The victory belongs to a local activist group of Bat Yam residents, artists and the Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites who objected to the demolition and proposed a synthesis of old and new structures.

In its heyday, Bat Yam boasted six movie houses. The Savion Cinema was built in 1957 and — in line with the global trend – closed in the 1980s. “However it remained an architectural icon because of its facade which was characterized by a weave of concrete block units,” states The Marker.

Icon or not, the building was in bad shape. Its most recent tenant: a dollar store in what was once the movie-house’s lobby.

According to The Marker, the design for a 25-story tower by architect Ilan Pivko, will be modified in accordance with preservation plan for the building. The building — a luxury residence and prestigious office space — is a flagship project for the Bat Yam municipality which wants to develop the run-down neighborhoods adjacent to Jaffa. The preservation plan calls for the street-facing facade to remain intact.

One look at Pivko’s work and its clear that adapting his design to the new guidelines goes against his post-modernist grain. He does not favor keeping the facade as is and suggests a modular solution instead. “One can reconstruct, dismantle or in some other way create an interior element within the structure.” How Pivko handles this challenge remains to be seen… he has done this sort of thing before… but if he wanted to do it with the Savion, he would have worked it into the original design…

Hmmm… one gets the feeling that this issue isn’t over just yet.

Whether or not the Savion Cinema facade remains on the street level or whether, in the end, Pivko’s lobby will simply feature a bold construction of recycled concrete filigree, the real significance of the decision is a precedent set in curbing real estate developers’ ability to destroy old structures without recognizing their historic value. Hopefully, that means recognition not just in the form of an incidental plaque, statue or clock, but as part of the planning, putting real thought into paying homage to what came before.

The Savion Cinema photos were taken by architect Sharon Raz who is a one-man documentary powerhouse with a particular interest in Israel’s old cinemas. See his Disappearing Architecture and Disappearing Cinemas sites as well as his Natush blog for more photos and information.

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From right: director Joseph Cedar, actor Shlomo Bar Aba, and producer Moshe Edry stand together during a press conference after the film 'Footnote' was nominated for an Oscar last week. (AP)

Cedar, an American-born Israeli, who also directed the 2008 Oscar entry, the Lebanon war film Beaufort, focused Footnote on something completely different – on two professors of Talmud, a father and son, dueling for academic prestige and the prestigious Israel Prize.

It doesn’t sound like standard fare for a gripping movie, but it is, thanks to a winning script and ace acting by stars Lior Ashkenazi and Shlomo Baraba.

“‘Footnote’ deals with the question of what happens when, while you’re living your daily life, a prize is offered, which really takes over your moral reasoning and changes your perspective and sometimes completely destroys your perspective,” Cedar told TIME magazine, summarizing the film’s main plot line.

TIME devoted a story to Israel’s booming film industry – stating that “the budgets are bare-bones and the talent pool is limited, but Israel has emerged as a surprising powerhouse in the foreign film industry.”

It notes that many of the country’s film deal with the Israeli-Arab conflict, citing the last three Israeli films that made it to the Oscar shortlist – Cedar’s Beaufort, nominated, and 2009’s animated Waltz with Bashir, both explored Israeli soldiers’ experiences in Lebanon. Ajami, the 2010 nominee, centers on Arab-Jewish tensions in violence-ridden Jaffa.

The article details the history and struggles the Israeli film industry has and continues to deal with, regarding funding, and how in the late 1990s, when the industry was at a nadir, the Israel Film Fund was created and received government backing to develop new filmmakers, Cedar among them.

The Israel Film Fund supported his first feature, “Time of Favor,” which debuted in 2000.

“We didn’t know him, but he had enthusiasm. There was something about his passion,” said Katriel Schory, executive director of the national fund. “We took a chance.”

The chance has certainly paid off, and we’ll see if it results in Israel’s first Academy Award.

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The Gad cheese grandfather

Carpet tiles (Photo credit: Tchochkes)

But the point of the video, says one commentator, is to recognize the metaphor of the movie. The peak in life, is not necessarily the refrigerator shelf, where it appears that everyone should be situated. But rather, the garbage pail, which may represent the margins of society or a greater mix of products, may offer more self-expression, and, more happiness.

It’s good to get the inner meaning, but you can just appreciate the clever aspects of this student project that has already been viewed more than 30,000 times.

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The papers, both local and international, reported on her passing — she was indeed the symbol of the War of Independence generation and a singer of some of Israel’s most beloved songs.

But she was also loved for being a fixture on the Israel Song Festival and Children’s Song Festival circuits, in the 1960s and 1970s, respectively.

For many years, she was an unofficial cultural ambassador for Israel, who charmed visiting international celebrities like Sean Connery, Cliff Richard and Sammy Davis Junior.

Like many women performers with a strong personality and powerful stage presence she, like fellow diva Shoshana Damari, inspired a generation of local drag queens.

Most of all, Yarkoni was a dyed-in-the-wool performer who was born to be onstage. In later years, she came out strongly as a member of Israel’s peace camp. In this interview, she covers topics ranging from cataloging her gowns, (so that she would never wear the same dress twice to a given venue), to face lifts (she didn’t have one and shows the back of her ears to prove it). She also describes the time she went down to Sinai to perform for the troops and ended up giving an impromptu performance to an onlooker who happened to be an Egyptian soldier on the other side of the line. “On the way back, I said to myself, ya allah, maybe we can end this war simply with song?”

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Panoramic photography, states Wikipedia, “is a technique of photography, using specialized equipment or software, that captures images with elongated fields of view. It is sometimes known as wide format photography.” (Click here for more about the methods used to create 360 images). Panoramic photo images have been around since the mid 1800s; this one of Jerusalem was taken in the early 20th century.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

As with everything else photographic, clearly, the technology has evolved. Take, for example, this amazing 360 degree panoramic photo of the Galilee.

Tel Yodfat, Galilee, Israel in Israel

The Church of All Nations is located on Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, next to the Garden of Gethsemane. Click on this photo — the link will take you to a panoramic view of the Church, the Garden and the walls of the Old City, courtesy of 3D Israel.

Israeli company Simply Live has developed a highly technologically advanced 360 degree video camera (only last week presented at the Bezeq Expo innovation showcase). Click on this photo of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — the link takes you to their site where you can view an interactive video that allows you to enter and move through the Church interior.

A fascinating if politically charged panoramic view of Israel’s coastline as viewed from the West Bank is available at MyIsrael.com. The site owners are very blunt about the purpose of the wide-angle shot: they wish to show how vulnerable Israel would be to an attack were pre-1967 borders to be reinstated. It takes only one look to see why the situation here is complicated.

Even on its own, the image is complex: a very wide-angle view (MyIsrael.com say it is the largest publicly available) with interactive controls so that viewers can zoom in on highly detailed close ups. Photographer Yaal Herman provides several pages of explanation on how the photo (really hundreds of photos stitched together) was accomplished. Click on this thumbnail to see the full version.

Whatever the political future holds, we can still hope for stability, quiet and — dare I say it? — peace. A few weeks ago, I was in Bethlehem once again for the annual Papal Peace Run. Instead of a highly secured, quick in-and-out, I would like to be able to return one day at my leisure to visit the Church of the Nativity. Till then, I will visit this way — and invite you to do so, too. Happy holidays to all.

Church Nativity Bethlehem in Israel

Grotto of the Nativity – Church of the Nativity, Betlehem in Israel

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Between 1931 and 1939, 100,000 Jews came to pre-State Israel, most of them from Germany having fled the rise of Nazism. Unlike the previous four waves of aliya, the members of this Fifth Aliya were not necessarily kibbutz bound. Instead, they headed for towns like Tel Aviv, where they engaged in five o’clock tea dances and other bourgeoisie amusements and Jerusalem’s Rehavia neighborhood, home to professors and intellectuals. German-Jewish immigrants founded Nahariya, home to some of Israel’s leading entrepreneurial families: Strauss, Soglowek and Wertheimer.

Once considered an embarrassment among young German emigres trying to fit in among the native-born sabras, their children and grandchildren are now exploring their Yekke roots, discovering that there was much more to the German-Jewish immigrant experience in Israel than simply being a nicely dressed, punctual minority among the Russian-Polish Socialist-Zionist majority, chronically late and clad in dusty, drab workman’s gear.

Two movies have come out recently that reflect aspects of the German-Jewish immigrant experience in pre-State Israel. Duki Dror’s Mendelsohn – Incessant Visions, explores the life of Erich Mendelsohn, the man who changed the face of modern architecture.

Dror’s fascination with Mendelsohn began in 2003, when UNESCO declared Tel Aviv a World Heritage Site. “I tried to understand the connection between this ugly city, where I was born and raised, and this declaration of cultural significance. I started looking at buildings… and I tried to figure out where this town came from… Who was the source of these modern ideas? Very quickly my investigation led to Mendelsohn It was clear that his presence infuses the plaster and concrete of Tel Aviv. And then I realized he had never built in Tel Aviv, but influenced all of the architects who built it.”

Dror tells the story of Mendelsohn’s life through the architect’s correspondence with wife Luise Mendelsohn. The letters, along with excerpts from Luise’s diary, provide personal insights into history: Mendelsohn’s technique of crafting tiny sketches with the power of a large rendering was the result of paper shortages during World War I. Luise, a cellist who played in a string quartet with neighbor Albert Einstein, wangled Mendelsohn’s first important commission: the Einstein Tower (Einsteinturm) in Potsdam, Germany– an astrophysical observatory built to prove (or disprove) the theory of relativity. At the height of his success, Mendelsohn’s architectural practice had commissions from all over Germany for buildings in his pioneering International Style. Luise tells of Erich’s obsession in creating their dream house — completed just in time for him, along with all other Jewish members, to be ejected from the German Architects’ Union. Realizing that their assets were about to be seized by the Nazis, the Mendelsohns left Germany for the England in 1933.

It was in London in 1934 that Mendelsohn met Chaim Weizmann. The future President of the State of Israel invited the architect to design the future State of Israel according to his modernist vision. Mendelsohn had already been to Palestine before, in 1923, on the invitation of Pinhas Rutenberg, head of the Palestine Electric Company who had the British Mandatory government concession to create an modern electrical infrastructure. Although his design for the first power station was rejected by the British for being avant garde, Mendelsohn was captivated by the idea of fusing ancient and modern in a Jewish homeland.

The Mendelsohns moved to Rehavia where for several years they lived contentedly in a 19th century windmill that also served as a space for his architectural studio and her chamber music recitals. Mendelsohn was commissioned to build Weizmann’s residence at the Sieff Institute of Science (today the Weizmann Institute of Science). Along with designing a number of other buildings at the Institute, he also designed the Salman Schocken house and library, Mount Scopus Hadassah Hospital — an amusing interview reveals tense relations between the German architect and the American donor — Rambam Hospital’s first building, and the Anglo-Palestine Bank building, now Bank Leumi’s central branch in Jerusalem.

Mendelsohn became disillusioned when his design for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s campus was rejected and in 1941, the family moved on to San Francisco, where he spent his final years.

Mendelsohn – Incessant Visions is a biographical documentation of a well-known historical figure who personified the pre-State Yekke community. Arnon Goldfinger’s The Flat presents the other end of the Yekke spectrum: a personal revelation about second and third-generations discovering their past, including some very closely guarded skeletons in the family closet.

Following the death of his grandmother, documentarian Goldfinger decided to film the dismantling of her apartment, a standard upper middle-class residence where she had lived since arriving in Tel Aviv in the 1930s.

The Goldfinger family’s shockingly unsentimental lack of attachment to the wardrobes filled with carefully preserved handbags, gloves, furs, jewelry, china figurines, leather-bound books and other trappings of life lived in another time and world is superseded by an equally shocking discovery: a pile of Nazi newspapers.

The find draws Goldfinger, who like so many of his contemporaries was raised to have no curiosity about the past, and his mother, who like so many of her contemporaries was raised to never pry or ask questions, into the vortex of history, secrets, lies and memories.

(Subtitles translation: When I was a young boy, I loved to come here. / Once a week, I’d walk across Tel Aviv, climb three flights of stairs and arrive in Berlin. / For 70 years, Grandma Gerda lived here as if she had never left Germany. / For all her years in Israel, she never mastered Hebrew and I didn’t want to learn German. / So we sat and spoke in English as if in a cafe in Europe with apple strudel and Swiss chocolates. / But when I grew up, I thought to myself that there was always a silence about the really important things.)

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When he saw the success of various chummous joints around the city (I’ve been noticing the various Aroma-alike coffee places around the city, owned by Israelis), as well as the American love of condiments, he hit upon chummous in a bottle. According to this Ynet story, he first called the business Zohan Hummus (note the hummus rather than chummous), after the Adam Sandler movie in which the character uses ‘hummus’ in every facet of life.

But, long story short, he couldn’t use the name Zohan so went with a more onomatopoeic name, describing the product and its service. So he went for Squeeze-Z. It’s appropriate, really, given that he’s not the first Israeli to put a condiment in a squeeze bottle. There was Yad Mordechai, the Israeli kibbutz that put honey into a squeeze container, modeled on a shampoo bottle. And I blogged here about silan, date honey, in a squeeze bottle, my new fave.

I’m not sure how I feel about chummous and hot dogs, but I definitely like the idea of chummous on a New York hot dog cart. For Blashkovsky, who clearly has the entrepreneurial spirit, like his wife, Emily Frances, a former New York broadcaster who just started her own production company, it’s all about finding what pleases the local palate. More power to him.

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Rob Morrow in Northern Exposure - will he be adding Jerusalem to the pole?

However, speaking doogri, as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is fond of saying in his gangsta persona, this item is 100% true – if you hang out on the streets of Jerusalem this week, don’t be surprised if you run into Ralph Cifaretto from The Sopranos or Dr. Joel Fleishman from Northern Exposure.

The actors who played those iconic roles – Joe Pantoliano and Rob Morrow respectively – are in town with almost two dozen of their Hollywood brethren (actors, producers and directors) for a week-long visit to meet with Israeli and Palestinian policy leaders, members of the arts, culture and business communities, and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

There’s no Brad Pitt or Scarlett Johanson in the delegation, but joining Pantoliano and Morrow are some pretty big and once-big Hollywood names, including Emmy Award-winner Patricia Arquette (Medium, Holes); Matthew Modine (Batman – The Dark Knight Rises, Full Metal Jacket); Stephen Baldwin (The Usual Suspects, Born on the Fourth of July); and Griffin Dunne (After Hours).

The trip is the brainchild of The Creative Coalition in conjunction with the American Israel Education Foundation, an AIPAC-affiliated organization. The Los Angeles-based Creative Coalition is a non-profit group founded in 1989 by prominent members of the creative community, and according to their write up, “is dedicated to educating, mobilizing, and activating its members on issues of public importance,” using “the power and platform of the arts and entertainment communities in award-winning public service and advocacy campaigns.”

Actor Tim Daly (Wings) serves as the organization’s president and is leading the delegation in Israel.

I wouldn’t mind having coffee at the David Citadel Hotel in the capital with any of the participants, but I do have particularly soft spots for Morrow, whose role as Dr. Joel Fleishman in the series Northern Exposure codified the American Jewish experience as well as Woody Allen, and Griffin Dunne, whose writing and acting, particularly in the spoof After Hours has always been inspired.

Maybe as a result of their visit, we’ll see an upcoming series about an American medical student who pays off his financial assistance by being sent to a development town in Israel.

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The A-list actor recently participated in a $4 million first-round funding for an Israeli visual media platform start-up company – Mobli Ltd. – and is also acting in an advisory capacity for the company, hi-tech insider newsletters reported last week.

Mobli has invented a new photo-sharing application that allows users to share images in real time.

So, for example, at a concert or sporting event, users can receive images of the event from different angles simply by searching for photos taken in other parts of the venue.

According to TechCrunch, users can connect to Mobli with Facebook to bring in a social element to the application and share photos with friends.

For example, concert-goers, celebrity fans, wedding attendees, and families can all share pictures and videos of an occasion, experience or interest with like-minded communities. All pictures/videos are geotagged (and can be optionally tagged to a Foursquare venue) to further narrow collections.

The app offers 22 free filters. Mobli uniquely applies filters on a visual basis but also in relation to location, so users can frame photos taken in a sports stadium in team colors, or taken at a conference with branded filters. Clearly, there’s a huge opportunity for brands to work with Mobli to sponsor filters.

According to the Blonde2.0 blog, “Think of Mobli as a visual engine that enables you to do a 360 around the world and see who’s doing what, where and when. People could be sitting in a café in Paris, watching a show in London, eating at a restaurant in New York, and Mobli brings all these visuals together to enable us all to see what a beautiful world we live in.”

Mobli was founded just over a year ago, and along with its headquarters in Israel, has offices in New York. According to the company, Paris Hilton and David Arquette number among the service’s other famous users, and they says 10,000 people are signing up every day.

DiCaprio’s interest in Mobil isn’t just about which angles make him look better on screen, evidently.

“It’s about him knowing and understanding branding and marketing,” Mobil CEO and co-founder Moshiko Hogeg told VentureBeat. Hogeg is pictured on the company’s website along with a dozen other young, hip-looking Israeli employees. It’s likely their enthusiasm, spark and ingenuity is what attracted DiCaprio to see the Israeli startup light.

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