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Turning lemons into lemonade in Pe’ekin

We stopped off in the Druse town of Pe’ekin last week on a trip to the Galilee because we had read there was one Jewish family that lived there. It turned out to be a full afternoon, including climbing a rickety ladder to pick a seemingly endless supply of lemons off of a particularly potent tree and being hosted by 81-year-old Margalit Zanati, the last Jew left in Pe’ekin.

She’s the caretaker of the ancient synagogue in Pe’ekin which dates back to the time of the Second Temple period (and which is featured on the back of the hundred shekel note). And according to Zanini, Pe’ekin is the only place in Israel where Jews have lived constantly throughout the period of the Diaspora.

That presence was threatened in 1936 when Arab riots forced the Jews of Pe’ekin to leave. One of the only families that returned was Zanati’s parents, and after they died, Zanini, who never married, took it upon herself to keep the Jewish presence alive in the village of 5,000.

While the modern, villa-filled town of Peki’in Hahadasha was established in 1955 and boast modern villas and a comfortable suburban life, old Pe’ekin looks pretty much like it did a century ago.

Parking on the side of one of the village’s narrow streets, we started walking around, following not informative signs indicating points of tourist interest. Deciding to take a turn off the main road, we suddenly saw a big Jewish star on an old building, and a small sign explaining that it was the Zanati house. Opposite it was the synagogue.

An elderly woman emerged from the second floor of the ramshackle house, carrying a bucket and started walking down the stairs. I asked her if she knew whether the Jewish family in Pe’ekin was home, and she said gruffly, “I’m the Jewish family.”

Margalit took us around the to the corner to the visitor’s center – a big open room with lots of artifacts and photos from the previous decades, including many of her parents with some of Israel’s founding fathers.

Margalit began to warm to us, and asked if we wanted to see the film about the family and the house in the show room next door. After helping her get the DVD and projector to work, we enjoyed the film, and learned that Margalit also gives musical performances to visitors and school kids who come to the home for arranged visits.

Afterwards we walked into a courtyard, which was home to an immense lemon tree, brimming with ripe lemons. “That’s why I have this bucket,” she said, and started picking the low-lying fruit. Realizing it would take her hours on end, we decided to pitch in, and before I knew it, I was on the top rung of a 25-foot ladder pitching huge lemons down into the buckets below.

An hour later, we climbed up to Margalit’s humble living quarters for some tea with nana. It was an afternoon that we received surely more than we bargained for, including a huge bag of lemons.

Foto Friday – The Innovators Way

The Innovators Way is a new photo exhibition showcasing 27 researchers whose innovations, developed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, improve quality of life and human welfare worldwide in fields such as health, safety, environment and nutrition.

The exhibition celebrates the work of those researchers whose initiatives have led to commercial products on the market today.

These creative initiatives came about as the result of intensive and wide-ranging scientific research, followed by patent registration, commercialization and finally marketing by Israeli and international companies.

None of this would have been possible without Yissum – the Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University. Yissum is solely responsible for the commercialization of innovations and technologies originating at the university. The company was among the first of its kind in the world when it was established in 1964, and is today ranked among the world’s 15 leading companies in this field.

To date, Yissum has registered more than 7,000 patents on more than 2,000 inventions, and has established 72 spin-off companies.

The scientists and innovations documented in the new exhibition include:

Prof. Haim D. Rabinowitch (right) and Prof. Nachum Kedar established the foundations for the introduction of genes for extended fruit shelf-life into standard tomato cultivars, turned cherry tomatoes into a global commodity, and developed the cluster tomatoes. (The original research was conducted jointly with Prof. Yosef Mizrahi of Ben Gurion University and Dr. Ehud Kopeliovitch. The seeds are produced and manufactured by Vilmorin (France), Monsanto (USA), Syngenta (Switzerland) and Bayer (Germany).

Prof. Marta Weinstock-Rosin who developed Exelon, a medicine prescribed for people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Exelon can slow the progression of the disease in a significant proportion of patients and improve cognitive function in some subjects. Exelon is manufactured by Novartis (Switzerland).

Professor of Chemistry David Avnir, developer of Sol-Gel Technology for the formation of new materials which combine the properties of glasses or ceramics with the properties of organic and biological compounds. Applications of Sol-Gel Technology have been developed in the fields of optics, catalysis, sensing, polymers, biochemistry and pharmacy. Many researchers at the Hebrew University have participated in the various developments. Sol-Gel Technologies, Inc. (Israel) was established to commercialize products based on these newly invented materials, and is active especially in the fields of dermatology and agriculture.

Prof. Alexander Vainstein, the Wolfson Family Professor of Floriculture, who developed the MemoGenetechnology which enables the creation of new traits in plants and the enhancement of agricultural crops through genetic modification. MemoGene is a groundbreaking process for targeted and site-specific plant genetic modification, using highly innovative novel tools for genomic modification. The technology, which was patented jointly by Yissum and Danziger Innovations (Israel), is applicable to all plants.

Prof. Shmuel Peleg has developed technologies upon which two Israeli startups were founded. One technology creates panoramic stereo images from photographs taken by an ordinary camera, which has been commercialized by HumanEyes Technologies (Israel). The second is a technique for video synopsis, which enables hours of video surveillance footage to be viewed in minutes, and which has been commercialized by BriefCam. [Full disclosure: I work for BriefCam and know Prof. Peleg personally. I also thought the photo really captured his spirit.]

The exhibition’s photographer, Nati Shohat, is the founder of Flash 90, a photographic agency that supplies images to newspapers, magazines and other customers in Israel and abroad. Shohat’s news photography and artistic and portrait work have been exhibited in many venues and in publications such as Stern Magazine, Paris Match, Le Monde, Time and others.

Hebrew University has about 1,000 senior faculty members and a student body of approximately 23,000. To date, it has conferred over 120,000 degress. The University has some100 research centers and more than 4,000 research projects. Faculty members and alumni have been awarded 8 Nobel Prizes, 1 Fields Medal, 269 Israel Prizes, 12 Wolf Prizes, 18 EMET Prizes and 41 Rothschild Prizes. Founders include Chaim Weizmann, Albert Einstein, Martin Buber, Chaim Nachman Bialik.

Nostalgia Sunday – Friedel Stern exhibition

Some images, if you grow up with them, are imprinted in your brain. So it was with me and cartoonist Friedel Stern’s In Short, Israel. I loved to turn the pages of the small square orange-bound book, look at the pictures and try to understand Stern’s humorous take on 1950s / early 60s Israel. As I grew older and got to know Israel and Israelis better, I understood that many of her illustrations were a loving rebuke, made by a yekke gentlewoman, of the rough and tumble society in which she lived, worked and thrived.

I loved her depictions of Israelis: the hairy sabra, the men in undershirts and sandals, kibbutz women in headscarves and shirtsleeves, prim and proper German-Jewish immigrants wearing jackets in the height of summer heat. And I loved the book, which was English on one side, Hebrew on the other, and which I donated some years ago to the Israeli Cartoon Museum in Holon. It was nice to see a copy (not mine) of “In Short, Israel” under glass at the Museum’s opening of a Friedel retrospective but I felt a bit wistful at not being able to reach out, re-read it and re-live the old memories. But that is how it goes with historical artifacts, even those of contemporary history.

At the exhibit, which runs through June 23rd, I did learn more about Friedel Stern herself. She was born in Liepzig, Germany in 1917 and immigrated to Palestine in 1936. During World War II she was one of many who volunteered to serve in the British army, serving alongside a group of young women who later on went on to prominence in the new State of Israel: actress Hannah Meron, former diplomats and politicians Esther Herlitz and Tamar Eshel, political wives Sonia Peres and Leah Rabin, Cafe Tamar proprietor Sarah Stern and many others. According an article in The Jerusalem Post, her caricatures were often used to camouflage dispatches.

Stern studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts, and began her career as a caricaturist in the ‘50s, working at leading newspapers and magazines such as Davar and Dvar Hashavua, LaIsha and Bamahane signed with her trademark signature and a small star (Stern means star in German), focusing on social issues and humorous portrayals of daily life.

“In her heyday as a journalist, Friedel Stern would dress up as different characters – a cleaning lady, a bus conductor, and once even as a man – to provide her readers with amusing reports about her experiences,” writes Yirmi Pinkus in the museum catalogue. “[Her] articles recounted her experiences as a fictitious American tourist and were, of course, accompanied by original caricatures. Friedel strolled through the ‘Persian [Bahai] Gardens’ in Haifa, she was impressed by the dining room in Kibbutz Gesher Haziv, she inspected souvenirs in the Old City in Jerusalem, and was eventually dropped a heavy hint to tip the tour guide.”

She also illustrated books, posters, brochures and was a lecturer at the Department of Graphic Design at Bezalel. From 1944 onwards, she exhibited and participated in exhibitions of both painting and caricature. Her works were presented in galleries and museums in Israel and abroad. She received many awards, including, in 1999, a lifetime achievement award in the field of caricature and painting by the Council of Women’s Organizations in Israel.

Friedel Stern died in October 2006, only weeks before her 90th birthday. According to an article about the new exhibit in Haaretz, “In her will, Stern, the only woman among the group of cartoonists active in Israel during the state’s first decades, bequeathed all her works to the Cartoon Museum. A few months ago, after prolonged legal proceedings, the approximately 10,000 drawings she left finally arrived at the museum’s archive in Holon.

“Before her death, Stern, who had no children, also saw to the establishment of a foundation in her name, which organizes a biannual competition for humorous cartoons, with a prize of NIS 10,000 for amateurs and NIS 25,000 for professionals. A ‘control freak,’ according to people who knew her, Stern stipulated that works of hers be displayed alongside the works in the competition. And indeed this week at the Cartoon Museum they acceded to her wishes, and hung works by Friedel along with dozens of entries in the latest competition.”

Haaretz noted with disappointment that the small size of the Friedel show — and I must agree. It was nice to see some unfamiliar works but I would have welcomed the chance to see a few more pages from In Short, Israel.

Nostalgia Sunday – Einstein archive goes live

Tomorrow, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem will launch the all-new, expanded and digitized Albert Einstein Archives. The launch is timed to coincide — give or take 5 days — with Einstein’s March 14th birthday, also known as Pi Day (3.14 — get it?).

Over 80,000 records of documents held in original and as copies in the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University (AEA) and at the Einstein Papers Project at Caltech (EPP) can now be accessed with a user-friendly interface via the internet.

The Archives include scientific writings and correspondence, non-scientific writings and correspondence, family letter and travel diaries. The website also presents images Einstein’s handwritten manuscripts, correspondence, typewritten manuscripts, photos, audio material, etc.

The University’s public affairs office states that, in addition to being an essential resource for the history of modern physics, “the archives also shed light on the social, political and intellectual history of the modern world.” Some of the newly digitzed documents inlcude: Einstein’s letter to Azmi El-Nashashibi, the editor of the newspaper Falastin, suggesting a solution to the Arab-Jewish conflict, a letter to the Jewish community in Berlin describing the distinction between Jewish religion and Jewish nationalism, a speech to a Zionist meeting containing a report on a fundraising campaign in the United States for the Hebrew University, a postcard to his sick mother and a letter from his young mistress Betty Neumann.

The online image gallery was created by Ardon Bar-Hama who has photograped an impressive list of some the world’s most treasured objects in libraries, museums, archives, private collections and institutions.

The system offers easy navigation, displaying the search results and additional information such as filters, related topics and similar items. Some of the digitized documents are accompanied by annotated transcriptions and translations, as edited by the EPP and published in the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein by Princeton University Press (PUP). These documents are searchable as full text.

It’s a far cry from Einstein’s original filing system which was “unsystematic” according to the Archive’s History, before his Theory of Relativity came to public attention. “As a result of his dramatic rise to fame in November 1919, his correspondence increased vastly and he employed his step-daughter, Ilse, as his first secretarial assistant. She achieved the first semblance of well-ordered files.

“In April 1928, [secretary] Helen Dukas came to work for Einstein and began to preserve his papers more systematically. However, not even then were copies of all outgoing correspondence kept. Shortly after the Nazis’ rise to power in 1933, Einstein’s papers were rescued from Berlin by Einstein’s son-in-law, Rudolf Kayser, with the help of the French Embassy. The material was brought to Einstein’s new home in Princeton and kept there until well after his death. With a few exceptions, the material left at Einstein’s summer house in Caputh outside Berlin was destroyed in order to prevent it falling into the hands of the Nazi authorities.

“Einstein’s Will of 1950 appointed his secretary, Helen Dukas, and his close associate, Dr. Otto Nathan, as trustees of his estate. Following Einstein’s death in 1955, Dukas and Nathan devoted themselves tirelessly for a quarter of a century to organizing the papers and acquiring additional material. As a result of their efforts, the Archives grew threefold.

“In the 1960s, Helen Dukas and Prof. Gerald Holton of Harvard University reorganized the material, thereby rendering it accessible to scholars and preparing it for eventual publication in The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, a joint project of The Hebrew University and Princeton University Press. To facilitate editorial work, the papers were transferred from Einstein’s home to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

“In 1982, the Einstein Estate transferred Einstein’s personal papers to the Jewish National & University Library in Jerusalem. President Avraham Harman of The Hebrew University and Prof. Milton Handler of the American Friends of The Hebrew University played a crucial role in securing the transfer of the material to Jerusalem. In subsequent years, additional material was dispatched from Einstein’s Princeton residence, namely his personal collections of reprints, photographs, medals, and diplomas as well as his private library.

“In 1988, the Bern Dibner Curatorship for the running of the Albert Einstein Archives was established by the Dibner Fund of Connecticut, USA… In January 2008, the Archives became part of the Hebrew University’s Library Authority, Library Authority and, in July 2008, moved to new premises in the Levi building on the Hebrew University’s Edmond J. Safra campus, allowing for enhanced services to the public.

The www.alberteinstein.info website was launched in 2003 by the Albert Einstein Archives jointly with the Einstein Papers Project and Princeton University Press. The digitization of 900 papers displayed on the original site was made possible by a generous contribution from the David and Fela Shapell Family.

A grant from the Polonsky Foundation of London enabled the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to digitize the archives. The archival database and the collection of new materials was made possible by the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and by the Arcadia Fund UK.

The launch will be marked simultaneously at Princeton University, Caltech, the Hebrew University’s Friends organizations and Israeli embassies around the world.

Nostalgia Sunday – Matti Caspi stepping forward

It’s hard to overstate the importance of Matti Caspi to Israeli music. Simply put: he is very important. Caspi, who has been on the scene since the early 1970s and released his first solo album in 1974, bridged between old-style Hebrew-language / Russian-influenced popular music and myriad new influences, from rock to jazz to Latin American — writing, performing, producing, arranging, collaborating and conducting — all while creating his own distinctive harmonies and scales. Behind the poker face, as musicologist Tzipi Fleischer puts it (in Caspi’s online biography), “is a musical wild man. He is the one who promoted sophistication and western standards to the region.”

In addition to his solo work, over the years, Caspi has worked with Israeli artists such as Yoni Rechter, Ehud Manor, Yehudit Ravitz, Meir Banai, Rami Kleinstein, Aviv Gefen, HaParvarim, lyricist Raquel Caspi (who is also his wife), Riki Gal and Shlomo Gronich (more about them in a moment). He’s won numerous awards for his work, including the prestigious Kinor David (David’s Harp Prize) for cultural contribution. His online bio notes that many of the Israeli songs played on radio today are in one way or another related to Caspi, whether as a singer, composer, arranger or producer. A full biography of Matti Caspi is available here.

One of Caspi’s earliest collaborations was Meahorei HaTzlilim (Behind the Sounds), with keyboardist Shlomo Gronich, a musical force in his own right. Meahorei HaTzlilim started out as a Caspi-Gronich stage collaboration and evolved into an album, released in 1973, that’s still considered a touchstone in Israeli progressive rock. Since then, the two have reunited for occasional Meahorei HaTzlilim shows: in 1984, 1989, 2002 and now 2012 when the two will perform a benefit concert on March 26 at the Jerusalem Theater on behalf of non-profit Tsad Kadima (A Step Forward), the Association for Conductive Education in Israel.

Tsad Kadima engages in he rehabilitation and education of children, adolescents, and young adults with cerebral palsy or motor dysfunctions. The organization operates Transitional Programs for young adults. These programs engage children aged 14-21 once or twice a week in an after-school activity. The highlight of this program is a Summer Camp which takes place in August. To fund its activities, each year, Tsad Kadima holds an event that, in addition to benefiting a worthy cause, also affords one a trip down memory lane.

Last year, Shlomit Aharon, former frontwoman for HaKol Over Habibi, took center stage. The year before, rocker Riki Gal graced the hall. Both women have worked with Caspi and Gal has been a frequent collaborator.

In fact, 25 years after one of their biggest hits, Mah Zot Ahava (What Is Love) Matti Caspi and Riki Gal will be bringing back the magic on March 24, when their new concert tour of the same name, premieres at Nokia Stadium in Tel Aviv. More information is available here.

Visit the website to learn more about Tsad Kadima. Tickets to the March 26 benefit may be purchased by phone: 02 654 0062 or by email: ayala@tsadkadima.org.il.

By the way, in his current incarnation, Matti Caspi is also a turtle. Or rather, a stuffed animal series bearing a keen resemblance to him. Inside each turtle is a real music box that plays tinkly versions of beloved Matti Caspi songs.

And here are Caspi and Gronich, then and now.

 

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