Life in Tel Aviv is a beach
Filed under: Environment, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Travel
If you can’t make it Tel Aviv this summer to enjoy one of the greatest beaches in the world, Israel can bring the beach to you.
Artificial beach fronts, complete with ‘arcticim’ (ice pops), ‘matkot’ (paddle ball), DJs, food, and live musical performances will be set up this summer in honor of Tel Aviv’s 100th birthday in three locations – New York’s Central Park on June 21, Vienna (from April 28 to September 1) and Copenhagen (from July 25 to August 2)
Sponsored by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Centennial Administration, the Foreign and Tourism ministries, and corporate partner El Al Israel Airways, the Tel Aviv beach project is attempting to give people a taste of what our Mediterranean coast is really like.
In New York, that means shipping in 30 tons of sand to cover the 15 yard by 15 yard ‘beach’ that’s being erected at the Naumberg Bandshell in Central Park. That costs money, and $200,000 is being allocated to the NY-Tel Aviv beach, an expenditure that Mayor Ron Huldai thinks is money well spent.
“If tourists are going to come to Israel, it will cover the project tenfold,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “There is another Israel, not only wars and crisis.”
The one-day event, which is free to the public, will start at 11 a.m. and finish at 6 p.m. At noon, DJ Hadar Marks will host a beach party and Israeli reggae band Hatikva 6 and rock band Flow will perform.
The notion that most Americans don’t have a notion that the Tel Aviv beach is one happening place was brought home during a comedy routine Sunday night by US comic David Crowe, one of four American funnymen currently touring Israel on behalf of Comedy For Koby.
Crowe, along with fellow comics Avi Liberman, AJ Jamal, and Jeffrey Ross, wowed the sold out Jerusalem show, and the Catholic-raised Crowe (“My grandfather was a priest… evidently not a very good one”) described his first experience in the Holy Land.
“I go down to the beach outside my hotel in Tel Aviv, and I can’t believe it. There’s bronzed-skin women in tiny bikinis, drum circles, dance music. I know the Jews wanted a homeland, but I didn’t know it was Brazil!”
Comedy for Koby
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Life, Pop Culture, Profiles, War
The Mandells and their son Koby
That was 25 years ago, but as time went on, and we drifted apart amid the child rearing and careers. The next time I remember hearing about the Mandells was when they were in the news in 2001, after their son Koby was stoned to death by terrorists near their home in Tekoa.
I should have gone to pay a shiva call, but I was frozen in fear – Koby was about the same age as my oldest child, and all I could think of was how horrible it would be to lose her. In cowardly fashion, I wanted to stay as far away from dealing with that as possible.
Thankfully, the Mandells weren’t cowards. They bravely turned their tragedy into a gift to mankind with the Koby Mandell Foundation - a terror victims outreach organization they founded a few years after Koby’s death.
Next week, for the second year, a slew of Comedy for Koby shows will be taking place around the country to benefit the foundation, featuring four American stand up comedians under the auspices of Stand Up For Israel.
A rousing success since it was first launched by fellow American Jewish comic Avi Liberman during the Second Intifada, Stand Up For Israel was designed to raise the morale of English-speaking Israelis via some old country comedic entertainment. Each year since then, Liberman has returned to Israel with three different comedic friends and donated the proceeds to various worthy causes, the current one being The Koby Mandell Foundation.
This year’s shows, hosted by Liberman, feature stand up comics Jeffrey Ross, David Crowe and AJ (‘Almost Jewish’) Jamal. The tour features shows in six locations: June 3 – Ra’anana at Yad Labanim, June 4 – Beit Shemesh at Eshkol Hapayis, June 7 – Jerusalem at The Lab, June 9 – Modi’in at the Azrielli Theater, June 10 – Tel Aviv at the ZOA House, and June 11 – Efrat, at Mishkan Zippora.
Ross aka the ‘Roastmaster General’ is the ‘dean’ of insult comics, having been named ‘the meanest man in comedy’ for having led the renown Friar Club roasts of luminaries like William Shatner, Hugh Hefner, Donald Trump and Pamela Anderson.
I spoke to him this week, and we got on the topic of the prevalence of Jewish comedians.
”We’ve been trying to figure that out for a long time – it’s something no scientist can understand. I think maybe it’s that Jewish people are born with a brutal honesty that nurtures and breeds comedians. Maybe it’s something to do with being circumcised.”
Whatever the reasons, come out and laugh for a good cause with Liberman, Ross and their cohorts. It’s the least we can do for the Mandells and their worthy cause.
Elliot Zimet and friends to magically appear in Israel tomorrow
Launched back in 2003 by Los Angeles’ comic Avi Liberman, the annual Crossroads Comedy Tour has been garnering media attention for its international and relatively high-profile talent pool.
The series of events is a fundraiser for Jerusalem’s youth-at-risk-oriented Crossroads Center, with this year’s shows including tomorrow in Beit Shemesh, Sunday in Ra’anana and two Monday performances in Jerusalem. Tickets are available by clicking here.
The 2009 fundraising tour, however, focuses less on stand-up comedy and more on the allegedly nefarious art of illusion, under the moniker “The Crossroads Comedy Magical Mystery Tour.”
Ben Cohen, who has served as a consultant for David Copperfield and has been named New York’s Magician of the Year, joins a lineup headlined by Elliot Zimet, the Bronx’s hop hop magical wonder.
Zimet’s style is somewhat new to the magic world, thanks to a show dominated by special effects, lighting, dancers and East Coast beats. Clips of his performances (pictured) can be seen on his MySpace profile. Zimet has put on shows at private events hosted by Sean Combs, at Madison Square Garden, and on several TV shows, including NBC’s America’s Got Talent. He has also toured with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
The tour follows in the footsteps of Israel’s recent International Magic Convention, which was staged in Holon two months ago.
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