What Becomes of Ex-Presidents
Filed under: Business, General, Israeliness, Life, Politics
The may not much like soon to be former President George Bush in the U.S. – or in Iraq – and now that he’s leaving office, he may have a future in Israel – with his name emblazoned in lights on a business!
Most people will remember that Bush received a very high approval rating among Israelis when he came here at the beginning of 2008. Now, with Bush ready to leave office, Israeli commentators will be coming out with articles like this one looking back with nostalgia at the positive relationship between Israel and Bush.
Tough on the outside but sweet on the inside, Israelis are actually very sentimental – and have a good business sense, as well. So the chances of some ingenious Israeli adopting the name “Bush” for their business are good (maybe for a gardening service?). Admittedly, “Coffee Annan,” named after former UN Secretary Kofi Annan, was too obvious not to do something with. But other than having eaten it, Bill Clinton had little if anything to do with pizza – but that didn’t stop this Jerusalem entrepreneur from using the ex-president’s name to promote his slices. And chances are business will improve dramatically now that Hillary is going to be Secretary of State!
Renewal
Filed under: A New Reality, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Profiles, War
It’s been said that everyone in Israel knows at least one family touched by terror, that is. The truth is, things are far better than they used to be on that front, certainly better than during they were six and seven years ago, when there seemed to be a bus bombing or shooting attack every week – and sometimes more often.
Terrorism aims to destroy lives – and often it does. But it’s not just lives: Families are never the same, even if the intended victim survives. Communities change, kids relate to their surroundings differently. We hear about the attacks, which make news for a few days, and move on; they often can’t. So when we see individuals and families who do manage to rebuild their lives, we can only stand back and gape in awe at their superhuman strength.
I had an “awesome” moment last night, when the son of a friend of mine got married. I won’t reveal their names, but I can tell you the story: While driving home from buying school supplies for the upcoming term, Jacob and Rachel (not their real names) were shot at by Arab terrorists. With them in the car were three of their five children. The shooter got their car point blank – killing Rachel, and leaving Jacob and their oldest daughter, Dina, in a wheelchair. Rachel was several months pregnant at the time. Also in the car were two boys – Shimon, 8, and Levi, 3. Not in the van were their oldest son Reuven, 13 (he had just had his bar-mitzvah two months earlier), and Sarah, 10.
Suffice to say that the family was shattered; the oldest boy became rebellious, the second son took after him, and the youngest boy, in the car when it happened, was basically shellshocked. Jacob tried as well as he could, but it was difficult juggling his family and work obligations. The community helped – a lot – but it just wasn’t the same. Rachel was one of those “super-moms” – always there for the kids, working to help others (she was a nurse), with a golden personality, always smiling. This was a family that had lost so much – and things looked bleak.
But the family experienced a rebirth – in large part thanks to Leah, whom Jacob married three years after losing Rachel. The kids were wary at first – she was a widow herself, and had three older kids of her own – and things were rocky at first. But with love and patience, things worked themselves out. The community helped a lot, too. Plus, the determination of Jacob – and the kids – not to give the terrorists the victory they so sorely sought.
And now see Reuven at his wedding! He grew up to be a fine, sensitive, scholarly young man, a veteran of the elite Duvdevan unit. The joy on his face, and on the faces of family and friends, was unique. This wasn’t just a wedding; it was a vindication, a confirmation of life, a message to the forces of darkness – Israel, and Israelis, are here to stay.
Israel Loves NY
So it’s a well-known fact that Israelis love New York — think Aroma in SoHo, the number of post-army Israelis working for Moishe’s Movers and the amount of Hebrew one hears on the city streets — but Fern Penn, the owner of Rosebud, a SoHo boutique that sells only Israeli-designed clothing, is taking the I Love NY slogan back to Israel.
On her last trip to Israel, she brought four dozen I Love NY t-shirts to each of the designers she features in her store, and asked them to “fashion them up” in their own style. The one-of-a-kind t-shirts, recreated by 12 different designers, are being featured in Rosebud throughout October. On sale for $100 each, all proceeds will go to Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Ramat Gan, Israel, and to Elem/ Youth in Distress in Israel.
The designers participating in the project include Ronen Chen, Kedem Sasson, Yael Orgad, Katomenta, Naomi Maaravi, Comme Il Faut, Keren Mualem, Delicatessen, Maya Negri, Fishndag, Dorit Sade, and Ido Recanati.
C’mon, don’t you love New York?
Snipped from Top Secret Truth
By now, we all know the premise behind Adam Sandler’s newest comedy, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, which has been breaking Israeli grossing records and has already exceeded Borat’s box office run from two summers ago. Protagonist Zohan Dvir’s madcap journey from super-spy to super-sensitive Brooklyn hairdresser sure seems like an unlikely career arc to the uninitiated – pure comedic gold.
Sandler, who hails from Brooklyn, New York, said the inspiration for Zohan dates back to his childhood when he heard stories about how tough the Israeli army was, even though the country was small.“Anytime anyone comes after them, they take care of business,” Sandler told reporters at a recent news conference, “As a Jewish kid, you were proud of that. So I admired them.”
“….An Israeli guy used to cut my hair, and I just thought it’d be funny to see an Israeli soldier, a bad-ass fearless warrior who had a little secret dream of wanting to do something else, but was embarrassed to share it with anyone,” Sandler said.
But the truth is, Israelis constitute some of the most notoriously resourceful and disproportionately plentiful communities of expatriates in the world, as CNN ever-so-diplomatically points out.
Like Zohan, many young Israelis escape the country, at least temporarily, after completing their military service to go on lengthy backpacking trips through Asia or South America or to work in odd jobs in American cities.And in New York, for instance, young Israelis are commonly seen working as furniture movers or aggressively selling useless knickknacks.
….Oddly enough, the concept for the Zohan movie evolved from a spoof of just such Israelis. Comedian-writer Robert Smigel came up with a Saturday Night Live sketch in 1990 called the “Sabra Shopping Network,” the first SNL skit Sandler appeared in.
“….I think it is almost a gesture toward Israel,” said Ido Mosseri, who plays Zohan’s pushy expat Israeli sidekick Oori. “I was a little worried because Israeli crowds are very critical, but I think they took it all in with love.”
And anyway, the schism between the imposingly macho commando persona and the coiffuring, service-oriented one is not as glaring in Israel as it might be in North America. In the US, the stereotypical male hairstylist is effeminate, while in Israel, that’s not necessarily the case.
There’s no surprise that men flock to the profession. The career of a hairstylist is for guys with big egos, for social animals, for ambitious types with a head for business. “….The dream of every Israeli hairstylist who’s just starting out is to go New York and make it big,” says student Rahel Aharonov, 21, drinking coffee by herself.
Sometimes what seems like the most ludicrously improbable scenarios in the minds of Hollywood creatives ends up ringing with a whole lot more true than they might have ever dreamed. Sure, Israelis might not brush their teeth with hummus, but as a premise, Zohan proves to be not much of a stretch.
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