Israel’s senior class meets the president

October 4, 2010 - 2:40 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Social Justice 

President Shimon Peres with members of the 'senior class.' (Photo: Meytal Yeslovitz)

Who better to kick off Senior Citizen’s Month in Israel than its venerable president, the country’s most famous senior citizen, 87-year-old Shimon Peres?

At the beginning of the 1990s, approximately 3.6 per cent of Israel’s population was aged 75 and over. In 2009, the ratio climbed to 4.7 per cent.

As the ratio of senior citizens continues to grow in Israel, like in populations around the world, the government is adopting new policies geared towards the needs and aspirations of the third age sector of society. Likud MK Lea Ness is the deputy minister in charge of the ministry for senior citizens.

Ness was there on Sunday, when Peres hosted nine hand-picked senior citizens to visit Beit Hanassi for the launch of the special month. And for once, Peres wasn’t the oldest person in the room, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“Among them writer and lecturer Geula Bat Yehuda Raphael, 92, who is the widow of former Minister for Religious Affairs Yitzhak Raphael, educator Adam Ben Chanoch, 89, who founded the school on Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi, where he and his wife Ilse have lived for 62 years, and who now volunteers twice a week as an education counselor at the Hula Valley high school; Issaschar Goldstein, 101, who was seriously injured in the riots of 1939 and later owned the legendary Tnuva café in Jerusalem, as well as the Patt gas station.

Others just slightly younger than Peres, but certainly part of his generation, included former Druze MK, Amal Nasser el-Din, 82, who is both a bereaved father and grandfather having lost two generations of his family who were killed on active duty in the IDF, and who now devotes much of his time to advocating peace and equality; singer of the underground movements and former member of the Palmach Shulamit Livnat who is the mother of 60 year old Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat; Margalit Zanati, 79, whose family has lived uninterrupted in Pe’ekin since the period of the Second Temple; Bilha Castel, the widow of renowned artist Moshe Castel, whose mural and other works are on permanent display at Beit Hanassi; geography and cartography expert Dr. Shimshon Livni who was one of the founders of Kibbutz Lahav in the Negev.”

Ness, who introduced each of the special guests to Peres, said that today, every 10th person in Israel is a senior citizen, and that in round figures, the total number of senior citizens is 750,000. The forecast for the year 2030, she said, was that the number of senior citizens in the country would be equal to the number of children.

Peres greeted each guest and asked inquisitive questions about their health and longevity, as if he needed any tips. In his closing remarks, he said, “To be a senior citizen is not a sin, but a matter of pride. An elderly person can still grow older and make a valuable contribution along the way based on the experience gained in living for so long.”

He certainly sets a good example.

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Murakami to receive Jerusalem Prize from book fest

February 15, 2009 - 2:36 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Politics 

Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami

The 24th Jerusalem International Book Fair is taking place this week, and Japan’s top writer Haruki Murakami was scheduled to be the guest of honor.

President Shimon Peres and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat are to present Muakami with the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society at the opening of the five-day festival at the International Convention Center. The festival is expected to draw over 1,200 publishers from more that 40 countries displaying some 100,000 books in different languages, organizers said. Entrance to the public is free.

The 60-year-old Murakami is the author of 20 books translated into 40 languages, including Hear the Wind Sing, Norwegian Wood, A Wild Sheep Chase, All God’s Children Can Dance and Kafka on the Shore. The English publication of his latest novel, After Dark, was released in 2007, and chosen by The New York Times as “Notable Book of the Year.” Besides writing, Murakami has made a name for himself as a keen marathon runner, which he addresses in his 2008 book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

However, as with most international recognitions like this, there’s some controversy. According to The Jerusalem Post, the Palestine Forum Japan urged the writer to cancel his plans to accept the prize in Jerusalem.

In an open letter last week to Murakami, titled “Don’t legitimize apartheid,” the group wrote: “We ask you to seriously reconsider the social and political significance of a world-famous author such as yourself participating in the book fair, which is fully supported by the Foreign Ministry of Israel and the City of Jerusalem,” the letter states. “We would humbly ask you to consider the effects your receipt of the ‘Jerusalem Prize’ would have, what sort of message the world would receive in this Middle East situation, what kind of propaganda value it could have to Israel and the possibility of aggravating the critical situation Palestinians are facing.”

This is the first time the Jerusalem Prize has been awarded to a writer in a non-European language, and the prize committee said the decision to honor Murakami was “made out of profound esteem for his artistic achievements and love of people.”

Previous recipients of the Jerusalem Prize at the book fair, which started in 1963, include Susan Sontag, Simone de Beauvoir, Milan Kundera, Graham Greene, J.M. Coetzee, V.S. Naipaul, Bertrand Russell, Octavio Paz and Arthur Miller.

Here’s hoping Murakami doesn’t back down and that the awards ceremony goes off as planned.

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