Happy 64th! B-day,Israel

David Ben-Gurion was the first Prim e

M inister of Israel. H e is considered the

"father" of m odern Israel. Ben-Gurion was

also nam ed one of Tim e M agazine's 1 00

M ost Im portant People of the Century.

In 1 969 Golda Meir becam e Israel's first and the

world 's third wom an to hold the Prim e M inister

office .She was described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli

politics.

Marcel Iancu was a Rom anian and Israeli

visual artist and architect who contributed to

the early developm ent of the Israeli art.

H e is also well - known as the co-inventor of

D adaism . )new ways of experim enting with

abstract sight and thought(.

After 1 953 his work centered on the

.establishm ent of Ein H od, an art colony

Reuven Rubin was a Rom anian-born Israeli painter and Israel's first am bassador

to Rom ania.

H e was one of the founders of the new Eretz-Yisrael style. H is them es were the

biblical landscape, folklore and people. M any of his paintings are about

Jerusalem and the Galilee.

Yaacov Agam is a sculptor.

H is work is usually abstract, kinetic art, with m ovem ent, viewer participation and frequent use

of light and sound . H is works are placed in m any public places. The fountain is in Tel Aviv.

I lana Goor is an international artist known for her uniquely styled sculptures, furniture, lighting, jewelry,

and accessories.

She works and lives in a restored 1 8th-century house located in the very heart of ancient Jaffa and

overlooking the M ed iterranean. She's turned part of it into a m useum of her sculptures in wood , stone, and

m etal ,alongside works of art from her private collection.In the 1 8th century the house was used as the first

khan for Jewish pilgrim s en route to Jerusalem .

Ephraim Kishon - author, dram atist, screenwriter, and film d irector. H e is one of the m ost widely-read contem porary

satirists in the world . K ishon's books have been translated into 37 languages .

H e wrote, d irected and produced five feature film s )all of them com ed ic /satirical m ovies(. Three m ovies were

nom inated for m ajor international awards )The Golden Globe award(, two were nom inated for the O scar: SallahShabati and .Ha-Shoter Azoulay

Naomi Ragen is an Am erican-born novelist, playwright and journalist who has lived in Jerusalem since 1 971

and who writes regularly to her m ailing list about Israel and Jewish issues. N aom i has published eight

internationally best selling novels, and is the author of a hit play )Wom en's M inyan( which has been perform ed

m ore than 500 tim es in Israel's N ational Theatre )H abim ah( as well as in the U nited States and Argentina.

Amos Oz was in recent years a serious cand idate to receive N obel Prize in L iterature. H e has published 35 books

since 1 965, includ ing 1 3 novels, four volum es of short stories and novels, children’s books and nine books

containing essays and articles.

Am os O z is known for books like ‘A Perfect Peace’ )1 982(, ‘Black Box’ )1 987(, ‘H ow to Cure a Fanatic’ )2006(,

‘A Tale of Love and D arkness’ )2003(, ‘Scenes from Village L ife’ )2009(.

In 2007, his book "A Tale of Love and D arkness" was nom inated one of the ten m ost im portant books since the

creation of the State of Israel.

Colonel I lan Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut.

In 2003, he d ied as a m em ber of the crew on the

Space Shuttle Colum bia.

Shmuel Yosef Agnon ,

N obel prize for L iterature, 1 966

H is works deal with the conflict between the trad itional Jewish life and language and the m odern

.)world . They also attem pt to revive the fad ing trad itions of the European shtetl )village

Avram Hershko , Nobel

Prize for Chem istry,

2004

Daniel Kahneman,

N obel Prize for

Econom ics, 2002

Aaron C iechanover ,

Chem istry, 2004

Robert Aumann ,

N obel Prize for Econom ics,

2005

Dan Shechtman,

N obel Prize for Chem istry,

201 1

Ada E . Yonath ,

N obel Prize for Chem istry,

2009

Daniel Oren has conducted at the Royal O pera H ouse Covent Garden, the M etropolitan in N ew York, the

Arena in Verona, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Bastille in Paris and the opera houses of Rom e, Trieste, Genoa,

Florence, Parm a, Turin, Venice, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Tokyo, H uston,

Washington and m any others.

At M asada : N abuco,Aida,Carm en

Itzhak Perlman is a violinist, conductor, and instructor of m aster classes. H e is regarded as one of the

preem inent violinists of the 20th and early-21 st centuries . Perlm an has also played jazz and klezm er. H e

has been a soloist for a num ber of m ovie scores, such as the 1 993 film Schindler's List and Memoirs of a G eisha, along with cellist Yo-Yo M a.

Shlomo Mintz and Pinchas Zukerman are violin virtuosos,

violists and conductors. They

regularly appear with orchestras

and conductors on the international

scene and are heard in recitals and

concerts around the world .

Yoav Talmi,conductor and com poser.

M usic D irector, San D iego Sym phony

1 987– 1 996.

Chief Conductor, H am burg Sym phony

O rchestra

2000-2004.

Talm i's com positions include an Elegy for

Strings, T im pani and Accord ion ("D achau Reflections"(.

Guy Braunstein ,violonist, developed a solo

and cham ber m usic career. H e

perform ed as a soloist with lead ing

.orchestras around the world

In 2000 Braunstein was appointed as the

concertm aster of the Berlin

.Philharm onic O rchestra

Ivry Gitlis - violinist. H e has perform ed with the

world 's top orchestras )N ew York Philharm onic,

Berlin Philharm onic, Vienna Philharm onic,

Philadelphia O rchestra, and Israel Philharm onic(,

and m any of his record ings are considered classics.

Violinist Gil Shaham is

internationally recognized by

aud iences and critics alike as

one of today’s m ost virtuosic

and engaging classical artists.

Haim Topol cam e to greatest

prom inence in the role of Tevye the

m ilkm an in the long-running m usical

show Fiddler on the Roof. H e later

starred in the 1 971 film version.

In 1 972, Topol won a Golden Globe

Award and was nom inated for a Best

Actor O scar for his perform ance in

.the film

Natalie Portman is a very talented Israeli

Am erican actress

Academ y Award for Best Actress – 201 1 in the

film Black Swan.

Ofra Haza , a very popular singer, was invited to sing in front of the Pope, as well as on other m ajor and

im portant occasions such as the N obel Prize cerem onies and the peace deal signing in Israel.

H er m usic fused elem ents of Eastern and Western instrum entation, orchestration and dance-beat. She becam e

successful in Europe and the Am ericas; during her singing career, she earned m any platinum and gold d iscs.

Achinoam Nini ,also known by her professional nam e N oa, is a lead ing Israeli

international concert and record ing artist.

N oa has perform ed in Carnegie H all and Avery Fisher H all in N ew York C ity,

O lym pia in Paris, Rom e's Colosseum . In 2000, N oa recorded the them e song of

"L ife Is Beautiful", Roberto Benigni 's O scar award-winning film .

The popular ICQ instant-m essaging program was created by four Israeli com puter geeks: Yair Goldfinger,

Arik Vardi, Sefi Vigiser and Amnon Amir – four m en who have really changed the world . For the first

tim e it was possible for people to com m unicate with their friends and know when their friends are online.

In 1 999, D ov M oran, an Israeli engineer and

entrepreneur, along with his colleagues at m system s,

invented an innovative device that could be connected

to a com puter quickly and easily. The device d id not

require a prelim inary installation process and it

operated using a standard connection that exists in any

m odern com puter. It was sm all, reliable and enabled

unlim ited expansion of the scope of m em ory.

VoIP technology enables telephone calls to be

transm itted via the internet.

The internet was originally designed to transfer

com puter data, thus a special application that

would allow the transfer of telephone calls via

internet had to be developed .

This type of innovative software was first

developed in 1 995 by Alon Cohen, L ior

H aram ati, O fer Shem -Tov, Elad Sion, O pher

K ahane and D ror Tirosh - Israeli software

.developers at VocalTec

In 1 995, Israeli entrepreneur

Amnon Ovadia id entified the

need for an online English–

H ebrew d ictionary that d id not

interrupt the read ing process.

As a result, Babylon Ltd . was

founded in 1 997 and launched

the first version of Babylon, a computer dictionary and

translation program.

D rip irrigation - the system that is based on using plastic pipes that release sm all am ounts of water next to roots of

plants - was developed by the Israeli engineer Simcha Blas. The invention caused a revolution in agriculture and has been adopted by farm ers in m any countries .

Blass and his son Yeshayahu and the desert-based K ibbutz H atzerim )near Beer Sheva ( established N etafim

Irrigation Com pany. Production began in 1 966. N etafim engineers working with Blass, developed the online dripper

- indeed allowing the desert to bloom .

A leksandr Averbukh won three gold

m edals in the pole vault at European

cham pionships )2000 — indoor, 2002

and 2006( as well as two m edals at the

.)World cham pionships )1 999 and 2001

Shahar Pe'er- ranked #1 1 at her best

the doubles team of Andy Ram and Joni Erlich )world #7 team ( ,in 2006 and 2008

Australian O pen cham pions.

D ud i Sela ranked # 29 at his best

Photo:People's Daily Online

Athens O lym pic Gam es in Greece, August 25, 2004.

Gal Fridman becam e the first Israeli com petitor to

.win an O lym pic Gam es gold m edal

In 1 992 at the Barcelona O lym pic gam es,judoca Yael Arad won a silver m edal and becam e the

first Israeli to win an O lym pic m edal.

Tal Brody – a form er basketball player. In 1 979 he was awarded the country's highest civilian honor,

the Israel Prize. In 1 977, he led tiny Israel's basketball team to the European Cup Basketball

Cham pionship. Along the way, his team defeated the heavily favored CSK A M oscow.

Brody's fam ous rem ark upon beating the Soviets – " We are on the map! And we are staying on the map – not only in sports, but in everything." – becam e a part of Israeli culture

April 2012 25

D ear Israel,

We wish you a happy, long, long life.

We wish you

Peace !

Love and

understand ing !

We wish you to flourish !

We wish you all the best

in the world .

“In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles”David Ben-Gurion

Photos – Noem i.Ervin,Ad i,L iviu

Negev desert , D ead Sea ,Ein Ged i , Ein H od,

Jerusalem ,M asada,Ashdod, Beer Sheva,Om er

From the net – cred it to their owners

Info : Wikiped ia

Music : O ur tiny land– Artzeinu haktantonet Ram i K leinstein