Transcript Happy 64th B-day,ISrael - Greater Altoona Jewish Federation

Photos – Negev desert, Dead Sea,
Ein Gedi, Ein Hod, Jerusalem, Masada,
Ashdod, Beer Sheva, Omer
Music : Our tiny land– Artzeinu haktantonet
Rami Kleinstein
David Ben-Gurion was the first Prime Minister
of Israel. He is considered the "father" of modern
Israel. Ben-Gurion was also named one of
Time Magazine’s 100 Most Important People
of the Century.
In 1969, Golda Meir became Israel’s first
and the world's third woman to hold the office
of Prime Minister.
She was described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics.
Marcel Iancu was a Romanian and Israeli
visual artist and architect who contributed
to the early development of the Israeli art.
He is also well-known as the co-inventor
of Dadaism (new ways of experimenting
with abstract sight and thought).
After 1953, his work centered on the
establishment of Ein Hod, as an art colony.
Reuven Rubin was a Romanian-born Israeli painter and
Israel's first ambassador to Romania.
He was one of the founders of the new “Eretz Yisrael” style.
His themes were the biblical landscape, folklore and people.
Many of his paintings are about Jerusalem and the Galilee.
Yaacov Agam is a sculptor.
His work is usually abstract, kinetic art with movement and viewer participation.
Agam frequently uses light and sound. His works are displayed in many public places.
This fountain is in Tel Aviv.
Ilana Goor is an international artist known for her uniquely styled sculptures, furniture,
lighting, jewelry, and accessories.
She works and lives in a restored 18th-century house located in the very heart of ancient Jaffa which
overlooks the Mediterranean. She has turned part of it into a museum of her sculptures in wood, stone,
and metal, alongside works of art from her private collection.
In the 18th century, the house was used as the first khan for Jewish pilgrims en route to Jerusalem.
Ephraim Kishon - author, dramatist, screenwriter, and film director.
He is one of the most widely-read contemporary satirists in the world.
Kishon's books have been translated into 37 languages .
He wrote, directed and produced five feature films (all of them comedic/satirical movies).
Three movies were nominated for major international awards (The Golden Globe award);
two were nominated for the Oscar: Sallah Shabati and Ha-Shoter Azoulay.
Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist, playwright and journalist who has lived in Jerusalem since 1971,
and who writes regularly to her fans in her mailing list about Israel and Jewish issues.
Naomi has published eight internationally best selling novels, and is the author of a hit play (Women's Minyan)
which has been performed more than 500 times in Israel's National Theatre (Habimah)
as well as in the United States and Argentina.
Amos Oz was in recent years a serious candidate to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
He has published 35 books since 1965, including 13 novels, four volumes of short stories and novels,
children’s books and nine books containing essays and articles.
Amos Oz is known for books like ‘A Perfect Peace’ (1982), ‘Black Box’ (1987), ‘How to Cure a Fanatic’ (2006),
‘A Tale of Love and Darkness’ (2003), ‘Scenes from Village Life’ (2009).
In 2007, his book "A Tale of Love and Darkness" was nominated as one of the ten most important books
since the creation of the State of Israel.
Colonel Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut.
In 2003, he died as a member of the crew on the
space shuttle Columbia.
Shmuel Yosef Agnon
Awarded the Nobel prize for Literature, 1966
His works deal with the conflict between the traditional Jewish life
and language and the modern world..
They also attempt to revive the fading traditions of the European shtetl (village).
Avram Hershko
Nobel Prize for Chemistry,
2004
Daniel Kahneman
Nobel Prize for Economics,
2002
Aaron Ciechanover
Nobe Prixe for Chemistry,
2004
Robert Aumann
Nobel Prize for Economics,
2005
Dan Shechtman
Nobel Prize for Chemistry,
2011
Ada E. Yonath
Nobel Prize for Chemistry,
2009
Daniel Oren has conducted at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the Metropolitan in New York,
the Arena in Verona, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Bastille in Paris and the opera houses of Rome, Trieste,
Genoa, Florence, Parma, Turin, Venice, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Tokyo, Huston,
Washington and many others.
Oren also conducted in Masada : Nabuco, Aida, Carmen
Itzhak Perlman is a violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes.
He is regarded as one of the preeminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.
Perlman has also played jazz and klezmer. He has been a soloist for a number of movie scores,
such as the 1993 film Schindler's List and Memoirs of a Geisha., along with cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Shlomo Mintz and Pinchas Zukerman
are violin virtuosos, and conductors.
They regularly appear with orchestras
and conductors on the international
scene and are heard in recitals and
concerts around the world.
Guy Braunstein ,violonist, developed
a solo and chamber music career.
He performed as a soloist with leading
orchestras around the world.
In 2000, Braunstein was appointed
as the Concertmaster of the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Yoav Talmi,
conductor and composer.
Music Director, San Diego Symphony
1987–1996.
Chief Conductor, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra
2000-2004.
Talmi's compositions include an Elegy for Strings,
Timpani and Accordion ("Dachau Reflections").
Ivry Gitlis - violinist. He has performed with the
world's top orchestras (New York Philharmonic,
Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic,
Philadelphia Orchestra, and Israel Philharmonic),
and many of his recordings are considered classics.
Violinist Gil Shaham is
internationally recognized by
audiences and critics alike as
one of today’s most virtuosic
and engaging classical artists.
Haim Topol came to greatest prominence
in the role of Tevye, the milkman, in the
long-running musical show
Fiddler on the Roof.
He later starred in the 1971 film version.
In 1972, Topol won a Golden Globe Award
and was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar
for his performance in the film.
Natalie Portman is a very talented
Israeli-American actress.
Won an Academy Award for Best Actress
in 2011 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 major and
important occasions such as the Nobel Prize ceremonies and the peace deal signing in Israel.
Her music fused elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat.
She became successful in Europe and the Americas; during her singing career, and
has earned many platinum and gold discs.
Achinoam Nini, also known by her professional name Noa,
is a leading Israeli international concert and recording artist.
Noa has performed in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City,
Olympia in Paris, Rome's Colosseum. In 2000, Noa recorded the theme song
of "Life Is Beautiful", Roberto Benigni's Oscar award-winning film.
The popular ICQ instant-messaging program was created by four Israeli computer geeks:
Yair Goldfinger, Arik Vardi, Sefi Vigiser and Amnon Amir – four men who have really changed the world.
For the first time, it was possible for people to communicate with their friends
and know when their friends are online.
In 1999, Dov Moran, an Israeli engineer and
entrepreneur, along with his colleagues at MSystems,
invented an innovative device that could be connected
to a computer quickly and easily.
The device did not require a preliminary installation
process and it operated using a standard connection
that exists in any modern computer.
It was small, reliable and enabled unlimited expansion
of the scope of memory.
VoIP technology enables telephone calls
to be transmitted via the internet.
The internet was originally designed to transfer
computer data, thus a special application that
would allow the transfer of telephone calls
via the internet had to be developed.
This type of innovative software was first
developed in 1995 by Alon Cohen,
Lior Haramati, Ofer Shem-Tov, Elad Sion,
Opher Kahane and Dror Tirosh,
Israeli software developers at VocalTec.
In 1995, Israeli entrepreneur, Amnon Ovadia,
identified the need for an online English-Hebrew
dictionary that did not interrupt the reading process.
As a result, Babylon, Ltd. was founded in 1997
and launched the first version of Babylon,
a computer dictionary and translation program.
Drip irrigation - the system that is based on using plastic pipes that release small amounts 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 farmers in many countries .
Blass and his son Yeshayahu and the desert-based Kibbutz Hatzerim (near Beer Sheva ) established
Netafim Irrigation Company. Production began in 1966.
Netafim engineers working with Blass, developed the online dripper - indeed allowing the desert to bloom.
Aleksandr Averbukh won three gold medals
in the pole vault at European championships
(2000 - indoor, 2002 and 2006) as well as
two medals at the World championships
(1999 and 2001).
Shahar Pe'er, (left) earned a career-high singles
ranking of World No. 11, which she achieved on
January 31, 2011 (it is the highest ranking ever for
an Israeli singles tennis player, male or female).
The doubles team of Andy Ram and Joni Erlich
(below) won the quarterfinals in 2003 at Wimbledon
and in September of the same year, the duo's first
tournament was won in the Thailand Open.
They ranked (World No.7 team ) in 2006 and 2008
as the Australian Open champions.
Dudi Sela (right) reached a career-high singles
ranking of World No. 29 in July 2009. He is
currently Israel's top men's singles player.
Athens Olympic Games in Greece, August 25, 2004.
Windsurfer Gal Fridman became the first
Israeli competitor to win an Olympic Games gold medal.
Photo:People's Daily Online
In 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic games, judo
champion , Yael Arad, won a silver medal and
became the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal.
Tal Brody – former basketball player. In 1979, he was awarded the country's highest civilian honor,
the Israel Prize. In 1977, he led tiny Israel's basketball team to the European Cup Basketball
Championship. Along the way, his team defeated the heavily favored CSKA Moscow.
Brody's famous remark upon beating the Soviets: "We are on the map! And we are staying on the
map – not only in sports, but in everything " – became a part of Israeli culture
“In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles”
David Ben-Gurion
Photos – Noemi.Ervin,Adi,Liviu
Negev desert, Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, Ein Hod,
Jerusalem, Masada, Ashdod, Beer Sheva, Omer
25 April 2012