JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Eulogizer highlights the life accomplishments of famous and not-so-famous Jews who have passed away recently. Learn about their achievements, honor their memories and celebrate Jewish lives well lived with The Eulogizer. Write to the Eulogizer at eulogizer@jta.org. Read previous columns here.
Einat Tavori, 27, Israeli hiker in India
Einat Tavori, an Israeli traveling during a break from medical school in Hungary, died Aug. 2 after she fell off a cliff while hiking in the mountainous Parvati Valley region of northern India.
After completing her military service working in the Defense Ministry, Tavori received a bachelor’s degree in Australia in Japanese and biology, and then began medical school. She was planning to work with Doctors Without Borders after her graduation. At the end of her second year in medical school, Tavori took time during her summer break to travel in India. She had previously spent two years there in a high school program.
"Einat loved to discover things, and was curious and adventurous, and so she attended high school abroad," said her sister, Tal.
She also said that "Einat was a nurse who took care of us always, especially her brothers. I cannot talk about her in the past; I cannot believe she’s not here beside me."
Tavori was on her way to meet friends from medical school after her hike. Her father, Yigal, a director of numerous prominent Israeli companies, said his daughter “was trained on trips, careful and serious."
Parvati Valley is a mountainous hiking destination in the northern India state of Himachal Pradesh, east of Dharmsala, a popular trekking spot favored by Israelis and others traveling the world on a budget. It is on the fringes of the Himalaya Mountains.
Tavori set out on a short trek past waterfalls with another Israeli hiker she had met the night before. According to her father, they were walking in single file on a narrow path.
“Rescuers have told us that they heard from him [the other hiker] that suddenly he heard a thump and looked back, but did not see her. He began to search and found she had fallen," her father said. "The other hiker turned back to bring other Israelis from the area and locals to help look for her. With search help, including members of Chabad, they found her body at the bottom of a well near the waterfall."
Ezat Delijani, 83, L.A. businessman
Ezat Delijani, a 1979 refugee from Iran’s Islamic Revolution who became a prominent Los Angeles businessman, died Aug. 27 at 83.
Delijani, whose family business in Iran imported textiles from Japan, became a real estate developer who focused on downtown Los Angeles and built up jewelry and garment districts after fleeing Tehran. His success led then-Mayor Tom Bradley to convince Delijani in 1982 to purchase and lead the renovation of classic movie palaces from the early days of Hollywood, just three years after he relocated to Los Angeles.
Delijani’s son, Shahram, said the theaters were his father’s gift to Los Angeles and a way to thank the region for taking in his family. In response, Los Angeles in 2009 named the downtown intersection of Seventh Street and Broadway as Ezat Delijani Square.
"Mr. Delijani understood that the magnificent Broadway theaters really belong to us all," said Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy.
The family’s purchases and restoration of four one-time movie palaces was described in detail in a Los Angeles business news journal in 2007.
Delijani also helped establish and build up the significant Iranian Jewish community in Los Angeles, most of which arrived in the city after the Khomeini revolution.
He set up retail shops for immigrant Iranian Jews in the garment district, helped establish L.A.’s Iranian American Jewish Federation, and negotiated its purchase of a historic synagogue, Hollywood Temple Beth El, in 1998. He received a Jewish National Fund Tree of Life Award in 2004.
A Tehran native, Delijani graduated from the Tehran University School of Law.
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