Jerusalem has moved to this West Coast city. Well, not really, but almost. Here in the new multi-million dollar 150,000 sq. ft. Convention Center more than 500,000 persons from California and neighboring states will have attended the 11-day Jerusalem Fair by the time it closes Sunday. The fair is the largest overseas exhibition of Israeli arts and crafts, technology, industry, agriculture and archaeology since the international Expo-67 in Montreal. The organizers of this vast undertaking point with pride to the fact that this is the largest event outside Israel celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Jewish State.
The hundreds of booths and exhibits recreate the beauty and atmosphere of Jerusalem; the old streets, sidewalk cafes, the Western Wall, Mary’s Well from Nazareth, King David’s Tomb, the Via Dolorosa, the Dome of the Rock and Rachel’s Tomb. There are also religious artifacts representing Judaism, Christianity and Islam which were brought here from Israel for the first time with special permission from the leaders of the three faiths.
In addition, there are also such show-stoppers as the Dead Sea Scrolls, icons, a giant menorah, a model of the Edicule of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a collection of 2000-year-old Holy Land coins belonging to Pope Paul VI valued at more than $1 million, the cope of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, two columns from the original Church of the Redeemer, fashion shows and an Israeli film festival co-sponsored by major Hollywood studios.
JEWISH, NON-JEWISH COMMUNITIES INVOLVED
The idea for the fair was conceived by Yeheskel Carmel, the Israeli Consul-General for the western United States. “We hope that the fair will show that Israel is a vigorous and many-sided country with an increasingly sophisticated industrial and commercial base,” Carmel said in a recent interview by way of explaining the basis and objective of the fair. “At the same time, we hope to convince our own businessmen and economists in Israel that the American West offers a tremendous potential market.”
To get the fair launched, Carmel discussed the idea last May with the Los Angeles Jewish community and found it receptive and helpful. He then persuaded Victor Carter, West Coast business executive who was instrumental in setting up the Jerusalem Economic Conference, to assume the chairmanship of the organizing group, the Israel Silver Anniversary Committee. Carmel and the committee then convinced Kenneth F. Spencer, the non-Jewish president and chairman of the board of the Beverly Hills Federal Savings and Loan Association, to underwrite the financial cost of the project.
On Friday, Mayor Sam Yorty is scheduled to preside at a luncheon in honor of Los Angeles’ sister city, Eilat. Last Wednesday, on the opening day of the fair, Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek was special guest. Yorty proclaimed the last two weeks of Nov. as “Jerusalem Weeks,” and designated today as “Abba Eban Day” in honor of Israel’s Foreign Minister. In view of the tremendous success of the fair here, Chicago and San Francisco have announced similar fairs for next year, and requests for organizing plans have come from Boston, Houston and New York.
The major cause of Israel’s inflationary spiral is due mainly to “large wage increases” according to a ministerial economic committee.
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