Several hundred people, including the wife of former French Premier Pierre Mendes-France, demonstrated Sunday in front of the Soviet Consulate asking that Jewish Prisoner of Conscience Anatoly Shcharansky be freed. Among those who asked to be received by a Soviet representative was former French Communist leader Jean Elenstein, and members of the French Scientific Committee for Soviet Jewry.
Frost, who reported on this development at a recent meeting hosted by Israel’s Consul General for the Midwest, Emanuel Zippori, said Omanut La’am has scheduled hundreds of visits to these communities by Israel’s top performers, including the Israel and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestras, Habima Theater, and leading artists and sculptors. These world-class artists, who perform on a volunteer basis, also take the time to explain carefully to their audiences the background of the works they are presenting.
The result is that art galleries are being established in these remote areas, auditoriums are filled to capacity for productions of Moliere or Shakespeare, or for performances of Beethove, Bach or Mozart, and most important of all, the adults, young people and children are learning music, drama and the plastic arts. Buses often take residents from the development areas to visit museums in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa.
In a reverse process, Frost pointed out, the traditional music, dance and art of Jews from Islamic lands are now being demonstrated for the Ashkenazic population.
REMARKABLE RELATIONSHIPS
As an example of the remarkable relationship between the development towns and artists from major cities, four hours after the news came of a Palestine Liberation Organization bombing of Kiryat Shemona, a group of actors arrived to perform in the bomb shelters to demonstrate their solidarity and to boost the morale of the residents.
The Music Foundation of Chicago, sponsored by Robert and Marry Ann Asher of Chicago, have backed up all these programs through a summer youth camp where teenagers from the development towns have a concentrated 14-hour-a-day exposure to top drama, music and art instructors.
The enthusiastic response of the youngsters clearly demonstrates that the cultural gap which has so long separated what is sometimes known as the “two Israels” can be overcome.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
