Israel Active

Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko won the gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley at the 2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Kazan, Russia. Gorbenko made history earlier this year when she became the first female Israeli swimmer to advance to an Olympic final.

The Jerusalem marathon attracted 20,000 runners to six different events. Jerusalem’s Yamar Gethon won the men’s full marathon in a record time of 2:24:07. Orthodox athlete and mother of five children Beatie Deutsch (see ) won the half-marathon.

American Friends of Tel Aviv University held a virtual gala to support the University’s mission to advance the world through innovation, education, and impact. The gala raised over $2 million for initiatives including student scholarships, medical research, and the Center for Combatting Pandemics.

To mark International Peace Day on 21 Sep, Israeli organizations Chess4All and Sharaka (Arabic for “Partnership”) hosted an international “Peace Day Chess Tournament.” There were over 600 participants including from Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Bangladesh. (see also previously)

On 26th September, the StandWithUs Interfaith Alliance held a musical celebration of Israel. Christian and Jewish voices came together in support of Israel.

The Tel Aviv Piano Festival (Oct 27-30) returns to the stage, with a live audience, having been entirely televised last year. 250 artists feature in 56 shows, including 24 concerts fronted by Israeli women artists. The festival mixes genres, stars, new artists, multi-generations and even kids’ shows.

At 18,500 sq meters, Jerusalem’s Israel Museum has been listed by Newsweek as the world’s 17th largest museum. It contains 500,000 pieces of art, plus massive collections of archaeology and Jewish ritual objects. In comparison, the Paris Louvre’s 72,735 sq meters contains just 38,000 art pieces.

Israel’s team won the silver medal in European Baseball Championships in Torino (Turin) Italy – Israel’s first ever podium finish in the event. Although they lost to 2019 champions Netherlands in the final, they beat hosts Italy in the semi-finals plus Czech Republic, UK, France and Russia previously.

The walls of Jaffa’s Sharabiya house were littered in trash - millions of pieces of microplastic, shapeshifted into coral reefs, sea creatures, photography, and more. The 3-day exhibit entitled “Love, Death, and Plastic” was created by sustainable artist Evelyn Anca - co-founder of Plastic Free Israel.

17-year-old Israeli pianist Yoav Levanon has just signed an exclusive contract with Warner Classics. Yoav was featured in 2013 when aged 8 he opened the International Summer Jewish Festival in Budapest. Prior to that, he won Israel’s National Piano Competition at age five.