Happy 64th B-day,Israel

!

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 Prime Minister office .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, 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, viewer participation

and frequent use of light and sound. His works are placed in many public places. The 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 and overlooking the Mediterranean. She's 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 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 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 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, 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 ,

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 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.

At 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, violists and conductors. They regularly appear with orchestras and

conductors on the international scene and are

heard in recitals and concerts around the world.

Yoav Talmi,conductor and composer.

Music Director, San Diego Symphony1987–1996.

Chief Conductor, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra 2000-2004.

Talmi's compositions include an Elegy for Strings, Timpani and

Accordion ("Dachau Reflections").

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.

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

Academy Award for Best Actress – 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, she 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 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 - ranked #11 at her best

the doubles team of Andy Ram and Joni Erlich (world #7

team ) ,in 2006 and 2008 Australian Open champions.

Dudi Sela ranked # 29 at his best

Photo:People's Daily Online

Athens Olympic Games in Greece, August 25, 2004. Gal Fridman became the first

Israeli competitor to win an Olympic Games gold medal.

In 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic games,judoca Yael Arad won a silver medal and became the first Israeli to

win an Olympic medal.

Tal Brody – a 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

25 April 2012

Dear Israel, We wish you a happy, long, long life.

We wish you Peace !

Love and understanding !

We wish you to flourish !We wish you all the best

in the world .

“In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles”David Ben-Gurion

Photos – Noemi.Ervin,Adi,LiviuNegev desert , Dead Sea ,Ein Gedi , Ein Hod, Jerusalem,Masada,Ashdod, Beer Sheva,Omer

From the net – credit to their ownersInfo : Wikipedia

Music : Our tiny land– Artzeinu haktantonet Rami Kleinstein