Grapevine, August 24, 2025: An OK Israeli

Movers and shakers in Israeli society

Australia is not denying entry visas to all Israeli officials or ex officio.

Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism, is due to arrive in Australia this week for a Q&A session on global antisemitism. She will discuss Israel’s strategy on how to combat antisemitism and will focus on how Jewish communities around the globe can work together to eliminate this scourge.

It helps that Cotler-Wunsh is a brilliant orator who is well known throughout much of the Jewish world and beyond, and happens to be the daughter of internationally acclaimed fighter for human rights and former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler. She, too, is a political creature and is a former member of Knesset.

Her visit to Sydney is under the auspices of the Zionist Council of New South Wales.

Hadassah to honor influential ambassadors in Jerusalem

■ IF YOU say the name Barbara Goldstein or Barbara Sofer in Hadassah circles, be it in Israel or the US, there will be no need to explain who they are. Barbara Goldstein, who has been so much a part of Hadassah since her youth, missed her own engagement party to the late Cantor Morty Goldstein because she was busy at a Hadassah event.

Morty didn’t mind being a Hadassah husband and was supportive throughout their marriage. Barbara Goldstein has long been Hadassah Israel’s ambassador at large, and, before that, represented Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, in the executive bodies of various Zionist organizations and accompanied Hadassah missions in Israel, Poland and elsewhere.

Barbara Sofer, who is well known to Jerusalem Post readers through her column in the paper’s Friday Magazine, has for many years served as director of public relations for HWZOA. In that capacity, she has made films, written articles and spoken at numerous events in Israel and across the US.

In travels with her husband, Gerald Schroeder, an internationally renowned physicist, teacher, lecturer and author, she always manages to put in a good word for Hadassah medical centers in Jerusalem – one in Ein Kerem and the other on Mount Scopus.

Both Barbaras will be honored on Tuesday, September 9, at a gala dinner at the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, where they will be presented with Hadassah Israel’s highest award – Builder of Jerusalem – in recognition of their extraordinary dedication, leadership, and contributions to Hadassah Israel and to the Hadassah community at large.

Both women are frequently described as “inspiring.”

Also in line for recognition at the event are longtime Hadassah supporters and activists Annabelle Yuval and Miriam Zefania.

Proceeds from the event will go to the Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Mount Scopus to purchase additional equipment for the treatment of wounded soldiers and victims of terrorism.

Hebrew-speaking Catholics meet pope in Rome

■ VATICAN NEWS recently published an article by Fr. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik and Karol Darmoros about a group of Hebrew-speaking Catholics who went from Israel to Rome to receive a blessing from Pope Leo and to pray for peace.

While some of its members had previously met with Pope John Paul II and various senior members of the Vatican, this was the first time they came together as a vicariate to meet the pope.

Everyone in the group lives in Israel and speaks Hebrew.

“We are happy that we could meet the Holy Father. I told him that we are Hebrew-speaking Catholics, we have seven communities in Israel, and we ask him not to forget us,” said the group’s leader, Fr. Piotr Zelazko, patriarchal vicar of St. James for Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Israel.

The Holy Father welcomed the pilgrims with a smile and an open heart, he said. “It was the culmination of our pilgrimage. The pope blessed us and spoke with us. It was an incredibly moving encounter.” Abi, one of the pilgrims, said he felt at home in Rome. “We are 100% Israelis and 100% Catholics, and we pray for peace,” he said. Another pilgrim, Nadav, stressed that the roots of the Church are in the Holy Land. “Our patron, St. James, was a Jew and spoke Hebrew. We are a sign of hope, and we pray for peace in the Holy Land between Israelis and Palestinians,” he affirmed.

The group was photographed proudly standing behind an Israeli flag, which two of its members held from corner to corner, but the flag was absent in photos with the pope.

Israel faces cultural threats but chess takes the spotlight

■ EUROVISION IS still nine months away, but certain countries are already threatening to withdraw if Israel is permitted to compete. Austria, which will next year host the spectacular event, and Israel are on relatively good terms, but the final decision as to whether Israel can stay is with the EBU, which runs Eurovision irrespective of the host country.

Israel is facing a number of cultural threats and boycotts. The International Harp Contest, which was supposed to take place in Jerusalem in December, was canceled due to low registration and rescinding of participation by artists who had registered for fear of tainting their musical reputations by appearing on stage in Israel.

But not everyone has that attitude.

Harps may be out in Jerusalem in December, but chessboards will be in.

The Israel Chess Federation, which is this year celebrating its 90th anniversary, has announced that an international chess tournament will take place in Jerusalem from November 30 to December 3, and will feature 12 of the top international chess players, including the reigning world champion, international grandmasters, and members of Israel’s national team. “This event is not just a tournament, but a cultural celebration with a clear message that Israel is here,” said ICF CEO Gil Borochovsky. The event is co-hosted by ICF, the Culture and Sport Ministry, and the Jerusalem Municipality.

Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar is a chess enthusiast who shares in the excitement of ICF chairman Dr. Zvika Barkai that global media focus on Israel in December will be on conquests of a different kind.

Chamber music festival to showcase Strauss and Ravel

■ EVEN THOUGH the Harp Contest has been put in mothballs, the 27th Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival will take place on September 9–13 at the YMCA, across the road from the King David Hotel. The artistic director, Elena Bashkirova, who is also a first-class pianist and who will play during the festival, is happy that this year’s program will include two important anniversaries – the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Maurice Ravel.

Other performing artists include baritones Thomas Bauer and Thomas Hampson, string instrumentalists Noga Shaham, Katrin Spiegel, Astrig Siranossian, Christoph Poppin, Nitzan Bartana, Fedor Rudin, Madeleine Carruzzo, Sharon Cohen, Matan Noussimovitch, Kaori Yamagami, Hanan Meltzer, Ivan Karizna, Tatiana Samouil, Latica Honda-Rosenberg, Boris Brovtsym, Mark Karlinsky, Band oris Brovtsyn; pianists Yulianna Avdeeva, Alexander Melnikov, Anna Keiserman, and Amit Dolberg; clarinetist Pablo Barragan, horn player Bar Zemach, flautist Roy Amotz; oboist Nick Deutsch; and bassoonist Mor Biron. Prior to the concerts on September 9, 11, 12 and 13, Gaby Shefler will perform on the carillon.

The total program offers great musical variety – something for everyone, from the classics to something a little more modern.

Joan Collins still dazzling at 92

■ VETERAN AWARD-WINNING actress, author, columnist, and philanthropist Joan Collins must have the most incredible DNA. Collins, 92, who claims that she has never undergone cosmetic surgery other than a couple of Botox jabs, is still one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood despite her advanced age. Born in London to a Jewish father and an Anglican mother, she is still working, and her next on-screen appearance will be as Wallis Simpson, the American divorcée for whom Edward VIII gave up the throne.

Today’s royals probably don’t give it much thought, but were it not for Wallis Simpson, Elizabeth would never have ascended the throne to become Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, and her son would not be King Charles III.

At the time of her death in 2022, Elizabeth had been queen for 70 years, surpassing the record of her great-grandmother Queen Victoria, who had reigned for 63 years.

Collins, who is currently vacationing in the south of France, released photographs of herself in a sexy white swimsuit and bright, strawberry-colored, wide-brimmed hat. She displayed barely a sign of wrinkles, no varicose veins, and legs that would still attract a wolf whistle. Lucky lady.