Village of Great Neck Plaza becomes Sister City with
Tiberias,Israel
TIBERIAS SISTER CITY AND 1ST
VISIT BY DELEGATION
At the November 20th Board of
Trustees meeting an historic event in the history of Great Neck Plaza was
reached. At this meeting, Mayor Jean Celender and the Board of Trustees
welcomed visitors from Tiberias, Israel consisting of a delegation headed
by Mayor Benjamin Kiryati, city councilmen Eitan Oved and Avi Gozlan, and
Ayalim Elementary School Principal, Nahum Nahum, and signed a "Sister
Cities" Agreement adopting each other's communities in a long-term
relationship to develop friendly ties, exchange ideas and delegations and
promote educational, economic and cultural initiatives between the two
municipalities. Mayor Celender introduced the Tiberias delegation members
who came to the meeting with a bouquet of flowers for the Mayor and
specially-designed artwork plaques by a Tiberian artist for the Mayor and
Board members showing a picturesque view of the City of Tiberias with palm
trees, which are part of the emblem for the City.
After unanimously adopting a resolution
formalizing the Sister City relationship, Mayor Celender presented Mayor
Kiryati with a key to the village and a New York State flag, which was
provided by New York State Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli. Mayor Celender
remarked that the Village does not have its own flag, to which Mayor
Kiryati responded, "This could be a wonderful, creative project to be
undertaken by students from our two cities to create for the Village." 
Mayor Celender credited the Steering
Committee, consisting of Albert Nassim, President of the Babylonian Temple
and Sisterhood President, Lana Bakhash, and two prominent business
proprietors, Danny Arbusman, of Jewels by Viggi, and Jeffrey Phillips,
owner of Cafe Rustica, in assisting her in exploring the sister cities
affiliation and bringing it to fruition. With the help of this
Steering Committee, a Mission Statement was prepared with a goal of
developing a framework for some initial projects and to network within the
community to bring broad-based participation into this program.
Jeffrey Phillips hosted a dinner and luncheon at Cafe Rustica to raise funds for the Mayor
Kiryati's Program, "The Underprivileged Children's Lunch and
Rehabilitation Project (UCLRP), otherwise knowing as the Children For
Children Fund." According to Mayor Kiryati, Tiberias is one of the most
economically challenged communities in Israel. With the current shutdown
of the Israeli tourism industry, the effects on children have been
devastating. Today, 12 percent of the schoolchildren (approximately 650
children ages 6 to 14) in the Tiberias Municipal Education System arrive
at school daily without a lunchbox. These children go without food during
the school day and are badly malnourished. Not only do these children
suffer from not receiving lunch daily during the school year, few, if any,
are lucky to have had any type of breakfast. Later in the day, these
children return to homes entrenched in the welfare system in Israel; homes
that can barely supply them with even one basic meal. The UCLRP Program
was launched as a creative solution to marry public initiatives with
private monies to feed the needy children. Now, the City of Tiberias
finds itself in a dire situation since its donor/sponsor of the UCLRP can
no longer fund it and it is being forced to close unless it can raise
approximately $160,000 a year to cover expenses.
When Mayor Kiryati appealed for help with
the UCLRP Program back in June, the Babylonian Jewish Center and several
other Great Neck synagogues held mitzvah days after his visit and
collected school supplies, books, games, toys and raised monies to send to
the children of Tiberias. During his visit, Mayor Kiryati stressed the
urgent need for educational materials, as well as providing assistance to
the UCLRP. The response from the Great Neck community has been
overwhelming. At the end of July, a container filled with books, stuffed
animal, toys and games was shipped to Israel with the message, "From the
children of Great Neck to the children of Tiberias."
Over the summer, members of the Steering
Committee met with Superintendent of Great Neck Schools, Dr. William A.
Shine, to see if there could be involvement of the Great Neck public
schools in the sister cities program. Dr. Shine was supportive of the
program’s mission statement and suggested that Lakeville Elementary School
might be suited to start such a program. Subsequent meetings were held
with Principal Barbara Raber, her teachers and PTA members to develop some
ideas for launching the educational component between the two
municipalities.
Dr. Shine also mentioned that the timing
was fortuitous as there were used, old computers, about 80 to 100
computers about to be discarded, that are no longer useful to the school
district that could be donated to Tiberias. This would facilitate the
student e-mail exchange between Tiberias and Great Neck schoolchildren
that we are trying to establish. Many of the computers are already
programmed with software for different levels of learning. Following the
meeting with Dr. Shine, several planning meetings have been held with
Principal Barbara Raber, some of her teachers, the PTA, and Technology
Department Head, Mark Epstein. The Lakeville School administrators and
teachers are excited about an exchange with Tiberias and will launch the
first project with the 3rd graders. Principal Raber stated
that this is the grade in which the curriculum introduces other countries
and students learn about their culture, geography, economy, language,
etc. The student would love to learn what a typical day is like in the
life of a student in Tiberias. They could learn about what foods they
like, music, school activities, and hobbies.
Mayor Celender said that her decision to
get the Village involved in the program also included research of other
cities engaged in such a program, which she found looking on the
Internet. She also has joined the Sister Cities International
Organization, which is a non-profit organization committed to helping
sister cities in building their programs. Stated Mayor Celender, "I've
been given the nickname here in the village, Mayor Grant, for the many
grants we have been awarded since becoming mayor. The Sister Cities
Organization offers grants to member cities to fund such projects as
wheelchairs for hospitals. I'm optimistic that together we can apply for
grants to this organization to help our sister city, Tiberias."
Mayor Celender explained that the two
municipalities share much in common. Great Neck Plaza, plus our
surrounding villages and town areas on the peninsula are approximately
40,000 people – similar to Tiberias' population of 50,000. "While both of
our communities are largely Jewish, we are also multi-cultural and have
religious diversity. Tiberias, with its long and rich history, is a
pilgrimage site for many religions, especially Christians. Tiberias is
considered to be the cradle of Christianity. Through its careful
archaeological research conducted prior to construction and the
restrictions the Israel Antiquities Authority places on new development,
there is much we can learn from Tiberias in the area of historic
preservation," stated Mayor Celender.
Mayor Celender has been reaching out to the
community at-large to get many individuals and organizations excited about
the Sister Cities Program and to join in on the effort. Mayor Celender
said, "We hope many individual initiatives will come from our affiliation
and our mantra is 'everyone can participate.' We will keep it expanding
to represent a wide cross-section of our population. Through greater
involvement it will make for unique, enriching experiences for both our
communities. This kind of program will reap many benefits. We are going
to be teaching school-aged children that they can make a difference in the
world by helping others, by understanding and learning about a different
culture and what it’s like growing up in another part of the world. This
goes for adults too – friendship, good will, caring and cooperation to
help ensure a brighter tomorrow."
Mayor Kiryati addressed participants at the
signing ceremony at Village Hall stating that, "It's a big honor and
pleasure for us to be here tonight in this very exciting moment for us."
He went on to explain Tiberias' two thousand year history and that his
City has served an important role in the history of Israel; it served as
many years as the capital of Israel. Tiberias is also significant in that
the Talmud was signed there and so was the Hebrew spelling. Stated Mayor
Kiyati, "Many off the big rabbis and legislators of the times lived in Tiberias.
The City has had a glorious history and a stands to have a promising
future."
The area in which Tiberias is located is
holy to all three of its common religions, for Christians, Muslims and for
Jews. Mayor Kiryati stressed that the Sister Cities agreement is first and
foremost about a relationship of people. "It's a people-to-people
relationship, a living bridge with special emphasis on education, culture
on issues that are both concern to our cities, such as environmental
protection, and quality of life concerns."
Following the official signing ceremony, in
which Mayor Celender and Mayor Kiryati signed multiple copies of the
agreement to be displayed in each city hall, observers were welcomed to
partake in a festive reception to meet and greet the delegates.
Delegation's Activities While in Great Neck
The Board of Trustees meeting marked the
start of a week-long schedule of trips visiting sites on the peninsula and
educating the Tiberian delegates about their Sister City of Great Neck and
the surrounding area. Earlier that day, the delegation went to the Saddle
Rock Memorial Bridge and on an escorted tour of Ground Zero to lay wreaths
in remembrance of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
Tiberias City Councilman Eitan Oved stated, "We felt the pain of
Americans that day as we heard the tragic news during a meeting with Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon. We must stand united together in our resolve to
bring an end to these terrorist attacks." The tour of Ground Zero was made
possible by Lee Ielpi, former New York City firefighter, former Chief of
the Vigilant Fire Company and Member of the Families Advisory Council to
the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, whose son Jonathan was killed
in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and was Vigilant's first Assistant Fire
Chief and a highly-trained New York City firefighter in the Special
Operations Maspeth 288 Squad. Executive Director, Tara Snow, Vice
President of Government Relations and Community Affairs for the Lower
Manhattan Development Corporation and Ray O. Carrero, Director of the
Operations and Response Unit, Community Assistance Unit, Office of Mayor
Bloomberg of the City of New York met the delegation and assisted in
making the tour of Ground Zero possible.
Mayor Celender thanked Lee Ielpi for
arranging this special visit for the Delegation and felt it was a very sad
day visiting Ground Zero and later the Jewish Heritage Museum in Battery
Park City. She noticed one of the buildings surrounding Ground Zero had
an interesting cloth decorating it and a saying that rings true for the
newly formed Sister Cities… "The human spirit is not measured by the size
of the act, but by the size of the heart." Stated Mayor Celender, "This is
what Sister Cities are all about. We want to show kindness,
cooperation and understanding – to share our experiences, knowledge and
lend a helping hand. People helping People is what Sister Cities are
all about."
The next day started with a brief stop at
the Breakfast Meeting of the Chamber of Commerce where Mayor Kiryati was
presented with an honorary membership, followed by the delegation visiting
the North Shore Hebrew Academy Middle School, where Mayor Kiryati
addressed an assembly of students from the 8th grade. The
students had been conducting a month long charity drive and were moved by
Mayor Kiryati's remarks about children coming to school hungry in Tiberias.
Mayor Kiryati also spoke about his experiences growing up in Israel. He
can trace his roots back seven generations to an old family, the
Krauthamer family, in Tiberias. He also relayed the importance of his
days as a young man in the Israeli Defense Forces as a fighter plane
navigator and being shot down and taken as a prisoner of war in Syria
during the War of Attrition in 1974.
Mayor Kiryati spoke of his city, the City
of Tiberias, where he now governs and its tremendous potential. "It is a
beautifully located city and serves as a cultural center. It is an
integral part of Israel’s history and Tiberias is rich in natural
resources, such as hot springs, that bring many visitors each year. In
fact, tourism makes up 75% of Tiberias' economy." But because of the
terrorist bombings, Mayor Kiryati explained that tourism has dropped over
90% and very few people have been coming to Israel at all. "This has been
devastating to Israel's economy, but especially hurtful to Tiberias, a
resort community that is heavily dependent on tourism. The hotel industry
in alone has gone from 3,600 workers to just 800 leaving 2,800 workers
without jobs." Because of the economic downturn, the City of Tiberias now
suffers from many social problems, as well as failing infrastructures.
Through an initiative the Mayor started "Children for Children" funds are
being raised to allow a group of physically and mentally challenged adults
to make sandwiches for children who come to school without food. The
North Shore Hebrew Academy students were anxious to help by sending their
charity monies collected to help Tiberias children get decent meals.
Afterwards, the delegation headed to visit
Lakeville Elementary School where Superintendent of Schools, Dr. William
Shine and Principal Barbara Raber planned a spectacular assembly program
to welcome Mayor Celender and Mayor Kiryati and his delegation. Dr. Shine
was pleased that so many of the students knew the geography of the Middle
East and could identify Israel and Iraq on the maps displayed at the
assembly meeting while waiting for the Delegation to arrive at the school.
Principal Raber remarked that this Sister
Cities program will "enable the students of Lakeville to become directly
involved with the students of Tiberias. We will share ideas, develop
friendships and discuss ways of building world peace. We hope to better
understand our own community by studying people of another culture, while
establishing an identity as members of a global family." She went further
to remark that "at Lakeville School we are delighted to be a participant
in the Sister Cities program as we open up dialogue with the people of
another culture to find unique solutions to improving the quality of life
for all citizens." Lakeville has started a pen-pal letter exchange with
the Ayalim School in Tiberias and will shortly establish Internet
connections so that the children can establish e-pals, as well as share
artwork, and undertake videotaping.
To Top
