The sun shone brightly as Rami Kleinstein — sometimes called “the Israeli Elton John” — moved about the stage in his white tank top and New York Yankees cap turned backwards at the annual “Israel in the Gardens” celebration Sunday, June 4.
The large, mostly Israeli ex-pat crowd mouthed the words to every song, while many dads hoisted their kids on their shoulders to get a better view of a musician from back home. A group of young American women were overheard saying that Kleinstein not only put on a great show, but was “eye candy,” in the words of one, and “hot!” in the words of another.
The music — quite loud at times — charged the crowd of thousands of people on the picture-perfect day in San Francisco. (The San Francisco Police Department stopped doing crowd estimates several years ago, but prior incarnations have drawn up to 12,000 people.)
However, an annoying presence from previous years was absent: The protestors mostly stayed home this year, with only a handful of “Jews for Jesus” out front of Yerba Buena Gardens, and a guy who comes every year with his fluorescent yellow sign reading “Jesus Loves You.”
Josh Gonen of Walnut Creek, who grew up mostly in Israel, joked that the lack of protestors made entering the festival “so boring that even the Israelis are talking to the Jews for Jesus guys.”
It wasn’t only the dearth of negativity that made this year’s celebration special. Jonathan Carey, founder of Blue Star PR, which does proactive, pro-Israel campaigns, noted that he had more fun working the festival this year than any other.
“There’s a different feeling in the air,” he said of the event, presented by the Israel Center of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.
“People are calmer, and I feel a really positive resurgence of people feeling secure in their support for Israel and their Judaism. Their sense of Jewish pride has increased.”
There were some things about the day marking Israel’s 58th birthday, that have become an annual tradition: the release of doves from the main stage, the multitudes munching on falafel, and the sight of many Chabad rabbis approaching almost every male in sight, asking them to put on tefillin.
Jeff Stuart couldn’t say no to the persuasive Rabbi Raleigh Resnick, the new Chabad presence in the Tri-Valley area. Stuart stood with the small black box visible beneath the visor of his red Stanford baseball hat, and said the Sh’ma with the help of his two young daughters, Alexandra and Isabella, who were mostly interested in playing with the black straps wrapped around their father’s arm.
As a Reform Jew, he had never laid tefillin before. “It was an uplifting experience, doing it with my family,” said the Menlo Park resident. “It gives you time to reflect.”
Resnick proudly acknowledged this rite of passage for Stuart, noting, “Today is his bar mitzvah.”
There were lots of new activities this year. The Reform movement’s Project Welcome display had a photo booth to make a family album. The resulting pictures showed the diversity of the Bay Area’s Jewish community.
One person wrote next to his photo, “I love Jews,” and a woman posed with her two children, writing “Lesbian Jewish mom of twins.”
The children’s corner proved to be especially popular. The Contemporary Jewish Museum’s giant papier mâché dove, upon which children could write their messages of peace, drew many. Be’chol Lashon, the Jewish diversity-celebrating organization, offered opportunities to make spice sachets and Jewish-Asian silkscreen art.
Over at the Diller Teen Fellows’ Bedouin-style tent, Ilan Vitemberg, director of the teen program, led a rousing game of “Pin the Tourist on the Map,” asking questions about Israel’s geography while teens placed a cut-out on the proper Velcro spot on the map of Israel.
At another booth, Rabbi Yisroel Hecht of Chabad of Sunnyvale got busy with saws, drills and other tools to help children make their own shofars.
The fashion show of clothing by Israeli designers — with Jewish community professionals and lay leaders serving as models — was a popular draw for the second year in a row.
And while Israel isn’t always a light subject, on this day the mood was all good humor: Sarah Lefton of Jewish Fashion Conspiracy had her “Chanukah Bush” panties draped over a miniature flocked Christmas tree, and AIPAC had life-size cutouts of President Bush and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton flanking either side of its booth.
“We’re a bipartisan organization,” Charlie Kirshner, South Bay area director of the pro-Israel lobby, said by way of explanation. “We tried to get Bill Clinton, but the only one available was him in an Elvis suit.”
Shlomi Ravid, the outgoing director and founder of the Israel Center, which has put on this annual event for the past five years, felt like he was going out on a high note.
“It feels like it’s here to stay,” he said. “The numbers are unprecedented, with the quality and depth, the films, the fashion. There are 60 agencies participating this year.
“It’s a true collaboration between all the agencies, the federation and the consulate. It should be studied. I don’t know of anything that brings out the community in this way.”