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3,000 Turn Out To Celebrate Israel's 60th Birthday

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By RICH SHOPES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 5, 2008

TAMPA - Donna Lane ate falafel that reminded her of her former hometown of New York City and watched as her 9-year-old daughter, Natalie, sang the Israeli and U.S. national anthems Sunday.

The Israel Independence Day celebration at Al Lopez Park was as much about family and culture as about Israel, which officially turns 60 on May 14.

"Even if she wasn't singing, we would still be here," said Lane, who moved to Tampa eight years ago. "It's important to come together so we don't get homogenized. We don't want to lose our culture and our religion."

An estimated 3,000 turned out for the annual celebration.

About a dozen Jewish organizations and synagogues from Hillsborough County attended the event, which was organized by the Tampa Jewish Community Center and Federation.

The county has about 35,000 Jewish people, or about 3 percent of the total population, the JCC said.

"We're spread out and this is one time of year where we've been able to come together and to show people our support for Israel," said Lisa Robbins, program director at the JCC.

The celebration, known as Yom Ha'atzmaut, also was an opportunity for Lane and others to hear Israeli folk music and to nosh on traditional foods such as latkes, or potato pancakes, and falafel, a mixture of mashed chick peas and spices formed into patties and fried.

The event ran from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. but did not officially start until about 1 p.m. when four men from the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A., Albert Aronovitz Post No. 373, marched to the front of the stage with rifles and the Israeli and American flags.

Among the veterans was Jack Wiesenfeld, 82, who served in the Navy during World War II. Wiesenfeld first visited Israel in 1955, when the country was only seven years old.

"They didn't have money for roads back then," he said. "It was swamps and desert. Now it's modern."

Wiesenfeld, originally from Brooklyn, has returned each of the past nine years to help prepare medical kits for soldiers. "Israel is very important for me and if I can help in any way I will."

After the honor guard unveiled the U.S. and Israel colors, about a dozen children sang the anthems for the two nations. Tampa Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena read a proclamation from Mayor Pam Iorio.

Most of the event involved families sitting on blankets or in chairs under canopies, listening to music, eating kosher foods, and watching children play and wave Israeli flags.

Michal Hod, 38, of Clearwater said she enjoyed hearing Hebrew again.

She moved to the United States when she was 9 and returned to Israel after turning 18 to serve two years in the military.

"Speaking Hebrew and being in this atmosphere, that's what I like most," she said. "In my heart, I will always be Israeli, and Israel will always be in me."

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.

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