|
|
May 11, 2007
A lifelong passion for her city
The woman behind the Jerusalem Foundation talks about 40 years
of civic life.
WENDY ELLIMAN ISRAEL PRESS SERVICE
The city has a downtown street named for her great-grandfather,
as well as a major pharmaceutical industry founded by her grandfather.
Her husband served as a Supreme Court justice for 14 years. Despite
the vigorous involvement of her family in Jerusalem, however, Ruth
Cheshin's many contributions to the city of her birth are uniquely
her own.
"My grandfather was head of Palestine's Jewish community under
the British Mandate, and we regularly hosted people from Jerusalem's
different ethnic and religious groups," said Cheshin, whose
family has lived in the city for seven generations. "I grew
up with the awareness that many communities call Jerusalem their
home."
It is this awareness and tolerance that has influenced Cheshin's
leadership of the Jerusalem Foundation, which she helped create
and has led for more than 40 years – and for which she was
honored on Israel's 59th Independence Day by being chosen to light
one of the 12 beacons on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl.
Although she protested that, "It was the foundation that was
honored, not me," Cheshin and the foundation are hard to separate.
It's fair to say they shared the honor.
It's for the sake of the Jerusalem Foundation that she agreed to
an interview – something she's usually reluctant to do. But
promoting the foundation is important, she said: "The better
it's known, the more help it will attract, and the more forcefully
it will push Jerusalem's needs to the forefront."
It was in 1966 that Cheshin was pulled out of Jerusalem's tourism
department by the city's newly elected mayor, Teddy Kollek, to help
establish a committee to work for the welfare of all Jerusalem's
residents and thus bolster the urban backwater that was the capital
of Israel, the centre of the Jewish people and the focus of the
faiths.
She and Kollek had already worked together: in the early 1960s,
when she returned from study-leave in London with her husband, the
future Supreme Court Justice Mishael Cheshin, and their infant daughter,
Efrat, eldest of their three children. She and Jerusalem's future
mayor had set up the City of Jerusalem's tourism department. Now,
they ushered the Jerusalem Foundation into the world.
Months later, however, Jerusalem and, with it, the foundation's
role, were to be transformed. In June 1967, the Six Day War was
fought and won, and Jerusalem, then "the city at the end of
the world," in Cheshin's words, found itself reunited, in the
global spotlight and poised for exponential growth.
"Jerusalem in the mid-1960s was an arid, dusty town, perched
on the edge of the desert," said Cheshin. "We saw the
foundation's role in those early days as turning the city green.
We wanted to provide outdoor space for the many families living
in small, cramped apartments, and, at the same time, make the city
beautiful. We believed that everyone entering it should ponder its
beauty and feel: 'This is the Jerusalem I've dreamed of!' I believe
we have succeeded. We've built more than 200 parks and made Jerusalem
verdant."
Verdant it may be, but Jerusalem remains an insolvent city, lacking
a sufficient budget even to care appropriately for the parkland
created by the foundation. As the years passed – and particularly
after Cheshin moved from co-ordinating the foundation to its presidency
20 years ago – the organization's focus moved from beautification
into projects to promote the city's economy and bolster education,
co-existence and tolerance.
"What's absolutely clear is that every group that venerates
Jerusalem – Jewish, Muslim and Christian – is staying
here," said Cheshin. "No one is bowing out. And that means
we must learn to live side by side with mutual respect and without
mutual suspicion. If we have respect, the rest will come."
This perspective has translated into literally thousands of initiatives.
Mishkenot Sha'ananim, the 19th-century housing project on what was
Israel's border with Jordan from 1948 to 1967, has become an international
cultural centre, bringing in musicians and writers from all over
the world. The foundation's ethics centre is Israel's most important
source of applied ethics, taking teachers, physicians, lawyers,
judges, police, army personnel and businesspeople countrywide through
a program drawn up by Justice Meir Shamgar.
Jerusalem's Cinémathèque, housed in a 19th-century
ophthalmologic hospital, is a magnet for the city's youth. ("My
children say they forgive me everything because of this!" smiled
Cheshin.) Add to this Jerusalem's zoo, its Tower of David and science
museums, the Henry Crown Concert Hall and Khan Theatre, Teddy Stadium
and Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, along with dozens of
synagogues and community centres citywide, and the list is still
only partial.
Co-existence is the current emphasis, not least "because we're
the only ones doing it," according to Cheshin. The foundation
has established a Jewish-Arab kindergarten ("Children who play,
sing and eat together won't grow up to hate one another," she
said), along with Jewish-Arab summer camps and basketball tournaments.
The foundation's Democracy and Peace Institute is 20 years old,
and the campus of a Hebrew-Arabic school is under construction.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem is abuzz with dance, jazz, chamber music, poetry
and puppetry in foundation-inspired festivals and it hosts the International
Book Fair every two years. There are hot meals for the elderly,
outreach to the city's Ethiopian youngsters and a long school day
in needy neighborhoods, which, said Cheshin, "isn't a babysitting
service, it actually teaches children."
Today a grandmother of six, with half a century of public service
behind her, Cheshin's energy and passion for Jerusalem burn undiminished.
She remains active in many foundation initiatives, serving on the
boards of the Israel Festival, Jerusalem Music Centre, Mishkenot
Sha'ananim Cultural Centre and Guest House and the Jerusalem Theatre.
She is also a director of her late grandfather's business, Teva
Pharmaceuticals.
And, of course, she continues to preside over the foundation, a
multinational organization with branches in 10 countries, which
has so far raised more than a billion dollars. Cheshin, however,
is far from satisfied.
"While we spend an average $35 million a year helping the city,
this is simply a drop in the ocean," she said. "Jerusalem
is Israel's capital and it has the potential to be the centre of
everything. We've already seen how quickly it came back to life
with the end of the intifada. Just think if it received sufficient
funding to address all its issues."
On the fingers of her hand, she itemized these issues as education,
housing, employment and society. She would like to see more and
better schools that teach for longer hours; support that will enable
young academics to stay in the city; housing subsidies for young
couples and increased job opportunities, particularly for secular
Jews living among the city's large ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.
Despite the immense challenges, Cheshin radiates optimism. "With
hard work, all this will come," she said. "Jerusalem belongs
to the world, and there are many people willing to help this city."
^TOP
|
|
