June, 2005 - Nr. 6
More Celebrations in Praise
of good Relations
Sybille Forster-Rentmeister
While nearly every European country had something to celebrate in May that reminded nations and people of the end of oppression 60 years ago, resulting out of that historic occasion grew later other events worth commemorating, such as the diplomatic relations that Israel and Germany embarked on 40 years ago.
This
was festively remembered on May 17th, 2005 in Toronto’s Isabel
Bader Theatre with a fabulous concert organized by the cultural affairs
Director Sonia Rosenblatt of the Consulate General of Israel, to
which
many guests were invited by the Consul General of Germany, Dr. Klaus
Rupprecht, and his counterpart from Israel, Ya’acov Brosh.
It appeared that the entire available diplomatic corps of
Canada had turned up to celebrate this important event of mutual
understanding and friendship. Thus was the tone of the speeches, recognizing
the difficulty that could be and acknowledging
the
lack of their existence for the most part. The emphasis was on friendship
and how to build on it.
Frank
Klees came to represent the Ontario Government and brought an
artist/photographer with two fabulous and framed photographs with a rare
shot of the Wall in Jerusalem for both Consul Generals.
All speeches were fairly short and to the point so the universal music could do the talking. Exquisite compositions of Haendel/Halvorsen, Bach, Ben-Zion Orgard, Schumann, Kay, and Mendelssohn filled the theatre, played by Moshe Hammer, violin, Alexander Huelshoff, cello, and Francine Kay, piano and voice.
Moshe Hammer introduced each piece and when he spoke about Bach he said that there was nothing he could say about Bach that had not been said before. But he wanted to tell us something he knew was true about music: When the angels play for God they play Bach, but when they play for their own pleasure they play Mozart, … and God comes to listen!
This
kind of friendly animation was also apparent at the reception afterwards
when people lingered over drinks and a fabulous dessert buffet, proving that
indeed, we are getting on with the future!
