50th Aniversity of the Haifa Club and the israeli Union.

On the 29.02.04 The Haifa Club, which was the first Israeli Club, celebrated its 50th anniversary. The celebration took place at
THE GOLDA MEIR MOUNT CARMEL INTERNATIONAL TRAINING CENTER, Haifa
The date coincides with the birthday of the late Minna Ben Zvi who together with other members founded the Israeli Soroptimist Union at the initiative of the late Prof. Rachel Shalon.
Minna Ben Zvi was entrusted by then Israel Foreign Minister,(and later P.M.) GOLDA MEIR, with building this important center.

The Guest of Honour was Monique Riviere, incoming President of SI/E.
Photo courtesy of Pnina Evental
Left to Right: Hava Inbar, President of the Israel Union, Monique Riviere, Mazal Redford, Manager of the Center.
The ceremony commenced with a harp recital, followed with the traditional candle lighting.


The session was gracefully chaired by Fannette Modek, who had been the previous manager of the center.
The first to congratulate was Hava Inbar for the Israeli Union, which planted 18 (in the hebrew transliteration HAI=LIFE) trees in the Soroptimist forest in the name of the Club. The next to congratulate were Monique Riviere in the name of the European Federation, Haifa City Secretary Braha Sela, the Mayor's consultant on women's affairs, Ruth Ashkenazy, the chairperson of the Haifa volunteers council, Yaffa Peretz, and Yehiel Navot, as representative of Haifa Rotary.
Mazal Redford, Manager of the Center and member of the Haifa-Nave Shaanan Club talked in memory of Minna Ben Zwi.
The central address was given by Prof. Bilha Manheim, who theme was "What is Organizational Sociology".

After a tasty and plentiful lunch Hava Inbar chaired the afternoon session.
The session was opened by a memorable piano recital for four hands, by two of the founding members of the Haifa club, Leah Levine and Sara Rabinovitz.
Lea Levin raised some memories of her years with the club.

After gifts had been exchanged, Monique Riviere talked about her "credo" for the future activity of the Soroptimist, such as putting an emphasis on "awareness, advocacy and ACTION". Also on an effort for expansion, with a view of lowering the age of the members. She would also like to see a prolongation of the running time of projects from two to four years, as is the custom in international organizations.
She read her 13 "Commandments" and thanked the sisters for the warm welcome.

The Song Ensemble of Yad LeBanim led by Tova Porath from the piano, entertained us with Israeli songs, sung along by the members.
We would like to emphasize the warm, festive atmosphere, sisterlyness and friendship which reigned throughout to ceremony.
Additionally to Dani's photos, and the ones given to us by Pnina Evental, the ceremony was filmed by a crew from the community TV, and we heard that Fannette Modek was invited to give a talk about the Soroptimist International on the Radio.