Presenting Tsfat Mayor Ilan Shochat
Hello I am Ilan Shochat, Mayor of Tsfat and welcome to the magic city of Tsfat. When I was young I wanted to be a pilot, a pilot in the Israeli Air Force My father was in the air force and so I entered in the pilot academy. I passed the first phase. The second phase I did not complete so then I wanted to stay in the air force and elected to become a technician mechanic for F-16 fighter jets which I signed on for an extra two additional years of voluntary service. After that I continued my education in the Technion University and the University of Haifa where I completed my bachelors and masters degrees. At that time I began my public service. The truth is I always had this desire.
I was named after my aunt that was murdered in the famous Terrorist attack of Maalot. She wrote in a letter to my mother and this letter has stayed close to my heart over the years. In it she wrote that my parents should educate me in this certain manner that my life would have meaning. Over the years I realized that I must do something for the public which became my mission. I always found myself volunteering for public service in various organizations and student groups. I was always on the front line of these meetings.
Tsfat is very close to my heart and I always had a vision of how to help it's growth and developement. Being mayor was the way of accomplishing this vision. So I put my mind to it and ran for office and won the election. There are things we succeeded more and things less, some things are in the process. We succeeded in making the city cleaner and bring general services up to a higher level. The changing of the school board and the development of a medical school and these changes are very meaningful.
Over one hundred families have recently moved to Tsfat from the USA and UK and this influences what is to come. The future holds for us more preparations in the challenges of building better schools and a medical school faculty and city utilities including cultural centers and landmarks.
Many things were neglected and left for us to renovate and rebuild. These are the things that we are getting ready to invest more in the present and in the future and as well to bring more influential people here to open the city up with developments and increased tax revenue. That we should grow together and be excited about what is sprouting and growing around us.
The Tsfat international Klezmer Festival is another way for us to showcase and market the city. Tsfat has an incredible history and tradition including the era of the 1600s and the sages that were here at that time. There is a tremendous importance of Tsfat in it's meaning and the musical works that were composed here. This point is brought out in the Tsfat International Klezmer Festival. We continually tell the story of where the famous song Lecha Dodee, Shalom Alechem, and Yedid Nefesh were written and with these we are represented.
From the Opening of the Festival:
Good Evening everyone. In Tsfat we say Happy Klezmer Holiday and Blessings for those who come here. We honor and love you, as it is said you may no live here but Tsfat will never leave you. With that I thank you and welcome you to the Festival that protects and saves the Jewish musicians tradition. With warm thanks for your meaningful efforts and friendship. We find here many people who are connected to Tsfat with warm love. Not only with those visiting Tsfat but all of the facilities, Townships and friends in the neighboring communities bringing us all to the point of a better and brighter Gallil.
The last thing and here I take a chance. Last year I told you all about the songs that were written in Tsfat. We know that Lecha Dodee was written in Tsfat along wiith Shalom Alechem, Yedid Nefesh among many others. This year we will sing together something that connects us to the music of Tsfat. On my last visit to the USA I happened to hear one Jewish congregation singing our beloved song in a melody that I recalled and it brought me to wonder how many version and different melodies of the song must be out there.
Tonight we will review the six or seven versions that come to mind among the many more. One style is the Carlebach style another is the Chabad version.
At this point the mayor began singing the first two lines of Lecha Dodee in each style that he could recall after which he invited members of the audience to share their own favorite versions.
In closing, be an ambassador of the city, everywhere you go tell about the beauty and spirituality of the city and keep coming back. Tsfat needs strong families and influential people to help us out in the middle of our educational and infrastructure developments. Everyone who knows and loves Tsfat should act out the part of a good ambassador representing and promoting the city to whomever they meet because the good things that happen in life start from the grass roots, from the people themselves.
Find out for yourself how well the mayor sings by watching the movie about him easily found on Tsfat.org.