1^st of Adar, 5773 / February 11, 2013
Dear Gideon Efrati,
It is my honor and delight to thank you personally for this month’s Zionist Friday, whose theme this session was the poet Shaul Tchernikovsky. About a year ago, we began discussing the session, and you were involved in every detail, including helping us find the lecturer. One Saturday you even called me and persuaded me to tune in to a radio show featuring Professor Avnèr Holtzman talking about Tchernikovsky, in which he recited Tchernikovsky’s poems, which until our event had never been arranged for harmonic vocals. While we didn’t manage to bring Holtzman, we began a dialog that culminated in our recent event.
You invested hours in formulating the program, arranging the music, and adapting it to the chamber ensemble. In addition, you composed new melodies especially for our event. You even took the trouble to insert vowel marks into the songs in the booklet that was distributed to the attendees. And as always, you were on top of every detail related to the program. Cooperating with you was a pleasure, the best we could ask for: You’re totally committed to the success of the event, and spare no effort theretoward.
And let’s not forget the actual performance — our third in the Zionist Friday series — and from one year to the next, under your direction, it soars to the heights. Your taking charge throughout the morning, as well as the singing, were carried out in such a positive spirit and with such enthusiasm, that were without a doubt reflected in the audience response and the electric atmosphere combining the high levels of both the performance and the pleasure experienced by the audience, which again was stirred to the depths, proven by how many of them asked me to pass on their thanks to your for a truly wonderful morning.
My heartfelt thanks to you for everything; I look forward to further fruitful cooperation between us.
On behalf of the entire Zionist Friday team,
Anat Shragai
Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute