Tel Aviv Benches

September 2021 ESRA News Life in Israel

Tel Aviv benches have a life of their own, and give life to so many residents. Of course they also give rest to residents, and serve as meeting places for others. But they have added value, they give renewed life to clothes, household items, books, toys, and whatever – a recycling of all this which has environmental value.

We in ESRA had a very moving experience with distribution of our last ESRA Magazine #209, our June 2021 issue. I found myself with extra bundles of magazines to distribute, some 80 magazines. What to do with them? My mind and sub-conscious started working. It suddenly dawned on me – Tel Aviv benches. Why not put ESRA Magazines on Tel Aviv benches? What was there to lose? No lack of benches where I hang out in the heart of Tel Aviv. Each time I went out I would take a few magazines with me and deposit one on a bench. It took weeks, but so what? At least the magazines were distributed in this great new a la Tel Aviv way.

One day Sandra called me from the ESRA office. She said that a gentleman named Avi had called to get permission to reprint one of the articles that was published in ESRA Magazine #209. So as Editor, I contacted Avi.

Avi, it turned out, is an Israeli who barely reads English. He had seen on a bench the ESRA Magazine with the cover of Srulik, a sculpture by Lapid. He was very excited as he, Avi, is an active collector of Lapid ceramics and belongs to a group of Lapid collectors. He asked for permission to reprint the article on Lapid ceramics which Sharyn Weizman had written. He told me that after seeing the cover and article, he had phoned a very close friend S.M., formerly from South Africa, to tell her about ESRA Magazine and she promptly told him that she knew ESRA Magazine very well, in fact she had been over many long years an active volunteer in ESRA.

Serendipity? Whatever, a Tel Aviv bench, an ESRA Magazine, a Lapid collector, and an active ESRA volunteer – all came together.

About the author

Merle Guttmann

Merle Guttmann was born and educated in Zimbabwe and immigrated to Israel in 1962. She is well-known in Israeli Anglophone circles and Israel’s social and volunteer fields. A social planner, writer, editor and active community leader, she has held tens of positions serving Israeli society.

Guttmann has an M.A. degree in Social Planning from Bar Ilan University, and a B.A. from Cape Town University. She has taught at the Tel Aviv and Bar Ilan Universities and worked in Israel for the National Insurance Institute, Maccabi Health Fund, Ministry of Defense, and other public bodies. She has authored many publications and articles.

For over forty years Ms. Guttmann has been actively involved in the world of volunteering in Israel. She has helped set up numerous nonprofit organizations and served on their board of directors. Her most recent position (2003–2009) was chairperson of ETZA – Israel Self Help Center. She has also served on the boards of the Center of Small Businesses in Raanana (Mati), the Center for Family Peace (Herzliya), the National Council of Voluntarism in Israel, Telfed – South African Zionist Federation, the United Jewish Israel Appeal, and is a former member of the Kfar Shmaryahu Local Council.

Guttmann was the founder and chairperson and is the Life President of ESRA – English Speaking Residents Association, a self help organization composed of volunteers assisting in the absorption of English speakers and a multitude of social and community welfare projects for immigrants from distressed countries, disadvantaged families and people with disabilities. She is also the Editor of the ESRA MAGAZINE which she initiated in 1979.

Guttmann is the recipient of many awards for her contribution to Israeli society including the Israel President’s Award for Voluntarism (1992), the Prime Minister’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Leadership (1999) and the Telfed Yakir Zion (2008).

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