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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/22867/full/22867/sun-fun-and-falafel-at-israel-in-the-ballpark/ <br /><br /> <b>Sun, fun and falafel at ‘Israel in the Ballpark’</b> <br /> Friday, June 11, 2004 | by <p>joe eskenazi </p> <br /><br /><p>Rabbi Mark Bloom could not have dressed more appropriately. <br /><br /> At Sunday’s “Israel in the Ballpark” festival at SBC Park, the spiritual leader of Oakland’s Conservative Temple Beth Abraham wore his Giants gear to the ball yard, capped, literally, by black-and-orange headwear with the word “Giants” spelled out in Hebrew. <br /><br /> “For me, a true Giants fan and a true lover of Israel, this is the ultimate fantasy,” he said with a laugh. <br /><br /> “My sons ran the bases and then they sang ‘Oseh Shalom.’” <br /><br /> Many, many, <i>many</i> people’s sons — and daughters — also ran the bases and sang “Oseh Shalom” on June 6 at the San Francisco celebration of Israel’s 56th birthday, sponsored by the S.F.-based Jewish Community Center and its Israel Center, the other local federations and a host of Jewish organizations.<br /><br /> Children and adults tossed Frisbees, footballs and baseballs on the outfield grass normally patrolled by Marquis Grissom, Michael Tucker and Barry Bonds. At one point, four teenage boys carrying Israeli flags sprinted through the outfield, Sammy Sosa-style. <br /><br /> Countless vendors offered fare ranging from handcrafted silver to wooden carpets (“Yes, you can walk on them!”) to the ubiquitous olive drab Israel Defense Forces T-shirts dotting the crowd of 12,000-plus. <br /><br /> Opening day of “Lord of the Rings”-esque lines protruded from the Holy Land Kosher falafel stand, which was, ironically enough, adjacent to the crab shack (it was closed, not surprisingly). <br /><br /> Walking through the scenic ballpark, a different sight unfolded on every subsequent lap. At one point, a garage band from the Jewish Community High School of the Bay ground out rock tunes in a secluded spot in the pavilion. Later, they were replaced by keyboardist Itzhak Volansky, who played synthed-out versions of old Jewish favorites, all at a Perry Como-like pace. <br /><br /> A crowd gathered around the keyboardist, but quickly dissipated when the stadium’s jumbo monitor and the in-house TVs began showing a music video of several lithe, young Israeli Spice Girl look- and sound-alikes. <br /><br /> In fact, a number of Israeli music videos played on the big screen, and many of the musicians apparently never got the memo that leather pants studded with rhinestones are no longer cool. <br /><br /> Thankfully, the festival’s featured act, the top Israeli band Teapacks, got the memo. Their set rocked the house, and hundreds and hundreds of Israeli-born fans — who shouted along with the lyrics in Hebrew — partied in the outfield. <br /><br /> Earlier in the day, while the wannabe Israeli Spice Girls wailed away, 6-year-old Coby Stein of Berkeley put the finishing touches on a pair of ancient Hebrew gold coins crafted from candle wax and doused in spray paint. <br /><br /> Not far away, other youngsters made their own pottery fragments or pasted tiles resembling Chiclets onto mosaic patterns. <br /><br /> “It was a little scary with the protests and all the security, but once you’re inside, it feels good,” said Coby’s dad, Jeff Stein. “It feels like you’re surrounded by friends.” <br /><br /> Added Kim Carter of Alameda, “I’m feeling a sense of community — and enjoying the falafel.” <br /><br /> The hundreds of protesters Stein alluded to gathered in Willie Mays Plaza, shouting slogans such as “Down, down Israel, long live Palestine” and “Long live intifada” through megaphones. Palestinian flags were in abundance, guerrilla-theater troupes staged a mock home demolition — a man dressed as a tank kicked over a cardboard box, “crushing” the box’s resident — and obscured the mammoth statue of the Say Hey Kid with large banners calling for ends to Israeli apartheid, oppression, ethnic cleansing, etc. <br /><br /> A small plane circled the stadium at one point, trailing a banner remarking upon Israel’s “56 years of ethnic cleansing.” <br /><br /> A suspicious item in a garbage can led police and security to clear out the protesters and shut down the entrance to the stadium. It turned out to be a false alarm. <br /><br /> “They did the right thing,” Shlomi Ravid, executive director of the Israel Center, said of the precaution. <br /><br /> Ravid referred to the protesters as “nasty people” who “didn’t come to seek peace but came to get in the community’s face.” The serenity within the ballpark stood as a marked contrast to the shouting and chanting outside, and this pleased Ravid to no end. <br /><br /> Planning the festival “took nine long months. But it was worth it.” <br /><br /> Bloom certainly agreed. <br /><br /> “I think they pulled this off fabulously. I was worried it’d be a zoo. The Giants fan fests are a zoo. But this came off great. It’s spacious, and you can actually talk to people at the booths and still hear the songs,” he said. <br /><br /> “This is the first family festival I’ve ever been to that my kids actually enjoyed.” <br /><br /> Though, for the record, 4-year-old Micah Bloom said he prefers SBC Park “when the Giants are playing.”</p> <p> </p>

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