Golden Menorah Gala Night at Nice Opera
Golden Menorahs Award Ceremony at Nice Opera
Since time immemorial, the Jewish people had to fight to preserve its independence and the uniqueness of their faith as attacks came from all sides. It was a long journey that he had to go through the centuries of persecution and discrimination before being able to breathe, on November 29, 1947, a wind of freedom with the creation of the state of Israel, a land gained at the price of many hardship and tears. Yet today, their struggle for the right to peace is still not complete. With the Arab Israeli conflict, and despite the peace agreements signed in Oslo on 13 September 1993 by Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat between Israel and Palestine, the Israelis are constantly fighting to secure their borders, time and again (war of stones, shelling and now missiles launches) because of some religious extremists’ hatred in neighboring states, advocating holy war and the destruction of the island of democracy and its 8 million inhabitants facing 6 billion Muslims in the world.
Yet the promised land, that has as a symbol the olive tree symbolizing universal peace through the UN flag - representing the world surrounded by olive branches - with the aspiration of peace and brotherhood among peoples and religions, wants to state loud and clear its identity, and recognize, through its existence, exceptional men and women who participated around the world in defense of our humanist values by courageous acts, so that the dialogue and the thought replace the use of violence and that knowledge overcome intolerance and anti-Semitism.
This is why on December 2, 2012, in the prestigious Opéra de Nice, was held the 7th Golden Menorahs ceremony, representing Charity, brotherly love and harmony, organized by the Golden Menorahs Committee from the lodge Moshe Dayanet which was celebrating this year the thirty years of existence. The ceremony was chaired by Mr. Dahan Tanauji, member of the B'nai Brith and its President, Mr. Laurent Setbon, in the presence of Mr Estrosi, Deputy Mayor of Nice and President of Nice Côte d'Azur Métropole, who himself was awarded in 2005, and many other personalities such as the president of CRIF Southwest, Mr Alain Belhassen.
At this prestigious event, the winners distinguished by the Golden Menorah were: Eric Ciotti, President of the General Council of the Alpes Maritimes and Deputy, Fiama Nirenstein, Italian Deputy and journalist, Sydney Ohana, surgeon and President of Hadassah France (Hospitals Jerusalem who treat both Israelis and Palestinians), Antoine Saffar, Lebanese Christian journalist and writer, Evangelist Pastor François Cellier, Guy Milliere, an eminent geo-political analyst, writer and journalist, Charles Gottlieb, a former deportee and former resistance fighter, who has the merit, given his great age, to go and tell his experience of war and deportation in schools.
During the first part of these ceremonies, tenor Gilles San Juan and the Choir of the Nice Opera performed musical entertainment that was highly appreciated and applauded by the audience. In the second part of this ceremony the talented Julie Zenatti enchanted us with an exceptional concert during which she performed new songs that we were the first to heard. The benefits of this program have been dedicated to help children with disabilities.
During his speech, Mr. Estrosi recalled that the seven branches of the Menorah are the main sciences that form for humanity the conditions of the wisdom and life in common. This symbol of cohesion and unity is strengthened by the fact that a menorah is made of a single piece, from which emanate seven lights that illuminate women and men.
Mr. Eric Ciotti declared to be very happy and honored to receive the Golden Menorah and expressed his deep gratitude to their president, and highlighted the humanism that animates the values of tolerance, peace and respect they bear, their willingness to communicate and the quality of their actions, providing an example for the new generations. He also recalled the work of the General Council, which organizes annual trips for college students of the Maritime Alps, to the camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust.
The Menorah is a specifically biblical symbol. It is the image of a shrub, a species of sage, which have grown in the past on Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount. Menorah word contains the root "ner" which in Hebrew means light as well as fire: tree of fire and light. The Nice artist Sacha Sosno created the sculpted Golden Menorahs.
