A son’s personal account of the White House fete for his father, Israel’s President Shimon Peres

 

 

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO — I received a phone call from a happy Yoni Peres on Wednesday night, June 13, a few hours after his father, Israel’s President Shimon Peres, was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House.

Yoni, a veterinarian who occasionally writes stories for San Diego Jewish World, confessed that he was too tired to write a story about the occasion, but said that he was e-mailing some photos and  would be happy to share his impressions if I’d ask some questions.

He said that he and his wife, Sigal, had flown to New York from Tel Aviv and then drove in a rental car down to Washington, where a room was waiting for them at the Blair House, the official guest house for White House visitors.  He said their first thought when they saw the BH monogram was that it meant “Baruch Hashem,” Hebrew for “Thanks to God.”  Traffic must have been rough.

They arrived in time to attend a luncheon that President Peres hosted for some 30 Israelis who were in Washington for the festivities. Among those on the guest list were Dalia Rabin, daughter of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin; Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran; writer Zeluya Shalev; Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dan Schechtman;  Reserve Maj. Gen. Doron Almog, founder of the Aleh care facility in the Negev for disabled persons;  and, of course, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren.  Yoni’s siblings, brother Chemi and sister Tzvia and their spouses, also were in attendance.

Following the luncheon, officials took the Israelis on a tour of the facility that has served as an official guest house since the Truman administration.  “My father has been there before, so he didn’t take the tour,” Yoni said.  In fact, his father has met every U.S. President from Dwight D. Eisenhower on.

The guests lingered in a dining room while their guide pointed out the china on the table.  The guide told them that when First Lady Bess Truman saw that the upholstery on the dining room chairs had become worn, she appealed to the wives of her husband, Harry Truman’s Cabinet officers, to please help embroider new covers that would pick up the designs of the china.

After a while Yoni and his wife changed into formal wear — unusual for Yoni, whose style of dress usually personifies that of the informal Israelis.   At this point, his wife Sigal got on the phone and noted that it was the first time that she had ever seen him in a tuxedo, and only the third time in his life that he had worn one.  One of the other occasions was in 1994 when his father received the Nobel Peace Prize in an Oslo ceremony  with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.

And the second occasion?  I asked.

“Sandi’s wedding in 2000,” she said, when my daughter, Sandi, married Israeli-born Shahar Masori at Tifereth Israel Synagogue here in San Diego.

“I was excited to see my husband in such a nice suit,” Sigal said.  “He was very, very cute.”

They arrived at the White House about 6:15 p.m. where, as a band played a welcome, they were greeted by the President and Mrs. Obama.  Yoni loves puns and abbreviations and was delighted to learn that the occupants of the White House are referred to in briefing documents as POTUS (President Of The United States) and FLOTUS (First Lady Of The United States).

Yoni and Sigal exchanged brief greetings with the First Family, with President Obama thanking them for coming– as if there were even the slightest chance they might stay away from such an occasion for their father!

Although Yoni had visited the White House before as a tourist, this was the first time he had come as an official visitor.

After 120 guests including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, among others, arrived, “President Obama gave a speech, talking about my dad, how he started as a youngster with (Israel’s first Prime Minister David) Ben Gurion, what he did for the country, the relationship between the two states (Israel and the U.S.) and the rest of the world, and his achievements.

“Then my father gave a speech in English, and he talked about peace, the Palestinian issue, the development of the state of Israel,  from agriculture to high tech and brain research, and how what we have achieved in the last 50 years in science is much greater than 10,000 years achievements of agriculture.  He expressed the importance of the relationship between the two states, spoke about President Obama, and about Hillary Clinton.”

Neither speech hinted at any controversy between the two countries.  There had been press report that Peres might ask Obama to free Jonathan Pollard who has been serving a life sentence for passing U.S. secrets to Israel.  Whatever was said on the subject–if anything–was in private and not divulged, Yoni said.

When President Obama draped the Presidential Medal of Freedom around President Peres’ neck, it was a moment that Yoni described as “very, very moving.”  He further described it as a tribute not only to his father, but also to Israel and to people around the world.   Yoni said his sister, Tzvia Walden, summarized the feeling much better when she said “usually the children give their parents nachas, but now, dad, you have given us nachas.”  President Obama and President Peres hugged after the medal was placed around his neck.

During the proceedings, Obama recognized members of the Peres family, asking the three children and their spouses to stand.  Yoni  and Sigal were seated with Vice President and Mrs. Biden, while Zvia was at a table with former President Bill Clinton and Chemi was at a table with Hillary Clinton.  President Obama, noting that Zvia’s husband, Dr. Rafi Walden, serves as personal physician to President Peres, 88, joked that he had asked Dr. Walden to pass along longevity-producing health tips to him.

The kosher dinner menu featured summer chopped salad with lemon White House honey dressing, seared salmon with citrus aioli, farmstand squashes and farro, all followed by blackberry, strawberry, and mango sorbets and sugar cookies.  The two Hagafen wines served were a Roussanne “Lodi” 2010 and a Pinot Noir “Napa” 2008.

The classical violinist Yitzhak Perlman performed a few selections for the appreciative guests, receiving a standing ovation following his recital.  Additional music was provided by the White House Band, decked out in red uniforms.

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com