Israel Fest Draws Crowds, Politicos

In a tent festooned with blue and white ribbons and balloons outside the Science Center yesterday, students dressed up a life-size cardboard cutout of Paris Hilton to suit different climates in regions of Israel.

The annual event, known as “Israel Fest,” also featured tables with falafel, beads with Hebrew letters on them for bracelet-making, and Israel trivia games to win candy bars.

“The aim is to just have fun and celebrate Israel in a venue that is not focused on the conflict,” said Amy M. Zelcer ’07, president of Harvard Students for Israel (HSI), which organized the event.

Mark Warner, a former governor of Virginia, who is on campus all week as an Institute of Politics (IOP) visiting fellow, also dropped in on the event.

A possible 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, he did some informal “meeting and greeting” with students, according to Dana A. Stern ’09, chair of the Visiting Fellows Program at the IOP.

“While many of the events we scheduled for Governor Warner have been politics-based, coming to Israel Fest gave him the chance to interact with students in a fun, informal and relaxed setting,” Stern said.

Matthew R. Greenfield ’08, vice-chair of the Student Affairs Committee, said he stayed at Israel Fest for half an hour—longer than he stayed last year.

“Frankly, last year I was just here for the falafel, but this year was really outstanding, especially with Mark Warner here, and a really big crowd,” he said. “It was a nice opportunity for someone like me who isn’t usually as involved to get a chance to see what makes Israel on campus so great.”

Zelcer said that Warner’s appearance “drew a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have been particularly interested in an event to primarily celebrate Israel.”

Stern agreed, saying Warner “was a tremendous hit with the large crowd.”

Zelcer estimated that HSI’s celebration of Israel’s culture this year drew “a couple of hundred people” through the course of the day.

Although many of the students attending were Jewish, there was also a number of non-Jewish students, she said.

“I think some people just stopped by ’cause they were curious...we played music very loudly!” she said.

“It’s fun to see the culture and history of a country that’s in the news a lot but a lot of people don’t necessarily understand,” said Eric P. Lesser ’07, president of the Harvard Democrats.

—Staff writer Alexandra C. Bell can be reached at acbell@fas.harvard.edu.