“A miracle is happening here. Israel is opening up”

We are a vaccinated generation: The world of culture continues to awaken from the corona’s coma, and tonight (Monday) Aviv Geffen took the stage for the first time in ten months. “Good evening, finally, Zappa! It’s very exciting. I got up very early in the morning and said, ‘There’s a regular show in Zappa, not Zoom.’ What’s happening here is a miracle, Israel is the third to open after New Zealand and Australia,” he said at the start of the show.

The show opened with the song “Fallen” followed by Geffen’s “Billion Mistakes.” Between songs, he asked the audience to follow the instructions: “I do not want to be the bad cop, but if possible – put on masks.” The audience was mostly made up of people who had already received two doses of vaccine, and perhaps that was why the average age seemed to be over 40 – the age of the original “Moonlight Children” who filled Geffen’s performances in the 90s.

Before taking the stage, Geffen told Ynet in an optimistic tone: “It seems to me that it will remain like this and there will be no more closures. I would like to say a big thank you to all the doctors and medical staff. A miracle is happening here tonight. For me it is very exciting to return to Zappa after a year.” Geffen referred to the stubborn struggle the cultural and leisure industry has waged over the past year: “Everyone took their industry. There were the restaurateurs, there were the gyms and I tried my best to help the teams with performances. There are lots of artists in the houses, even adults, with very severe financial hardship.” “Although it is a very happy evening, we have not yet seen the tip of the ice of the post-Corona, and we will unfortunately see here terrible things that will happen soon. I am glad I was able to help and bring money to my older friends, who are actually much more talented people than me.”

It started at eight-thirty. The heavy doors at the entrance to the Zappa Herzliya Club creaked open and the people entered, almost like in the good old days. Through the masks and vaccination certificates presented to the guard at the entrance, one could feel again in the air the familiar hustle and bustle of the pre-show, in which we had already forgotten how much energy was stored in it. The gentle mixing of conversational sounds to pouring beer, dragging chairs and applause that require the artist to start.

A few hours earlier, in the quiet before the “Want a Change” storm, Zappa workers had been wiping the dust. The tables formerly used for serving food and drink were moved aside, and the chairs lined up. After ten months of challah – and without visitors to the club – the arrangement work, which usually takes several hours, took half the time tonight. Jasmine, a shift manager who has worked at Zappa for about two years, including 11 months at Challah, said: “We are all excited to return. “We have forgotten our age group. We do not have such an option to work in something else, because we have no training and we are all students.” She added: “It’s nice that the first step of getting back to routine is happening with us, and it’s a sign that things are starting to get better. We even won our first show to be of spring, which I really like.”

Assaf Moore, VP of Marketing and Business Development at the Zappa Group, expressed hope that soon the Corona will look like a distant history. “We are very, very excited, we have reached the moment we wish it a year. An entire industry was paralyzed, and here it finally happens. Admittedly this is not the perfect outline, but it’s okay, we’re off and on. Let us work – and more will not shut us down, “he said. Moore added:” We are allowed to bring in 300 people. This place knows to contain more, but we respect the law. We have a responsibility to our guests, the audience and the artists. We will do only what the outline will allow us. “

Aviv Geffen, the prince of the eve of returning to routine, p. The one who led the Moonlight children to find themselves at the time, has worked on several fronts in recent months and received quite a bit of criticism. In his last appearance, held in early April in a diverse amphitheater without an audience, his appeal to ultra-Orthodox society resonated, sparking a fruitful discourse around the issue of the corona in the sector. He later said in interviews that after the show he sat on the steps of the stage for almost an entire night and read messages he received from strangers from Bnei Brak, while shedding tears of excitement. But not everyone was enthusiastic about the conciliatory approach. Some of Geffen’s fans and performers did not like, to say the least, his photo-up with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Netanyahu and Finance Minister Israel Katz. He, for his part, repulsed the criticism in a manner typical of him and attacked back.

In tonight’s performance, he dedicated “Shir Tikva” to the performance teams. Before that he said: “A lot of my friends have been through bad things in the last year. I stood with the black flags with Dylan one day, and got a message from one of them, who wrote to me that ‘it does not work’. So we went and fought for every penny they deserved. One night I sat with “My wife was in the living room and I got a call from a confidential number. I answered and it was Bibi, who told me ‘let’s meet.’ That evening Simon Cowell called me. It was a crazy evening.” He later dedicated the song “Journey Diary” to all the “doctors and nurses who worked for us.”

The show ends with the song “The End of the World”, and with a poignant political statement. “The next song was written many years ago and it is impossible not to refer to it when everything is like this. Also in the political aspect, Ben Gvir is the exit ticket of Yigal Amir and I am terribly afraid of it,” Geffen said.

The world of culture is gradually returning to activity, step by step. Simultaneously with a performance in Herzliya, tonight the singer and creator Idan Habib performed at the Givat Brenner stage, where he will also perform tomorrow. Apart from clubs, cinemas, theaters, galleries and museums can also operate from yesterday. At the same time, those who are building on cinemas in the immediate term are likely to be disappointed, as as of this writing it is not known about major cinema chains that have announced opening. It is estimated that they are waiting for the next beat in the opening, which will allow the sale of food and drink.

According to the outline, in the first stage, performances will be done in the yeshiva only, when dancing is strictly forbidden. Entry to the cultural performances will be possible upon presentation of a green card with an ID card, and the test will be done through the Ministry of Health app or the barcode scan on the green card. Wearing a mask and a heat test will be mandatory. Admission to the cultural institutions will be determined in advance and will be divided into capsules, with each capsule entering at a time determined in advance when purchasing the ticket. Cultural institutions will be able to accommodate a maximum occupancy of 75 percent of the venue – and in any case no more than 300 people in a closed hall and 500 people in an open space. Seating will be in marked and pre-arranged places only, with ticket booking for the event being made in advance and from a distance. There will be no ticket sales at the venue. One person will be separated from another person, except for people who live together. The artists are forbidden to go down to the audience, and four meters will separate the audience from the stage.

It was further determined that the cultural institutions are obliged to employ ushers who will ensure that the guidelines are observed, since this is one order for every 50 people. The halls will be divided into two entrances and exits, so that the audience will come in and out gradually to prevent a crowd. At shows, the sale of food will be banned, and the sale of drinks will only be allowed in the form of personal bottles. The performances will not include breaks and the audience must wear a mask in all parts of the show. As for the sequel, the theaters in Be’er Sheva and Tel Aviv will not open at this stage due to the necessary preparation, but the Haifa Theater announced that they will return to activity as early as February 28 with the play “Reality Market”, starring Dafna Dekel and Alon Ofir. Earlier, the Khan Theater announced that it would open its doors on February 23 with the play “Cheerful Spirits”. Later this week, more performances are expected: Reshef Levy will take the stage in Givat Brenner, Miri Mesika in Jerusalem, Nurit Galron in the Wahl Amphitheater in Hayarkon Park and more.