Bikers join with marchers and floats in Celebrate Israel Parade (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
CELEBRATE ISRAEL PARADE
57th to 74th St. up Fifth Ave.
Sunday, June 5, free, 12 noon – 4:00 pm
celebrateisraelny.org
On May 14, 1948, “The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel” proclaimed, “The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice, and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.” Israel’s existence has been fraught with controversy since the very beginning, but the nation perseveres, and on June 5 its sixty-eighth birthday will be honored with the annual Celebrate Israel Parade. This year’s theme is “Sight, Sound & Spirit,” a tribute to the ideal of Israel as a model of diversity. As the official parade website explains, “Israel speaks to our history and to our hearts. In Israel, there is so much to see, so much to do, so much to feel and embrace.” On Sunday, some thirty thousand marchers are expected to make their way from Fifty-Seventh to Seventy-Fourth St. up Fifth Ave. Among the performers will be the Broadway cast of Fiddler on the Roof, SOULFARM, the Israel Dance Institute, Paprim Ensemble Dancers, DJ LT, DJ Lee Epstein, the Maccabeats, the Milk & Honeys, and Areyvut Mitzvah Clowns. Special guests include honorary grand marshal Kathie Lee Gifford, grand marshal Moshe Gil, Ambassador Ido Aharoni, and several members of the Knesset, while among the guests are Dr. Ruth Westheimer, television journalists Steve Lacey and Robert Moses, and the Israel Pro-Cycling Team.
In addition, the unaffiliated Israel Day Concert in Central Park is a free show in Rumsey Playfield (2:30–7:30) with performances by Lipa Schmeltzer, Eitan Katz, Shloime Dachs and Orchestra, Tal Vaknin with Shlomi Aharoni, Mati Shriki, Avi Kilimnick, Michoel Pruzansky, Dr. Meyer Abittan, Jerry Markowitz, Chaim Kiss, Izzy Kieffer & Heshy R., Micha Gamerman, Matt Dubb, and White Shabbos as well as speakers Danny Danon, John Bolton, Major Pete Hegseth, Joe Piscopo, and Morton Klein and special appearances by Ken Abramowitz, Farley Weiss, Martin Oliner, David Weprin, Rory Lancman, Rabbi David Algaze, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, and Rivka Abbe. The emcee is Nachum Segal.