■ FORMER STATE comptroller and retired president of the Haifa District Court Micha Lindenstrauss will be the keynote speaker on Monday at the ninth annual conference of the Law School at the College of Management in Rishon Lezion. The theme of his address will be the public’s right to information on matters discussed in closed sessions of public authorities.■ A LARGE number of members of the Ethiopian community – whether immigrants or native Israelis – have traveled as goodwill ambassadors to university campuses across America to state the case for Israel. Heavily involved in this project of providing opportunities for higher education for Ethiopian students is the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, which has many Ethiopian students who have gone there on fellowships from Heart to Heart, an organization conceived by American businessman Joey Low more than a decade ago.Among the outstanding students in this program is Naor Baruch, 25, a second- year student at IDC’s Arison School of Business. Born in Ashdod in 1988 to parents who came from Ethiopia in 1973, he is the youngest of three siblings.Baruch is considered to be great leadership material and has made the dean’s list at IDC. His talent, determination and perseverance were evident when he was still a teenager. At 17, he was accepted to a prestigious naval officer’s course. He later served in the Oketz unit of the IDF, which specializes in training and handling dogs for special operations. Following his discharge from the IDF, he spent 11 months working as a security guard on a cruise ship.The job gave him time to think about expanding his educational horizons. He met Low, who invited him to join a Heart to Heart delegation that was traveling to the US. While in America, Baruch realized the challenges that Israel faces on university campuses and decided that the Heart to Heart program was exactly right for him. He had made an excellent impression on Low, as well as on IDC President Uriel Rechman, so getting into the program at IDC was a piece of cake. He completed his first year at the top of the dean’s list. In addition to his studies, he engages in practical work as an intern at the Israel Taxation Authority.■ THEY’RE STARTING young at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where a large influx of babies is expected. No, they’re not extremely junior geniuses.They are the infants of faculty and other staff, and even students. Their presence on campus will enable their parents to focus better on their jobs or their studies because they won’t be looking at the clock and thinking about when to leave to pick up their children from crèches and daycare centers.Beit Fanny, a new WIZO daycare center, was dedicated at BGU last week as a joint initiative of WIZO and the university’s administration. It is named after Fanny Cohen, a dedicated WIZO activist from Venezuela, who came with her family for the dedication ceremony. The event was also attended by World WIZO Honorary President Helena Glaser; Prof. Rivka Lazovsky, chairperson of the World WIZO Executive; the WIZO administration; BGU President Prof.Rivka Carmi; chairwoman of the Steering Committee Prof. Andrea Berger; Deputy Mayor Rabbi Gadi Mazuz; and other dignitaries.The new fortified daycare center, the first such in Beersheba, located adjacent to the Marcus Family Campus, will have four classrooms and 112 children aged six months to three years. The first class of mixed ages will open this month, and the center will become fully operational in September. The children will have a wide array of services, including educational, enrichment and cultural programs.Glaser, who had initially put the idea to Cohen, said that she had done so because “Fanny has a special place in her heart for the Negev and Beersheba.”She added that thanks to Cohen’s support, WIZO runs important projects promoting early childhood care in various parts of the southern region.Carmi said, “BGU is committed to providing young faculty members with a workplace environment that enables a successful academic career while raising a family. WIZO’s cutting-edge daycare center will further this goal and will transform the university into a magnet for excellent researchers who will make their homes in the Negev.”Cohen expressed appreciation for the opportunity to support and strengthen the southern region, which is especially important to her, and to enable her to contribute to the education of the next generation. She pledged that she would continue to contribute to the promotion of social projects in the Negev.■ KIRYAT MALACHI once again has a new mayor. Whistle blower Yossi Hadad, who had previously been the opposition member on the Kiryat Malachi Municipal Council, formally took over his new position on the eve of Shavuot, pledging to stamp out corruption and to clean up the town. It was Hadad who alerted police to the sexual misconduct and other offences of former Kiryat Malachi mayor Moti Malka, who was subsequently arrested on suspicion of rape, sodomy and other forms of sexual abuse. In a plea bargain, Malka was convicted of sexual harassment but not of rape.
