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Fiddler figurine proves
the power of synchronicity
FAMOUS TRIO: Uri with actor Topol, left, and
Shimon Peres
Synchronicity: It's one of my favourite words.
The great Swiss psychologist Carl Jung coined it, to explain
those bizarre moments that occur in every life, when something
so profoundly improbable occurs and so intensely meaningful,
that the only possible cause must be paranormal.
These are the strange, small events which prove we are all
psychic. If you doubt me, read this little story.
I was on Hayarkon Street in Tel Aviv last week, close to
the apartment where I was born and bang next door to the place
where my father once lived. Hayarkon Street used to be the
bubbling, raunchy centre of the Old City of Jaffa - it's more
sedate now, and the tourists come from Allenby Street and
the upmarket hotels to do some shopping.
Frank Meisler has a gallery here. Frank's gorgeously detailed
sculptures in metal are sold all over the world, and I have
always been fascinated by the depth of expression and the
energy of movement he can pour into a piece of silver or steel.
I just bend metal - Frank brings it to life. His admirers
include many of the world's most powerful figures. On his
website I found photographs of him with Margaret Thatcher,
Dick Cheney, Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin, King Juan Carlos
and the Dalai Lama.
So when Hanna and I dropped into the gallery, I bent and
signed a fork and left it, like a calling card, hoping the
artist would call back. We weren't disappointed. Frank was
a perfect host, eager to show us all the secrets of his studio
and to explain the meanings behind some of his most complex
pieces.
''The precise shape of a thing, that is so difficult to know.
It changes from every angle,'' he told me. ''That is what
I am exploring in my work, and that is why detail is so important
to me. The more we see, the more doors open to unexpected
shapes and impressions.''
Frank insisted on presenting us with a gift before we left.
Of the thousands of animals and human figures he could have
chosen, he picked one with a telepathic sensitivity for what
had brought me to Israel on this visit: a fiddler on a roof.
That is synchronicity.
That shows how our minds are all connected, how we know much
more about each other's lives than we realise.
Because my visit to Israel was sparked by the energy of Topol,
the original Fiddler On The Roof. Topol told me when we last
met, at Lord Janner's party at the Palace of Westminster,
that he was helping to launch the Jordan River Village, a
camp in Lower Galilee for terminally ill children.
The project was set up by Paul Newman, whose Newman's Own
range of sauces has generated tens of millions of dollars
for charity. Newman, the iconic movie star of the past half-century,
has probably created a legacy even greater than his screen
legend - by bottling his personal recipe for salad dressing.
The 50-acre Jordan River Village will provide free holidays
to sick youngsters, both Jews and Arabs, with swimming, horse-riding
and team sports all thrown in. It is a wonderful initiative,
the latest of Newman's Hole In The Wall camps which he began
in the US 15 years ago and which now help almost 1,000 children
every year.
Topol has poured his energy into helping this scheme get
started, and I was very excited to join him for the launch.
It was great, too, to meet again a former Israeli Prime Minister
at the launch, a man who is now a world statesman - Shimon
Peres. Peres and I first met in a restaurant in Jerusalem,
I think, in about 1969 or 1970, before he had risen to the
highest office -Golda Meir was Israel's leader at the time.
Peres had heard of my encounter with Mrs Meir, which prompted
her to announce that anyone wanting to see into the future
should consult a young man named Uri Geller! That made my
career.
Peres was eager to see what I could do, but he didn't have
any keys on him - I like to work with something personal,
like a car key, when I'm really trying to impress, because
then no one can accuse me of tampering with the metal beforehand.
Peres produced a Parker fountain pen from his breast pocket
and said: ''Go on then, bend that!''
And as we watched, the golden clip began to curl away from
the pen's lid. More than three decades later, Shimon Peres
assured me, he still remembered the shock of that moment.
River Jordan Village for me epitomises the spirit of Israel.
There is a defiant energy about the project, a determination
to turn the expectations of the world upside down. British
TV and newspapers give the impression that Israel is a nation
under siege, that no one will step out of doors without artillery
back-up, that tanks are on every street and smoke drifts over
every home.
To find that the sun is shining as brightly as ever, that
the laughter is as loud and the smiles as warm, is a great
relief.
People get on with their lives, and in a collective effort
of will the whole nation shows indomitable courage as it goes
about its daily business.
The spectre of the homicide bombers is everywhere, and it
was deeply moving to see memorials to some of the many young
people who have been needlessly murdered.
But there is an unspoken agreement between Israelis that
they cannot show fear or be beaten by this spectre: that would
be to dishonour the memory of the fallen.
So we ate in thronging restaurants, shopped on crowded streets
and rode on packed buses. And there were plenty of tourists
besides us, so we didn't feel at all exposed. It was good
to be back.
Email
him at uri@urigeller.com
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