Ariel, Yahli and Vytam didn’t get to know Grandma Zaharira and it’s sad, said Harifai’s daughter, Aya Granit, who brought tears to everyone’s eyes when she shared a chilling clip from the last show in which Harifai participated, “Sof Tov”, where she played a patient with a terminal illness. It was moving to tears.
Last night, with the participation of the family members of Zaharira Harifai, the Theater Hall in Kiryat Motzkin performed a moving tribute when the “Green Room” of the theater hall will henceforth be named after Zaharira Harifai. The Green Room is the room of the actors and stage people behind the scenes. This week marks ten years since Harifai’s death The moving event took place in the presence of her daughter, Aya Granit Sheba, her family members, friends and the temple employees, and with great excitement to the point of tears, we unveiled the plaque with her picture and a summary of the actress’s life. Cancer, the last show that Harifai participated in. Strong longings for the actress who is immortalized in the hall from today.
Haripai’s daughter, Aya Granit Sheba, said excitedly: “What moved me the most in the hall in Kiryat Motzkin, behind the scenes, in the “Green Room”, the actors’ favorite room – was the moment when we removed the cloth from the commemorative plaque with my mother’s picture there.
Most of all, I was moved by the fact that Ariel Yahli’s children and those who, unfortunately, did not have many years of Grandma Zaharira, saw before their eyes how much respect and appreciation there was for her, how much love reigned in the room, these are beautiful and moving things that Daphne said and above all they had the opportunity to feel for a moment as if she was there with us and with them.
Dafna, the mayor-Chaim Tzuri, and the entire management team and the hall employees who are so dedicated to their work were there with us as well, and two people even came who just loved my mother and heard that there was such an event. We were all there together at Green Rum, we were excited, we opened a delicious table of sweet cheeses and olives just the way she liked it and we enjoyed it. Thank you, dear Dafna, for the willingness and the commemoration and the great generosity.
I promise you now that the room is also a little bit mine, to keep it and continue to give it a pleasant feeling to everyone who comes.’
Sheba played a chilling segment of her mother from the play “Sof Tov”, penned by the late playwright Anat Gov, about a famous actress who enters the oncology ward when she has cancer in advanced stages – the last play in which Zaharira participated. It was moving to tears.
The director of the Theater Hall, Dafna Tzuri: “Zharira was a legend and everyone’s longings are intense. We will remember her forever. I hug the dear family. Harifai made the people of Israel happy and conquered many summits while gaining enormous recognition and appreciation in the world of culture. May her memory be blessed forever.’
Zaharira Harifai (December 12, 1929 – January 2, 2013) was an Israeli theater and film actress, who acted in dozens of plays during a career that spanned over fifty years. Winner of the Israel Prize for Theater for the year 2003 (2003).
In 1959, two women tried to commit suicide by drowning in Nahal Yarkon. Harifai, who was an outstanding swimmer in Hapoel Tel Aviv (100m breaststroke), took off her dress and jumped into the water to save them, but she only managed to save one of them.
Harifai was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award within the framework of the Israel Academy of Theater in 2001, the Israel Theater Award in 2003 and an appreciation award at the “Asha Festival” in 2004. In 2012, she won the Israeli Theater Award for the best supporting actress in the play “Sof Tov” in Camry.
Haripay died on January 2, 2013 from cancer, and was laid to rest in Givat Hasholsha cemetery. She was married to the journalist and writer Shlomo Sheba, and the couple had a daughter, the actress Aya Sheba, and grandchildren.
