In memory of the late Assaf Tzur, who was murdered by a suicide bomber in an attack on route 37 in Haifa and was 17 years old when he died.
(live here) – Yossi Tzur, the father of the late Assaf Tzur, who was murdered in an attack on line 37 20 years ago, received a painting from the late actor Haim Topol, in which Topol drew Assaf. The painting is part of a collection of paintings, which Tsur collected over the years. After Topol Tzur’s death he remembered the special meeting between the two.
“I did a kind of commemorative campaign with paintings,” Tzur said today, “I would ask people to draw me a picture of Assaf. I told myself that I had exhausted all the pictures and clips I had of Assaf, but if someone drew another picture of Assaf, he would emphasize something else, And I will be able to find new things in the collection. I received a respectable collection of paintings. At some point I wanted to see what he would be like when he grew up and they painted him for me at all kinds of ages.”
“Haim Topol was interviewed on the radio and promoted his children’s village, Kfar Jordan. They asked him how he raises money and he said that he paints portraits of people and they pay him. I turned to him and explained to him that I was asking people to paint Assaf. I went to Tel Aviv to see him, he was very nice It was very moving – the children’s village on the one hand and Assaf’s painting on the other. The story of the late Assaf particularly moved him.
I sent him a picture of my Assaf. After a short time he called that it was ready and that I would come to him to take the painting.
I arrived at his home in Tel Aviv, he took me into a room full of paintings and books. I saw Assaf’s painting on an easel. He took a certain substance to splash on the painting so it wouldn’t smear, went out to the balcony to splash the substance on the painting, we started talking, he asked about Assaf, I told him about the attack and Assaf, I told him about the paintings I collect. I saw that he was excited, I saw it in the saucer in his eyes.
I donated to him, for the children’s village – I promised and kept the promise. I donated willingly, it’s a very worthy cause. I took the painting.
As big and famous as he was, he lived like a human being, humble and doing especially good for the children he hosted in the village.
When Topol passed away, I thought it would be honorable to share the story with my readers here, in his memory.”
Additional articles in Haifa – Haifa News:
The late Haim Topol died last Thursday at the age of 87. He was one of the most senior actors in Israel and an Israel Prize laureate. Topol was one of the founders of the Haifa Theater in 1960 together with the late director Yosef Milo, and participated in a series of productions on behalf of the theater.
This morning we woke up and Haim Topol is not with us.
Like any Israeli, I loved him from afar, in my case more like the older mischievous Arabinka. This is probably a criticism of the Israeli that Ephraim Kishon saw as not serious but he made me laugh, apparently Chaim Topol was more suitable for the role and was close in his cheerful personality to Arabinka.
