Noa Kattler Kupetz
Life Editor
Marc Pakravan ’14 was determined to get a Hod Hasharon flag. But when Pakravan took Daniel Shoumer ’14 with him on a search, he didn’t expect to end up in the mayor’s office.
Hod Hasharon is the town that Tiferet fellows call home, its main street within walking distance from the Alexander Muss campus. Students are encouraged to explore the city, but few have taken this request as far as Pakravan and Shoumer.
Israeli Independence Day, Yom Haatzmaut, had recently occurred, and Hod Hasharon was decked with flags in celebration. After searching through stores and asking locals proved unhelpful in Pakravan’s flag quest, he and Shoumer began strolling aimlessly around town.
“We sort of got lost and ended up in a construction zone, and then we were going through fields because we didn’t know where we were, and then we got to the main road, where I saw this building with a huge Hod Hasharon flag,” Pakravan said. Above the flag read a sign, “Eryat Hod Hasharon,” the city of Hod Hasharon.
On a whim, the boys decided to climb the buildings stairs and ring the doorbell.
After using their Hebrew to explain their mission to the secretary that greeted them, Shoumer and Pakravan were warmly ushered in to what they realized was the mayor of Hod Hasharon, Chai Adiv’s, office.
“It felt like we were already close friends with him,” said Shoumer. “It’s different in Israel, I can’t imagine this happening in Beverly Hills!”
After a casual conversation about what Shoumer and Pakravan were doing in Israel, the mayor gifted the boys with goody bags embellished with the mayor’s seal. Both Shoumer and Pakravan received Hod Hasharon flags, now decorating the walls of their bedrooms in Los Angeles.
Pakravan ventured back to the office again, only to find the mayor busy. The secretary encouraged him to come back and visit, something both boys plan to do in future visits to Israel.
“We definitely want to see him again. I know he’s the type of person that would welcome me with open arms,” said Pakravan.
The boys have labeled it one of the “best after-hour outings” of their four months in Israel, a Tiferet experience they will never forget.