The Passing and Upcoming Decades as Told by Israelis Aged 10-100

At the turn of a new decade, Calcalist spoke to 10 people who will be celebrating a milestone birthday in 2020, from 10 to 100 years old, each concluding a decade of life.

Tamar Eshel

Born: 1920, the U.K.

Tamar Eshel is a former member of the Israeli parliament for left-wing party Alignment, which later merged into Israel's Labor party. She held several official roles during her career including Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations. A widow, Eshel resides in Jerusalem with a live-in nurse. She has two daughters, four grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Tamar Eshel, born 1920. Photo: Yoav Dudkevitz

For health reasons I am mostly homebound but I still keep busy. I get a lot of people coming to interview me, from foreign television networks to school children on assignment. I used to paint a lot, but I am no longer the same, physically. Luckily, my head still works and I have time to read a lot.

I bought an iPad and gave up my computer since I couldn’t sit at my desk anymore. The iPad I can use in my armchair. I get emails, look things up on Google, and play memory boosting games. I also use YouTube to watch TED Talks.

I want to keep living as long as my head works. As soon as it doesn’t, I don’t want to go on.

Morris Kahn

Born: 1930, South Africa

Morris Kahn is a philanthropist and businessman. Kahn is the biggest backer of Israeli non-profit organization SpaceIL, the developer of Beresheet, the first Israeli spacecraft to leave Earth’s orbit, which crash-landed on the moon last year. He currently resides in Beit Yanai, a moshav in central Israel. He is a widower, a father of two, and has four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Morris Kahn, born 1930. Photo: Shaul Golan

What does your day-to-day look like?

I normally start the day riding horses in my stable in Beit Yanai. I then come in to the office to manage my investments in real estate and biotech as well as my true passion for philanthropic projects.

What did you do for the first time during the last decade?

I sent a spacecraft to the moon.

What do you wish for in the new decade?

The list is long but I am mostly looking forward to continuing to make a difference, to have my curiosity grow and do as much as I can.

Josie Katz

Born: 1940, the U.S.

Josie Katz is a singer and actress. She lives in Tel Aviv with her two cats. A widow, Katz has two children and one grandson.

Josie Katz, born 1940. Photo: Rami Zarnegar

What does your day-to-day look like?

I start by taking care of the cats, they meow the loudest in the morning when they are hungry. I do yoga, walk on the beach, paint, meet with friends a few times a month, and read a lot. Every once in awhile, I see a doctor, do a blood test. In the evenings, I sometimes go to a movie, to meet friends or to attend a birthday party. I have a quiet life, just the way I like it.

What did you do for the first time during the last decade?

I fell down 12 stairs, broke my left leg in three places and spent months in rehab. I also had stomach surgery. I hope to never see the inside of a hospital again. These things happen unexpectedly at this age, I guess. During the decade I also started Yoga therapy, which is good for people my age.

What do you wish for in the new decade?

I am hoping for peace; that there won’t be people rummaging through the garbage in the marketplace; that men will not beat up women and kill them; more patience on the roads; more generosity, because if everyone does a little bit, it becomes contagious. But who am I to say, everyone wants the world to be less bad. 

Nisim Garame

Born: 1950, Israel

Nisim Garame is a singer, actor, writer, composer, and painter. A widower, Garame resides in his hometown Rosh HaAyin in central Israel. Two of his three children live in housing units adjacent to his home.

Nisim Garame, born 1950. Photo: Orel Cohen

What does your day-to-day look like?

I put on Tefillin (boxes with leather straps that Orthodox Jewish men wear on their heads and arms during prayer), have breakfast, take care of the Garame household, spend an hour at the country club, that’s my shrink. I have lunch, watch the news, paint. On the weekends, I go to the synagogue and have Shabbat dinner with my kids.

What did you do for the first time during the last decade?

I hosted my own television show on Israel’s public broadcasting network, that got amazing ratings, and would still be on the air if it weren’t for some crooked people there.

What do you wish for in the new decade?

Good health, tranquility, satisfaction, seeing my kids get married and have children. I hope the government won’t forget the weak and underprivileged.

Haim Cohen

Born: 1960, Tel Aviv

Haim Cohen is a chef and the owner of Tel Aviv restaurants Dixie and Yaffo Tel Aviv. Throughout his career, Cohen hosted several cooking television shows and served as a judge on reality cooking shows. Nowadays, he appears as a judge on televised cooking competition MasterChef. He is married, has three children, and lives in central Israeli town Savyon.

Haim Cohen, born 1960. Photo: Tal Shahar

What does your day-to-day look like?

Overworked. Other than that, my main career is my family. I have been married to the same woman for 25 years, we go out for runs several times a week. Every Friday night and Saturday morning we have family meals with the kids. It is set in stone.

What did you do for the first time during the last decade?

I took up running. I run 10-15 kilometers three-four times a week and hope to run a half marathon. I started because my wife, Sigal, runs, and I thought to myself that because we each work on our own all day, even though we work together on the business (Sigal, a lawyer, manages Cohen’s business affairs), getting up together at five in the morning for a run in the park and then having coffee together could give us some quality time. I got hooked. Running makes me feel better. When my father was my age he would lie on his back with a newspaper the whole weekend. I run so I can handle my body better, not because of my age. Also, every season of MasterChef means you gain a few pounds, so, combined, I have an extra 20 kilograms.

What do you wish for in the new decade?

For a long time now I’ve had a dream of opening a Kosher restaurant and a wine bar. I want to travel the world, climb a high mountain and stick a flag on the top, to take Sigal on a trip through Europe in my collector vehicle—I have a lot of plans. I would also like to give my children a better world, but I’m a bit worried. This is a generation that does not lean on history, it makes its own. I do all that I can to listen to them and not get locked in on my own opinions, so I don’t become extinct.

Avshalom Pollak Pasternak

Born: 1970, Israel

Avshalom Pollak Pasternak is an actor, dancer, and choreographer. Pollak Pasternak lives in Tel Aviv with his two sons and a cat.

Avshalom Pollak Pasternak, born 1970. Photo: Tommy Harpaz

What does your day-to-day look like?

My weekdays are very busy, I start them early and finish at night. I spend most of the time at my dance troupe’s studio with the dancers and we always have new things to work on. It’s a type of family. My hobbies merge with my work, and I am always on the lookout for stimulations and new projects that will excite and challenge me. On nights and weekends, I spend time with the kids, I like playing computer games with them or just looking at them. I sometimes watch a movie on the computer or go to the cinema.

What did you do for the first time during the last decade?

I bought a blood pressure monitor.

What do you wish for in the new decade?

I hope for something good, even though it might turn out different.

Yossi Naar

Born: 1980, Israel

Yossi Naar is the co-founder and CEO of Boston-headquartered cybersecurity company Cybereason Inc. Lives in Tel Aviv with his wife and two kids.

Yossi Naar, born 1980. Photo: Orel Cohen

What does your day-to-day look like?

Work, time with the kids, and hobbies—I play some guitar and online games. I am also setting up a studio for myself, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it yet—something to do with steampunk, a design that has old mechanics and gears, but I also want it to relate to software development.

What did you do for the first time during the last decade?

I founded a company. I have done this before but this time it worked. That’s mainly because I had the right partners and we know this world better now, as we are older and more experienced. We came to this company very mature and very much together, and we now have 500 employees and have raised hundreds of millions of dollars.

What do you wish for in the new decade?

I can’t wait to see my kids grow up and I’m looking forward to all the cool things I’m going to do with them. I’m going to take them to Disneyland—I never got to go as a kid—and I want to see it through their eyes. Cynicism aside, at least for kids, it’s a place that symbolizes a better world. For myself, I hope I get a chance to go to Burning Man and travel more. Professionally I would like to see my company go public.

Rana Abu Fraihah

Born: 1990, Israel

Rana Abu Fraihah is a documentary filmmaker, best known for her 2017 film documenting the story of her family, one of two Beduin families to reside in Jewish affluent southern Israeli town Omer in the 1990s. Abu Fraihah is single and lives in Tel Aviv.

Rana Abu Fraihah, born 1990. Photo: Ryan Frois

What does your day-to-day look like?

Emails, meetings, screenings of my film or lectures throughout Israel. We are a family of insane workaholics, and in my case, my hobby is also my job. I also make natural beauty products—facial creams, body butter, shampoo, and hair masks. I like to go dancing when my brother is DJing—he puts on Arab electronic music that sends us back to parties back home.

What did you do for the first time during the last decade?

My mother died. The death of a loved one is something that burdens and shuts you down, but it also opens you up to realize you only live once. In the year after she died, when I was 23, I shaved half my head. Maybe it was because I needed change, or maybe it was a type of rebellion, a way to change my image. It was liberating. At first, my father was a bit scared, but I really liked it, it was like an epilogue for puberty. I don’t know if I could do that again.

What do you wish for in the new decade?

To make more movies, to start a family, maybe even write a book, but above all to keep on creating.

Yonah Simcha Ziv

Born: 2000, Israel

Yonah Simcha Ziv studies at a Yeshiva (an educational institution for Jewish religious studies) in Israeli northern town Safed. He has two roommates at the Yeshiva and four siblings at his parents’ home in Kfar Bin-Nun, a moshav in central Israel.

Yonah Simcha Ziv, born 2000. Photo: Elad Gershgoren

What does your day-to-day look like?

Most of the day is dedicated to Torah studies. In my free time, I like to paint, play the guitar, and hang out with my fellow Yeshiva students, who are my whole world at this time. I also promote Jewish religious traditions and encourage people to follow the Jewish religious rules and put on Tefillin (boxes with leather straps that Orthodox Jewish men wear on their heads and arms during prayer).

What did you do for the first time during the last decade?

Religiously, I became a man when I had my Bar Mitzvah. This means I underwent spiritual preparation and took it upon myself to strictly observe every religious rule, from the most menial to the most grave, to pray three times a day, and to never miss out on a chance to perform a mitzvah.

What do you wish for in the new decade?

My main goal is to establish a loving home based on the principles of the Torah and Jewish religious commandments.

Daniel Moshe Reuven

Born: 2010, Israel

Daniel Moshe Reuven is a fourth-grade pupil at the Sgula Religious School in Tel Aviv suburb Bnei Brak. He lives in neighboring Ramat Gan with his parents and three sisters.

Daniel Moshe Reuven, born 2010. Photo: Tal Shahar

What does your day-to-day look like?

School, homework, sports, I take after school soccer, I attend religious Zionist youth movement Bnei Akiva, and play mobile game Brawl Stars with friends.

What did you do for the first time during the last decade?

Went Kayaking. Every year my parents and older sisters kayaked and I couldn’t join them because I was too little so I was always jealous. Last year I joined them and had a great time, I was really into it, especially when our boat went down a waterfall.

What do you wish for in the new decade?

To get my driver’s license. To celebrate my bar mitzvah. To be big.