Page 275 - ISRAEL'S CRADLE

City, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and ended in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
It is worth remembering that the musical tour took place five or six months after the Six-Day War and the impression left by this war was quite apparent in the Jewish communities. The girls and boys were received in the various cities as if they themselves liberated the Western Wall and excited receptions were held for them and the orchestra in every location. Nor should we forget the material side: Jews and non-Jews paid large sums to the coffers of Keren Hayesod in order to purchase tickets to the shows, and Danny Kaye's reputation contributed greatly to the opening of hearts and wallets.
Danny Kaye's performances were masterful – amusing and hilarious. He conducted the orchestra while using his virtuosic capabilities. While conducting a series of light classical pieces such as "Flight of The Bumblebee," Ravel's "Bolero" and "Scheherazade" he conversed with the audience, mimicked being hit by a ball supposedly thrown by one of the musicians, and when someone entered the hall late he stopped the performance and asked the man if he wanted to hear the piece from the beginning. In between, he spoke about Israel, about the Six-Day War and the tremendous musical talent of the young performers. At the end of his part of the concert, the audience, in nearly every concert, demanded more and more encores, until Danny Kaye announced that there are no more pieces he knows.
The orchestra, its conductor Ronli-Riklis and of course Danny Kaye enjoyed extensive media coverage in every country they visited. Danny Kaye enjoyed the status of a superstar and Israel, the great victor of the Six-Day War, enjoyed a generous amount of good publicity due to the participation of this unique type of conductor.
After the orchestra returned to Israel, the Executive of Keren Hayesod held a concluding discussion, and those present praised the idea and its execution. But there was also someone who reminded everyone that, despite the considerable sums Keren Hayesod recorded in its account due to the successful tour, they must not forget the expenses: a 42-day tour to multiple cities around the world had cost a fortune, not to mention the cost of chartering a special plane, large security expenses and more. Yet the heads of the Jewish Agency, Eliyahu Dobkin and Arieh Dulzin, who were present for the discussion, had actually reacted harshly to this. Dobkin said: "Not everything should be examined through the hole in the grush (penny). The success of the orchestra was tremendous and it contributed greatly to the State of Israel and to Keren Hayesod. That is the greatest return we could ask for."
Many years later, Yitzhak Rogow adds: "The financial return to Keren Hayesod cannot be measured merely in terms of incomes it had during the orchestra's tour. The orchestra's visit to cities with large Jewish communities had a continuous effect and a great deal of impact over the following months, and this was apparent in the donations of those communities to Keren Hayesod."
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