Ophir

Ophir (/ˈoʊfər/;Hebrew: אוֹפִיר, Modern Ofir, Tiberian ʼÔp̄îr) is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. King Solomon received a cargo of gold, silver, sandalwood, pearls, ivory, apes and peacocks from Ophir, every three years.

Biblical references

Ophir in Genesis 10 (the Table of Nations) is said to be the name of one of the sons of Joktan. The Books of Kings and Chronicles tell of a joint expedition to Ophir by King Solomon and the Tyrian king Hiram I from Eziongeber, a port on the Red Sea, that brought back large amounts of gold, precious stones and 'algum wood' and of a later failed expedition by king Jehoshaphat of Judah. The famous 'gold of Ophir' is referenced in several other books of the Hebrew Bible.

Early Christian traditions

Details about the three of Joktan's sons, Sheba, Ophir and Havilah, were preserved in a tradition known in divergent forms from three early Christian (pre-Islamic) sources: the Arabic Kitab al-Magall (part of Clementine literature), the Syriac Cave of Treasures, and the Ethiopic Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan.

Ophir Award

The Ophir Awards (Hebrew: פרס אופיר‎), also the Israeli Oscars, are film awards awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry. They are named after actor Shaike Ophir and first given out in 1982.

The first Israeli Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1982 with the first award being presented to director Shimon Dotan for the film Repeat Dive, and since 1990 has been held annually at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center.

The highest number of Ophir Awards won by a single film is 11, achieved only by Nina's Tragedies. Assi Dayan won the award 8 times and is the only person to have won as a director, as a screenwriter and also as an actor.

The winner of the Best Film award usually becomes Israel's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, although exceptions include Aviva My Love and The Band's Visit.

List of Best Film Award winners

Tamer Nafar

Tamer Nafar (Arabic: تامر النفار‎, Hebrew: תאמר נאפר‎; born June 6, 1979), is an Arab-Israeli rap artist.

Tamer was born in the city of Lod, Israel on 1979. He began writing and making rap music in 1998 and in 2000 his brother Suhell and their friend Mahmoud Jrere joined him to start the first Palestinian-Arab or Arab Israeli rap group, DAM. DAM writes and sings in the Arabic language. The members of DAM compose their lyrics and music by themselves. DAM's work and art are influenced by the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the struggle for equal rights for Palestinians or Arab Israelis inside Israel. The group's songs deal with social, political and personal issues.

Relationship with Subliminal

In 2000, following the collapse of the Camp David 2000 Summit and the beginning of the Second Intifada, the pair's relationship collapsed due to highly divergent political beliefs, with Subliminal being more right-wing and a Nationalist, in contrast with Nafar's sympathy for the Palestinian cause. The bitter end of their music relationship is chronicled in the documentary Channels of Rage.

Award

An award is something given to a person, a group of people, or an organization to recognize their excellence in a certain field; a certificate of excellence. Awards are often signified by trophies, titles, certificates, commemorative plaques, medals, badges, pins, or ribbons. An award may carry a monetary prize given to the recipient; for example, the Nobel Prize for contributions to society or the Pulitzer Prize for literary achievements. An award may also simply be a public acknowledgment of excellence, without any tangible token or prize.

Overview

Awards can be given by any person or institution, although the prestige of an award usually depends on the status of the awarder. Usually, awards are given by an organization of some sort, or by the office of an official within an organization or government. For instance, a special presidential citation (as given by the President of the United States) is a public announcement giving an official place of honor (e.g., President Ronald Reagan gave a special presidential citation in 1984 to the Disney Channel for its excellent children's television programming.)

Israelis

Israelis (Hebrew: ישראלים‎ Yiśraʾelim, Arabic: الإسرائيليين‎ al-ʾIsrāʾīliyyin) are citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel, a multiethnic society that is home to people of different national backgrounds. The largest ethnic groups in Israel are Jews (75%), followed by Arabs (20%) and other minorities (5%). Among the Jewish population, hundreds of thousands of Israeli-born Jews are of mixed ancestry of both Ashkenazi and Mizrahi descent. Over 50% of the Jewish population is of at least a partial Mizrahi descent.

Large-scale aliyah in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from Jewish diaspora communities in Europe and Yemen and more recent large-scale aliyah from North Africa, Western Asia, North America, South America the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia introduced many new cultural elements and have had profound impact on Israeli culture.

Israelis and people of Israeli descent live all over the world: in the United States, India, Canada, the United Kingdom, throughout Europe, and elsewhere. Almost 10 percent of the general population of Israel, are estimated to be living abroad.