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Memorable Moments of the Nobel Prize Ceremony jewish_11_20.qxd 3/9/06 9:15 PM Page 12 Profile Photos: Jonas Lemberg/All Over Press “And All the Families of the Earth Shall be Blessed Through You”: Memorable Moments of the Nobel Prize Ceremony B Y S HIRA L EIBOWITZ S CHMIDT 12 JEWISH ACTION Spring 5766/2006 jewish_11_20.qxd 3/9/06 9:15 PM Page 13 ou have just received the Nobel Aumann’s own x and y coordinates. and his family’s spontaneously resound- Prize and been feted with Professor Aumann admitted that ing Amen is etched forever in his mem- Ykosher food at the king’s ban- he had a childlike wonder at the fairy- ory. quet in Stockholm. At the post-banquet tale opulence of the palace: thousands of The banquet was not without ball, a fellow laureate, who deservedly lit candles, eight fireplaces ablaze, glit- moments of anxiety. Professor Aumann won the Prize for discovering the bac- tery silver, elaborate tapestries. Yet, had made sure that the kashrut details terium that causes ulcers, jumps up on when asked, he said the most memo- were meticulously carried out. But the stage and sings his own composi- rable moment was cut from a different when he sat down at the start of the tion, “Ballad to Bacteria.” cloth— the Israeli flag flying over the banquet, he suddenly started worrying Only Robert J. (Yisrael) Aumann palace, along with the five flags of the about how he would perform netilat would at that moment be reminded of a nations of the other winners.3 yadayim since he had made no provision midrash that describes a similar situa- Professor Aumann observes that for the ritual hand washing. As he won- tion.1 During the meal following the the actual ceremony, where the king dered whether he could do an airplane- brit milah of Elisha ben Abuyah, some awarded him the Prize, was exciting. style hand-ablution (surreptitiously pour of the secular guests at the circumcision But even more meaningful was what the water over one’s hands under the feast sang non-religious songs. Said happened the moment after the king table), he was surprised to see a liveried Rabbi Eliezer to Rabbi Yehoshuah, and queen left the hall. His children, waiter heading toward him with a silver “They are busy with their songs, why their spouses and his myriad grandchil- chalice and bowl. Similar chalice-and- aren’t we busy with ours?!” bowl-laden waiters were The rabbis began to recite heading toward the rest of Torah, then Neviim, then the Aumanns, scattered Ketuvim, and the words of among the 1,300 dinner Torah rejoiced as on the day guests. It turned out that they were given on Sinai, the head of the Swedish surrounded by fire. Orthodox community At the ball, this had thought of this detail midrash flashed through beforehand. Professor Aumann’s mind. Each prizewinner “They are busy with their can invite sixteen guests. songs, why aren’t we busy Professor Aumann needed with ours?!” With that, he twice that number to ascended the stage, stepped accommodate the families up to the microphone and of his five children and a led the predominantly non- few colleagues. The litera- Jewish celebrants in Rabbi ture laureate Harold Baruch Chait’s now-classic Pinter did not attend and song, “Kol haolam kulo, gesh- Robert J. Aumann receives the Nobel Prize for economic sciences from King gave his sixteen guest er tzar meod,” speeding up Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden on December 10, 2005. places to the Aumanns. into a rousing, foot-stomp- Professor Aumann had ing refrain, “Veha’ikar lo lefached klal.”2 dren burst onto the stage while his son been widowed several years ago, and This was one of the unplanned gave him an emotional embrace. This shortly before the trip to Sweden mar- moments recounted by Professor reflects the Aumann “family first” val- ried Batya, a sister of his late wife. He Aumann to an audience of hundreds of ues. Professor Aumann insisted on mak- was then a double chatan because Nobel Jerusalemites who came to the Great ing this an outing for the gantze mish- laureate in Hebrew is chatan Nobel. At Synagogue to honor him upon his pachah, taking five children, nineteen the post-banquet celebration, his chil- return. It is indicative of how steeped he grandchildren and two great-grandchil- dren hoisted him on their shoulders and is in Jewish tradition that no matter dren to Sweden. danced with him “just like a chatan,” he what goes on around him, it is family Another extemporaneous moment relates. and tradition that form Professor came at the start of Professor Aumann’s He credits his bride with the suc- banquet speech, which he began with cessful planning of the logistics of Shira Leibowitz Schmidt has six children and the blessing in Hebrew for good things Shabbat, kashrut and clothing. The king six grandchildren. She graduated from Stanford University, with a degree in engineer- in this world, “Baruch ata … hatov insisted that the china, silverware and ing. She currently works as a translator and is vehameitiv,” invoking the full Shem crystal for the Aumann entourage be 4 affiliated with the Haredi College in Malchut. He had told no one about his identical to those of everyone else. Since Jerusalem. She lives in Netanya. intention to pronounce the berachah, the palace buys new dishes every year to Spring 5766/2006 JEWISH ACTION 13 jewish_11_20.qxd 3/9/06 9:15 PM Page 14 make up for breakage, the Aumanns Stockholm. With foresight, the to the ceremony, arriving at 4:10, before received the new dishes, so the table- Aumanns had a sample of the formal- the king and queen entered at 4:30. ware was kosher. The royal family also wear flown to Israel to check for shat- While the Nobel Prize comes insisted that the kosher meal look exact- nez; it turned out that the tailcoats had with a sizeable monetary gift, the most ly like what everyone else was served. To the Biblically forbidden wool-and-linen meaningful present was the watch that this end the royal chef revealed the mixture. The Aumanns solved this Professor Aumann’s children and menu, kept secret until the banquet day, problem by renting shatnez-free formal- grandchildren gave him to replace his to the kosher cooks so together they wear from an Israeli rental agency and own ancient ten-dollar timepiece. On could find look-alike substitutes for the having it flown to Stockholm for the it they engraved a verse from parashat non-kosher menu, which included cray- ceremony. Vayeitzei, which was read that memo- fish with fennel-baked Arctic char, scal- Shabbat planning was done in a rable Shabbat, December 10, lops and Norwegian lobster on baby let- similarly punctilious manner. The “Venivrechu vecha kol mishpechot tuce, ptarmigan (grouse) breast baked in Aumanns excused themselves from the ha’adamah uvezarecha, And all the fam- horn of plenty mushrooms with Friday night reception and Saturday ilies of the earth shall be blessed caramelized apples and lemon and rehearsal. The Aumann family, who through you and your offspring.”6 JA yogurt mousse with raspberry-Arctic often go mountain climbing together, bramble sauce. In addition, there were did a lot of walking from the Grand Notes three different Carmel wines: sparkling, Hotel to the three synagogues in 1. Midrash Ruth Rabba 6:4. red and dessert, matching the non- Stockholm. Friday night they went to 2. A statement attributed to Rabbi kosher selection. one Orthodox synagogue, and Shabbat Nachman of Breslov, “The whole world Another strict rule is that all men morning to the other.5 Then they is nothing but a very narrow bridge. And the main thing is to have no fear at all.” The tune, by Rabbi Chait, rosh yeshivah of Maarava, can be heard at www.greatjewishm sic.com/Midifiles/kol%20HaOlam.htm. 3. S.Y. Agnon, the 1966 Israeli Nobel laureate for literature, was also moved by the sight of the Israeli flag in Stockholm and asked his wife, Esther, “Did you ever dream you would see the Israeli flag flying over the palace in my honor?” Her laconic reply: “I usually do not dream about flags!” 4. “Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, Who is good and does good.” The banquet speech and Prize lecture can be found at http://nobelprize.org/economics/laure- Professor Aumann insisted on making this an outing for the whole family, taking five children, ates/2005/aumann-lecture.html. See nineteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren to Sweden. www.nobelprize.org for the video of the ceremony. Professor Aumann can be must dress in formal black tailcoats, attended a kiddush in the social hall of seen from minute fifty-eight onward. with white bowties and waistcoats; even the Conservative synagogue. Before 5. This was an ironic “closing of the seven-year-old grandsons wore white Shabbat, all the fancy clothes had been the circle” for Professor Aumann who, ties and tails, cufflinks and shirt studs— shipped to a hotel located closer to as an eight-year-old, fled Frankfurt with an interesting contrast with their festive where the ceremony was going to be his family before Kristallnacht. One of knitted kippot! Women must wear solid- held. After seduah shelishit at the Grand the Orthodox shuls in Stockholm had color floor-length gowns (no problem Hotel, they walked to where their cere- been transplanted from Hamburg. It for the modestly attired Aumanns), and mony clothes were waiting, and wore survived Kristallnacht intact because it though the only head covering for them for a while on Shabbat, so as not was on the second story of a building women usually allowed are tiaras for to violate hachanah lechol (preparing for that the Nazis did not notice.
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