VAN NUYS - Varda Stern of Encino remembers being 4 years old and very excited in Mugrabi Square in Tel Aviv when news arrived that the United Nations had made Israel an independent state. "My father put me up on his shoulders so that I could see all the celebration," recalls Stern. "It was an incredible sight.
" On Sunday, Stern celebrated Israel's 59th anniversary with some 40,000 people who attended the Israel Independence Day Festival at Woodley Park, which for the day took on the appearance of an Israeli community with walkways named for streets in Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv. "No matter where we are," Israeli-born Broadway performer Mike Burstyn told the crowd, "we're Israeli, and we're in Israel." Festival organizers were presented a proclamation from the City Council.
Israel Counsel General Ehud Danoch summarized almost six decades of Israeli achievements in a short speech. "Israel is a success story," Danoch said after a quick synopsis, "and this is only the beginning." Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he has been to Israel twice and shares in its celebration.
Amid heavy security on the perimeter of the park and at its entrances, the daylong festival featured local and Israeli entertainers, food, booths and fair rides. Dizengoff Street, for instance, featured booths for the Republican Jewish Coalition on one side of the pathway and for Jewish Sperm Donors on the other side. Up the way was Cafe Tel Aviv, an area created to resemble an Israeli coffee shop.
Talit-Birthright Israel, an organization that recruits and helps 18- to 26-year-old Jews visit Israel for the first time, was there. "It was the most amazing experience I've ever had in my life," said Debbie Farnosh, who visited Israel as a UCLA undergraduate in 2003 and now recruits for the group. "It is a cultural, religious and political experience.
" The highlight of the festival was the performance late in the afternoon by Israeli musician Yehoram Gaon, whom Stern described as "the Israeli Frank Sinatra." "Besides celebrating Israeli independence," said Stern, "this is as close as you can get to being in Israel.
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