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Whitney Visits Dimona, Meets Sharon
submitted by: Lee, Lisa D.
source: Ha'aretz, Agence France Presse
Date: May 27, 2003
Whitney does Dimona
By Michal Palti
"That's not the bus. She wouldn't arrive like that on a Negev Transportation company bus." So said one of the dozens of youths from Dimona's Hebrew Israelite community who crowded together on Sunday evening in the plaza of the community's caravan site. Soon pop singer Whitney Houston was to arrive - "one of the greatest voices of the 20th century," according to Rolling Stone magazine, who has sold over 120 million albums and signed a five-year contract with Arista Records for a total sum of $100 million. [Note: Whitney's contract may not be limited to five years.]
It was evening and there was something fanciful about the scene. Representatives of the Hebrew Israelite community of Dimona, located on the outskirts of town, came out to greet Houston, who was arriving here directly from Las Vegas. Other Dimona residents were more surprised by the large amount of journalists and photographers in the plaza and the police patrol cars crowded for some unclear reason on the sidewalk opposite.
Yeda'a Bat Yisrael, an impressive woman with graying hair, is the community representative and organizer of the visit. She has been busy since the early morning making arrangements and talking with the press. The community, whose members are Blacks who have converted to Judaism, has lived in Dimona since the early 1970s and for two years they have been promised the status of permanent residents in Israel, but the actual conferral of this status has been slow in coming.
The Volvo used by Dimona Mayor Gabi Lalush zooms into the parking lot. He hurries to shake hands with the journalists and position himself within view of the cameras. He sees that the matter of citizenship will soon be taken care of and the Hebrew Israelites will even be moved into new housing projects. Their construction is already under way around the corner.
Meanwhile, Yeda'a Bat Yisrael is telling the press about the initiative behind the odd visit: Ben Ami Carter, the leader of the community, proposed the idea of hosting the singer Whitney Houston in the Negev. Houston's mother, the veteran soul singer, Cissy Houston, is a friend of community member Asiel Ben Yisrael. Cissy Houston, as well as Whitney's godmother, Aretha Franklin, knew him back in Chicago. Ben Yisrael has been working on this visit for over two years and met in the United States with mutual friends of his and the singer's family.
About a month ago, Houston's personal manager came to Israel and stayed with Hebrew Israelites in Dimona. She remained in the south for two weeks and felt that "Israel is a safe place" and recommended that Whitney and her family visit.
"You have to understand, black-skinned people always dream of visiting the Holy Land," says Yeda'a Bat Yisrael. "We're Jews and she's Christian, but the holiness of Israel is common to different religions. Whitney came to Israel on a journey of spiritual purification and to visit the holy sites and we're glad that she's coming with her children. It's important they see the places they've read about over the years."
The community members also have a plan to promote tourism: They hope that by the end of the year Houston will record a television show with Stevie Wonder, who in the past has also visited Israel. On her current trip, perhaps she will even select some filming locations.
The past few years have not been easy for Houston. Her biography is full of the cliches associated with big stars: She started singing at age five and at age 11 was already the choir soloist in her community church in New Jersey. In 1983, at the age of 20, she signed a contract with Clive Davis, the former CEO of Arista, who among others also signed up Bob Dylan. A year ago, Davis proved he has not lost his touch: Alicia Keyes, who won five Grammy awards, was also one of his discoveries.
"Whitney Houston," Houston's premiere album, which came out in 1985 under Davis' direction, sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S. alone and transformed her into a megastar - too quickly it seemed. Houston's singles were exactly what the public wanted to hear: songs based on the soul and Black music traditions, sung by a singer who knows how to integrate soul music with pop music that you can dance to. So Houston hit the charts in the U.S. with songs like "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and "Saving All My Love For You" among others. The song "So Emotional" from the 1987 "Whitney" album stayed on the record sales charts for so many weeks that it broke the singles records set by the Beatles and the Bee Gees. [Note: This is incorrect. Whitney's "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" became her seventh consecutive No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, which broke their record. "So Emotional" did not break such a sales record.]
But success never continues in a straight line and many stars have some kind of major crisis at this time. In the early 1990s, Whitney's came when some of her albums did not repeat her earlier successes. [Note: This is incorrect. Only "I'm Your Baby Tonight" perfromed below expectations in 1990. This was followed by a string of huge hits.] In 1992, after her marriage to hotheaded rapper Bobby Brown, she also went into acting. Immediately after the marriage she appeared in "The Bodyguard" alongside Kevin Costner and won a Grammy award for the songs she did in the film. [Note: She won three Grammys for the soundtrack.]
Since then, she has appeared in "The Preacher's Wife" alongside Denzel Washington, continued recording additional albums and began the predictable game of fleeing from the press, which reported troublesome revelations about her: her drug addiction, Brown's abusing her, her repeated attempts at rehab and her absence from important events such as the Oscar awards ceremony and a Michael Jackson tribute concert. [Note: Whitney has denied abuse and opted to pursue rehabilitation without rehab facilities.] In an interview with Diane Sawyer a year ago, Houston admitted using various drugs, but was careful to note she "isn't addicted and can stop at any time." [Note: Whitney's interview took place last November and she has never made that statement.]
However, for the Hebrew Israelite community of Dimona, as with audiences all over the world, the drug addiction is not a problem at the moment. It is part of the price of stardom. In Houston's case, it seems her struggles with crises are heartwarming and will enable the audience to like her more. The fact is her last album, "Just Whitney," which came out in November 2002 and contains a series of jibes at the hounding press, sold 200,000 copies in one week and 11 million copies in total. Over 250,000 copies of her albums have been sold in Israel. [Note: Just Whitney has not sold 11 million copies worldwide to date.]
At around 9:30 P.M., there are signs of movement from the patrol cars across the way. A shiny white bus slowly enters the plaza. Inside there is a smiling face in a white blouse. Whitney waves excitedly to the crowd. And then the door opens and Mayor Gabi Lalush hurries inside. A few minutes later, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown step out of the bus. Houston seems happy and pleased. She shouts to the crowd: "We love you, see you soon!"
Brown, for his part, doesn't forget his role, and makes a fist with a hand adorned with a huge ring and waves it in a gesture of "Black power." Houston joins him and the crowd in the plaza enthusiastically raises its hands. It is an impressive moment and there is not much else to do but soak it all in quietly. Houston gets back on the bus. She spends the night in a local villa rented for her by the members of the Hebrew Israelite community in town. She will remain in Israel for a week and will visit sites all over the country. On Thursday she will come to sing with the community members. Who knows, summarizes Yeda'a Bat Yisrael, maybe she will encourage the members in America to visit Israel more often.
Sharon meets with pop singer Whitney Houston in Jerusalem
By Michal Palti
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met Tuesday with American pop singer Whitney Houston and her husband Bobby Brown at his Jerusalem residence.
Sharon welcomed Houston and Brown to Jerusalem, which he called "the capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years."
Noting that this was their first trip to Israel, Sharon hoped it would be the first of many, to which Houston replied, "Yes."
When Sharon asked her how she felt in Israel, Houston said, "It's home, it's home."
Houston arrived Sunday for her stay with the Black Hebrews, a group of nearly 2,000 black Americans who followed a Chicago bus driver to Israel decades ago and believe they are descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israelites.
Their religious customs include a vegan diet and polygamy. Houston spent her first day at their compound in the desert town of Dimona receiving massages, relaxing, and meeting with the Black Hebrews, who call each other saints.
"She is loving it," said Patricia Houston, the singer's spokeswoman and sister-in-law. "She is a spiritual woman and wanted to come here and touch the land and be around the saints of Dimona." Whitney Houston is accompanied by a group of relatives, including her husband, singer Bobby Brown, and their daughter.
Patricia Houston said the singer had planned to come earlier, but her trip had been postponed a number of times because of security concerns.
US pop diva meets Israel's premier
JERUSALEM (AFP) - US pop diva Whitney Houston met with Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon at his Jerusalem residence on Tuesday evening while on a six-day visit to Israel at the invitation of a desert-dwelling black Hebrew sect.
Dressed in a distinctive vibrant red African costume, Houston, 40, told Sharon she was in Israel to "visit friends and family" among the polygamous black Hebrews, who have been living in Israel since 1969.
But, standing outside Sharon's residence, Houston did not shake hands with Israel's premier, leaving it to her husband the former singer Bobby Brown."
She was also due to meet with Israel's hawkish Tourism Minister Benny Elon later Tuesday in Jerusalem.
Houston and Brown arrived in Israel with their daughter on Sunday and went directly to the desert town of Dimona, which is home to the 2,000-strong sect and renowned for being the site of an Israeli nuclear plant.
The visit was aimed at sending a message that Israel was a safe place to travel in, elders of the community said on Sunday.
Houston was also said to be planning a recording about Israel with several members of the community, which is known for its choirs and singing groups, they added.
On Monday, she visited the southern coastal town of Eilat, and is due to tour Jerusalem on Wednesday, taking in both Jewish and Christian holy sites in the Old City. Later in the week, she is due to visit the Galilee and Jordan river areas, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
Known as the Original African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem, the black Hebrews believe they are descended from one of the ten lost tribes of Israel as mentioned in the Bible.
Strict dietary laws forbid the consumption of meat and polygamy is permitted.
The group first came to Israel in 1969, and since then, members have earned a living through their celebrated professional gospel choir and rhythm and blues singing troupes.
Two members of the community even represented Israel at the Eurovision song contest in 1999.
They are also renowned for the brightly-colored clothing they make, and for the vegetarian food they produce at a factory in the area.
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