Grandniece of Golda Meir to appear at luncheon

Young Chang

Alice Golembo knows things about the late Golda Meir that few others

do.

She loved to cook a matzo brie. She loved to clean her kitchen,

including the pots and pans. And she was nervous about meeting actress

Anne Bancroft, who portrayed her in a Broadway production based on her

life.

To Golembo, the woman was simply “Aunt Goldie.” To the rest of the

world, she was the prime minister of Israel from 1969-74, as well as

Israeli foreign minister from 1956-65 and minister of labor from 1949-56.

Golembo, a professional actress, will present “Behind the Scenes with

Golda Meir” on Wednesday for the Women’s Division of the Jewish

Federation of Orange County at a luncheon in Costa Mesa.

“It’s the story of one woman,” she said. “That’s all she was -- a

school teacher from Milwaukee -- and look what she accomplished. People

think, ‘I’m only one person, what does it matter?’ It does matter.”

Golembo will tell stories about her great aunt, with whom she lived in

Israel for a year, and answer questions.

She adds that she is committed to Israel, as are members of the

Trendsetters of the Women’s Division of Orange County, as the women’s

group is called. Her goal is to applaud the members and reaffirm their

purpose.

“I love the fact that the name of this group is ‘Trendsetter,’ ”

Golembo said. “Golda was a pioneer. So are these women.”

Born in 1898 in Kiev, Russia, Golda Meir moved to Wisconsin in 1906.

She joined the Labor Zionist Party in 1915, and moved to Tel Aviv, which

at the time was located in Palestine, with husband Morris Myerson in

1921.

She worked heavily with the labor movement and attended the 1939

Zionist Congress in Geneva to help protect European Jews. In 1948, she

signed a proclamation with the People’s Council establishing the state of

Israel. Meir’s political career took her through the ranks of government

to the post of prime minister, which she held until she resigned in 1974,

a year after the start of the Yom Kippur War. She died in 1978.

Golembo didn’t realize the extent of her great aunt’s influence in

Israel until the early 1970s, when they attended a concert together.

“When the prime minister goes to a public place, [everyone] has to

wait until the entire audience is seated until she can enter,” Golembo

said. “We were given the signal, and I was standing next to Golda. As we

entered that hall, everyone sensed Golda was there, and they turned to

her and called her name and applauded. And here I was, walking. It

suddenly hit me like a sledgehammer that she was the most important

Jewish woman of her time.”

Jacquee Lipson, a board member of the Federation’s Women’s Division

and co-chairwoman of the Trendsetters, heard Golembo speak about Meir at

a federation event about six years ago.

“I was just so in awe of everything she was teaching us -- things I

didn’t know not only about her aunt, but other important women,” she

said.

One of Golembo’s stories is particularly amusing. When Meir met

Bancroft on the opening night of “Golda,” she went backstage to the

actress’ dressing room. Bancroft had not yet removed her makeup, which

included a fake nose. The two began talking, and Bancroft picked at her

face. When she got to the nose, she nervously peeled it off.

Meir quipped, “That’s fantastic! Now show me how to do that with

mine!” The joke broke the ice between the two.

“I’m telling Golda stories,” she said. “Stories about the family, of

what propelled her -- not into fame, because she couldn’t have cared less

about fame -- but what propelled her into government office.”

FYI

WHAT: “Behind the Scenes with Golda Meir”

WHEN: 10:30 a.m. Wednesday

WHERE: Robert Mondavi Wine & Food Center, 1570 Scenic Ave., Costa Mesa

COST: $60

CALL: (714) 755-5555, Ext. 226