70
Friday, May 24, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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Yankele Is A Friend
At The Jerusalem Plaza
BY CARL ALPERT
Special to The Jewish News
ask about our party guide booklet
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LIFE IN ISRAEL
Thurs. 8-8 Sat. 9-6
J.R. & Co., Inc.
855-6466
29306 Orchard Lake Rd.
(at 13 Mile)
Farmington Hills
Haifa — Americans are not the
world's most experienced travel-
lers, and many American Jews
who come to Israel are unfamiliar
with the manners and customs of
the tourist circuit in Europe.
Thus, they often do not know what
to make of an institution in large
local hotels known as the con-
cierge. The very name sounds
foreign. 0.
The dictionary provides a sim-
ple, concise definition: a multi-
lingual official in a hotel who is in
charge of welcoming and arrang-
ing special services for guests.
By virtue of the very nature of
his task, the concierge is usually a
personality in himself. At the
Jerusalem Plaza Hotel our eye
was caught by the 260-pound bulk
and over six-foot height of a mus-
tachioed figure who looked for -all
the world like a British
sergeant-major. This impressive
figure goes by the name of Yan-
kele. The family name of Pet-
rushka goes along with it, but to
one and all he is simple Yankele.
Who is the personality behind
this imposing, omniscient figure,
who looks as if a single stare from
him could induce a cowering taxi
driver to reduce his rates by one-
half? Since it has been said that
everyone in Israel is (or has) a
story, we determined to look into
this one.
Yankele, 35, is the only child of
parents who came to Israel from
Europe immediately after crea-
tion of the state, and set up their
home in Safed. He was born in the
Scottish Hospice in Tiberias, the
nearest available hospital at the
time. After schooling in Safed, he
went into the army, served in the
infantry for three years, and
ended up as First Sergeant, which
explains his picturesque mus-
tache.
Next came university. He
earned his bachelor's degree in
chemistry, and was hard at work
in 1974 on his master's, earning
money on the side as a security
guard, telephone installer and
other odd jobs, when he learned
that the newly-opened Plaza had
an opening for a checker at the
bar. The manager took one look at
him and hired him as a doorman.
They had to have his uniform
especially made. After two years
he moved indoors as bell captain,
and then shifted to concierge.
A concierge must never (or al-
most never) say "no," he told us.
Nothing that a guest asks for is
impossible, unless it is illegal.
Once a guest asked him to ar-
range to send flowers, for a birth-
day, to Kamchatka, in the Soviet
Union near Japan. Inquiry re-
vealed that there was no branch of
Interflora in that remote spot, but
with a little ingenuity Yankele
arranged to have frozen flowers
shipped express from Tokyo.
Then there was the guest who
arrived on the eve of Lag b'Omer,
and insisted on going at once to
the celebration at Meron, in the
Galilee hills. That was achieved
by helicopter, no mean feat con-
sidering the tens of thousands of
people milling around Meron. If
someone were to ask him to ar-
range a ride on an elephant, Yan-
kele is sure he could do it.
He meets thousands of tourists
a year. No, the Americans are not
impolite. They are louder, to be
sure, but that's their way of life,
he says. The Japanese are the--
quietest of all. Jews feel com-
pletely at home, and think noth-
ing of taking off their shoes in the
lobby. Non-Jews seem more ill at
ease, as if they are guests.
In his position he sometimes
plays the role of cupid. A pretty
Nothing that a guest
asks for is
impossible, unless it
is illegal.
young girl seeks advice on what to
see; ten minutes later a pleasant
young man has a similar inquiry.
Two can do it more cheaply than
one, and another romance is
created. Yankele takes it all in his
stride. He himself is unmarried.
He spends his spare time on mili-
tary reserve duty, including serv-
ice in Lebanon, and travelling
around the country.
His smiling face has become ,
almost a trademark of the
Jerusalem Plaza, and is also seen
daily on the hotel's closed circuit
television to every room. His
badge: the pair of golden keys in
his lapel, international symbol of
the concierge.
Little wonder that two years
ago Yankele Petrushka was cited
as the most distinguished tourist
employee in the entire country.
Italy Protects
Israel Exports
Rome (JTA) — Foreign Minis-
ter Yitzhak Shamir received as-
surances on a two-day visit here
that "Israel can count on Italy's
support" for measures to protect
Israel's export position in the
European market after Spain and
Portugal become members of the
European Economic Community
(EEC) next year.
Italy currently holds the rotat-
ing presidency of the EEC.
Shamir, at a meeting with
Foreign Minister Giulio An-
dreotti Sunday, asked that it
expedite the work still be done to
define the terms that will govern
Spanish and Portuguese exports
to the European Common Market
so that Israel's position will be-
come clear before January, 1986.
That is the date when Spain and
Portugal will begin exporting as
members of the EEC. Andreotti
assured Shamir that rumors cir-
culating in Israel that Italy op-
poses Israel's requests were false.
He observed that Israel's products
sold in Europe do not compete
with Italian exports.
Israel is deeply concerned, how-
ever, that its main export items to
the continent, citrus fruits and
by-products will suffer.