When was the last time you went to the doctor?
"Unfortunately, three weeks ago I contracted Corona and was hospitalized for six days. My stature dropped to 75 percent, which is very low, so on the one hand I was told to read Psalms and on the other hand I was connected to all kinds of machines to make my breathing easier. I was helped by amazing doctors. Of Barzilai, who are truly dedicated and give of themselves everything for everyone.With all the complexity, the White Warriors - that's what I call them - struggle and take care of every patient.I had a 95 year old Corona patient whom the staff treated with dedication, and unfortunately I realized he passed away after I was released.
"I contracted a big event where I was three days before the hospitalization. I was already after two vaccinations, but because of my age I had not yet passed the third vaccination then. I was at an event of friends whose daughter got married. In general, every day I have 4-3 events, and I jump And congratulations to everyone, because everyone wants the mayor to come to their events, take pictures with them and be a part of the joy. I come and have fun having fun, and I will continue to come. In this neighborhood, 'or' you know, I have a problem that needs to be addressed. 'I listen to everyone.
"Today I know how high the vaccines are. I feel good now, but I have not returned to full fitness yet. Of course I went back to regular work, and I think in the city I would rather be like that than in bed in a hospital, because from there I zoomed in and they suffered a lot. "I also understood that work never ends, but time must be found for family and relationships. The body cannot work every day from 7 in the morning until 1 at night."
When was the last time you served?
"A few months ago I sang 'Fields of Engagement' at a retirement party of a member of the municipality. As a child we did not have money at home for classes and I did not study singing or voice development, but everyone had the opportunity to participate in a singing competition at 'Beit Jerfi', Community Center At the cluster level.
In the competition, the best are chosen, and at the end there is a show and a prize - an organ.
I won second place twice, and my mom got upset.
She thought that because the mayor chooses I do not finish first, I told her then 'do not worry mom, one day I will be mayor'.
When I was elected, I held the youth file, and I found out that under me in the wing sits the judge who gave me second place.
We have closed the circle. "
When was the last time you received a compliment?
"I get a lot of compliments and also a lot of reviews. On the day I was elected I told my wife Tali that it was probably not for me, and she replied 'Choose you as Tomer, stay Tomer'. That I stay Tomer. I do not need a suit and tie and do not become someone else. I can take a hitchhiker at 12 at night or sit with a cleaning worker and drink coffee, then go to work on a national outline plan. It's me. I have a budget of more than 2.5 A billion shekels from the municipality, and it's the same Tomer who asked how he would be mayor, because I only have 12 years of schooling. I will not forget the first days when I told myself I would prove it to everyone. "How to pronounce, how to speak. I like to speak from the heart and not from a written text. I saw how Bibi speaks and I learned from him."
When was the last time you prayed?
"This morning. The prayer connects me to thank the Creator of the world, and I read a prayer every time I leave the house. I am a believer. I do not wear a kippah, but I keep Shabbat. I would work all Saturday.
"The question of Shabbat also concerns Ashkelon. Our city is involved, and I maintain that character. We do not have ultra-Orthodox camps. The coastal strip is open to everyone, but not everything should be open, like shops and malls. I do not watch TV on Saturday but find time for family, singing and playing checkers and monopoly with them.
"My rabbi, Rabbi Yitzchak Barda, fell ill in Corona and recovered. His concept is not to repent and make people put on tefillin, but unity and connections. He lives in Samson, and all his neighbors are new immigrants and do not keep the Sabbath. They respect him, and he respects them. I Do not like fanaticism in any field. Everyone can live with everyone, love everyone and contribute to everyone. Everywhere there are extremists, who want everything to be closed on Saturday, but it will not happen. Everyone can live together, and if it works well in Ashkelon already close to 30 Year, why change? "
When was the last time you talked to your mother?
We talk every day.
My mother, Rachel, gave me the best advice I have ever received in my life: 'Even he who has done you harm - do him good.'
My mother still lives in the Migdal neighborhood, in the house where I grew up on Labor Street.
We were 12 people in the house.
"I miss my father, Yaakov, who passed away five years ago. He was a special person who knew how to stand by his principles. One from whom one can learn how to raise a family with all the difficulties, and especially educate for values. "We lived in it. Thanks to him, I am where I am today. Every Yom Kippur, the longing for him returns, because he died exactly a quarter of an hour after we got home from the synagogue."
When was the last time you flew?
"I do not fly much, but a little less than two years ago I was crazy from Baltimore to come and tell about Ashkelon, because we are twin cities. I learned a lot there, for example about their community centers and how they work on connecting communities.
After Sukkot I plan to fly to an exhibition in Switzerland, because we are just before the tender for the construction of a new water park, in the character of the city.
Ashkelon was once a considered water park, today it is not a quarter of the size of the Dimension.
With the help of the name, I will implement the hotel phase in my second term, and next to the water and golf park that will be restored, 750 luxury units will be built.
Construction will take about eight years, and with the help of the name, I will still be mayor.
I will be mayor until the public gets tired of me.
I love what I do, and I have a lot more to do. "
When was the last time you made a mistake?
"I made mistakes, for example it was important for me to hold fireworks shows on the previous Independence Day, in 2020. As a child from a low-income family, every year I waited very much for fireworks. It was the biggest show for me. We wanted five centers and prepared for shows, I insisted on holding the fireworks, even though I was told it was not the time, and in the end we did not hold the shows because the residents did not want to. I am a very accessible mayor. Half of the city has my mobile, and it keeps ringing. Yesterday at ten o'clock a resident decided He wants to transfer his son to school, so he called. Those who send a message always come back from the bureau, and I answer myself if I can. I love people and like to answer myself. A mayor needs to know how to make decisions, stand behind them and know that there is a price. "
When was the last time you visited a community center?
"In Corona we had a lot of intergenerational meetings, between the young and the adult population. They told the younger generation what was in the Holocaust, some of it was in Russia, Morocco or Tripoli. We have the center for the blind, a place I developed, and there are other social projects for people with special needs. We did not have money for classes. I was allowed to enter basketball when the director of the community center was not present.
I was lucky, the principal of the class, who would whistle at me and I would come in and play, but I did not get much to the basket because I was a dwarf.
"At home I would play her the most heroic in the world. It was hard and I was ashamed to ask, because I knew the basic needs were important. We knew how to divide and get along with what was there. I brought a dark bag and put the food in it. I was nine or ten, and today as mayor I know how to do it modestly - to get to every house or hand out coupons to those who need them without emphasizing the need and without advertising.
"When I was reading meters at the electricity company and I had to disconnect an apartment for an older woman from the Moroccan community, who did not speak Hebrew. "I turned on my guys and we took care of it. I was already a member of the city council and they said to me, 'What, a meter reader will be mayor?', So yes, a meter reader, locksmith, plumber and mayor."
When was the last time you were scared?
"In Corona. I saw that the situation could deteriorate in a few minutes, and suddenly a person falls asleep and breathes. In the war I was not afraid, you have no time to be afraid, just run the campaign and unite everyone, radiate resilience to the residents. There were complex things at the security level that I could not talk about and my wife did not know either. There were decisions that had to be made with the IDF and the government, and there were decisions that only the mayor makes. We had 22 incidents at one time, and within half an hour they were dealt with.
"If it was up to me, I would eliminate all Hamas and jihad, even in the event of an all-out war. Any normative state would not let them behave the way they do. It is a disgrace. Everyone tells stories, but the enveloping law, Sderot and Ashkelon is not like Tel Aviv law. Nothing will help. One of the reasons they entered the Wall Guard was to fire on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. If not, it would not have happened.
I did not expect such a thing. "
When was the last time you were angry?
"In the last round of fighting against Gaza. To abandon a city of 160,000 residents is an inconceivable thing. I was angry, I am still angry, and I do not intend to give up. Nothing will help, the government will give the residents what they deserve. I love the residents very much, and they give me backing. Seeing the residents of Givat Zion, the Shimshon and Ramat Eshkol neighborhoods as helpless, and begging them to take refuge is a disgrace to the State of Israel.
"In the end, it's less than a billion shekels. With the name, I will do everything to get that money. There are achievements I have already achieved, for example when I got what I wanted for the Resilience Center. I know these problems closely. I have a 10-year-old boy, Nehorai, "That he does not sleep alone. I put him or his mother to sleep, and he does not stay home alone. Noises make him jump. He is tense from a motorcycle traveling in the neighborhood, and it is very difficult for him to get back to routine.
When was the last time you felt proud?
"When we won the education award. It is a huge achievement, like winning the Olympics. At the same time, we will continue to improve education. This is an issue that is important to me because I understand that once we are educated in values and excellence, success will be tremendous.
When for the first time?
When did you first work?
"At the age of 11 and a half, I started working in a pet store, and at the same time in a store called 'Bear Toys', which still exists today. The seller is one of the oldest in town and he helped me. We went to Tel Aviv, bought balloons, sold them to children and helped my family for a few shekels. Preferred job in car washing. I worked hard and brought home a livelihood. Then I was a forklift and a crane operator at the electricity company. To get tenure I had to work another job, at height or coal, and although I was afraid of heights I went to the course. "
Tomer Glam // 45. Married to Tali (40, school secretary) and father to Shilat (19), a Home Front Command soldier, Dvir (16) and Nehorai (10).
Ashkelon Mayor, Chairman of the Association of Cities and Deputy Chairman of the Center for Local Government.
He began his career as a car wash worker, worked in several positions at the Electric Company and was on the company committee, served on the Ashkelon City Council and from 2017 as deputy mayor.
In 2018, he won the election and has served as mayor ever since.
shirshirziv@gmail.com
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