JR Receives an Unusual Gift

While on a tour in Rhode Island a couple of months ago, JR received an unusual message from an acquaintance from the distant past. His name was Malcom Warford and he wanted to give him a special gift- his own Kerman mandolin.

Jacob has first met Malcom ten years ago in Jerusalem, where he travelled all the way from Virginia, USA to acquire a Kerman mandolin, coincidentally made from the same wood as Jacob's.

Malcolm, now retired Christian minister and a theological professor, is very passionate about education.  After years of joy that playing his remarkable mandolin brought him, Malcolm thought it appropriate to pass it on to another generation, and return it to its homeland. Beer Sheva Conservatory, of which JR is a director, has a few students with limited finances available to them and this makes it impossible for them to consider acquiring an instrument of the quality of the Kerman mandolin.  Malcolm gifted the mandolin to Jacob's future students with the promise that it may provide support and encouragement for aspiring, young musicians.  This instrument will now be loaned to the most hard-working students in need for years to come.

When asked what inspired him to gift his mandolin, Malcolm answered: "Jacob Reuven is someone who through music weaves ‘webs of goodness’ that may seem innocent in the face of great evil and suffering, but in the end are the means by which we not only survive, but retain our humanity and capacity for goodness.  Such is the gift music and musicians can bring to the world, and the conservatory is one of those spaces that makes this possible. Who wouldn’t want to support such an institution?"