A 16-year-old girl, Coral Vedder, who is suffering from a rare form of cancer, sang Barbara Streisand’s song “People” to the Jewish legend when the award winning singer met with a group of children on Monday at the official Jerusalem residence of President Shimon Peres.
Streisand, who will perform at the Presidential Conference Tuesday night, met the children suffering life-threatening diseases and who were brought to the President’s Residence by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The children expressed their wish to meet President Peres and wish him a happy birthday in person and told them their stories, their wishes and their struggles with illness.
Everyone was moved to tears during Coral’s performance, and Streisand said, “This was such a beautiful rendition; it moved me very much.”
The children surprised her with a gift of beads on which was inscribed, “Hope is strength and happiness.”
Streisand told the children, “I will remember this meeting forever. There is an incredible strength in this room and from meeting with you. When I sing “Aveinu Malkeinu” tomorrow for Peres’ birthday, I will dedicate it in my heart to you. I am full of hope for you, for the State of Israel and for the entire world.”
Streisand, 71, arrived in Israel – with her pet dog – Saturday night and later visited the Western Wall.
She is to receive on Monday an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she donated money for a building in the memory of her father. Streisand, for the first time in her life, will sing in public in Israel at two performances in a Jaffa on Thursday and Saturday. Tickets are going for $300 each, except for VIPs, who will pay $950 for the privilege.