A recovering Rivlin
Photo: President's Residence Spokesperson
Slipping off the sartorial noose in solidarity with presidential pacemaker
Reuven Rivlin is under doctors' orders to abstain from neckties whilst recovering from his pacemaker implantation; diplomats and visiting politicians are also going naked-necked when meeting with the president.
"'What do ties matter, Jeeves, at a time like this?…'
'There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter.'"
―P. G. Wodehouse (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
President Reuven Rivlin had a pacemaker put in last week, and his doctors ordered him to refrain from wearing a necktie during the recovery period. In a show of solidarity, diplomats and aides have also foregone neckwear.
President Rivlin seated alongside Australian Ambassador Dave Sharma before the ambassadors of China, India, Japan, Myanmar, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam and the chargé d'affaires of Nepal. (Photo: President's Residence Spokesperson)
Aides have informed those who are coming to meet with the president of his medical instructions, and as such, those whose necks have remained bare before the country's first citizen have included the Croatian prime minister, the president of the Hellenic parliament and Asian ambassadors in Israel.
Despite his being the head of a state of a decidedly informal country in which many citizens don't even own a tie, Rivlin has been beginning every meeting by apologizing for his appearance. : "The doctors authorized my favorite style this week, and I've found that you can work just as well for the good of the country when you don't have a tie around your neck. Suddenly, my interlocutors also seem more relaxed. Next week, we'll return to the usual formality."
