Jerusalem Inside Look at Open Houses

Time to get back to the Jerusalem streets! The past few weeks RJS posts shared the Samaritan life in Har Gerizim and Circassians in Kfar Kama.

Construction in Jerusalem, Israel, seems to be everywhere. The building up and down could be every week. Construction mess and dust are a constant. Tunnels are appearing now and going underground for new highways.

Plus mountains. Literally, mountains of the earth are being moved for new roads and the new light rail train extensions.

This week it’s time for – בתים מבפנים – Houses from Within or Open Houses.

Still, an impressive sight is Jaffa Gate when the lights go on as the sun sets.

What’s happening in the Tower of David is the #1 of 126 open house locations.

Work at the new entrance outside the Tower of David Museum is ongoing, but inside, new excavations have been exposed.

The new Nefesh BeNefesh Aliyah Campus had a grand opening on November 15 with food and drink and music and speeches, including one from Israeli President Isaac Herzog and too many dignitaries to list here.

Not on the official Open House list, but here is a peek inside one of the NBN office spaces.

Here is a look inside the gift box everyone was to take home – all products of companies of Olim.

Hansen House was my very first Open House – House from Within in 2010.

On the list as #55, Hansen has changed so much over the years and is now a site with tech and cultural events, no longer abandoned and neglected.

The current ‘Equalizing Matter’ exhibition attempts to bring outside inside.

I love the way new technologies are used in the Hansen old stone spaces.

Not on the tour, but how about the interest in this outside book shop?

This house had no sign. The garden gate was open, so we shrugged shoulders and followed each other into this open door.

A woman was showing off the house to the people who had ventured in.

How many times have I passed this closed gate?

And now I was able to see it from inside, from the other side.

At the next nearby open garden gate, I heard a voice. Oops, the house was not on any tour, but a man preparing a YouTube video of his weekly Torah portion.

And then there was this Open House off of Emek Refaim Street.

This was the kind most of us are familiar with, a real estate company open house. This is as far as I went, assuming it was not within my budget, and it was Friday, and I needed time to get home before it started raining and to cook for Shabbat.

Really wanted to get to see this one, but later when I checked the written program at home, I saw it was only open on Shabbat afternoon.

I would have liked to share more now, but this would get too long.

Winter is finally here. The Train Theater is opening before Hanukkah.

Plus, those new Hanukkah street lights are up, it’s disappointing that I have yet to get a good night shot.

And the long-awaited playground in Gan Sacher, Sacher Park, is to open on Tuesday afternoon with great fanfare, the Mayor, and balloons.

Remember what it looked like before the area was leveled and redone?

A quick look inside Beit Hanasi where four new military judges were sworn in–they include a woman and a Haredi man, both significant appointments.

Israeli military judges have their ceremony in the main hall of the President’s Residence, similar to the judges of the Supreme Court, Dayanim, and the Muslim Qadis.

Lots more happened this week, inside and outside, on the Jerusalem streets.

Next time more on the Tower of David, the old Shaare Zedek building, and other interesting new and historical happenings from the Open Houses and the 5th Jewish Contemporary Art Jerusalem Biennale.