Last week we were in Gush Eztion
as news of two boys kidnapping was developing.
Now we know three are still missing.
We hope for good news this week.
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Jerusalem Light Festival 2014
Jerusalem, City of Light.
One of the most popular cultural events hosted in the Old City
is the Jerusalem Light Festival.
I like to arrive early and wander the alleyways
as the sun set and the colorful lights came on.
This was an unique light piece in the Christian Quarter,
but there were several of these posters.
Many more Arab shops were open this year,
these drinks were ready for the large crowds.
The blue lights
led us past the barbershop which was open, but not busy.
There were 29 stops along four routes.
One of the most interesting was in front of the Hurva Synagogue.
Using buildings as screens,
for projected
works was big this year.
Easy to know who did “Circus of Light.”
Colored lights on the walls were in several locations.
This interactive piece changed as people touched it.
Nearby outside the walls, these globes changed in color and form.
This work near Jaffa Gate was an imposing structure,
and looked different from the other side.
Along the street to the Damascus Gate were actors,
in costume, in colorful settings,
but when you got close it looked so different.
Inside Jaffa Gate another light show shined on the Christian Information Center.
But my favorite was Damascus Gate,
where the 6 minute
light show required a video.
Photos of this huge, colorful complex piece
will probably be favorites from this 5th annual event.
But I also like this simple photo from the night.
The festival runs from June 11-19.
A lot of walking is involved.
It is hard to see everything in one night.
Some friends said they were disappointed,
but I think it was much better than last year.
Gush Etzion New and Old Views
During the days before the “Oslo Peace,”
we drove through Bethlehem
to get to Gush Etzion from Jerusalem, Israel.
We visited
Alon Shvut, Kfar Etzion, Efrat, Eleazar and Neve Daniel
many, many times over the years.
The way, lined with rocks and brush, was not cultivated,
and was mostly barren hills when we first drove there.
Jews had settled in Gush Etzion before 1948,
but the Jordanian Legions wanted to conquer Jerusalem,
and the Jews were in their way.
The brave defenders of Gush Etzion put up a strong resistance,
but were badly out numbered.
This is the bunker in Kfar Etzion, into which a live grenade was thrown to kill
some of the last of the sick and women.
Today in Kfar Etzion you can see this stone in memory of the ל”ה,
the 35 men killed and their bodies mutilated
while trying to save the communities of the Gush.
Now the area is built up, but from 1948 until 1967,
the only surviving remnant in the area was
this one lone ancient oak tree.
This past Friday we participated in Gush Etzion Scavenger Hunt.
From this water tower,
we had a great view of the Har Etzion Yeshiva
and the community of Alon Shvut.
During the morning, we heard reports that two high school boys
who attended a yeshiva in Kfar Etzion had gone missing the night before.
(Turned out later that there were three teenagers.)
Those boys were somewhere
out there.
On Kfar Etzion we saw one of the first buildings built in the 1940s,
after 1967 it was rebuilt for four families.
This man was one of the children born in Gush Etzion.
The children were evacuated and survived the massacres of 1948,
but that is another fascinating story.
He returned after 1967, made his home in Kfar Etzion
and now tells his life story to visitors.
The Scavenger hunts of the Old City and Nahlaot were fun and educational.
Now with new, faster roads, Gush Etzion, is only minutes away from Jerusalem,
and with the kidnapping of three young yeshiva students,
it is now in the hearts and minds of all Israelis.
That is The Real Jerusalem Streets today.