After another busy week,
looking forward to a
שבת שלום
Jerusalem
Passover in and out of Jerusalem
Passover time in Jerusalem, Israel,
sees a population exchange.
Many locals rent (or try to rent) their homes
to holiday visitors for large sums,
and go away for the week.
Even more take day or overnight trips
to one of Israel’s amazing nature spots
like this one near Zichron Yaakov in Ramat Hanadiv park.
Estimates were as high as 75,000 people
for Monday morning’s holiday annual
Birchat Kohanim, the Priestly Blessing.
But huge crowds were at
the Kotel, the Western Wall all day the next day as well.
Not only were prayer services held at the Kotel and at regular synagogues,
but impromptu minyanim for the afternoon prayers
sprung up just about everywhere.
It was good to see First Station busy again,
but this was the only sign of the new Luna Park.
The free shuttle bus service was finally being used,
with a full size buse to accommodate the crowds,
in addition to the special vans.
The route was different and it went to a different Old City Gate.
While walking to Kotel, you could see
people on top of the Walls looking down at Silwan below.
Streets were closed and blocked to cars,
while some places were even blocked to pedestrians.
I was not allowed to walk up this alley,
but the guy in white shirt was allowed to smoke.
The closings caused a lot of extra walking for people.
This little girl is watching a man from an Arabic tour,
who is taking a video of the hasid, religious Jewish man,
while I was taking photos of the Arabic writing on the back of his vest.
Warm, clear weather was perfect for
the large and diverse crowds,
and for photos in Jerusalem on Passover.
Mamilla Mall had extra balloon people
and we hear they did a great business.
And of course, there was food.
Parks were filled with picnics and BBQ grills,
and the sky filled with smoke.
Many food places were closed for the holiday.
The ones that were open did just about anything with potatoes.
However,
this pizza did not seem to be too popular
with one young family.
But, always popular
is the holiday greeting on Jerusalem buses,
Happy and Kosher Passover.
New Color in Jerusalem
Passover preparations and Israeli children
being out of school on vacation all week,
plus the arrival of holiday visitors,
are keeping people very busy.
The 120 members of the 20th Israeli Knesset
were sworn in yesterday,
and then they all went on a month long recess.
There were two special ribbon cutting events
that I want to make sure you know about.
Sunday was the special launch of an
environmental program called the “Green Knesset.”
The dairy cafeteria inside the Knesset building has
large windows to let sun in to heat the room and floor,
and special shading to keep heat from sun out in summer.
But now the “Green Knesset” has added
special bins for recycling,
and at meetings water will no longer be served in bottles,
saving 60,000 plastic bottles per year.
Water, paper and electricity are to be conserved.
No more large mountains of paper for the budget,
as each member will get a disk on key instead.
Those responsible for the first stage of the
sustainability project gathered together on the Knesset roof.
Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein, smiling on the left side,
was the featured speaker
and was honored to cut the ribbon on the roof
in the middle of the 1,406 solar panel field.
The next day a very different green project was opened,
the Jerusalem, Israel, nature reserve – the Gazelle Park.
The area where gazelles had roamed free,
did not go to real estate developers,
but back to nature and the people.
On opening day, thousands of all ages attended,
walking nature trails,
and listening to stories near the restored Orchard site.
The water system is designed to sustain the plant and animal life.
In Israel, the end of winter means green grass,
dotted with colored wild flowers.
This was the only gazelle I saw on opening day,
but real ones are to have an area in which to roam free once again.
Mayor Nir Barkat was smiling and posing for photos,
and the ribbon was cut by First Lady Nechama Rivlin.
This Passover one does not have to drive or sit in car for hours to visit a park,
as the nature reserve is large, free to the public,
and open from 7:00 am to dark, 7 days a week.
Happy Spring Holiday.
פסח שמח
Happy Passover!