Jewish Holiday – The Real Jerusalem Streets

The Secret of Israel’s Success

April 11, 2018Sharon A

Another Passover has passed over.

In one week we went from burnt bread on the streets,

to pieces of crushed matzah.

Tens of thousands celebrated with outings to Jerusalem parks. Hopefully, each year more and more visitors will clean up after themselves.

The best of Passover included the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens. Parking a car was a problem, as it was such a popular site.

Fresh pizza made out of potato flour, instead of wheat, was available in First Station and at many other locations over Passover. Now it is back to regular flour.

Over the holiday week, the furniture, dishes, and equipment were removed. Now even the sign is gone from what was recently Cafe de Paris. This was the site of the Moment Cafe and a tragic suicide bombing in 2002. It also was one of our favorite kosher pizza places as tourists years ago. Now we hear that this corner location across from the Prime Minister’s Residence, where US secret service agents would hang out on breaks from duty guarding presidents, is to become an apartment building.

Have you heard the name Avera Mengistu? Do you know where Avera is?

Next to the Prime Minister’s Residence, where the Shalit family set up their encampment, is a new protest tent.

Avera has been held captive in Gaza for over 3 years, over 1308 days. His family and friends are trying to raise awareness and get Avera, who suffers from mental disorder and was a civilian who somehow wandered over the border, home safely.

In the rain yesterday, there were people still under that shelter and there were protest marches in a number of cities. Today for first time I heard his brother interviewed on the radio.

“WELL DONE, you’re almost at the finish line” was a sign I saw on my way to Gan Sacher on Passover. It was for the full marathon runners as they came near the end of their run. Now that the Passover things are put away and the cleanup is almost over, it feels like I reached the finish line.

However, there is no down time in Jerusalem, Israel,

and the large Israeli flags are up on the Jewish Agency Building.

New flags are flying near Beit Hanasi, the Israeli President’s Residence.

The upcoming Yom Ha’atzmaut, Independence Day, Israel at 70 celebrations are meant to be bigger than ever.

Rehearsals for the opening ceremony at Har Herzl have begun.

Soldiers with flags practice to march for perfection for the live television broadcast.

The huge staging area is under construction.

These are the young men and women proudly serving in the security services to defend the State of Israel.

The secret of Israel’s success?

According to expert strategist Yaakov Amidror, Israelis have a “bad habit” by living life and not stopping with every tension, until the first ammunition is used on other side. The secret is to continue to act as if nothing is happening around us, to live and work and enjoy regular life, to plan and celebrate Yom Haatzmaut.

But when force is needed, as in past wars, to count on the IDF to be prepared and defend us, and to make wars as short as we can.

Israel at 70, going forward and strong.

Best of Passover in Jerusalem

April 4, 2018Sharon A

The Passover holiday in Jerusalem, Israel, is always a busy time with so much to do.

After days of cleaning and shopping, and a late night seder, what next?

This year I decided not to spend hours in the car along with millions of other Israelis going to lush camping sights and sandy beaches, but rather to stay home and explore what Jerusalem has to offer.

Now to share with you some of the best of Jerusalem for Passover this year 5778.

Where else to start, but with food.

Some restaurants like this new humus place were closed tight for Passover.

But not to worry, in Jerusalem, there was an abundance of kosher for Passover places to eat. This Holy Bagel in the Old City is not only mehadrin kosher, but “KOSHER without fear of legumes!”

With baskets of matza on the table, this potato crust pizza looked good enough to eat. People were standing in lines for seats to taste for themselves.

Pizza, rolls, sandwiches, pies, cakes and more…one of the best places for Passover food is in Jerusalem, Israel.

Mamilla Mall was busy and crowded with local shoppers and international tourists, plus entertainment and performances for children.

Another favorite was seeing the clothing in the Old City, with many dressed in their holiday finest, wearing every type of outfit imaginable.

With so many activities for families, it was hard to decide what to do first, as dozens of museums and sites were free for children. The Tower of David had families walking, touring, and climbing.

From the Tower of David you could see the Old City ramparts walk with tourists going along the top of the walls of the Old City.

Days were warm and the sun beat down midday. But volunteers were in several locations in Old City offering cups of water, free to all who walked by.

The Golden Menorah was moved near the Hurva Synagogue, where tourists were busy taking photos.

This menorah is a photo posted near where the gold one was located. The Western Wall elevator is to be constructed here.

Remember I said every type of clothing imaginable? How about a Betar uniform from the 1920’s?

It was reported 100,000 people were at Birkat Kohanim, the Priestly Blessing, Monday morning.

In the afternoon and for most of the week, the Western Wall Plaza was still filled with families.

All day long tens of thousands of people came and went from the Old City.

This line was not at the security entrance leading to the women’s section, but just a long line of tourists waiting to access the Temple Mount.

The egalitarian section, however, was almost empty. On the right of this photo, if you look very closely, you can see children playing near the stones from the Second Temple.

While so many were in the Old City, other Jerusalem locations were also holiday destinations.