Jerusalem Summer Nights

During summer evenings in Jerusalem, Israel,

Yemin Moshe street

I could wander the streets of Yemin Moshe every day

and never be bored, as there is always something new.

Often in the evenings, young brides come for photos,

but only recently  did I see

Palestinian couple

 a woman elegantly dressed in wine color and gold.

Ah, wine.

The Jerusalem Wine Festival at the Israel Museum

has become a popular August tradition.

Wine festival crowd at Israel Museum

Thousands crowd into the Museum Gardens each night,

Wine Festival crowd

 with a sell-out crowd on Thursday night

for wine-tasting, live music and more.

 Thursday night events have been hard to keep up with,

as there are so many new ones this summer.

Night Market Jerusalem

The Jerusalem Night Market on Jaffa Street

scene from Aion Square

was full of vendor stalls at Zion Square.

night on jaffa road

While closer to Kikar Safra, Government Square,

the new street installation provided a

Jaffa Street Jerusalem Israel

misty shower to those who got close.

Jerusalem Night Market

One vendor seemed to open up shop without need of an official stall.

Crowds have come back to the Jerusalem City Center,

Ben Yehuda at night

leisurely strolling on Jaffa and Ben Yehuda Streets,

Ben Yehuda Street msuicain

with musicians performing along the way.

Another free August musical event is held on

Thursday nights in the Hansen House Gardens.

Hansen House at night

A brightly-lit path led to the entrance

Hansen House at dark

of the renovated old hospital building.

Oh so different from a few years ago,

Music at Hansen House

it is open to the public, with colorful lights and music.

Hansen House music at night

Now it is possible to listen, enjoy, and relax in a swing.

Music from parks and First Station are some of the wonderful

sounds filling the Jerusalem, Israel streets.

While a cool night and humid, grey morning clouds

 were the first signs of end of summer,

 there is still time for Mini-Luna Park, Children’s Park in First Station,

and Dinosaurs at Botanical Gardens before all schools start.

The annual Beer Festival and Sacred Music Festival

will end the summer festival season.

Always much happening in Jerusalem, Israel,

not news, but new good stuff mixing with the old.

Torah: Bond for Eternity

Last week an amazing event was held at the Kotel,

the Western Wall.

Tens of thousands of people crowded

into the Kotel Plaza and well beyond to get a view.

They filled the stairways and the Old City streets.

torah scrolls at westwern Wall

They came as 75 Torah scrolls were dedicated,

one for each Israeli killed last summer

in Operation Protective Edge.

Laurent Amram from Montreal

started Kesher Lanetzah, a Bond for Eternity,

with a vision that stated

“We cannot get them back, but we can perpetuate their names.”

The international fund raising campaign 

was a huge success with the last two Torah scrolls

coming from International Young Israel Movement

based in Jerusalem, Israel, including one

 from the Leo V. Berger fund.

However,

Shai Abramson

 before IDF Chief Hazan Shai Abramson sang

Presient Rivlin writing letter in Torah

and President Reuven Rivlin wrote one of the last letters,

Kesher Lanetzah at Kotel

and while all those honored to carry a Torah

into the Plaza for the ceremony stood ready and waiting,

another photo-op was happening in the Women’s Section.

There, near the Kotel, a number of dignitaries had gathered,

to mark another Torah’s journey.

Head of IDF with torah from 1967

New IDF Chief-of-Staff Gadi Eisenkot,

Torah from 1967 returns to western wall

Chief Chaplain Rafi Peretz,

Reuven Rivlin holds torah from 1967

and President Reuven Rivlin,

 took turns holding a small Torah scroll with a navy blue cover.

That Torah scroll was the one that Rav Shlomo Goren held

 on that fateful day in June 1967,

when after 19 years, the Jewish people were

able to return to the Old City and the Kotel.

Torah scrolls

כי מציון תצא תורה, ודבר ה’ מירושלים

For Torah will go forth from Zion,

and the Word of God from Jerusalem.

May this be a good start to the new month of Elul.

man blowing shofer

 חודש טוב