culture – Page 67 – The Real Jerusalem Streets

Gush Etzion New and Old Views

June 15, 2014rjstreets

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.

Jerusalem Day: Israeli Flags and Parade

June 1, 2014rjstreets

Thousands of people are marching down 5th Avenue in New York City

for the annual Israel Day Parade #TogetherOnFifth,

after months of intense organization and planning.

On Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, we also had a parade.

Overnight all the yellow and white Vatican flags were gone,

replaced with blue & white Israeli and Jerusalem flags.

The streets were crowded with tens of thousands of people,

carrying thousands of flags,

for the annual Rikudegalim, Dance with the Flags

or Flag Parade.

Streets that were closed for the Pope were shut down again.

But this time people did not stay away,

Aleh students came in their wheelchairs.

Thousand of girls with Israeli flags

had their own place to sing and dance.

And these two guys were trying awfully hard to see them.

In the crowd it was hard to see, so sitting on shoulders provided a better view.

The buses blocked traffic so the parade could pass,

as the streets were filled with people long before the official start time.

The hotel balcony gave people a great vantage point.

Outside Heichal Shlomo, men and boys were packed in,

ready to march to the Western Wall,

to enter by same gate as the paratroopers did in 1967

when they liberated the Old City from Jordanian control.

With people coming in all directions all afternoon,

this parade may not have been as carefully organized

as the one in New York City,

but it was the ultimate blue & white photo-op.

I heard of girls who needed a police escort out of the Old City,

as glass bottles were thrown at them.

But though Yom Yerushalayim is not yet a national holiday,

people from all over the world came together to celebrate.

And on King George Street where the masses were having fun,

there was no violence, so it did not make the news.

Pope Francis View from Notre Dame

May 25, 2014rjstreets

Ever walk by something many times and not really notice?

Even with my camera always out and ready,

I had not really paid attention

to this building,

the Saint Louis French Hospital.

Its gates were opened recently for a few hours to the press.

Damage from a broken water pipe revealed hidden art on the walls.

Built across from New Gate of the Old City in the 19th century,

Comte Marie Paul Amédée de Piellat, a French nobleman funded,

designed and decorated the building after World War I.

His frescoes

were revealed to the public after years out of view,

that whole story has been written up in many places.

But, though I have seen the Israeli Antiquities photos of these frescoes,

no one posted a photo of the Kosher certificate near the entrance.

This hospital run by the Sisters of St Joseph of Apparition is kosher.

There is no sukkah,

but 50 volunteers came from Germany to clean for Passover.

Arriving after the official tour had ended,

one of the two chaplains kindly showed me around.

Going through the nuns’ private upstairs sleeping quarters to the roof,

was a great view of Notre Dame where Pope Francis

will stay on his visit in Jerusalem, Israel.

By roof top, Notre Dame is just a hop, skip and a jump away.

Too bad the patients at St Louis are much too ill to enjoy the views,

like this hidden oasis in back of the hospice.

I could have spent hours up there,

with incredible views

of Jerusalem, Israel, from all directions.

When security is high, sharp shooters are posted on roof tops.

Ever wonder what that is like?

Now you know what they will see for Pope’s visit.

Too bad that streets will be cleared when Pope Francis arrives,

he will not see the real Jerusalem streets.