current-events

January 2025 Hanukkah and New Beginnings in Jerusalem

Sharon A

For 2025, I saw a cartoon with two doors.

The one on the left says, “Disengage and hope it turns out ok for you.”

The one on the right says, “Fight for what’s right.”

RJS plans to keep engaging for 2025, as it has over the past years.

There were lovely days and nights over Hanukkah, with warm sunny days and cool nights.

So many lights lit up the Jerusalem streets for eight nights.

Crowd at Mamilla Mall for candlelight on Hanukkah

Crowds filled Mamilla Mall for live music, dancing, and donuts almost every night.

Programs for children were held in small venues and

Jerusalem Cinema City had special activities in addition to the regular holiday movies.

However, on the sixth night, it rained.

Rain poured down most of the day. Jerusalem managed ballistic missile attacks in the middle of the night better than the flooded roads and gridlocked traffic with cars and buses full of Hanukkah partygoers.

We finally got through the traffic congestion and arrived at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus –

but oops, we found the wrong Hanukkah celebration, in the wrong building.

Instead, our party was in the new Gandel Rehabilitation Center, for wounded soldiers and their families and the OneFamily volunteers who come each week to help from their war injuries.

Only in Israel? The basements of hospitals are ready for attack with underground emergency units.

Activities, good food, and music filled part of the lower level for the special Hanukkah celebration.

Nefesh Be’Nefesh held a special family celebration for Hanukkah.

When I saw this man at the party I thought he was an actor. When I saw him leaving, I decided to snap a photo of the best Hanukkah costume of the year.

There are still no nature photo walks at the still-shuttered Wohl Rose Garden near the Knesset.

“Bring them home now” signs line the Rose Garden and many Jerusalem streets.

Celebrations private and public, the war on many fronts, and the 100 hostages are always in mind.

The fallen Israeli heroes, over 825, include 85 since Sinwar was eliminated in Gaza.

Sitting home, reading the news, or scrolling on social media, the UN agencies’ lies and obsession against Israel are appalling. For over a year, the Red Cross has not helped Israeli hostages including children.

The clear weather is not good for farmers, but great to get out and walk and see what’s new.

Gan Sacher, Sacher Park has new information signs.

Old City walls near Jaffa Gate for second night of Hanukkah

Jerusalem Old City walls were illuminated with projections the same as two years ago.

“Hanukkah of gold and of light” was Jerusalem’s new Hanukkah message this year.

The Outline Festival 2024 is continuing into 2025. “Unknown” is what is ahead for the new year.

However, new buildings have risen above the Jerusalem streets.

Too many Jerusalem streets are dug up for construction and the future light rail tracks.

New bus stops are going up in new locations to add to the construction confusion.

The Real Jerusalem Streets aims to keep sharing what’s real, what’s happening in Jerusalem, Israel.

Not all is good, but with the sun shining and days getting longer, there is hope for better days.

If you want only good news, go to my friend Michael’s Only Good News Israel

However, to end with one good thing – the views and positive comments on this simple video from Sukkot Birkat Cohanim, keep coming.

May 2025 and 5785 bring blessings for all.

Check out Jerusalem’s Week of Ups and Downs

Check out Jerusalem’s Week of Ups and Downs

Sharon A

On the Jerusalem streets it was another week of a prolonged war that no one wanted.

The number of fallen has sadly gone up to almost 800, and the injured are too many to count accurately.

When there is a short time to “get away from it all” the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens is a favorite destination to check out the change of seasons.

Every autumn the pond is cleared of the end-of-season lilies.

These remains on the top of the surface, this caught my eye for a close-up.

Friends in the Northeastern United States are sharing amazing fall colors photos, this is the best I could find at the end of the season in Jerusalem, Israel.

The lookout at the Bird Sanctuary has a new big sign, but bird migration season is ending. If you look up through the trees, you will see the new Jerusalem skyline is filling with towers over the Jerusalem streets.

And oh those streets! You better look down as you walk. Digging and changing in too many locations to share – sometimes fixing them and then changing them a month later.

I am certain the driver of this car was not happy to end up on top of the flower bed.

At Cinema City if you look up above the Israel flag, the white umbrellas have hostage posters on them.

I have avoided the hostage protests on the Jerusalem streets, however, this week there were four of them.

One across from Cinema City has been featured here before with the faces of fallen soldiers at night.

Across from the Knesset, this has been going on for a year, against the government’s handling of the war.

This one near Paris Fountain has counted the days as they advocate for the hostages to be released.

A new one this week on Rechov Azza, not far from the Prime Minister’s home, blocked the street with white umbrellas and people wearing white clothing.

Everyone is war-weary and worried about the hostage situation. I was glad I wore black clothing that day so police let me walk by the barricades.

Our municipal bomb shelter is getting an upgrade and the door was open. Happily, it was not needed.

Meanwhile, groups are arriving and being welcomed. Supporters, families, and volunteers are here.

New signs are up for Jerusalem events. The Piano and Arts Festivals took place this week.

And a new sign with sadly familiar faces, Iris Haim and her fallen son Yotam- “Together we will be heroes.”

As the full moon wanes and the calendar looks to the month of Kislev, the Hanuka donut season has arrived and the calorie counts go up, as the waistline grows.

And yes they were as good as they look.

It was a week of lows and highs, and time goes on…

as we wait to see what will happen next on the Jerusalem streets.

What you did not see in Jerusalem this week

Sharon A

The Real Jerusalem Streets was started because what was reported in the media was not what I saw every day walking around the Jerusalem streets.

So what was happening in Jerusalem that did not make the international headlines?

Eight months into a war – this week in Jerusalem, Israel.

Buildings in Jerusalem are rising higher, as seen from the Nefesh BeNefesh Campus at Cinema City.

Road construction is challenging as one never knows what will be open or closed.

At NBN the audience was filled with young adults at the evening session of a financial conference on Sunday night. Seeing all the English-speaking Olim asking questions and learning how to live financially smarter lives in Israel was an impressive way to begin the week.

There are colorful quilts exhibited at the Jerusalem Theater, art, and culture with music each night.

Colorful lights line the footbridge over the Hinnom Valley at night.

New signs are posted for the upcoming events, on the right is for Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day.

Yom Yerushalayim is celebrated for more than one day, as there are events most of the week. One program at night was held at First Station, Takhana HaRishona.

These two women strolled through the audience, as the music began after speeches.

As usual, the crowds at Damascus Gate get international attention.

Since most of the reports on Jerusalem Day over the years are critical and negative, I again walked the entire route to see for myself.

The FlagDance/Parade/March (whatever you want to call it) begins for the men on King George Street.

The street was so crowded I decided not to walk down to the Great Synagogue as usual.

As usual, I found the number of baby strollers to be the most dangerous part of the route.

Spectators lined the route along Gan Haatzmaut, Independence Park.

Security was heavy with many roads closed. My neighbors were on the way to dinner and not allowed to walk this way on the day of the Pride Parade last week.

At the corner near Mamilla Mall, a sound truck was blasting music, with young men dancing on top.

As we turned toward Damascus Gate, a woman dressed as a bride was being photographed in the middle of the road and groups would sing and dance around her.

Emergency crews were prepared and ready to respond.

The gorgeous horses were ready and watching also.

As thousands and thousands of people, many with Israeli flags, walked quietly and peacefully.

At Damascus Gate security was visible from all angles.

Yes, the crowd was large and loud. I think much larger than in recent years that I have walked the route.

I got an early start, the way narrows, it’s very crowded, and is not so pleasant to be in.

Inside Damascus Gate, where each year media photographers wait to find trouble, was a female clown blowing bubbles and giving out little red heart stickers. This area is known as a “flash point” so anyone wanting trouble knows where to be and when, and again I missed violent interactions.

The security along the Via Dolorosa where the Flag Parade goes was lined with security.

When I say security, I mean police, border police, and more.

Walking were not rowdy teens, but individuals and school groups.

I wondered if they knew this young man was videoing everyone from a small camera.

I was told a YouTube influencer was doing a video here.

A father and son originally from the US stopped to pose with their flags.

Here you can see the extra layer of security this year.

Shops were closed. But many shops have had little business for the last 8 months because of the lack of tourists, because Hamas started a war on October 7.

While many places were selling bottled water, one woman poured cups of water to drink for free.

At the narrowing near the Kotel, Western Wall, I was relieved not to be stuck in a crowd.

At the Kotel Plaza, groups were dancing and singing for hours before the main event.

So the real news this year was the size of the crowd. Possibly 100,000 people celebrated the reunification of Jerusalem 57 years ago. The media focused on 18 rowdy individuals who were arrested and ignored the big picture.

As I headed home early, I passed these girls arriving by way of Jaffa Gate on the Armenian Way.

Thousands and thousands of young women, some louder than the boys.

They kept coming and coming

and coming, as I walked back on Agron Street.

The Jerusalem Flag/March/Parade was not about a few troublemaking male teens, but tens of thousands of people out on a warm day celebrating Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.

And on the way home, celebrations for the holiday of Shavuot this week had begun with these cheese tortes ready in the bakery window.

Chag Shavuot Sameach

Am Yisrael Chai!