Gan Sacher – Page 11 – The Real Jerusalem Streets

9 Favorites of Israel Independence Day

April 24, 2015rjstreets

Yom Haatzmaut 5775, Israel Independence Day 2015

will be remembered for its wild weather.

It was stormy and windy, rainy and cold in Jerusalem, Israel.

But the favorite flyovers starting

with large helicopters flew in spite of the dark clouds,

while these planes found a time with some blue sky.

Before noon, smoke rose from the mangals (grills).

A few adventurous families arrived at Gan Sacher, Sacher Park,

prepared with large blue and white plastic hammers and more.

One family came all the way from New Jersey to

help out with a mangal for the

Lone Soldier Center in memory of Michael Levin.

With fewer people in the park this year,

these sellers of foam spray had to use it up themselves.

Dark clouds were not going to keep these girls away,

nor those with the lone soldiers group.

Their Israeli flag was easy to find,

along with lots of good food.

What a little rain?

There was no questionn but to go ahead and celebrate.

The afternoon flyovers added to the fun.

There were tall people with kites,

little people with bubbles and flags,

and lots of blue and white.

And if not that was enough,

these vans going around with music blasting

would stop and share their music and dance.

But then,

just as people were groaning that they ate too much,

and getting around to cleaning up,

a rocket was launched from Gaza landing in southern Israel

and exploded.

Friday morning in Jerusalem,

the lines in supermarkets are long

and supplies of chicken are short.

They keep trying to kill us.

They fail,

We eat.

שבת שלום

Shabbat Shalom.

New for Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom HaZikaron

April 21, 2015rjstreets

“As long as in the heart, within,

A Jewish soul still yearns,

And onward, towards the ends of the east,

An eye still gazes toward Zion.

Our hope is not yet lost,

The hope of two thousand years,

To be a free people in our land,

The land of Zion and Jerusalem.”

On the eve of Yom Hazikaron,

On Israel’s Remembrance Day for Soldiers and Victims of Terror

flames are placed high above on many buildings.

It is a Day to Remember every year.

the young lives lost in too many wars.

There will be 23,320 Israeli flags placed,

one for each of those graves in cemeteries

located throughout Israel.

This past year 116 people were added to the list.

Year after year much is the same,

as the sadness of Yom Hazikaron,

is then transformed at nightfall into the celebrations of

Israeli Independence Day.

I love the flyovers.

Even the dress rehearsal of the planes

attracts attention.

But you have to be quick to get a great photo

and this year a bird got in my way.

Flags and planes are not the only symbols,

as you can see from this large Star of David hanging on the Chord Bridge.

In Israel, and especially in Jerusalem,

where there are so many ceremonies,

it can be hard to decide which one to attend.

Some are prayer services.

This new Koren Yom Haazma’ut Mahzor,

with over 900 pages

is a far cry from the xeroxed pages that we

used to use for Yom Ha’azmaut services.

This quality volume not only has all the prayer services

with full English translation and explanations,

but also includes services for

Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day.

Included in the 248 pages of essays,

are both original writings and some English translations

of works first published in Hebrew.

The essay “Six Knocks” by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik,

was written for Yom HaAtzmaut 1956,

but all you need to do is change some of the names

and it could have been written today.

This post began with the Koren translation of Hatikva.

It is difficult, even with photos,

to explain,

year after year,

what happens in Israel on these holidays.

Perhaps this volume will help those in the Anglo world

to better understand the words of Hatikva.

Full disclosure,

I was pleased to see that so many people

I know were involved in preparation this book.

חג שמח

Jerusalem Marathon 30 Photos

March 16, 2015rjstreets

Again this year, some love it and some hate it.

The Fifth International Jerusalem Winner Marathon

was run on Friday morning.

While I love some aspects of this event,

at the same time some parts are hard to like.

With over 26,000 runners from 60 countries,

in many various races, many streets were closed to traffic.

This year I tried to take fewer photos,

and ended up with over 300.

Then I hated trying to get down to just a few to share.

You see how long it took to publish this post.

Now I hope you will enjoy a few favorites.

My favorite selfie was of these two men

whose finish time was not as important as their photo.

There were many good causes that raised money,

but Shalva was the first.

Shalva took part in the half-marathons before there was a full marathon.

Walking with children of ALEH were uniformed police.

ALEH was first at the starting line for a special “race.”

Please take a minute to look and appreciate

the police officer and child on the left.

Amazing.

I am so proud to know the woman whose

design made it possible for that child to “walk in a marathon”

more ALEH photos here.

I hate that there were too many great causes

and charities, and I had to cut out many pictures.

Chai Lifeline had a large group with bunches of balloons,

lots of walkers and great spirit.

One Family’s red shirts could also be seen everywhere.

Karen Or was walking again this year.

These girls got my attention,

they seemed to be having a great time,

I am not sure which group they were with,

but photos of them are going viral.

The crowd in the park was so large

and colorful, but it was hard to get a good photograph.

So many people.

So many came from around the world.

The media was interested in the half-marathon winner.

But my favorites visiting runners were

this man and his wife from Philadelphia, PA.

They came with 6 family members,

just to run in Jerusalem marathon races,

to raise funds for lone soldiers,

and to celebrate his 80th birthday this week.

Thousands of runners passed the finish line,

and entered the Gan Sacher lined with water bottles.

In the park there were teams of supporters;

AACI,

the Lone Soldier Center in memory of Michael Levin,

and Yachad were just a few of dozens.

While the marathon winners were popular with the news crews,

there was more going on.

The annual hand bike race, for example,

and exercises and music and of course – food.

Two finish lines were confusing to new comers.

The finish line for only the full marathon was at one end of the park,

lined with supporters,

here as the third and four place Israeli winners came in.

The men’s full marathon winners had their moment of glory

and got trophies from Mayor Nir Barkat.

The 10K and 5K runners were coming

up the hill to the finish line,

with the Knesset in view in the background

in crowds of thousands.

I did not find all of my family members,

and I did not see friends from near and far who ran

for the first time,

yet this one man I had seen at the start,

there he was again as he came into the home stretch.

“If you can dream it, you can do it”

seemed like a perfect motto to start this day

and this smile a good one to end with.

Photos had to be cut to keep this from becoming another marathon.

If you want to see more of Jerusalem Marathon 2015,

additional pictures are posted on RJS Facebook page.