Gush Katif – The Real Jerusalem Streets

Nine Days of Av

July 18, 2018Sharon A

Rosh Chodesh Av starts the annual period of mourning in the Jewish calendar before the fast of Tisha b’Av, the 9th of the month of Av, which commemorates the destruction of both the First and Second Temples and other catastrophic events that befell the Jewish people.

With restrictions on live music, eating meat and drinking wine, there is a more somber mood this week in Jerusalem, Israel.

This year, however, the World Cup final provided and excuse for some to hold large gatherings to watch the game: at the Tower of David, street cafes and many outdoor venues.

This summer there is something new called Auto Ochel, food trucks in Valley of Hinnom. The restaurants featured this week provided dairy meals for the Nine Days.

For this week, celebrations are limited, as for example, no Jewish weddings are held, in order to remember the destruction.

This model of the Second Temple stands outside at the Israel Museum.

Inside the museum a stone salvaged from its destruction in Jerusalem so many centuries ago is on display.

This time of year I remember the beautiful town of Yamit which was destroyed in 1981 in order to return every grain of sand in the Sinai peninsula back to Egypt as part of the peace treaty.

Thirteen years have passed since summer of destruction of Gush Katif. These beautiful homes were in one of the Israeli communities destroyed.

We are no closer to the promised peace.

Israeli fields have gone up in smoke over past three months. 7,400 acres were burnt.

Today two incendiary balloons from Gaza landed in a nursery school playground.

In this photo from Operation Pillar of Defense, November 2012, children in Sderot played inside the bomb-protected playground as missiles were launched at them from Gaza.

Who remembers the Truth about Gaza?

Thousands of pilgrims walked up these steps to the Holy Temples of old.

This week we remember the destruction in Jerusalem.

Ir David, City of David, is having a summer festival after Tisha B’Av, with camel rides and workshops.

The 35 th Jerusalem Film Festival begins next week, followed by the annual Wine Festival at the Israel Museum.

Next week we look forward to weddings, music and celebrations, and building new homes, with hope for the future.

New Signs of Spring in Israel

March 21, 2018Sharon A

Pesach, Passover, the holiday of Freedom and the holiday of Spring,

begins two weeks into the Hebrew month of Nisan.

In Israel, spring is a time of green and of spring blooms of all colors popping up in the warm sun after the winter rain.

On a recent trip south toward the Negev, clouds billowed over the power lines.

All along the highway, green was the predominate color.

Fields of green vegetables are ready to pick for the holiday tables.

Our trip was to see a new vegetable packing plant in the Negev called חסלט Hasalat.

The facility was impressive on many levels.

The size and capacity are impressive. Those openings are for two large trucks filled with produce to be delivered.

Not all produce is accepted, and these crates with red stickers contained rejected produce.

Samples of deliveries are washed and rinsed and checked in the lab, through a series of fine filters.

The specially trained inspectors are looking for insects less than a millimeter in size.

They know how to tell tiny insects that are not easily washed away from those that are.

Once the produce has been checked and declared clean, it then to goes to the packers, who have to dress warmly, as the rooms are kept cool.

The cabbage checkers check and recheck for insects, before the cabbages are sent along to be put in plastic bags.

This is a large plant, with multiple rooms that process a variety of vegetables.

With Passover approaching, the demand for romaine lettuce will surge.

Ready-cut carrots, parsley and cabbage for salads will also be in great demand.

Along the road agricultural workers were working in the green fields.

These bomb shelters for farmers were built for protection as the rockets rained in from Gaza.

Now they are being used for storage, but if an alarm sounds, in the Negev there is no time to head home. Some workers have less than fifteen seconds to run to shelter.

After 12 years, Gush Katif produce, though no longer from Gush Katif, stands for quality and bug-free vegetables with low pesticide use, and some are grown organically.

Farmers are growing in special green houses in the Negev, sending their produce to be packed at Hasalat and then sent to stores in Israel and around the world.

Not all the farmers who left Gush Katif have permanent homes yet, so many years after they were expelled.

These are the housing plots for the new Shavei Darom community.

The JNF playground is built and ready, but there are no children yet to play there.

The community mikvah is state-of the-art with access for those with disabilities.

The Shavei Darom infrastructure is ready, but there are no homes built yet.

12 years after the destruction of Gush Katif, those expelled are still living in temporary residences.

Bomb shelters next to bus stops are real and ready.

But it was good to see that greener days are ahead for some of the former residents of Gush Katif.

It’s also good to see the new signs over the Jerusalem streets for Passover.

Chag Aviv Sameach Be Yerushaliyim

Happy Holiday of Spring in Jerusalem.

Israeli Summer Heats Up

July 22, 2015rjstreets

As the summer weather heats up, I slow down.

Sipping an ice coffee while walking

has become a routine.

It seems I am not alone, this man who

walked into my new graffiti photo had a drink in hand too.

It took me a couple of weeks to get to Yoel Salomon Street

to see the Jerusalem, Israel streets’ hottest summer display,

dozens of colorful umbrellas strung above the narrow lane.

There used to be so many used book stores lining the streets,

but another book store is closing,

and these signs were plastered announcing the sales.

At least on the other side of the street there are happier signs

of summer children’s programs at Beit Avi Chai.

Summer festivals will be starting soon,

and posters are up for summer events

in Kikar Safra, Government Square.

But this week leading up to Tisha B’Av

is also ten years since the end of Gush Katif.

I wrote about a visit to the new Netzer Hazani four years ago.

Since that time,

beautiful communities like in this poster,

are now remembered in Gush Katif Museum in Nitzan.

In the courtyard the wonderful sand is displayed.

Moving boxes are used as seats for a video in the museum.

The army was organized and provided everyone boxes

to pack up their lives and leave their homes,

then every last one was knocked down

and every last Jew left the Gaza Strip.

All was not ideal in Gush Katif.

Yaakov Gross keeps a Gazan rocket

that fell into his house in Gush Katif

in his still temporary store.

But after leaving Gush Katif, what have we gotten in return?

The government promised peace,

and instead we got ten thousand rockets

and Israelis have suffered through three wars.

In southern Israel,

an outdoor meeting place has to have a safe area

five seconds away.

And who can forget

last summer as millions of Israelis had to run to bomb shelters.

Some in the south had to huddle in cement pipes

as protection from hundreds of Hamas rockets

that were fired at Israeli citizens day and night.

People are slowly rebuilding.

After ten years

some families have nice homes,

while some are still in temporary living conditions.

One garden stood out in the neighborhood,

newly rebuilt in the sand.

The names of the destroyed towns are listed,

and the pain and division of the nation

are symbolized in this monument.

Tens years on that summer still makes no sense.

Hopefully you will remember,

as there are those who are trying to erase history,

and the Jewish connection to this land.