March Madness Jerusalem Style

March Madness Jerusalem Style

In the United States March Madness means the college basketball championship playoffs.

In Jerusalem, Israel, March Madness has a very different meaning.

First there is the weather, which is constantly changing and so hard to predict.

Water after heavy Israel rainy season

This year with heavy rainfalls, low lying areas are full of water days after a storm.

Outdoor activities have to be re-planned. One rainy afternoon we went to the Israel Museum.

Jerusalem sunset time view from Israel Museum

Loved the sunset view from inside the museum.

March madness means Purim is coming, with costumes, treats of sweets, and parties galore.

Megilat Esther in Israel Museum

Special Megillot Esther, scrolls with the story of Purim, are on display in the museum.

Megilas Esther in Israel Museum

Of many sizes, from small to this large illuminated one, both of these stand out in the collection.

Israeli Museum display of Purim noisemakers - groggers

This case contains special noise makers that are used to block out the name of Haman as Megillat Esther is read at night and again in the morning of Purim.

Across the corridor from these noise makers and the Jewish holiday collections is a special exhibit on Rambam, Maimonides.

Rambam Germany 1355-56 maimonides at Israel Museum

Thirteen handwritten, works of the Rambam are displayed in a dark room, in special cases, including this one from Germany, from 1355-56, written in ink, with tempre and gold leaf.

Maimonides Guide of the Perplexed

From the early 1300’s, a handwritten Guide of the Perplexed, also illustrated.

Maimonides Mishnah Torah at Israel Museum Kaufmann 1295-96

The Kaufmann Mishnah Torah, dated 1295-96, is also in the impressive collection.

From the calm of the Israel Museum, back to madness.

It  is impossible to keep up with the number of international conferences.

Jerusalem International Conference Center stairs for Our Crowd.

Over 18,000 people from 183 countries were registered for Jerusalem innovation conference Our Crowd. The crowded halls and spaces of the Jerusalem International Conference Center were at times packed with people moving from speaker to event. The room for the panel on cannabis was closed after capacity was reached. The lines for Beyond Burger, a plant meat substitute, were  just mad, hard to believe how long people waited while other food stations had no lines. I ate waffles, never got a bite of burger. More photos HERE 

Man in garden of Israeli President looking at statue of herzl

State  Comptrollers from Europe and Asia are meeting at an official gathering this week in Jerusalem. A delegation visited Beit Hanasi, the Israeli President’s Residence and received a brief tour of the gardens and its history before meeting with President Rivlin.

intv and DIGITELL19 conference check in at YMCA

The Innovative TV Conference (intv) brought television executives from around the world to Jerusalem for two days at the YMCA on King David Street.

YMCA Jerusalem view outside day of TV and digital events

Overlapping for its first day with intv, the DIGITELL19, also was at the YMCA, before taking off to Mitzpe Ramon in the south, and then going to Tel Aviv.

Digitell 19 conference at YMCA

One of the sessions at YMCA for DIGITELL19 was ‘Xtream Marketing’ presented by SodaStream’s Matti Yahav, Chief Marketing Officer. The conference sponsored by the Ministry of Strategic Affairs brought an international group of pro-Israel social activists together. I only took a few photos. The “secret sauce” for SodaStream, the 4 ‘Ps’ is here, but some of participants were also a secret, so I only posted a few on Facebook HERE.

Logistic center for israeli elections in Shoham

Most of the conferences do not involve the real streets. However, the upcoming Israeli election is hard to avoid.  A visit to the Israeli Elections Committee Logistic Center was interesting.

As messages from various political parties invade our phones and homes, in this building in Modiin Industrial Park in Shoham, the boxes for election polling stations are being packed.

Logistic center for Israel elections

Each box has everything down to the paper clips counted out and sealed. Work goes on 24/6 to be ready to deliver before the April election day.

Sample voting booth for Israel elections

Notice the new boxes being made to accommodate the 46 political parties, plus one blank ballot for a write-in option.

After the election 250 tons of paper will be recycled. No politics here, just posting the logistical madness.

If you are interested in knowing more about the various parties, their names, ages and positions.. check out a clever voting guide – HERE

But, before Purim, before elections….

Hanging banners for jerusalem marathon

The Jerusalem Winner Marathon is running on March 15th!

Runners on new paths for Jerusalem marathon

Runners are training on the streets. Landscaping and paving along route is going at a mad pace to finish before the 40,000 runners from 80 countries start to line up at 6:45 am.

Jerusalem schools are closed. Museums in the area are closed on Friday, as they are near the starting point of the marathon.

The Bloomfield Science Museum is closed on Friday for marathon, but in honor of PI day, on Thursday afternoon, is open and free.

Signs for Jerusalem marathon

Marathon direction signs are posted along the routes where Jerusalem streets will be closed from 5:00 am until after 1:00 pm.

March Madness Jerusalem style gets really going after the marathon.

Photo of family in costume on Jerusalem Israel street on Purim

For Purim one never knows what or who one will find on the Jerusalem, Israel streets.

This year the city has a long list of events planned all week.

The day Purim is over, the Passover marathon begins, from March Madness to Passover Panic.

Where to go and what to do with so much happening Jerusalem streets!?

 

After Elections and Jerusalem Marathon

The 2015 Israeli election is over.

President Reuven Rivlin has sent letters to the various

political parties inviting their leaders to come to Beit Hanassi, 

starting on Sunday, March 22, 2015

to indicate their preferences for forming a new government.

ballots with Hebrew letters

 Over 4,250,000 of these little slips of paper,

each with Hebrew letters representing a political party,

were put into little blue envelopes

which were then inserted into a slot in

 cardboard boxes,

and were counted by hand.

What a low-tech method for a Start-up Nation!

Some emerging facts are surprising.

Who would think that an Arab village would have

the highest percentage of voters for Bibi?

77% of voters in Al Naim voted Likud.

We knew that the head of elections was an Arab Supreme Court Judge,

and now the Joint Arab list has even more than the

10% representation than they had in the last Knesset–

so much for apartheid.

The last RJS post with 30 photos broke all the rules

of blogging, it was very long,

but the marathon was such a big and colorful event.

Photographers waited at the marathon starting and finish lines

and all along the routes, so that millions of photos were taken.

Arab girls in Jerusalem Marathon

 This photo was by far my most popular in the social media.

Some people may be tired of seeing pictures of runners,

 but there is one photo I want to make sure gets seen.

ALEH in Jerusalem marathon

Team ALEH  posed for photos on the track

at the start of the Community Race.

For this special 800 meter event,

5000 people participated representing many organizations.

start of Jerusalem marathon

Police officers were lined up ready to “run” with

children, all with severe disabilities, from ALEH,

Upsee ready to go at Jerusalem marathon

One police officer was holding a child’s hands,

ready to be the first off the starting line.

Jerusalem marathon special races

Then he stepped off on his way,

using a special harness called “Upsee.”

This child was able to “run” in the Jerusalem Marathon.

We may still be using paper ballots,

but one Israeli mother invented this device,

got it manufactured,

and changed a child’s life-one step at a time.

She has more clever devices on the way,

and I cannot wait to see what Debby comes up with next.

Start Up Nation at its best.

Now that that the marathon is over, it is time to prepare for Passover,

but there is more than just cleaning to look forward to next week.

hebrew sign

There is the Jerusalem Arts Festival

sign for Valley of gazelle

and the long-awaited new nature reserve,

The Valley of the Gazelles, is slated to open.

As always, there is so much happening in Jerusalem,

however, the more things change,

the more some seem the same.