Israel – Page 157 – The Real Jerusalem Streets

Yom Yerushalayim Jerusalem Day Favorites

June 8, 2016rjstreets

Yom Yerushalayim,

Jerusalem Day is not your usual day in Jerusalem, Israel.

Special holiday posters went up along with Israeli flags.

Some streets were lined with flags

and Jerusalem banners.

It is gone now, but

the flower bed near Marcus Street looked like a flag.

Besides flags,

posters honoring soldiers who serve in the reserves

were posted along some main roads.

The remembrance day of Yom Yerushalayim

is for the military victory in 1967.

From 1948-1967,

Jerusalem was under Jordanian rule.

Access to the Old City and the Temple Mount,

and the Kotel, Western Wall was denied to Jews.

All schools have programs to celebrate

the miraculous liberation of Jerusalem.

The program we attended in Mekor Chaim neighborhood

did not emphasize the military victory,

but the connection of the Jewish people

to Jerusalem throughout history.

On Jerusalem Day,

the Tower of David is open to the public.

Live music greets the citizens of Jerusalem.

It was really hot this year.

Security officers tried to cool off by standing in front of the fans,

before Mayor Nir Barkat’s fans came

to pose for photos with Mayor and his wife Beverly.

But the biggest annual event on Yom Yerushalayim,

is the Flag Procession and Dance, called Rikudegalim.

The crowd on King George Street dancing

seemed smaller this year.

Maybe it was the heat,

or people were scared away by misleading media hype,

or perhaps people were at other programs.

The mobile library in Gan Haatzmaut,

Independence Park, was not busy.

Seeing long-time friends dressed in blue and white

is always a Jerusalem Day favorite.

The boys with Israeli flags in front of Heichal Shlomo

were as loud as ever and were not slowed down by the weather.

Security was obvious and everywhere.

Hundreds of young people in yellow vests,

helped with crowd control.

The media,

waiting for trouble at Damascus Gate,

were bored from this clearly non-violent event.

The chief of Israeli police was there too.

Posing for a photo with one of the boys marching,

not headline-worthy.

So to see for myself what really was happening,

I walked the whole parade route.

Oh, they were loud, singing such things as

Am Yisrael Chai and Ivdu Et Hashem B’simcha.

One young fellow tried to shake hands

with every security person he passed and say thank you.

This little girl had a perfect view

but I have no idea what she was thinking.

The crowd just kept coming and coming,

it was getting late, and I was getting tired.

Tens of thousands of people were on the

Jerusalem, Israel, streets all day.

There was no violence.

There was dancing in the ancient Roman Cardo.

50 years ago one could only imagine

Jews singing and dancing in the Old City.

As I went home they were still coming.

Bands played music late into the night

in multiple locations around Jerusalem,

but no one could go to all of them.

If you want to see more of Yom Yerushalyim

Facebook photos are HERE

Shabbat Shalom

June 3, 2016rjstreets

It is hot,

and getting hotter,

but

always cool at night in Tower of David.

שבת שלום

Best of Jerusalem Light Festival

May 30, 2016rjstreets

The Festival of Light in Jerusalem 2016

was one of the best photo ops of the year.

However, the biggest problem as always,

how to get down to a reasonable number of photos to share.

For the eighth year, the Old City streets

were illuminated with lights,

with works of international artists

projected on to buildings, like

these two scenes on the Christian Information Center.

The week long, nighttime festival

began on May 25th, Lag B’Omer.

A sparkling wine reception near the Tower of David

treated invited guests

to food and roasted marshmallows.

As night fell,

Italian Colored Origami covered

the Armenian Patriarchate Street,

where a bit further visitors encountered,

the Illuminated Orchestra,

live musicians were lit up.

In the Old City,

girls were still collecting firewood for their

Lag B’Omer medurot, bonfires.

While in the Cardo, the Hebrew names of the ten sefirot,

the kabbalistic term for God’s emanations,

were linked in a pattern

called the Tree of Life.

In the covered Cardo,

viewers were attracted by the French Crystallized,

shaped as a bismuth crystal.

As with all the Jerusalem Old City festivals,

I love to follow the colored lights

out of the Jewish Quarter

and along those streets I usually avoid.

The streets of the Arab markets even shuttered at night

are fascinating and photo worthy.

For the first time at a night festival,

I did not get lost in Muristan Square,

and end up wandering through the Muslim Quarter.

Instead, I found the popular

Lamps of Muristan,

Spin,

and French Green Marvelous Opulence.

Green plastic shopping bags folded to look like veggies,

was a stop-and-think-about-it piece of art.

Tens of thousands of people attended the nights of the festival.

On the Olive Tree Lawn,

what looked like a giant Lag B’Omer medura, bonfire,

was the Large Fire Tornado.

From the Netherlands,

this huge fire was fueled by 36 industrial fans.

Thousands of videos were taken of the

main attraction at the Jaffa Gate, festival starting point,

color and movement of Water Fountains.

the spectacular show repeated itself.

At the Damascus Gate,

Globoscope Stories of Damascus Gate

required a video again.

But there were new sights this year.

At the historic Central Post Office building, Do’Ar Na,

was lit to look like the iconic old British post boxes.

The interactive music of spectators across Jaffa Road

banging on old mail boxes that made this presentation unique.

Oh, and that Eiffel Tower mentioned last week

near the Generali Building

was for the Jerusalem Light Festival,

not the Prime Minister of France.

Not everyone reached the end of the pink route,

but the projection Love Jerusalem

on the new FOZ building was a winner.

For me, doing most of the five routes

with a friend and not alone was new and great fun.

30 stops on 5 colored routes,

going back more than once,

these were some of my favorites.

Every year is different

and each year I seem to need more videos.

Check out:

Water Fountains, with Mayor Nir Barkat speaking at opening event.

Globoscope Damascus Gate

Urban Poetry at Batei HaMachseh Square

and my favorite video this year,

and Love Jerusalem.