Passover in Jerusalem

How is this Passover different than all other Passovers?

Passing people while walking on the Jerusalem streets, I think they look familiar. However, I am not certain if I know them from 20 years ago, 2 years ago, from online meetups, or if they look like their parents?

As the sun came out over the Jerusalem streets, people returned to Jerusalem’s Old City by Jaffa Gate – in spite of terrorist threats and rioters.

In every generation, they rise against us to annihilate us. שבכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלותנו

But the Holy One, Blessed is He, rescues us from their hand. והקודש ברוך הוא מצילנו מידם

Not my words, but from the Passover Hagadah, from the paragraph that begins – והיא שעמדה – which we recite year after year at the Passover seder.

First, the different look at Jaffa Gate, lovely at night with new lighting.

For the first time, an international food festival was held outside the walls of the Old City the nights before Passover. The array of different kosher cuisine, beginning with the US and burgers near the Tower of David was impressive.

Tables and chairs were placed at the food venues for patrons to sit and eat. I was amused by the signs ‘not to sit on the rocks’ which were covered by the fabric.

Entertainers were out along the route of this new food festival.

I decided a short video would share the event better, with its music.

I was out on Palm Sunday, but I was late getting to the Old City. That’s why I was excited to see a man walking in the distance with a long green thing.

Only when I got home I realized it was a light bulb, not a palm branch.

However, later at Mamilla Mall, there were still a few of the faithful out on the streets with their palm branches in hand after dark as I headed home.

For Orthodox Palm Sunday, I arrived in the Old City in time to see people walking with long, short, and decorated palm branches.

What is different this year, is that Passover, Easter, and Ramadan all also fell on Sunday. It was good to see the Old City streets filling with visitors and international tourists again.

Security was visible at critical junctions in the Old City.

The Rova, Jewish Quarter, was alive again after two years of corona closings. Tour guides were out again sharing their knowledge with family groups.

Passover matza was being given away outside of Jaffa Gate.

And freshly baked Arab beigele were for sale just inside Jaffa Gate.

The Passover rolls looked like real bread in Mamilla Mall.

Walking from Jaffa Gate toward the Kotel, the Western Wall, the new pizza shop is open for Passover.

Birkat Cohanim at Western Wall

The large Birkat Cohanim, Priestly Blessing at the Kotel, is again to be held twice to keep the size of crowds in the Old City down and is scheduled for Monday and Wednesday. Monday morning saw the plaza full for the online live broadcast. There’s still time for you to participate live on Wednesday.

However, already on Sunday, there were people arriving all day.

I wonder how many noticed the broken windows in the Al Aqsa mosque?

Trudging home in the heat, after spending hours walking and photographing in the Old City, how nice it was to be offered a bottle of water. Thank you Iriya, Jerusalem.

Four days before Passover is יו”ד ניסן Yud Nissan. For those not familiar, I decided to share a special trip in 2019.

Israel cleared the landmines, then a pandemic shut down the tourist site.

But as the holidays and tourists return to the Jerusalem streets, they will see the Jerusalem and Israeli flags flying over the streets.

Signs are up for a blue and white Yom Haatzmaut, Israel Independence Day.

But first, we have a week of Pesach, Passover to celebrate with thousands back on the Jerusalem streets and many more away in national park sites enjoying the warm weather and water spots filled after winter rain.

Much more on Passover next time!

Chag Pesach Sameach!

Jerusalem Security and Safety

When I worked in a biochemistry lab, I carefully did research dealing in fractions of a millimeter. However, my unscientific observation of the Jerusalem streets at present is that there are more people sick now than in the past two years.

A bit more scientific, the newest stats published for last week, we see in Israel 709 cases per day for 100,000 people, with a +467% increase, which is the highest in the world. Israel was also testing – a lot.

The borders are open. But the crowds of tourists are nowhere to be seen even near Jaffa Gate at the entrance to the Old City. Flights are still being canceled abruptly leaving passengers to scramble to make new travel plans.

The snow predicted did not last more than a few minutes one night. I love getting white snow pictures and ran to check outside often, but the best I could do was grey fog in the morning. Fog so thick the Vert Hotel was not to be seen.

Mostly we had a week of cold rain. Umbrellas were out in Mamilla Mall, but not crowds of returning tourists. Notice what else is missing?

The art and pedestals that lined Mamilla Mall last year have been removed.

It seems they wrote more numbers on the stones, so perhaps a renovation project is planned? In Jerusalem, every stone removed outside of a historical building is numbered and is replaced like a giant puzzle.

When the sun finally came out a few times this past week for a short while, I walked around trying to decide what to share. A military helicopter flew past as the clouds were breaking over Jerusalem’s changing skyline.

Thanks to the US Consulate installing new bollards – no photos allowed there! I got my inspiration, of course, what else, but security and safety!

The original security “Dragon Teeth” display is starting to grow green moss.

The new security bollards at Jerusalem bus stops have grown taller.

Remember the security at the entrance to Balfour Street last year? At least five levels were visible at times blocking the view to the Prime Minister’s residence with a black curtain and four rows of barricades blocking the gate on the public street side.

Now there is simpler security with bollards blocking cars, but people can walk thru again. I have done it a few times, just because I can and to see if there is anything happening there.

And this past week there was action! Two cats were up on the roof. Oh, the jokes I was thinking of as I walked by in the sunny warmth of the day.

However, security and safety on building sites is no joke,

Construction and building renovations are everywhere.

There was a danger warning,

but now people have moved into the renovated building.

How cool to paint new crosswalk lines that look like old ones.

And then there are the safety signs not to use the crosswalk,

but walk around the fenced-in holes in the pavement.

Getting tired of it all? These chairs are ready for you to sit and rock awhile.

This bench on a busy Jerusalem street near a new coffee shop has flowers secured to it in memory of a deceased relative.

This has to be one of my favorite discoveries in the ‘walking the Jerusalem streets and what will you find next category.’ I may even go out when it rains to see the water come out of this drain pipe mouth.

Some people are so clever!

And those masks, worn and not, and discarded near a bus stop, remind us of the newest tiny variant to beware of in order to stay safe and secure in our damp dwellings.

The sun did peek thru the clouds, and ‘I love Jerusalem’ was picture perfect.

Hopefully, the sign and plazas will be filled with people again, day and night, and soon.

Two years is too long, but take care and stay well.

Hope to see you soon, back again on the Jerusalem streets!

Jerusalem 2021 New Year, New Beginnings

As 2021 begins, Israel has a population of 9.3 million. Already over one million Israelis have received vaccinations, while the number of those ill with COVID-19 keeps rising over 6,000 daily.

Sun set in Jerusalem Tower of David viewed from Jaffa Gate

For the third corona lockdown, traffic was heavy as the sun was setting.

Mamilla Mall was closing down with people doing last-minute errands.

The full moon was bright over the plaza inside Jaffa Gate.

Main streets usually filled with vehicles were quieting down.

Lights and holiday decorations were shown brightly at Kikar Safra, Jerusalem’s Municipal City Hall.

However, only blue decorative lights were on over Yoel Salomon Street.

The popular tourist areas again, or still, were closed to the public.

Jaffa Gate was shut again as in the previous coronavirus lockdowns.

Jerusalem’s Old City was one area where the lockdown was visibly enforced. IDs were checked, movement of more than half a mile from home was not allowed. Over 9,000 fines have been issued by Israeli police.

Inside Jaffa Gate, businesses were shuttered. The Post Office was open, but for a change, there was no line of people outside waiting to enter.

Construction work has proceeded apace during the entire time of the coronavirus restrictions. This man would not let me take his photo, but I was more interested in showing how those safety surfaces are crafted.

The Kotel, Western Wall Plaza, had more birds than people.

The divisions for limited prayer groups were intact, but there were no worshipers to be found in most of the sections.

Ah, but even on the most limited days, there was at least one selfie taken.

From the Old City, I decided to walk home by way of Jaffa Road.

The few shops that had been open the night before were now closed.

Street decorations were colorful, but with no one to appreciate them.

Finally, I got a photo of the large duck on Ben Yehudah Street without people in my way. Sadly the businesses in this popular tourist area was hit again hard by the lockdown.

I was not the only photographer out looking for lockdown scenes.

A woman was dropping off items for someone in one of the Jerusalem quarantine hotels where returning Israelis were required to stay.

It was reported 8,000 Israelis traveled to Dubai for the holiday weekend, escaping Israeli lockdown limitations.

Last week UAE guests were at the King David Hotel, and this week United States flags flew over as the Moroccan normalization negotiations proceeded.

At times it seemed as if there was no lockdown, traffic was moving along.

But at Takhana HaRishona, First Station, those clever plastic igloos were mostly empty, as take out food service is not allowed and restaurants closed.

One man found a warm and quiet location for his standing computer work desk at First Station in the midday sun.

With home food delivery allowed, motorcycles have been zooming around the Jerusalem streets, much more than in the past.

Small business owners had time to take end of year inventory, with no customers allowed, uninterrupted once again.

There was a big open sign, but even Aroma Express in Mamilla Mall was closed. No people. No reason to open.

The Teddy Park across from Mamilla has also been empty for days.

But, Thursday afternoon, Machane Yehudah Market, the shuk, looked alive.

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Returning to the Old City on Friday, one could see and feel the lockdown.

Imagine having the opportunity to power wash the steps normally filled with people on Fridays.

Here is the food court in the Jewish Quarter without customers,

the entrance to the Kotel, without a line waiting to go thru security,

and no traffic at Sha’ar Ashpot, Dung Gate, near the Kotel entrance.

Photo credit: ADI

Vaccinations have been going at a rapid pace. ADI, formerly ALEH, inoculated 1,500 people in two days, and in a party atmosphere. Their residential students with severe challenges were some of the most vulnerable in the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Taking your dog for a walk has been allowed in all the lockdowns.

More and more people are out enjoying the pleasant weather and walking in the sunshine, with and without masks.

The signs above the Jerusalem streets advise for safety at home.

The Jerusalem streets give safety and health advice.

However, in many families there is still a revolving door situation with one family member or another in bidud, isolation.

Not just Bubby and Zayde (grandparents) in bidud.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, MDA teams have sampled more than 3,500,000 people.

Photo credit: A Y Altshul

With efficient testing and vaccinations, most Israelis are anxiously waiting for the revolving door situation to end.

The hope is in 2021, the beginning of the end of the coronavirus is in sight, this the last lockdown, and new light at the end of a year-long dark tunnel.

Take care and stay well, hope to see you soon on the Jerusalem streets.