New Color in Jerusalem

Passover preparations and Israeli children

  being out of school on vacation all week,

plus the arrival of holiday visitors,

are keeping people very busy.

The 120 members of the 20th Israeli Knesset

were sworn in yesterday,

and then they all went on a month long recess.

There were two special ribbon cutting events

that I want to make sure you know about.

Sunday was the special launch of an

 environmental program called the “Green Knesset.”

The dairy cafeteria inside the Knesset building has

image Knesset inside

 large windows to let sun in to heat the room and floor,

and special shading to keep heat from sun out in summer.

But now the “Green Knesset” has added

image bins to recycle bottles

special bins for recycling,

and at meetings water will no longer be served in bottles,

 saving 60,000 plastic bottles per year.

Water, paper and electricity are to be conserved.

No more large mountains of paper for the budget,

as each member will get a disk on key instead.

Those responsible for the first stage of the

 sustainability project gathered together on the Knesset roof.

image Yuli Edelstiein and other dignitaries at Kneset

 Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein, smiling on the left side,

was the featured speaker

Israel Knesset building

and was honored to cut the ribbon on the roof

roof of Israel Knesset solar panel field

in the middle of the 1,406 solar panel field.

The next day a very different green project was opened,

the Jerusalem, Israel, nature reserve – the Gazelle Park.

opening Gazelle Valley nature park

The area where gazelles had roamed free,

did not go to real estate developers,

Jerusalem, Israel new park large water area

but back to nature and the people.

On opening day, thousands of all ages attended,

walking trail in Deer Valley Park

 walking nature trails,

Jerusalem Israel park

and listening to stories near the restored Orchard site.

sign in Valley of Gazelle water system

The water system is designed to sustain the plant and animal life.

Green spot in Jerusalem, Israel

In Israel, the end of winter means green grass,

dotted with colored wild flowers.

gazelle puppet on opening day of Gazelle Park

This was the only gazelle I saw on opening day,

but real ones are to have an area in which to roam free once again.

Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat smiling with children taking photos

Mayor Nir Barkat was smiling and posing for photos,

Nechama Rivlin cuts ribbon at Gazelle Park

and the ribbon was cut by First Lady Nechama Rivlin.

large nature park in Jerusalem, Israel

This Passover one does not have to drive or sit in car for hours to visit a park,

as the nature reserve is large, free to the public,

and open from 7:00 am to dark, 7 days a week.

Gazelle Valley 302b

Happy Spring Holiday.

פסח שמח

Happy Passover!

Jerusalem Spring

 Syria is lifting emergency law after 48 years and

the ‘Arab Spring’ is grabbing headlines coming from the Middle East.

News of the murder of an anti-Israel Italian ISM member in Gaza,

came as Jews were busy shopping before the Passover holiday.

Many Arab shoppers were also in the stores buying the potato noodles and matzah.

 Daniel Viflic, the 16-year-old riding on a school bus who was injured by an anti-tank missile from Gaza,

died from those injuries and was buried just before the holiday began.

A tragic beginning…

for the Jerusalem spring.

There were photos of President Peres visiting the Shalit family and reports of new negotiators, but

 Gilad Shalit missed the Passover seder for the fifth year,

the protest tent was dark and empty on Tuesday night.

Nevertheless, Jerusalem spring

 is a time of families get-togethers,

 

and fanning

the flames

of the mangal in Gan Sacher, Sacher Park–

that has evolved into a Passover holiday tradition.

While millions of people take to the roads to travel North,

many others descend on Gan Sacher to picnic,

to play ball,

to relax,

to take a walk,

and enjoy nature.

It is a place

 where even used coals can be shared and the news can be forgotten…at least for a bit.

Happy Passover… it’s time to eat.