Sukkot holiday

From Yom Kippur to Sukkot on the Jerusalem streets

Sharon A

Yom Kippur in Jerusalem, Israel, is a quiet and solemn time.

The traffic lights flash yellow, and all traffic stops.

This year, the number of children on scooters seemed to grow over those on bicycles filling the Jerusalem streets.

The RJS camera is stashed away. I have no photos of the people dressed in white flowing along the Jerusalem streets or inside during the long day of prayers and fasting. Then the shrill sounds of the shofar break the silence as night begins and preparations for Sukkot start.

The day after Yom Kippur, a favorite sukkah was back on a Jerusalem street.

Plenty of strings, ropes, and ties were for sale for building a sukkah.

Major markets for the etrog and lulavim were established, but simple tables also popped up on the streets.

Sukkot were being put up in open areas all around Jerusalem.

Patience was required as sanitation workers disposed of mountains of excess packaging.

These Zaka vehicles were on the Jerusalem streets the day after Yom Kippur near the Israeli President’s Residence.

However, no terrible emergency was involved.

President Herzog was honoring their service at Beit Hanasi at a special event. He described ZAKA’s work as a form of “continuous duty” that begins when the work of other emergency responders ends. “You always arrive after the storm, always to a place where there is already nothing left to save.”

Another special event was held in the Mekor Chaim neighborhood, a groundbreaking for a new synagogue building.

Construction in this area has started for several new buildings.

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion joined the supporters and well-wishers for the event.

He spoke and joined the synagogue rabbi and congregants to honor the donors involved.

Then, on Thursday morning, the day before Sukkot, the 7th Jerusalem Biennale had a media tour of one of its 22 sites, at the old National Library.

I like media tours to get photos to share before the crowds at the opening night event.

American artist Richard McBee posed for me in front of his paintings as we toured the contemporary art exhibition.

In its 13th year, this Jerusalem Biennale 2026 filled the former library space.

Not all of the over 200 artists are Jewish; this featured work is by an Arab artist.

From Portland Art/Lab, from the US, a first-time participant, a pile of dirt to shovel into bags,

and next to it, walls of ‘Meuzzah to the Moon.’

Curators Porat Solomon and Daniel Sperber shared information on “Or Chozer: An Active Vision.”

I had seen this and been impressed over the years, but had not appreciated the artist’s story. Mordechai Ardon, a European secular artist, incorporated Hebrew and biblical texts into his masterpiece.

In the upper right corner, his vision of weapons turned into plowshares.

There’s much more, so I recommend the Jerusalem Biennale 2026. It runs until November 12, and this venue is free of charge, located on the Givat Ram Campus of Hebrew University.

Hebrew is often hard to translate.

מתעמקים – de Profundis is what Ram Ozeri decided worked better than ‘From the Depths’ as this year’s theme.

More photos of the Biennale HERE

To round off the four days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, a new Torah was dedicated Thursday night- just in time for Simchat Torah.

Friday, it was time to get back in the kitchen and prepare for dinner in the sukkah.

Glad to go out for lunch with family and friends!

The streets are full of tourists for this holiday season – this year in Jerusalem, with an endless list of events.

Check back next week to see what is happening on the real Jerusalem streets!

Moadim l’simcha!

The unique sounds and sights in Jerusalem from Yom Kippur to Sukkot

Sharon A

This time of year, during the holiday season, the sounds and sights on the Jerusalem streets are unique.

Selihot at the Kotel, Western Wall, was huge many nights before Yom Kippur; more than once this year, the entrance was closed to avoid overcrowding, as seen HERE in 2017.

Beit Hanasi, the Israeli President’s official residence, has a small synagogue.

I started going to Beit Hanasi when President Rivlin began hosting a selihot service.

I enjoyed listening to various Israeli singers over the years, including those of 5779.

The program has changed over time.

Early on, President Rivlin had Yitzhak Meir lead the service inside the synagogue.

This year, the pre-selihot songs were arranged by 929, the Bible study program under Rav Benny Lau.

The synagogue was not used, President Herzog spoke outside to begin the program.

What was interesting to me was his mention of the Torah dedication that had taken place only a few hours earlier by the Hoffman family in memory of their fallen son, Yitzhar.

Rav Benny Lau also spoke at the program, which 929 has organized for President Herzog.

The crowd extended as in past years to the back of the garden area near the synagogue.

A yellow chair was placed front and center, as all wait anxiously for the hostages to return.

Yagel Haroush and Ensemble were back again this year.

Watch this short video for an example of their unique performance.

The President and Michal Herzog stayed for a short time to speak with participants.

No IDF uniforms were seen in the audience as in past years.

It was before Yom Kippur, and the Presidential sukkah was already under construction. This year, the theme is sports-related, not the usual agriculture. The Beit Hanasi gates are to be open to the public on Sunday, October 12, 2025, from 10 am to 4:00 pm.

This time of year, it is not unusual to see palm branches for the top of a sukkah on top of a car.

I like to look up to see the flowers along the Jerusalem streets.

But now, if you look up, you will also see the Sukkot popping up on balconies.

From the top of apartment buildings, sukkot large and small.

Preparations were well underway for the start of the holiday of Sukkot to begin at sunset on Monday.

Colorful lights appear along some Jerusalem streets.

Our sukkah, be it ever so humble, is ready to decorate.

The Jerusalem March is to be on Thursday, October 9, with a big celebration in Gan Sacher, Sacher Park.

Thousands of visitors are arriving for the holidays.

If not this year, next year in Jerusalem, come for the unique sights and sounds.

Jerusalem Colors and Crowds of Sukkot

Sharon A

With so much to do in Jerusalem on Chol Hamoed Sukkot, it is hard to find the time and energy to keep up.

There is certainly too much to share in one post today.

However, one of the main events in Jerusalem, Israel, is the Sukkot holiday Birkat Kohanim at the Kotel, the Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall.

A crowd with tens of thousands of people packed into the Kotel Plaza on Wednesday morning.

But to get to the Kotel this year was really aliyah l’regel. With streets in the Old City closed to cars and the shuttle from First Station only starting at 10:00 am – it was walk up or go home.

So people walked up the mountain path toward Zion Gate.

The view was quite impressive, the sky was bright blue, and it was a lovely time to walk in Jerusalem.

On the way, you pass a memorial stone for fallen soldier Shlomo Cohen.

Families were walking together, as were these two young women carrying lulavim.

One man was walking alone talking on his phone. So many people were coming and going on a road usually full of cars to the Old City.

And a few people stopped to rest along the way.

How do they count so many people walking in and out of the Old City?

It had been a few years since I was at the Kotel for Sukkot Birkat Kohanim.

But I wasn’t going to miss a chance to watch from the roof of the Aish HaTorah building.

People stood at every vantage point above the Kotel Plaza.

It was nice to see from above and not be packed into the crowd below.

Some people decided to listen from a shady location just outside the entrance and not come and stand in the sun-filled crowded Plaza.

Crowd control has greatly improved in the past 10 years, with marked exits.

What a crowd, so many people wanting to be in a small space!

Of course from my vantage point on the rooftop location, I took zoom shots.

‘Selfies’- on the Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock in the background.

A group of Jewish tourists walked above as the prayers were said below.

Sukkot prayer in front of a model of the Jewish Temple on the Aish roof.

A woman above on a roof in the Old City unfurled an Israeli flag.

Everywhere, all around, people and sukkot!

And at night the Kotel Plaza was packed again with tens of thousands for the Remember Hakel event, to mark the special Torah reading once every seven years at the end of the Shemita cycle.

Sukkot in Jerusalem was such a colorful time again this year in 5783.

The Israeli President’s Residence reception on Sukkot to the public had some colorful moments, but more on that later. Off now to more events before the holiday week is over, which I plan to share next time.

My video from the Birkat Kohanim on Wednesday.

What a colorful week, with so much happening on the Jerusalem streets!