Do you know where your children are?
It was a question used as a public service announcement on American television from the late 1960s through the late 1980s.
This time of year, late August in Jerusalem, the catchphrase comes to mind often.
We live in a unique and complicated neighborhood. The past three weeks have been under increased threat from Iran and Hezbollah. School holidays and families try to get away for a vacation or at least a rest.
I know that the family members at summer camps in the US got safely to Europe.
I don’t know the future, but can share what happened this past week in Jerusalem.
Yemin Moshe’s neighborhood and streets are photo-worthy day or night.
The views from Yemin Moshe over the Sultan’s Pool to Jaffa Gate and the Old City never get old.
The lanes of the Artists’ Colony are lit at night at the end of August.
The Hutzot Hayotzer, Arts and Crafts Festival was back in Mitchell Park. Not the international event of the past but welcomed artisans from the North and South to the annual Jerusalem event.
Food. All varieties of Kosher food stalls have taken over the space where the international booths had been in previous years with the Old City walls in view across the street.
Another main attraction is the lineup of Israeli performers, each night thousands fill the stands of the Sultan Pool for concerts, with Ishay Ribo on, August 26, 2024.
New this year a booth in the artisan area of the park with yellow ribbons and hostage posters.
The First Station was also filled with people, food, and music each night.
Families with babies in strollers in the cooler night temperatures got together.
People sat in the main areas to chat, eat, and drink at the Jerusalem Cocktail Festival.
As the musicians tuned up I was leaving, but one young girl was ready for the show.
The end of August is Jerusalem Festival time, and new announcement signs were posted.
Planning for the future, the Jerusalem Design Week is to be September 19 – 26 at Hanson House.
Not a festival, but important lecture, Natasha Hausdorff was at the Begin Center to speak on “Defending Israel from ‘Lawfare.'” If you haven’t heard her clear, concise, and intelligent remarks – look up and listen.
Another end-of-August annual favorite is behind the King David Hotel in the Bloomfield Garden.
The Shakespeare adaptations take place with the audience seated or standing in the park area.
The cast and audience move during the performances of “As You Like It” by the Theater in the Rough.
The exuberant performers selected a comedy this year, I admit, complicated to follow, but fun to watch.
Most of the original audience moved along and was present for the finale as it got dark.
More culture? The Metulla Poets Festival, “From the Place Where We Are Right” will be in three Jerusalem locations including the Kahn Theater from August 28-30, 2024.
Metulla has been under Hezbollah rocket fire for over ten months.
Special buses are being arranged for evacuees to attend. Hoping this will not become an annual Jerusalem event and they may all be home safely next year.
As August ends the bird migration begins. The water no longer follows on the top of the Lion’s Fountain.
But children are back in the park in the water cooling off from the August sun.
In Teddy Park, the fountain was quiet, with water on only at 11 am, 1, 3, 5, 8, and 9 pm.
As seen from Yemin Moshe, the new bridge over the Hinom Valley was popular with families.
The end-of-summer events are at the Jerusalem Theater, Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, Train Theater, Tower of David Museum, and more locations.
The sign went up for the Shalom Kitah Aleph Festival of Letters for children at Beit Avi Chai.
The Jerusalem streets are preparing for the new school year and Shana Tova, a good year.
From a Yemin Moshe photo walk, a goodbye – to August and summer.
But it is cooler and the perfect time to see some of the old and new on the Jerusalem streets.
Still, a few slots left for a Jerusalem Photo Walk.
