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Only Some Israelis Vote for Knesset 19

January 22, 2013rjstreets

Today is Election Day in Israel for the 19th Knesset

and some are calling it a celebration of democracy.

For a hi-tech country voting is decidedly low-tech,

with a cardboard ballot box and voting booth in a school classroom.

Inside the booth, write-in votes are possible with a pen on white paper.

The nice workers in our polling place were happy to pose for a photo.

Across the hall the scene was similar,

and though the turnout is described as heavy,

the lines were short at midday.

BUT,

in order to get to the voting place you had to climb stairs, lots of stairs.

While I was trying to get a good angle to show a serious problem,

a friend who had moved to Haifa came up the stairs to vote.

However, for the disabled and many elderly in the neighborhood,

there was nothing to smile about.

Outside, to get in the building there were more stairs,

and for some getting down could be as hard as going up to vote.

As I left, this woman with two walking sticks tried to vote,

and I do not know how long it took her to do all those stairs.

The situation for access of the disabled and elderly

is terrible in many of the old buildings in Jerusalem, Israel.

One thing no one could complain about was the weather.

Even though many sidewalks are still blocked by trees downed by the snow,

today was a day to get outside and enjoy the spring-like weather.

The temperatures certainly added to a party atmosphere,

but access for disabled must become a priority.

I still think it is outrageous that someone in a wheel chair

has a hard time to vote in a democracy.

There are locations for wheel chair access,

but isn’t it time to make public buildings accessible?

Israeli Election Top 10 Observations

January 21, 2013rjstreets

With only hours to go until Israeli elections, many are still undecided,

but at least we now we are down to only 32 parties to select from.

With so many parties and candidates it is impossible to keep track,

so we decided to share just a few pre-election observations.

1. A “Bibi is a strong leader for Israel” poster is up in the spot

where Tzipi Livni was hanging just a couple of weeks ago.

2. Bibi is good for the rich,

according to Shelly Yacimovich of Labor banners.

3. Zippi Hotovely is one of our favorite candidates,

she was often available to speak and so easy to photograph.

4. In September, Jeremy Gimpel was campaigning for Anglo votes,

an old video comment got him roaring into the headlines this week.

5. Shas MK Eli Yishai took time out to meet with a group of AMIT

supporters from US in his office even though they can not vote.

6. Chief rabbis are allowed to give brachot, blessings in person,

but a brachot ‘phone app’ before elections was ruled against the law.

7. A large banner for Naftali Bennent could be found in German Colony

and a small green and blue sticker on this graffiti nose on Jaffa Street.

He is gaining popularity, but is he everyone’s brother as his ads read?

8. This is an old Moshe Feiglin sticker.

Interesting that he has kept a low profile this week.

9. So tomorrow is the time to decide which letters to put in the ballot box.

Not going to bore you with all 32 letter combinations here,

I will leave that for someone else.

Predict what you want, but things can change quickly,

just ask Avigdor Lieberman,

one day he was near the top and the next day out of the running.

In May, Dov Lipman was posing in the Knesset

with MK Amselem and heading Amselem Anglos group.

Today, Dov Lipman is running with Yair Lapid with Yesh Atid party.

And finally, 10. my favorite sign from this week,

a very clever ad for the Jerusalem Theater.

After the election noise quiets, it is time to subscribe for some culture.

At a recent class on Nevi’im, the Biblical prophets, our teacher mentioned,

a characteristic of a prophet is that victory is important over personal glory.

This election session personal egos seem to be a reason to run for office.

Let’s hope that after election day the winners and losers will indeed work

for the good of the people and the land of Israel.

Meanwhile, everyone also has to decide what to do tomorrow,

as Israeli election day is a day off from work.

Time for Tu B’Shevat in Jerusalem

January 16, 2013rjstreets

Last week Jerusalem, Israel, was a winter wonderland,

snowing hard enough that even friends from Norway and Canada commented.

However, by Friday afternoon it had warmed enough that

our snowman was not looking so good and had lost one radish eye.

A few dirty old piles of snow and ice are still around,

while piles of downed branches line many Jerusalem streets.

Large limbs of trees fell near the Prime Minister’s residence,

and many large trees like this one came down because of the weather.

In the Davidka Square, all the newly planted trees were ruined;

only one branch was left dangling after the snow damage was cleaned up.

When the sun came out and temperatures warmed up, not everyone

seemed to be bothered by the branches that littered the sidewalks.

Post-snowstorm, there is still plenty to clean up on the streets,

but if you are looking for ice,

you’ll have to go once again to the Machane Yehuda market, the shuk,

where the fish shops are filled with fresh fish on ice.

At the shuk, fresh figs were on sale yesterday ahead of Tu B’Shvat,

the New Year for trees, ten days from now:

a perfect time to plant new trees.