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Sounds of Selihot fill Jerusalem Streets

Sharon A

This past week was a very busy one for most everyone, with annual fall events returning and new ones planned after two too quiet years.

While driving north we admired the beauty of the land of Israel.

At times it was hard to distinguish between the blue of the sky and the sea.

In the land of milk and honey, natural beauty abounds.

We learned about honey for the Rosh Hashana holiday

and also about bees at Neshikha in Kfar Hananya.

After we returned to Jerusalem, I made time to get to Takhana Rishona, First Station, on Thursday night,

where Silo, located off the parking lot, was hosting an event.

The Woodstock Revival crowd seemed pleased with the music.

Now hoping the crowds come back for the September 29th Ethiopian-Israel Festival for families that start at 4:30 pm.

However, this week’s highlight in Jerusalem was the annual Selihot service, very late at night after Shabbat.

Remembering back in 2015, Ohel Nechama Synagogue was so crowded with Yitzhak Meir leading a musical Selihot that I could not enter.

The Jerusalem Great Synagogue was where I ended up that year before going to the Old City for a memorable night of beautiful and inspirational music that filled the Jerusalem streets.

Thousands were back at the Great Synagogue this year, after two years of being closed for corona, for Selihot 5782, with an impressive choir and amazing acoustics.

I featured the impressive sound of the Great Synagogue with a series of short clips of other places I visited.

It was hard to leave, but the biggest show in town was still to come.

Deputy Mayor Arieh King introduced the Jerusalem municipality’s Selihot held in the large auditorium of the Jerusalem International Conference Center.

Idit Silman was one of several politicians running for the next Knesset at Jerusalem Selihot but she did not go after the media attention as did others.

Yitzhak Meir was the star attraction, drawing thousands, with those without tickets disappointed and frustrated outside the building trying to gain entry.

Meir was on stage accompanied by a group of musicians. His beard was longer and his tallis bigger than it was the past.

In 2015, then-President Reuven Rivlin had Yitzhak Meir lead the Selihot in the President’s Synagogue on the Beit Hanasi grounds.

Sephardi Jews started saying Selihot at the beginning of the month of Elul, and continue every morning for the entire month prior to Rosh Hashana. The first night of Ashkenasi Selihot began after Shabbat, with some in Jerusalem starting as early as 10:00 pm. Selihot with Yitzchak Meir began at 12:30 am.

The full 2 hours of Yitzhak Meir is available on YouTube HERE

Nights of public Selihot continue until Yom Kippur, one at Kikar Safra.

Selihot are held not only at synagogues but even at Jerusalem community parks.

As I walked home, one group was just finishing and more sessions are scheduled at the public park space near the major intersection.

The sounds of Selihot and music filled the Jerusalem streets.

Happy New Year! Chag Sameach!

Jerusalem Conferences and Festivals Returning

Sharon A

In Jerusalem, Israel, where to begin RJS this week is a problem.

Today is September 11th.

September 11 memorial flame off main road to Jerusalem

The day we remember 9/11 – September 2001 when terrorists hijacked jetliners, and crashed into the financial World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon, the heart of the US military, murdering thousands of innocents.

Jerusalem memorial to victims of September 11 flowers placed on names of murdered.

On September 11, 2018 – we had a different US Ambassador in Israel, but the Israeli 9/11 Memorial off the main road to Jerusalem, with all the names of the victims of terror, is there 24/7.

Jerusalem is changing. Buildings are to come down and go up higher.

The traffic back-ups. Near the entrance of Jerusalem, the road changes and heavy equipment, always something new to confuse drivers.

But this week outside, and inside the Jerusalem International Convention Center, one could find earth-moving equipment.

AGROMASHOV, Israel’s Largest Agricultural Conference, and CLEANTECH, two international conferences & exhibitions were held in Jerusalem, Israel, on September 5-6, 2022.

Israeli agriculture displays included watermelon of course!

Solar technology was also on display in the large hall.

One area featured the use of sabra cactus as food. The Ambassadors and Embassy representatives heard about various ways to use the fruit on their guided tour of the exhibits.

Angola was not the only African country in Jerusalem for the exhibition. I met a man who came from Nigeria that day who flew in specially for the conference.

I did not hear who won the cherry tomato competition.

But can tell you that 10% alcohol sabra cream was way too strong for me.

With the end of summer, school is back in session, a new bicycle tunnel opened, and Jerusalem festivals have returned to fill the days, nights, and streets.

For the first time, the Hansen House hosted a contemporary dance festival with solo works by choreographers from Israel and overseas. The new Jerusalem International Dance Festival included master classes and discussion panels.

The Takhana Rishona, First Station, is busy with food and entertainment.

At First Station, one can always find something new. I have no idea what this young woman was recording one night near the carousel.

At Teddy Park, the moon was full over the Old City walls and the fountain was on, but people were only passing by, headed to the Sultan’s Pool.

Thousands of concertgoers were headed to their seats at the Sultan’s Pool for the Shlomo Artzi concert.

The mega concerts and Jerusalem festivals have returned to the Jerusalem streets, and after two years, people are happy to be out again.

The Manofim Jerusalem Contemporary Art Festival joins the September Israel Festival in Jerusalem with unusual cultural options.

The postponed Woodstock Fest at Silo, near First Station, off the large parking lot, is set for September 15, 2022.

Plus, Emunah Jerusalem’s first Ethiopian Israeli Cultural Festival Featuring traditional Cuisine; Art; Theater; Drum Workshop and circle; Basket Weaving; Dance; Film, and more, is also at the Silo Cafe, on September 29th, from 4:30 – 8:30 pm.

A Green Inside and Out Festival will be held on the grounds of the Bloomfield Science Museum from September 14-16.

It’s hard to know what to do first!

End of summer clouds covered the Jerusalem streets this week,

and the setting sun setting added impressive colors to the Jerusalem streets, a reminder that the holidays are approaching.

Rosh Hashana, the New Year Selihot crowds have started to gather at the Kotel, Western Wall after midnight. Culminating, October 3, 2022, before Yom Kippur with what should be a huge attendance.

Hope to see you here soon.

From Jerusalem: The Best and Worst of Times

Sharon A

Another week in Jerusalem, Israel with the question of where to begin.

President and Michal Herzog departed for a state visit to the Federal Republic of Germany today, at the invitation of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. 

On December 6, 2015, President Reuven Rivlin and Nechama Rivlin greeted the President of Germany Joachim Gauck and Mrs. Daniela Schadt marking 50 years of diplomatic relations. It was an impressive positive event.

However, September 5, 2022, marks another 50-year remembrance. The 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich were publicized to be the “Peace Games” but turned out to be anything but peaceful.

Black September, the PLO group formed within Fatah led by Yasir Arafat, turned the Munich Olympics into “the worst of times” as ABC announcer Jim McKay intoned of the murder of 11 Israeli athletes.

The first-ever live broadcast of the summer Olympics started out colorful and exciting to watch on television for millions around the world.

Then two Israeli athletes were butchered in their dorm room, and the others held by the 8 terrorists were killed in a “botched rescue” mission. At an airstrip away from the athletic village, a terrorist threw a grenade into the helicopter as the Israelis were held tied hand and foot.

Even now international media uses “fighter” and “militant” to describe them, starting half a century of deadly international terrorism.

Ankie Spitzer, the widow of the murdered fencer Andre Spitzer has spent the past 50 years trying to get answers to how and what happened in Munich.

December 1974, Black September was dissolved. Most of its membership was reassigned to other PLO groups. Wonder where they went?

Over the course of four years, Canadian Francine Zuckerman documented the stories of four women in the film “After Munich” which was screened at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. The timely showing of the film based on the lives of four women directly involved with the Olympic tragedy left me with more questions than answers about the Munich Massacre.

However, in the next few days, the President of Israel will deliver an address at the Bundestag and will participate in the official ceremony marking the 50-year anniversary of the Munich Massacre, with family members of the murdered athletes in attendance.

President Herzog will also visit the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, accompanied by the President of Germany.

Perhaps now the sealed German records will be opened. Time to see how such an attack against Israeli athletes happened on German soil.

From the worst of times – back to the Jerusalem streets.

After over ten years of work, a new Jerusalem street opened up this week.

Until you experience it for yourself, here’s a ride on Ariel Sharon Highway:

Years of blasting out under mountains, Highway 16 circumvents the traffic at the entrance of Jerusalem and goes from Route One to the Shaare Zedek hospital area in minutes, instead of the much longer times we have endured.

Come and see what’s new, it is constantly hard to believe with so many troubles, that there is so much positive happening.

As the end of the year approaches, Beit Avi Chai has a list of Elul programs.

The new school year of 5783 started as the shmita year is ending.

The public flower beds are cleared and ready for planting after Shemita.

It was hotter this week than it was all summer, but a Jerusalem winter sign decorates a local bus stop.

Hope to see you here soon on the old and new Jerusalem streets.