The Real Jerusalem Streets – Page 153 – Jerusalem, Israel

Ethiopian religious leaders Kessim in Jerusalem for Sigd

SIGD Celebrated in Jerusalem

November 7, 2018November 12, 2018Sharon A

Sigd is one of the most photo worthy, special annual events held in Jerusalem, Israel.

Tens of thousands Ethiopian-Israelis and others gathered at the Tayelet, Armon Hanatziv promenade, for the annual Sigd Festival gathering today. Prayers went from early morning through to breaking a fast at 2:00 pm.

Crowds lined the path and filled gardens of the Tayelet with the Old City in view.

Besides the main ceremony, men were gathered around their holy books.

These cutout figures were dressed as in Temple times.

Generations of Ethiopian-Israelis come together on Sigd.

For thousands of years in Ethiopia, they dreamed of returning to Jerusalem.

For Sigd, smiles and colorful costumes were abundant.

White clothing was worn by women dressed in old traditional outfits prayering.

These women were probably all born in Ethiopia, each must have a story of how they and families arrived in Israel.

Crowds were huge. Security was especially tight.

But at least I got to see Rav Shaul and others arrive and enter, as I impatiently waited entry.

Once in the very restricted area, this was view of the main stage with the Kessim under colorful umbrellas.

The prayers were still being chanted around noon.

One man near the stage raised his hands in prayer.

President Rivlin reached up to shake hands with the Kessim as he proceeded to the stage to speak.

So many buses, from all over Israel were lined up, it was a long walk for these women to find their bus home. One was complaining in Hebrew about the distance, but I thought how much longer and difficult was the journey from Ethiopia to Israel.

Sigd was celebrated 50 days after Yom Kippur by Ethiopian Jews going to the mountains yearning to return to Zion. On the top of the mountain, the faithful would pray and fast. At the conclusion of the prayers, the Kessim would break bread known as Dabu which symbolized the bread served in the Temple. Today in Jerusalem, Israel, Sigd was remembered looking toward the Old City and site of the Temple.

Here is a short video near the end of the prayer service.

More Sigd photos on Facebook HERE

17 Years Southern Israel Under Attack from Gaza

November 6, 2018October 9, 2023Sharon A

The last Israelis in the Gaza Strip were forced from their homes 13 years ago.

Since 2001, 25,000 rockets and missiles have hit southern Israel from Gaza.

Eighty-one communities are under fire, on the front line of a war zone.

Seven months ago a new terror method by the Sons of Zawari in Gaza began in the form of fire kites and balloons.

These blackened areas show the result of this assault on the environment.

One of the southern border cities most under attack is Sderot.

The new Sderot train station has a cement bomb shelter cover.

From the highway the train station appears inconspicuous.

Because of missile and rocket attacks, in 2008, the ‘Caterpillar’ park was established as a safe haven for children on playground when an alarm is sounded.

The Legacy Heritage “Park of Good Wishes” has grown over the years.

More cement pipes have been added as missiles continue to fall.

Not only in Sderot but in Ashkelon as well, all new school buildings have cement roofs.

Half a billion dollars has been spent to provide bomb shelters in southern Israel.

This month a bomb shelter “safe room” saved a mother and her three children when a rocket made a direct hit on her house in Beer Sheva.

Not only safe rooms, but these decorated free standing bomb shelters have been erected in this new school playground next to the garden that the children are tending.

Bomb shelters stand near the bus stop for the local AMIT high school. Solar panels are visible over the cement roof that was added to protect students.

A street crossing, a bomb shelter; seconds to run to safety has become a way of life.

In spite of all, Sderot is growing and it is hard to keep up with the building demand.

In all directions, construction and cranes are a regular feature in Sderot.

Meanwhile, the missiles, rockets, qassams collected and displayed in the Sderot police station have multiplied.

Near the Israel border, Gaza and the sea are in full view.

With a zoom lens from this Israeli vantage point, Gaza looked peaceful.

Northern Gaza has expanses of open land.

I will not flood you with all the photos like this I took of Gaza.

But here is the Ashkelon power plant which supplies Gaza with power, even when Isarel is under attack.

Under the white balloon is the security camera operating over the Erez Crossing.

Behind this security wall 81 Israeli communities are growing, but weary of being under fire.

This wall decorated with the way to Shalom, Peace, looks much the same as it did on my last visit.

Here is a photo of the second wall in 2016.

Thousands of visitors have come through and added their ceramic pieces to the wall.

Today the path to peace only appears further away.

Netiv Ha’Asharah is a lovely, growing moshav on the border.

Thousands of residents of the south go about their daily lives under constant threat.

Building new homes, planting new olive trees, working, trying to protect and provide for their families.

However, tired of being on the front line of a war zone, after years of feeling they are ignored, the “backyard” of the country, residents are speaking up.

Walking home on a recent Friday night after dinner, Miri’s family was in the open, not near a shelter when missiles from Gaza fell on Sderot without warning. There was nothing to do but cover their children with their bodies. This is not a way to live, she and others are demanding action.

A group of students who have grown up under threat from Gaza terror are marching, on their way to Jerusalem.

One hundred high school students are on a five-day walk from Sderot to Jerusalem, Israel to the Knesset.

Quiet for 17 years, but no longer, residents of the south want to live in peace and have their anguished voices heard.

Tuesday or Sunday, Election and Harvest Week in Jerusalem, Israel

October 31, 2018Sharon A

Sunday.

One thing people mention they miss most living in Israeli is Sunday.

In Israel it is a regular week day, with school and work beginning bright and early Sunday morning.

No more Monday morning blues in Israel, by Monday evening the week feels half over.

In Jerusalem on a Sunday we can enjoy special scenes like this one in Old City, but it’s not a day off.

Tuesday, October 30, 2018, was a national holiday, Election Day.

Elections for local governance and municipalities in Israel are held every 5 years.

Many olim joked that having this Tuesday off from work made it feel like Sunday.

Sadly in Jerusalem even though it was not a work day, the turnout was low.

Apathy with only a 30% voter turnout?

A runoff election is to be held in two weeks between Ofer Berkovitch and Moshe Lion.

Meanwhile, the future leadership of Jerusalem, Israel, is an unknown.

Nevertheless, tourists keep coming by the tens of thousands. One part of a group in this photo was heading into the Old City near the Jewish Quarter.

Seeing the grave stones on Har Hazetim, the Mount of Olives, with the Arab buildings up next to, and even on top of ancient Jewish graves, is another visual tourist experience.

Entering the Old City through Zion Gate, with its bullet-marked stone walls, is often the route for tourists and new IDF soldiers to learn history first hand.

The symbol of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is a sword wrapped by an olive branch.

Olives and olive oil have connection to Eretz Yisrael going back thousands of years.

While elections are every five years, harvesting olives has been an annual event for centuries.

There are 60 olive trees on the grounds of Beit Hanasi, the Israeli President’s Residence.

Among other things I learned this week, olive trees can live 2,000 years.

So important is the harvesting of olives there is a special word for it in Hebrew, מסיק, masik.

So this week after the first winter rain, President Rivlin invited olive growers to help him harvest the presidential olives.

President Rivlin and his wife Nechama came out to greet the invited guests, Arab, Jewish, religious, secular, of all ages, some seventh-generation farmers.

Those little orange rakes were good for official photographs.

But the serious harvesting was done by large electric tools.

And as usual in the Presidential gardens, the Presidential Cat was on guard supervising.

The fall season is not just for harvesting olives.

The annual Oud Festival is coming up soon.

And suffganiot, those Hanukkah donuts, are appearing and disappearing from bakery shelves.

And with all this happening, a shadow over this past week was cast by the unthinkable events in Pittsburgh which we learned about after Shabbat here in Jerusalem. As young people gathered Sunday night to sing Hebrew sad songs in Zion Square, this message of support was shown on the walls of the Old City.

Up-down, another roller coaster week, but if you want to end on a positive note, meet one of Israel’s proud olive growers.

Not everyone in Israel wants to go into hi-tech, some still believe in value of agriculture.

The sun is shining, the weather cooling, and it’s a great time to get out and walk around to see what else is happening in Jerusalem, but watch out for those black overripe olives that have fallen on sidewalks.