attractive tourist destination

January 2025 Hanukkah and New Beginnings in Jerusalem

Sharon A

For 2025, I saw a cartoon with two doors.

The one on the left says, “Disengage and hope it turns out ok for you.”

The one on the right says, “Fight for what’s right.”

RJS plans to keep engaging for 2025, as it has over the past years.

There were lovely days and nights over Hanukkah, with warm sunny days and cool nights.

So many lights lit up the Jerusalem streets for eight nights.

Crowd at Mamilla Mall for candlelight on Hanukkah

Crowds filled Mamilla Mall for live music, dancing, and donuts almost every night.

Programs for children were held in small venues and

Jerusalem Cinema City had special activities in addition to the regular holiday movies.

However, on the sixth night, it rained.

Rain poured down most of the day. Jerusalem managed ballistic missile attacks in the middle of the night better than the flooded roads and gridlocked traffic with cars and buses full of Hanukkah partygoers.

We finally got through the traffic congestion and arrived at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus –

but oops, we found the wrong Hanukkah celebration, in the wrong building.

Instead, our party was in the new Gandel Rehabilitation Center, for wounded soldiers and their families and the OneFamily volunteers who come each week to help from their war injuries.

Only in Israel? The basements of hospitals are ready for attack with underground emergency units.

Activities, good food, and music filled part of the lower level for the special Hanukkah celebration.

Nefesh Be’Nefesh held a special family celebration for Hanukkah.

When I saw this man at the party I thought he was an actor. When I saw him leaving, I decided to snap a photo of the best Hanukkah costume of the year.

There are still no nature photo walks at the still-shuttered Wohl Rose Garden near the Knesset.

“Bring them home now” signs line the Rose Garden and many Jerusalem streets.

Celebrations private and public, the war on many fronts, and the 100 hostages are always in mind.

The fallen Israeli heroes, over 825, include 85 since Sinwar was eliminated in Gaza.

Sitting home, reading the news, or scrolling on social media, the UN agencies’ lies and obsession against Israel are appalling. For over a year, the Red Cross has not helped Israeli hostages including children.

The clear weather is not good for farmers, but great to get out and walk and see what’s new.

Gan Sacher, Sacher Park has new information signs.

Old City walls near Jaffa Gate for second night of Hanukkah

Jerusalem Old City walls were illuminated with projections the same as two years ago.

“Hanukkah of gold and of light” was Jerusalem’s new Hanukkah message this year.

The Outline Festival 2024 is continuing into 2025. “Unknown” is what is ahead for the new year.

However, new buildings have risen above the Jerusalem streets.

Too many Jerusalem streets are dug up for construction and the future light rail tracks.

New bus stops are going up in new locations to add to the construction confusion.

The Real Jerusalem Streets aims to keep sharing what’s real, what’s happening in Jerusalem, Israel.

Not all is good, but with the sun shining and days getting longer, there is hope for better days.

If you want only good news, go to my friend Michael’s Only Good News Israel

However, to end with one good thing – the views and positive comments on this simple video from Sukkot Birkat Cohanim, keep coming.

May 2025 and 5785 bring blessings for all.

15 Simchat Torah Highlights in Jerusalem

Sharon A

Sukkot. Simchat Torah.

The autumn holiday season has ended.

Certainly not the same as years past, but no question better than the last Simchat Torah.

There were celebrations on the Jerusalem streets, and this photo essay will focus on the highights.

The Rova, Jewish Quarter, had a large sukkah and people took advantage of the holiday atmosphere.

The crowds at the Kotel, Western Wall, filled the Western Wall Plaza, day after day.

The sukkot in the Mamilla Mall had people waiting in line to have a meal, inside it was easy to get a seat.

In the Cardo was a large sukkah this year. Who would have imagined that years ago?

The guy protesting internet was back with a sign, as people went on their way to Jaffa Gate.

Stop men with a luluv and etrog to take their photo, and they ask you to make the blessing first.

The big sukkah was back at Kikar Safra with a sign ‘Welcome to the Mayor’s Sukkah’.

There were musical events every night of chol hamoed and this one for children on Sunday afternoon.

Jaffa Street had the line of sukkot along the light rail tracks again.

On a smaller scale, a favorite private sukkah was back on the Jerusalem street.

The Israeli President’s sukkah in the back garden was a modest one as the large public sukkah was not built and open to the public this year.

Teens and youth groups from the North and South were invited instead of the big open event.

Olympic Judoku gold medal winner Peter Paltchik opened the program.

The teens met in discussion groups in the Beit Hanasi grounds, ate falafel, and

then went back to the main hall to meet the President Herzog and his wife Michal.

There was a Jerusalem March this year, but much smaller than in past years.

The route was greatly reduced as were the groups marching, but Gan Sacher, Sacher Park, was a popular holiday venue.

As the event was ending, two Muslim women were sitting in the park, enjoying the day.

And then there was Simchat Torah, how to celebrate after last year? With music and dance in many locations around Jerusalem from the Kotel to the Liberty Bell Park, I was at the Ramada Hotel.

At a Bar Mitzvah at the Great Synagogue on Friday morning, the guests from Florida were celebrating the Simchat Torah holiday, as the local Israelis were able to pull out their cell phones and capture the event.

From the Birkat Cohanim, Priestly Blessing at the Kotel, Western Wall, to the end of Shabbat,

thousands of people were on the Jerusalem streets,

the sounds of the shofar and “Next Year in Jerusalem” could be heard.

Today, the Israeli flag is flying at half-mast, marking the official national day of mourning for the fallen and murdered a year ago on October 7.

As we celebrate and remember the hostages, we are losing new heroes almost every day as war goes on in the north and south. We have personal connections to two funerals at Har Herzl tonight.

In Jerusalem September Ends with the Sounds of Selihot

Sharon A

What a week this was in Jerusalem, Israel!

The Jerusalem streets are usually full of tourists this time of year as Rosh Hashana, the New Year, and the High Holiday season begins at the end of Elul into the Hebrew month of Tishrei.

People are arriving. But, only ElAl is flying and they are booked solid.

Cannot tell what will happen next.

But check out what happened on Jerusalem streets this week.

The view from the Tayelet shows Old Jerusalem, Mount Zion, and Mount Scopus in the distance.

But the view of the growth of Jerusalem is also evident, as the population of Israel grows to 10,000,000.

Where else do people arrive to visit and live as housing prices go up – during prolonged wars?

Since the outbreak of the war, around 853,000 tourists have entered mainly from (in descending order): the United States, France, the UK, Russia, and the Philippines.

The olive trees are full as the season changes and Jerusalem nights are cooler.

With war raging around, daily life and building in Jerusalem, there are new roads and tunnels.

Renovation on the old Knesset site for the new Knesset Museum is finally visible.

New outdoor lighting illuminates the Great Synagogue and Heichal Shlomo next door.

‘Uniting for the future’ was the theme of the Keren Kayemet – Jewish National Fund solidarity mission which opened on Sunday night at the Jerusalem International Conference Center.

Its themes are working for the future in education, rebuilding, and honoring heroes and heroines of the Iron Swords War which is ongoing.

I arrived early as did Dani Dayan, the chairman of Yad Vashem, one of many institutions affected by war.

Three hundred people came from around the world on this solidarity mission dedicated to rebuilding.

Involved in the program were victims of terror and loss. The siblings of fallen soldier Cpt. (res.) Shaul Greenglick, who was an aspiring singer, sang in the program.

It was a powerful program that hopefully inspired major givers to give even more.

Ending with a child from a southern community saying ‘Thank You’ for helping us re-light our hope’.

As October 7 approaches, multiple organizations, programs, and videos are appearing to tell the story.

Michael Dickson of Stand With Us spoke at the opening of the Faces of October 7 on Tuesday night.

Portraits by talented artist Benzi Brofman are on display in Jerusalem until the end of October.

Each life-like face is a person kidnapped or killed since October 7, 2023.

The entire Siman-Tov family was brutally murdered on October 7 by Hamas terrorists in their home.

The photos are exhibited with the family’s cooperation. IDF soldier Reef Harush’s parents were there, his father was one of the speakers. For Reef’s mother, it was too painful for her to look at the portrait by Brofman. Look into the bright eyes, in the photo in his IDF uniform in the center, and see her world lost.

With each image is the personal story of the person. What is overwhelming to me – this photo of Loris z”l was drawn in one hour during the afternoon before the opening by the talented Brofman.

Too much loss. Too many new graves this past year,

especially in the military cemeteries throughout Israel.

However – more is happening on the Jerusalem streets that is not sad.

The Jerusalem Design Week “The Ark” ended on Thursday night at Hansen House.

With lectures and talks along with the out-of-sight designs.

After Shabbat the Jerusalem streets were almost as busy as ever.

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As Rosh Hashana approaches in only a few days, there are fairs galore to support Israeli businesses.

It’s been a rough year for not only business but personal loss and longing on many levels.

Rachel Sharansky Danziger spoke at a book launch for “Az Nashir – We Will Sing Again: Women’s Prayers for Our Time of Need,” an anthology of prayers written by Jewish women in Israel addressing the unique experiences of living in Israel today in a post-October 7th world. 

Before Rosh Hashana in Jerusalem, the streets are filled with sounds of Selihot, and late-night prayers. At Yemin Moshe you can see the Old City Walls illuminated in the distance. One of many possible sights for popular Selihot tours each year.

The Solomon Brothers returned to do a musical Selihot with people standing all around.

At the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, Cantor Tzvi Weiss was singing in a very different style.

The men’s section was full this year to hear him accompanied by the choir directed by Elli Jaffe.

Thousands were at the Kotel, Western Wall, filling the plaza, as many past nights.

While thousands more at the Jerusalem International Conference Center to hear Yitzhak Meir again and at hundreds of other Selihot services as every year.

Colored holiday lights have appeared this week over the Jerusalem streets before Rosh Hashana.

I thought it would be nice to end with some of the sounds of the Solomon Brothers’ Selihot,

and share a few minutes of the Great Synagogue choir and chazan.

Shana Tov Jerusalem 5785

May all be inscribed for a good year.