Sukkot, the holiday,
Sukkot those temporary dwellings,
I love to find new ones every year.
However,
this sukka on a camel is always a favorite.
חג שמח
שבת שלום
culture
21 Favorite Sukkot in Jerusalem
I love Sukkot in Jerusalem, Israel.
Whether it is one large sukka
tucked away in a courtyard,
or many standing on the porches of new buildings.
How many can you count hereת
and here, seven or eight?
Some are small and inconspicuous,
some on roof tops.
The sukka in the Israel Museum next to the children’s wing
is simple, and with branches for supports and on top.
This rooftop sukka wins the prize for
the least elaborate and inexpensive sukka.
A pizza shop put up a white sukka on the sidewalk,
while the King David Hotel
has one large colorful sukka on its veranda.
Outside on King David Street
there is this plain white one.
All you had to do was look up,
to see these on King David Street.
On the porches of the Waldorf Astoria Residences
one sukka even had a bed standing by.
The Jerusalem Waldorf Astoria Hotel sukka in the atrium,
is always a favorite.
Mamilla also has its share of sukkot.
The Old City is in background
of this view from inside the Citadel Hotel.
Its main sukkot were huge,
but if you look more closely
you can see this wooden sukka perched
on a ledge high above these below.
The Citadel also has dining tables in the sukka on top.
Thousands of visitors are here for the holidays,
and the Inbal Hotel also has private sukkot above,
and the elegant atrium sukka below,
and more along the side of the hotel as well.
I also like the sukka at the neighboring Liberty Bell Park.
Every year the Beit Hanasi, the Israel President’s residence
has an open sukka day,
when the public is invited inside.
This year the time was extended to 4:00 pm,
but I was late.
As on Yom Kippur at the conclusion of the Neilah Service,
the gates were closed.
This was as close as I could get to the presidential sukka this year.
However,
I was in Hevron today.
So instead of my annual Presidential sukka photo
here is the sukka of Avraham Avinu,
where Jewish voices
and sounds of prayer and song for Sukkot
were heard both inside and outside the burial places
of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs.
OOPS,
I almost forgot!
Our family sukka is pretty special too!
The multitude of holiday events happening this week
will have to wait for next time,
meanwhile, hope you are enjoying.
חג שמח
Jerusalem: No UNESCO
Absurd.
Beyond belief.
Crazy.
Delusional.
1929 – 1933 – 1947 – 1956 – 1967
1973 –
on the holy day of Yom Kippur,
Arab armies tried to destroy Israel.
They failed.
Over and over they failed.
So they began a campaign to rewrite history.
In Gaza, synagogues were destroyed,
ancient and new, to wipe out Jewish history.
On the Temple Mount,
the Waqf destroyed layers of history,
to expand its control and build new mosques.
The slightest Israeli innovation in the area
was cause for international crisis.
Now, on the day after Yom Kippur,
UNESCO has entered the fiasco,
giving the Arab narrative a stamp of approval.
From a new building on Hanevi’im Street,
on an old Jerusalem, Israel street,
one of the first outside the walls of the Old City,
the view to the left,
and the right may not be familiar.
But
look straight ahead to the Mount of Olives.
The Dome of the Rock,
where Mohammed’s horse took flight,
was built on the Temple Mount,
to insure that the Jews
would never rebuild their temple again.
There are thousands of Jewish graves in the background.
We once heard Rabbi Steinzaltz say,
“Yichus is like a potato,”
the best part is in the ground.
The graves on Mount of Olives
are testament to the Jewish presence in Jerusalem.
In the Yom Kippur service,
the words ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘shalom,’ peace,
are repeated over and over.
The latest UNESCO resolution is absurd.
But as Abba Eban said years ago,
“If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat
and that Israel had flattened it,
it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.”
Nothing new under the sun?
Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem, Israel.