Gan Sacher – Page 19 – The Real Jerusalem Streets

Four Ways to Celebrate Passover

April 11, 2012rjstreets

Millions of people visit nature sites in Israel over Passover.

Tens of thousands attend Birchat Kohanim, the Priestly Blessing

prayer service at the Kotel, the Western Wall, each year.

In Jerusalem’s Gan Sacher, Sacher Park,

thousands of people gather for picnic outings.

I want to share with you a special event

in Jerusalem at Aleh, a very special home and school

for children with special educational needs.

The weather was perfect

for the annual Aleh Jerusalem March as it left the school grounds.

Participating were many of the dedicated staff members and their families,

(full disclosure, my daughter-in-law is a teacher at Aleh

and we are very proud of her work)

dozens of young volunteers,

along with lots of balloons and a nurse on duty.

Streets were closed to traffic as the Aleh Jerusalem March moved

toward the new Gesher HaMeitarim, the Chord or String Bridge.

After waiting for everyone to arrive on the bridge,

hundreds of balloons were released over the city of Jerusalem.

Then everyone crossed the bridge

and the celebration continued with live music and dancing.

In a country where on chol hamoed traffic is heavy and people creep along,

this crowd was really moving.

I can share a few scenes of the tremendous care,

affection,

and attention given to the students who participated,

but for reasons of privacy I cannot share their radiant smiles.

This was an event short on publicity and politicians,

only MK Aryeh Eldar said a few words.

But it was big on love and full of holiday spirit.

A very happy Passover!

If you found an Aleh balloon…I would love to hear how far they flew.

Many more photos on The Real Jerusalem Streets Facebook page .

15 Real Photos of Arab Girls

15 Real Photos of Arab Girls

March 13, 2012May 14, 2020rjstreets

As southern Israel is being pounded with hundreds of rockets launched

by terrorists in Gaza, the world is silent.

A few anti-Israel photos have been circulating for years.

The photo of a man holding a dead girl,

tweeted by a UN media employee that received so much attention,

is the same photo that I saw in 2008 under the caption,

“Israelis kill a lot of Arab children.”

This was the Google search top result for images of “people who smile a lot.”

I was not smiling and later began to take pictures of real Arab girls.

First, on the hot topic of Israeli soldiers and Arab girls,

only in a Bahrain street theater photo will you see a girl lying under a boot.

Israeli apartheid supporters might find it shocking that in Jerusalem,

Israeli soldiers walk on the same streets as Arab girls,

by the Walls of the Old City near the Jaffa Gate

and in the city center. Often they seem to not even notice one another.

Arab girls can be found on the ground,

sitting and enjoying public performances,

or just relaxing

in Jerusalem’s public parks.

Of course…the same goes for boys too.

Where else would a Muslim girl be seen alone in the park with boys?

And famlies enjoyed posing with this snowman last week.

An Arab girl might be dragged along by her mother,

but in Mamilla Mall, most girls can be found happily shopping, both day

and night with no sign of BDS, Boycott, Divest or Sanctions.

Sitting on the steps in Mamilla Mall while texting on their phones,

or sitting at a table alone,

shopping late at night at the Rami Levi supermarket,

or selling Rav Kav cards for the Jerusalem light rail trains…

these are real photos of Arab girls and young women in Jerusalem.

The world is ready to accept faked captions,

how about the truth?

Snow in Jerusalem

March 4, 2012rjstreets

I have waited for snow and snow pictures for so long,

it seems that everyone wants to see Jerusalem covered in snow.

After several recent failed predictions…finally on Friday morning

snow was coming down hard enough to obscure the Israel Museum.

The red roofs of the Nahalot neighborhood were covered with white.

The Knesset high grounds were coated with a little bit of snow.

Taxi companies did not answer their phones

and the buses stopped running.

Icy water tumbled down steps like waterfalls.

(Sorry I did not use video for this one as the sound was incredible).

Around Gan Sacher, Sacher Park, police came to direct the traffic,

as hundreds of people came out for the white stuff.

White cotton candy sold near the entrance was popular,

but it was the snow that attracted the crowd.

It was a chance to build

a snowman in the center of Jerusalem.

OK, Gan Sacher is not the same as the Golan Heights, but

kids of all ages managed to slide down the wet grass on makeshift sleds.

Children could not play in the flooded playground,

but they had a great time splashing in puddles.

Walking was difficult and dangerous for everyone.

The finish line for the Jerusalem Marathon, as seen in the background,

was a soggy mess, but people were smiling for pictures.

Others were happy to put a plastic bag over their hat and go for a walk.

All around Gan Sacher, people were happy for snow in Jerusalem.