In Jerusalem Take a Walk: Hard to Believe What’s New

We feel it on the streets. Traffic. Tourist buses. The arrival of friends and family. International conferences convened again.

The skies in Israel were opened and in 2022, 2.675 million tourist entries were recorded, as opposed to only 397,000 in 2021 and 831,000 in 2020.

There are many changes for you to see on the Jerusalem streets.

On President’s Street in front of Beit Hanasi, the President’s Residence new outdoor photos of the beauty of the landscaped gardens have been posted.

Old hotel in Jerusalem valuable property derelict

Remember the long-abandoned former President Hotel building?

And how sad the sign became?

Finally – work is being done on Ahad Haam Street to restore its dignity.

The construction fence has been up for the new hotel/residence next to it,

but now construction work is visibly underway at last. The Jerusalem skyline continues to change as buildings go up and up.

This is not Azza Street next to the old Paris Fountain. One sign went up.

However, it soon came down when someone realized the mistake.

For 15 years, I have walked on Azza Street almost daily, including when they were redoing the sidewalks.

Finally, the sidewalks were completed and the street was paved.

Who remembers this space empty for weeks–or was it months–in 2018?

And here, when the long-time bookstore and framing store had to move.

Construction started, and last year was finally progressing.

Today on Azza Street the shell is looking near completion with the bottom stones resembling how they looked in the old structure.

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One spot on Azza was paved and space was cleared to replace the cement bollards in front of Netanyahu’s Jerusalem property. There are more of those cement barriers today.

I decided not to walk on my usual side of the street on Wednesday to avoid the newest security measures.

Then the next day, the sun was shining, and I thought it a great time to walk. However, this time the sidewalks were blocked with work vans on both sidewalks, and people had to walk in the road. You will not see that,

because this happened. I was detained by security!

Only once before was I forced to delete a video. As a newbie to Jerusalem, I took a photo of the US flag on Agron Street – not the building, just the Stars & Stripes blowing in the wind against a blue sky. A security person came across the busy street and made me delete the image of the flag.

In over a decade of work, I have been scrupulously careful not to show faces of security, IDF, Arab women, children, and people I know who could possibly be on a date.

Of course, my photos would be more powerful with facial expressions.

Go a few more meters on Azza Street, and there is the entrance to Balfour Street near the Prime Minister’s Official Residence – two years ago it was covered with 5 levels of security.

For the past few months, the public has been able to use Balfour Street again. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Residence has been empty for over a year and serious construction work has not been apparent. Interestingly there are no longer flags on the poles over the residence.

I like being able to use my shortcut again. We will have to wait and see how long it will last.

On Shabbat, I walked on Azza Street to the Great Synagogue. Hard to believe, it was my first time inside in three years! BC – Before Covid – I went every few weeks.

Jerusalem Great Synagogue for Selihot

It seems I am not the only one to slowly return, as the crowd was smaller on Shabbat compared to this photograph in the past.

And then there’s the new National Library! I have been watching the construction of the roof for years. Hopefully, we can tour inside soon.

Sometimes we have to wait to see results, sometimes a very long time.

Also, this past week we attended the Melbourne, Australia Mount Scopus College Foundation Reunion event in Israel. It was a gala and a fun evening. As with most Scopus events, there was a program with speeches and entertainment. This evening included greetings by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, began with two digeridoos and concluded with an Idan Raichel concert after an elegant dinner!

The last time we saw Jonathan was in July 1997. He was lying in an Israeli hospital bed bandaged from his nose to his toes. I found his rendition of Waltzing Matilda moving enough to share it with you. You need to watch the video on a larger screen than a phone to understand why.

For all non-Aussies out there, I added the words and meanings at the end.

On the Jerusalem streets there is always more.

And now “More Than One.” A new arts festival is happening in multiple locations in Jerusalem until February 25, 2023.

When are you coming to see for yourself on a Jerusalem Photo Walk?

Holiday Lights and Nights in Jerusalem

חנוכה –

Hanukkah or Chanukah is also known as the “Holiday of Lights.”

And for the winter holiday season, Jerusalem, Israel fills with lights!

The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens “Winter Lights” Festival is back again.

The colored lights at night are reflected in the pond.

I came back, again and again, to stop and watch as they changed colors.

Brilliant in purple, it was hard to stop taking photos and set out on the trail.

The display is the work of light artist Gil Teichman and his staff, who hung over 2 million small bulbs along a one-kilometer area of the garden using about 25 kilometers of cable.

The LED bulbs used are ecologically-friendly and save electricity.

Background music by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra is heard at multiple locations as you stroll along the garden path.

Actors dressed in illuminated costumes are also there to entertain.

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I admit a favorite this year is the large chanukiah, the Hanukkah menorah, reflecting in the water.

But there are many more lights along the Jerusalem streets.

These new light installations have been posted on poles.

This one with three dreidels, on the top right.

This one has a snowflake and colorful shapes.

Chanukah Lights on poles for Hanuka

These were the older ones at night.

These are from two years ago, I have not found them up now.

The lights at the YMCA are back on again each night, as are many new ones inside New Gate. So much to do this week, will I have time to get there?

One man praying at Western Wall on Hanuka

The large hanukiah is back and ready at the Kotel, Western Wall, to be lit by various officials each night of Hanuka, from Sunday night, December 18 – December 25, 2022. Watch live HERE

Happy Hanukkah from the Jerusalem streets, may the lights spread far and wide for a good week and good year for all.

A video of light projections with Hanuka music to add to the holiday mood.

חנונה שמח

Jerusalem Colors and Crowds of Sukkot

With so much to do in Jerusalem on Chol Hamoed Sukkot, it is hard to find the time and energy to keep up.

There is certainly too much to share in one post today.

However, one of the main events in Jerusalem, Israel, is the Sukkot holiday Birkat Kohanim at the Kotel, the Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall.

A crowd with tens of thousands of people packed into the Kotel Plaza on Wednesday morning.

But to get to the Kotel this year was really aliyah l’regel. With streets in the Old City closed to cars and the shuttle from First Station only starting at 10:00 am – it was walk up or go home.

So people walked up the mountain path toward Zion Gate.

The view was quite impressive, the sky was bright blue, and it was a lovely time to walk in Jerusalem.

On the way, you pass a memorial stone for fallen soldier Shlomo Cohen.

Families were walking together, as were these two young women carrying lulavim.

One man was walking alone talking on his phone. So many people were coming and going on a road usually full of cars to the Old City.

And a few people stopped to rest along the way.

How do they count so many people walking in and out of the Old City?

It had been a few years since I was at the Kotel for Sukkot Birkat Kohanim.

But I wasn’t going to miss a chance to watch from the roof of the Aish HaTorah building.

People stood at every vantage point above the Kotel Plaza.

It was nice to see from above and not be packed into the crowd below.

Some people decided to listen from a shady location just outside the entrance and not come and stand in the sun-filled crowded Plaza.

Crowd control has greatly improved in the past 10 years, with marked exits.

What a crowd, so many people wanting to be in a small space!

Of course from my vantage point on the rooftop location, I took zoom shots.

‘Selfies’- on the Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock in the background.

A group of Jewish tourists walked above as the prayers were said below.

Sukkot prayer in front of a model of the Jewish Temple on the Aish roof.

A woman above on a roof in the Old City unfurled an Israeli flag.

Everywhere, all around, people and sukkot!

And at night the Kotel Plaza was packed again with tens of thousands for the Remember Hakel event, to mark the special Torah reading once every seven years at the end of the Shemita cycle.

Sukkot in Jerusalem was such a colorful time again this year in 5783.

The Israeli President’s Residence reception on Sukkot to the public had some colorful moments, but more on that later. Off now to more events before the holiday week is over, which I plan to share next time.

My video from the Birkat Kohanim on Wednesday.

What a colorful week, with so much happening on the Jerusalem streets!