Reuven Rivlin – Page 3 – The Real Jerusalem Streets

Jerusalem by Night and Day: From Dinosaurs to Conferences

July 9, 2015rjstreets

What a week in Jerusalem,

starting off with a fast day on Sunday.

At night there was an Iftar meal at Beit Hanasi.

President Rivlin hosted around 200 guests,

Muslims and Jews breaking their fast in the Presidential Gardens.

I love these new signs for the buses,

and how they look in a nighttime photo.

Nighttime in Jerusalem, Israel,

and this summer

the dinosaurs are coming out.

The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens

has a summer program at night

which features dozens of dinosaurs.

By day there have been conferences galore.

Part of a large international geneology conference

featured the story of the ‘Lady in Gold”

the painting and history,

the book and the lawyer who retrieved the work

that was stolen by the Nazis.

While at another Jerusalem hotel,

people were attending

the first International Bible Study Week.

Besides Bible scholars,

leading Israeli archaeologist Gabi Barkai

spoke about the Temple Mount.

One of his slides was of ancient coins found while sifting

the dirt removed from the Temple Mount,

but that is a story for another time.

The German teacher I met at lunch is visiting Israel

and in Jerusalem for the seventh time since 2004.

The more who come to visit, the more who can

appreciate what is really happening,

as there is so much more in Israel than conflict and violence.

The Tzohar rabbinical organization had its conference,

with dozens of speakers and sessions and panels.

And I met a Real Jerusalem Streets fan,

not sure who was more excited.

Being inside all day,

can make you feel wilted and faded like poor Varda,

that street installation on Jaffa Road.

After late nights and being inside all day,

taking a walk

through Gan Ha’atzmaut,

Independence Park in Jerusalem,

is a way to end on a bright note.

Summer nights and days,

so much going on in all the neighborhoods,

it is hard to keep up with it all.

After Hail on Passover, What Next?

April 15, 2015rjstreets

Hail in April,

in Jerusalem, Israel?

Not only was there a hail storm as the holidays ended,

but this was the scene the next day also.

It looked and felt like winter, not spring.

The city looked black and white,

as 4 mm hail stones fell.

But now,

the Passover things are put away,

and visitors have returned home.

The Happy Passover signs on buses have changed,

to wish Jerusalem riders “have a good trip.”

The skies have cleared

and people have returned to the streets,

some of which are lined with flowers.

Two hundred and fifty invited guests associated with OneFamily

filled the main room

at Beit Hanasi, the Israeli President’s Home,

with President Reuven and First Lady Nechama Rivlin,

to launch a new cookbook.

“Tastes of Life” features foods that mothers made for their

children who were victims of terror.

Each mother shares not only a recipe,

but memories of their loved ones that are gone.

Very different,

but still another way to remember a lost loved one,

a new Healing Garden was dedicated by a New York family

in the Hosptial Saint Louis Francais.

In the sunshine, supporters of Kashouvot,

an organization advancing Pastoral Care,

heard the story of Randie Malinsky z”l

who passed away in October

after losing a battle with cancer.

Now hospice patients and families can sit in the garden,

to talk or watch the light rail and the rest of the world go by.

The “French Hospital” was built in the mid-19th century

and stands next to the Notre Dame,

across from the Old City Walls, near New Gate.

It boasts the only strictly kosher nunnery in world.

Also this week for all to see,

the first Israeli flags are flying from car windows.

And the large trucks have gone around hanging Jerusalem,

and large Israeli flags over the Jerusalem, Israel streets.

The radio is playing sad, slow music,

as soon it will be Yom Hashoah,

Holocaust Remembrance Day,

and the beginning of another busy holiday season.

Jerusalem Special Visitors

January 20, 2015rjstreets

The world seems upside down like Chelm these days,

and if it was not so serious, it would be funny.

This week saw a large delegation from Japan,

led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visiting Jerusalem, Israel.

Foreign Minister John Baird of Canada signed the official guest book

at Beit HaNasi, the Israeli President’s residence, while Reuven Rivlin watched.

Then in the afternoon a group of US Senators led by John McCain,

dropped by for a photo op and to chat with the President.

So much for isolation and BDS, all affirmed their support for Israel.

But government officials and their noisy motorcades

were not the only ones who filled the streets this week.

Extended families gathered to celebrate,

and thousands have come daily to the Kotel, the Western Wall.

Birthright tour groups

from around the world posed for group photos.

Tour buses lined up along the road to Har Hazaytim,

the Mount of Olives cemetery.

And at the same time as rabbis in Belgium

were being notified that their synagogues should be closed on Shabbat

for the first time since World War II,

because their safety could not be guaranteed by the police,

these Muslim boys were walking through the Jewish Quarter

in the Old City to go to Friday prayers.

Any doubts? Notice the prayer rug in hand,

so much for apartheid and oppression.

These boys may have taken a second look,

but the man was wearing a long skirt,

as this Muslim family proceeded to prayers on Temple Mount.

And while Muslims of all ages attend regularly on Friday,

(as long as there are no calls for violence)

this group we passed did stand out,

their bags had the name of a Turkish tour company.

Seems not everyone in Turkey is boycotting Israel.

Hope they get to see the real Jerusalem streets,

and take back the truth,

what is really happening.