tourism – Page 50 – 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.

Israel Booming: From Jerusalem to Tel Aviv to Beer Sheva

June 24, 2015rjstreets

Impossible.

It is impossible to compress all that has happened

this past week into a 30-second blog post.

Complexity has to be cut to a sound bite, while

we keep trying to share what the mainstream media misses.

The President of Cyprus was visiting,

and his country’s flag hung on Jerusalem, Israel streets.

I wonder what dignitaries see of what is really happening.

Did the President meet regular Israelis?

Did you know he was here?

Or that the German Bundestag President is speaking at the Knesset?

Most people just read of “conflict” and troubles,

but construction is booming.

Huge cranes fill the skylines.

The Museum of Tolerance is above ground,

the construction site is busy with dozens of Arab workers.

In Tel Aviv, more towers are under construction,

two are going up near the Google office.

The flatland of the Negev is such a contrast

to the Judean Hills of Jerusalem.

For the shmita year, some farmers are taking

the sabbatical year literally, leaving the land untended.

But in the Negev,

the Bedouin town of Rahat is booming,

and Soda Stream’s new plant stretches out in the sand nearby.

A few kilometers down the road

there is a new sign welcoming visitors to the new Beersheva.

The once sleepy desert town is the largest city in the Negev.

Beersheva is booming with new neighborhoods,

new business and new cultural life.

After the hundreds of rockets from Gaza last summer,

Beersheva homes are getting new safe rooms.

There were so many sleepless nights due to red alert sirens

announcing the oncoming missiles that

home bomb shelters are being installed.

Will running to a safe spot be the summer activity again?

There was another rocket last night in the south,

and it was not the first of the season.

The UNHRC has released its report.

Did they take into account the millions of Israelis

living under terrible conditions last summer?

“I believe in PEACE” says this sticker on a Jerusalem crossing.

Everyone hopes those rockets from Gaza,

and the explosions on the Golan border will stop.

Big plans for this summer.

The start-up nation is booming.

Weddings and end-of-year school performances fill the evenings.

No bombs and rockets are welcome.

Nothing is simple,

but like this Jerusalem bus sign,

here’s wishing all a good and safe trip.

Jerusalem Day Celebrations

May 19, 2015rjstreets

The date has passed.

Most flags are removed.

Commentators have spun stories with their biases.

The main stream media focused on a small group.

However,

Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day,

celebrations in Jerusalem, Israel,

are always like no where else in the world.

Today Jerusalem has a flag,

and an official pin.

The ancient Tower of David,

is always impressive.

In the morning of Yom Yerushalayim,

Mayor Nir Barkat and his wife Beverly

greeted the public inside the gardens.

While a live orchestra played music

and visitors sat and enjoyed their program.

Hundreds of families took tours of Yemin Moshe.

Thousands of young people gathered in Gan Sacher,

Sacher Park to march with Israeli flags to the Old City,

to the Kotel, the Western Wall.

Tens of thousands of people, singing, dancing, and

celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967.

This year other events were planned,

as this one for families at the new First Station.

There were prayer services,

and official invitation only ceremonies.

A free concert was held at Kikar Safra, Government Square.

Once again the annual “White Night” celebration

blasted until 4 am from Gan Sacher.

I do not appreciate that one!

In schools and kindergartens there were special programs,

with art projects songs, and even bubbles.

The main stream media missed hundreds of thousands

of people who were not news worthy.

For those who find Jerusalem Day objectionable,

please remember,

in 1965,

no Jews were in the Old City.

Under control of Jordan from 1948 – 1967,

no Jews could enter ANY of the gates.

In 1965,

this was as close to the Kotel, the Western Wall,

American Jewish tourists could get.

Photos were taken from across No Man’s Land,

safe from Jordanian sniper shots.

Yom Yerushalayim should be appreciated every day.

Our friends have posted on a bench by their home,

a short passage from the Prophet Zechariah,

on his vision for the future,

Jerusalem will be full of boys and girls

celebrating in her streets.

And that is what was really happening

on Yom Yerushalayim,

on the real Jerusalem streets.