Posts by judyinjerusalem

17 Ways to Know Passover is Coming in Jerusalem

judyinjerusalem — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 09:54:46 +0100

Citizens of southern Israel face the prospect of yet another Passover under fire. The barrage of missiles and rockets on our southern cities and surrounding western Negev kibbutzim is almost taken for granted by the international community as they prefer to focus on whether a few hundred more apartments are being planned in a Jerusalem neighborhood.

As if that weren't bad enough, hundreds of former Gush Katif residents are still in temporary housing almost six years since their eviction. Many who moved into the vast and dismal caravilla camp of Nitzan near Ashkelon are still unemployed and dealing with the emotional and psychological effects of displacement.

On the religious front, Haaretz revealed in a poll that 68 percent of the population answers 'no' when asked if they are planning on eating chametz during Pesach and 75 percent of Israelis will take part in a seder.

Meantime, on Pesach the extent of the dire poverty of hundreds of thousands of Israelis is exposed. Latest figures indicate that roughly 20.5% of Israeli families live below the poverty line. Moreover, 24.7% of Israel's residents and 35.9% of its children live in impoverished families.

Families and the elderly form almost endless lines in every city around the food banks and soup kitchens that do their best to provide the basics necessary to celebrate the holiday.

In every ultra-orthodox neighborhood during the week before Pesach, men and boys block the narrow streets with hand trucks piled high with sacks of carrots, potatoes, oranges and cartons of eggs--all courtesy of the Kimcha D'Pischa funds that funnel donations from abroad to the Haredi communities, specifically for Pesach food.

Tourists, largely oblivious to our problems, have begun to descend on us. Most visible are the busloads of Christian pilgrims from eastern Europe, Nigeria and an assortment of Asian countries looking to celebrate Easter--the Jews arrive in much smaller family groups, excited to be in Israel for one of the three pilgrimage festivals.

Meanwhile, for those who have read this far, here are 17 Ways You Know Pesach is Coming To Israel:

1. The Israeli Army presses into service some 200 IDF chaplains including reservists, to commence the massive task of kashering the hundreds of kitchens, mess halls and eating corners used by soldiers all over the country.

2. Street scenes in Israel change every day before Passover according to what's halachically necessary: In the days before the holiday, yeshiva students wielding blow torches preside over huge vats of boiling water stationed every few blocks on the street and in the courtyard of every mikveh. The lines to dunk cutlery, kiddush cups and the like start to grow every day, and, at the last minute, blow torches are at the ready to cleanse every last gram of chametz from oven racks and stove tops lugged through the streets.

Kashering cutlery on a Jerusalem street

3. No alarm clock needed here--the clanging garbage trucks do the trick as they roll through the neighborhood every morning during the two weeks before Pesach to accommodate all the refuse from the furious cleaning going on in every household. Two days before the Seder there's the annual pick-up of oversized items and appliances. Dozens of antiquated computer monitors and old toaster ovens stand forlornly next to the garbage bins on their way to the dump.

4. The day before Passover, families replace the yeshiva students on the street, using empty lots to burn the remainder of their chametz gleaned from the previous night's meticulous search. In vain, the Jerusalem municipality sets up official chametz burning locations and issues strict orders banning burning in any other areas. Yeah, right!

5. Most flower shops stay open all night for the two days before Pesach, working feverishly to complete the orders that will grace the nation's Seder tables.

6. Meah Shearim and Geula merchants generally run out of heavy plastic early in the week before Pesach. In a panic, I make an early morning run to the Machane Yehuda market to successfully snap up a few meters of the handy counter-covering material.

7. Observant Jews mark the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot by carrying out some of the laws of mourning--one of these is the prohibition against cutting hair.

Good luck if you haven't scheduled an appointment for a pre-Pesach/Omer haircut. You can't get in the door at most barber and beauty shops.

8. Mailboxes are full of Pesach appeals from the myriad of organizations helping the poor celebrate Pesach. Newspapers are replete with articles about selfless Israelis who volunteer by the hundreds in the weeks before the holiday to collect, package and distribute Pesach supplies to the needy.

9. The biggest food challenge to those of us ashkenazic, non-kitniyot (legume) eaters is finding cookies, margarine etc. made without kitniyot, but an increasing number of ashkenazic rabbis are coming out with lenient rulings regarding legumes.

10. Since most of the country is on vacation for the entire week of Pesach, all kinds of entertainment and trips are on offer. Ads appear for everything from the annual Boombamela beach festival, kid's activities at the Bloomfield Science Museum, concerts in Hebron, explorations at the City of David, solidarity excursions to Sderot and music festivals at the Dead Sea.

11. Pesach with its theme of freedom and exodus always evokes news stories about recent olim. This year, general immigration numbers are significantly down, but American aliya has enjoyed a mini-boom. For a couple of thousand new Israeli-Americans, it'll be their first Seder at home in Israel. Israel Radio announces that 700 prisoners will get a furlough to spend the holiday with family.

12. This just in: According to Israel's Brandman Research Institute study, 43 million people hours will be spent nationwide in Israel's cleaning preparations for Passover this year. How does that break down? Of those cleaning hours, 29 million are done by women and 11 million by men. Persons paid to clean do the remaining 3 million hours at a cost of NIS 64 million ($15.6 million).

13. Israel's chief rabbis sell the nation's chametz to one Hussein Jabar, a Moslem Arab resident of Abu Ghosh. Estimated worth: $150 billion secured by a down payment of NIS 20,000. Jabar took over the task some 14 years ago, after the previous buyer, also from Abu Ghosh, was fired when it was discovered his maternal grandmother was Jewish.

This year, volunteers from the My Israel movement will be collecting unwanted chametz at Israeli supermarkets and shipping it via the Foreign Ministry to needy victims of the Japanese earthquakes and tsunami.

14. Sign of the times? A few years ago, former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu issued a ruling that Viagra may be taken on Pesach provided the pill is encased in a special empty capsule so that the drug itself is not in direct contact with the body.

15. At the Kotel last week, I watched as workers performed the twice-yearly ritual (pre-Pesach and pre-Rosh hashanah) of removing thousands of personal notes from the crevices of the Kotel to bury them on the Mt of Olives.

16. Guess Who's Buying Matza? According to Iyad Sharbaji, the manager of Gadaban Supermarket at the entrance to the the Galilee Arab town of Umm al Fahm, his Matza is consumed entirely by local Arabs. Sharbaji told Haaretz that he generally stocks up on Matza for Passover and has to replenish stock before the end of the holiday, due to keen demand by locals.

It turns out the avid consumption of matza is not a new trend in Arab towns and villages, whose inhabitants view the traditional Jewish food as nothing more or less than a welcome and refreshing change in the menu. "It's not a religious issue, and certainly not a political one," Sharbaji explains.

17. A sign of our economic times--supermarkets entice shoppers with a promise to allow us to settle up the bill in six equal monthly payments on the credit card. Yes, many of us will still be paying for the Seder come Rosh Hashana!

Corrie Trial in Haifa Brings MORE Inconsistencies

judyinjerusalem — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:10:48 +0000

A news release from the Corrie family after yesterday's court session in Haifa notes testimony that Rachel Corrie "arrived dead at the hospital."

If she was already dead, why were doctors at the Arab An Najah Hospital "treating" her ?

[Go to http://jerusalemdiaries.blogspot.com to see the photos of Corrie being treated at the hospital]

As I have reported before, ISM Media Coordinator in 2003, Michael Shaik stated definitively both to me and in other media:" An ambulance rushed her to A-Najar hospital where she died."

So--let's get this straight. Your daughter repeatedly kneels in front of an Israeli military bulldozer on a demolition mission; she gets injured and taken to an Arab hospital where doctors testify that she's dead but make a show of treating her anyway and have a propaganda field day with their new martyr. So, whom do you sue? Why, the Israelis--of course!

Who Should be Paying for Rachel Corrie's death?

judyinjerusalem — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:58:21 +0000

On March 16 2003 the obscure International Solidarity Movement (ISM) made world headlines when Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old ISM member, was run over by an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah and died of her injuries.

With the seventh anniversary of Corrie's death approaching, only one thing remains certain about the events of March 16: Corrie died in Rafah, on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, under very questionable circumstances.

The questions remain: Is Israel responsible for Corrie's death, or do the doctors at the Arab hospital where she was taken still alive after the accident bear any responsibility? What about the ISM that organizes protests in a closed military zone and encourages its members to play cat and mouse among the tanks and bulldozers? Or the Arabs who invite the "internationals" to risk their lives in a war zone? How she died, exactly where she passed her last moments and who should take the blame for Rachel Corrie's death are questions that demand answers.

But those answers are unlikely to be forthcoming from the civil suit brought by the Corrie family against Israel's Defense Ministry that opened in a Haifa courtroom yesterday. The Corries are suing for $324,000.

The inconsistencies in eyewitness testimony of the 2003 tragedy raise doubts about the simplistic conclusions drawn ever since the event occurred.

By all accounts, Rachel Corrie was one of a group of protesters attempting to disrupt the work of two IDF bulldozers leveling ground to detonate explosives in an area rife with terrorist activity. The bulldozers moved to a different area to avoid the protesters, and Corrie became separated from the group. Some of the agitators stood with a banner, while Corrie picked up a bullhorn and yelled slogans at the driver encased in the small cabin of the dozer. This went on for several hours on the afternoon of March 16. It's the kind of activity favored by the young pro-Palestinian types who make up the ISM.

There wasn't enough action for Corrie. According to fellow Evergreen State College student, Joseph Smith, 21, who was at the site, Corrie dropped her bullhorn and sat down in front of one of the bulldozers. She fully expected that the driver would stop just in front of her. "We were horribly surprised," Smith told me by phone from Rafah the day after the incident. "They had been careful not to hurt us. They'd always stopped before," he said.

As the dozer plowed forward heaping up a pile of dirt and sand, Corrie scrambled up the pile to sit on the top. Smith says she lost her footing as the bulldozer made the earth move beneath her feet. She got pulled down, he says. "The driver lost sight of her and continued forward. Then, without lifting the blade he reversed and Rachel was underneath the mid-section of the dozer, she wasn't run over by the tread."

Capt. Jacob Dellal of the IDF spokespersons office confirms what Smith says about the driver: he lost sight of Rachel. Inside the cab, some six feet off the ground, visibility is very restricted. The protesters should have known that and kept within the driver's line of sight to avoid getting hurt, Dellal asserts.

The strange thing about this part of the story is the discrepancy over the photos given to the press and posted on several pro-Arab websites.

As Smith describes to me his version of events, I ask about the series of photos printed in an Arab newspaper I picked up the morning after the incident, in Jerusalem's Old City. "They aren't of the actual incident," he states firmly. "We'd been there for three hours already, we were tired, we already had a lot of pictures."

Yet these are the pictures used on the ISM website to document the before and after of Rachel's interaction with the bulldozer. The same pictures are featured as a photo-essay on the site of Electronic Intifada, where they're even attributed to Joseph Smith.

There are several shots of the back of a woman with a blond ponytail facing a bulldozer. She's standing in an open field, wearing an orange fluorescent jacket, holding a megaphone.

Even Michael Shaik, the ISM media coordinator at the time, wouldn't confirm that these are pictures of Corrie taken the day she died. "I'm fairly sure they're of the incident," he tells me by phone from his Bethlehem office. In the same conversation, Shaik asks me not to contact Joe, Greg or Tom, the Rafah ISM eyewitnesses again directly: "They're still in trauma."

The pictures should have raised all kinds of questions to photo editors, but all the major newspapers and wire services chose to run the photos regardless. If there are pictures of Rachel before and after, why didn't the same photographer consider it important to document the act of the bulldozer running her down?

Where is the mound of earth Rachel clambered up and was buried in? The woman shown lying bleeding from her nose and mouth is lying on a flat piece of ground.

So, Corrie was either knocked down by the dozer, or fell in front of it. ISMers assume that she was intentionally run over, but there's no proof that was the driver's intent.

The real issue is, was Rachel alive when she was taken by Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance to Martyr Mohammed Yousef An Najar Hospital? In other words, where did she die? Were adequate efforts made to save her in the hospital?

Again, there are conflicting stories. Joseph Smith tells me in a telephone interview the day after the tragedy, "She died in the hospital or on the way to the hospital." CNN also reported that Rachel died there. (Israeli bulldozer runs over 23-year-old woman. CNN, Monday, March 17, 2003)

In his account posted on www.arabia.com, ISMer Tom Dale has a slightly different story. On March 17 he writes: "I ran for an ambulance, she was gasping and her face was covered in blood from a gash cutting her face from lip to cheek. She was showing signs of brain hemorrhaging. She died in the ambulance a few minutes later of massive internal injuries."

But Dr. Ali Mussa, director of Martyr Mohammed Yousef An Najar Hospital where Corrie was taken, seems confused. On the day of the event, Dr. Mussa tells AP Gaza reporter Ibrahim Barzak that Rachel died in the hospital. (American Killed in Gaza. AP. March 16, 2003)

One week later, in a telephone interview, Dr. Mussa states definitively to me that Rachel died at the scene, "in the soil," as he puts it. The main cause of death was suffocation, Mussa asserts. There were no signs of life, no heartbeat or pulse when she arrived at the hospital, he says. Mussa states that Rachel's ribs were fractured, a fact determined by X-rays.

Doesn't quite jive with the photo essay on the pages of the Electronic Intifada website for March 16, 2003. (Photo story: Israeli bulldozer driver murders American peace activist by Nigel Parry and Arjan El Fassed, The Electronic Intifada, 16 March 2003.)

A caption under one photo of doctors leaning over a female patient reads: Rachel arrived in the Emergency Room at 5:05 p.m and doctors scrambled to save her. By 5:20 p.m, she was gone. Ha'aretz newspaper reported that Dr. Ali Mussa, a doctor at Al Najar, stated that the cause of death was skull and chest fractures. Dr. Mussa told me he was one of the treating physicians, yet he alone maintains that Rachel was dead before she was put into the ambulance.

To further complicate matters, on that same website, a report from the Palestine Monitor is cited. Here, the writer says that Rachel fractured her arms, legs and skull. She was transferred to hospital, where she later died, says this report.

Just who is Dr. Ali Mussa? Clearly a man in favor with the Palestine Authority hierarchy. Dr. Mussa's views are aired on the official website of the PA's Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation: (January 27, 2003)

There, Dr. Mussa accuses Prime Minister Ariel SharonAriel Sharon's "terrorist government" of deliberately killing Palestinian children in Rafah.

A few days after the incident, ISM Media Coordinator Shaik tells me by phone from Rafah that three ISMers, Tom, Alice and Greg were in the ambulance with Rachel. She died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, says Michael.

But Greg Schnabel, 28, who is quoted in numerous wire service and newspaper stories, never says he witnessed the death of his comrade in the ambulance. In his account published a few days later on the ISM website, he carefully states that she died twenty minutes after arriving at the hospital.

What happened to Rachel's body after her death? Depends whom you ask. Dr. Mussa says it was kept for 24 hours at the hospital before a Red Crescent ambulance transported it to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, via the border where an Israeli ambulance took over. l Shaik says "we lost track of it (her body) after she died." Three ISMers tried to escort the body, but only one was permitted on the ambulance on the Israeli side. According to his account, the ambulance drove straight to the Israeli Forensic Institute at Abu Kabir, where an autopsy was performed. The Israelis are trying to say she died from a blow to the head by a rock, Shaik recounts.

Speaking about the autopsy, one of Rachel's ISM trainers, Iowa native LeAnne Clausen, a fieldworker for the Christian Peacemaker Team based in Beit Sahour, tells me: "The general sentiment within ISM is that the Israelis are trying to suggest perhaps Rachel was on drugs."

In reality, IDF spokesperson Dellal says that initial Israeli investigation results indicate that the cause of death was most likely a blow to the head and chest by a blunt object, possibly a chunk of cement dug up by the bulldozer.

In keeping with ISM sympathies, Rachel received a shaheed (martyr) procession in Rafah, the day after her death. But here again, there's confusion between reality and photo op. Some accounts noted that her coffin draped in an American flag was paraded through the streets. Yet a picture on the site of her college town's peace movement, the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, shows Arab women holding a coffin covered by a Palestinian flag with the caption: Palestinian funeral for Rachel.

Confusion and obfuscation seem to be a trademark of the ISM. In May 2002, a number of ISMers raced past Israeli soldiers into the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where dozens of Palestinian terrorists had holed up to evade capture by the IDF outside. After an agreement was reached, the ISM members refused to leave the church, holding up the solution. Then they charged that they were mistreated by clergy, who claimed the ISMers desecrated the church by smoking and drinking alcohol.

Another revealing ISM action took place shortly before the Bethlehem incident, when a number of protesters managed to make their way past IDF barricades into Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound to protect the terrorist leader.

Strange, given the fact that most ISMers are avowed anarchists decrying any kind of governmental authority. Corrie's Swedish boyfriend and fellow ISMer told a reporter for Seattle's The Stranger newspaper, (April 4, 2003) that Corrie could be described as an anarchist.

Still, the politics of the ISMers are predictable. Another Evergreen student who arrived in Israel around the same time as Corrie says he has "been at war with the multinational corporations for some time now." His "baptism of fire" took place at the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, he proclaims.

Joe Smith, recounts his motivation to join forces with the ISM . "Because I felt it was one of the best ways for me to use my privilege as a white middle class American male to directly serve impoverished people of color who are under-privileged due to the Israeli and other Western governments, especially mine.

I have dedicated my life to serving such people (ed. Arabs), as I believe my over-privilege is a direct result of their under-privilege. I have benefited from their suffering, and this must stop."

ISM activity in Rafah has more to do with being used to defend terrorists than preventing suffering of the masses. IDF efforts in Rafah were concentrated on preventing the flow of arms and explosives over the border from Egypt into the terrorist's dens that riddled the area. Less than a week after Rachel died defending terrorists, Israeli tanks moved into Rafah , surrounded several houses, and arrested two Hamas members. IDF spokesperson, Dellal calls Rafah, "the most dangerous area in the West Bank and Gaza," and decries the provocative protests of ISM. "There's nothing wrong with civil disobedience, but these people crossed the line of what was safe for everyone," Dellal says.

So, while the memorial services laud and remember Rachel Corrie as a peace activist murdered by Israeli occupation forces, the truth lies elsewhere.

An Israeli bulldozer injured Corrie as she tried to prevent it doing its job of protecting Israeli civilians, but she was alive when she was taken to An Najar Hospital, according to at least three eyewitnesses. Only Dr. Mussa, a man intent on accusing Israel of child killing, claims otherwise. None of Rachel's comrades have stated they were with her in the hospital when she died. No one has commented on the extent of efforts to preserve Corrie's life at An Najar.

And all the while, the ISM continues to encourage misguided young people from around the world to spend time in the Middle East, providing cover for terrorists.

"Watch Over all that I hold Precious..."

judyinjerusalem — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:17:33 +0000

I don't know much about Israeli schools. I made aliya WAY after my kids were school-age, so until now, my main contact with schools here has been limited to walking past the middle school that's just down the street and davening in a shul that holds Shabbat services in a school gym.

I have no experience as a grandparent either, so last week when I was invited to be an honorary savta so that my 6 year-old friend Aviel would have someone to take to his school's Grandparent's Evening in honor of Tu B'Shvat I was thrilled!

One of Aviel's real grandmothers is in the U.S and the other one unfortunately wasn't well enough to come, so I got to play savta and spend a few hours in a Jerusalem classroom.

Aviel attends a religious school that boasts several generations of graduates. As he is careful to explain to me as we scamper up the stairs to his third-floor classroom, there are 36 kids in his home room class. One teacher and one teacher's aide. Both are religious women who don't seem in the slightest bit fazed by the dozens of family members who noisily crowd into the tidy classroom to try to find seats next to their excited grandchildren.

Estee, the teacher--herself a grandmother of three--is a take-charge person who runs the proceedings with patience and aplomb. She explains the idea behind Grandparents Evening and its connection to Tu B'Shvat, the Jewish New Year for Trees. "Just think of yourselves and the roots you've planted and nurtured," she says. "Your grandchildren are the fruit of your labors and the branches of your tree."

As Levana the aide efficiently passes around platters of fruits, cookies and grape juice, Estee conducts the Seder, addressing both the kids and their grandparents as she whips through the various blessings and explanations of the various items associated with the holiday. She's prepared a printed program full of readings and songs that we all take turns in reciting.

The kids are given a crafts project to keep them busy and Estee goes around the room asking each grandparent to say a few words about themselves. The group is a microcosm of Israeli society. There are several native-born Israelis, a few of whom are graduates of the school. Some are "former Jerusalemites" who have now retired to places like Herzliya and Netanya. Several more describe their aliya as children who arrived after the Holocaust and in the early years of the state, while yet others are more recent arrivals from France, South Africa and Ethiopia.

No Israeli event of this nature can go by without reading a poem or joining in communal singing. Everyone turns to a page of the printed program where it's only the immigrants who have to actually look at the words of the 1980 Naomi Shemer song that ends the evening: Al Kol Eleh.. "Watch over all that I hold precious...do not uproot what has been planted."

Photos at http://jerusalemdiaries.blogspot.com

British Architectural Legacy in Jerusalem

judyinjerusalem — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:34:05 +0000

Museum goers today are a sophisticated and demanding lot--most of the leading museums around the world today boast the latest interactive, high tech shtick to keep visitors entertained.

That's not what you'll find at Jerusalem's Rockefeller Archaeological Museum that was built during the British Mandate and opened in 1938. Visitors are warned to dress warmly in winter since the building is not heated. There's no parking, so most people find their way there either on foot through the commercial center of Arab eastern Jerusalem, or by way of a shuttle bus from the Israel Museum not far from the Knesset on the western side of town.

The larger artifacts are displayed in a somewhat disorderly fashion throughout the halls of the museum's early 20th century building, while two vast galleries hold hundreds of fascinating smaller items in simple glass cases. You won't find the lights on in the halls either--the building was designed with large high windows that let in enough natural light to illuminate the Byzantine glass and the Canaanite pottery.

You will see several carved wood panels from the Al Aksa mosque completed in 714; the Crusader era lintel from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher--that's behind glass, the panels are not--and a beautiful 5th-6th century mosaic from the Husifah Synagogue (now the Druze village of Isfiya) with the inscription,Shalom al Yisrael . (Not to be confused with the same inscription in the shul of that name in Jericho.)

The centerpiece of the museum is the serene inner courtyard with its pool and fountain, providing a good place to contemplate the fact that this very site was the spot from where Godfrey De Bouillon launched his successful attack on the walls of Jerusalem during the Crusades of 1099.

Looking up at the pockmarks on the landmark tower, you might also be drawn to thinking about the War of Independence and the Six Day War when this area featured heavily in the battle for control of Jerusalem.

Today, the building houses the offices of Israel's Antiquities Authority. So before they get any ideas about upgrading the Rockefeller--head over there if you want a classic museum experience that's getting harder and harder to find in the world.

Complete set of pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/jerusalemdiaries/

No Mumbling Here, We're Jewish...

judyinjerusalem — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:51:26 +0000

http://jerusalemdiaries.blogspot.com

Pictures from Jerusalem Anti-Freeze rally..

judyinjerusalem — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:29:42 +0000

Are posted at www.flickr.com/photos/jerusalemdiaries/. More blogposts from Jerusalem at http://jerusalemdiaries.blogspot.com

Chag urim sameach...

Starting over--Gush Katif redux

judyinjerusalem — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:46:40 +0000

I spent yesterday in the beautiful Lachish region that lies between Kiryat Gat and Beersheva. It's a part of the country that's for some reason off the radar screens. Apart from one or two isolated moshavim and their vineyards, the rolling hills are deserted.

This is the area that hundreds of families who were thrown out of their homes in the 2005 Gaza "disengagement" have chosen to rebuild their communities. I've posted a series of pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerusalemdiaries/sets/72157622911222378/

Looking for a good date??

judyinjerusalem — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:51:15 +0100

The last time I saw Ayelet and Rachel was at Shirat Hayam in Gush Katif in January 2001. They were then 22 year-old single women who had decided to help found a new community next to the sea in the Gaza Strip in reaction to the horrific bus bomb attack in nearby Kfar Darom that claimed the lives of their friends Miriam Amitai and Gabi Biton.

Today I encountered the two women again, still committed to their Zionist ideals of settling the land of Israel, despite having been ultimately turfed out of their Gush Katif community along with 9,000 others in August 2005. Now they are both married with kids and live in adjoining temporary housing in the brand new community of Maskiot in the hills overlooking the Jordan Valley.

When I walked into the office of the new yishuv, I recognized Rachel, but couldn't quite place her. It was only after Ayelet had served us lunch and images in a slide show of the first buildings in Shirat Hayam flashed across the wall in the home she shares with her husband Yossi Chazut and their kids that it suddenly dawned on me that it was in those seaside buildings that I had met Ayelet and Rachel eight years ago.

In fact,I wrote about Ayelet and Rachel in my first book, Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times, and a picture of the two young women together appears there on P. 148.

Yossi and Ayelet and Rachel and her husband are part of a nucleus of nine young families who have chosen to take on the task of rebuilding in Maskiot for the families of Shirat Hayam who have been living in temporary housing for more than 4 years. Check out their website at www.maskiot.co.il to learn about the potential for this new community, which was given government approval just a few short months ago.

The passion burns in Yossi's eyes and fuels his fast-paced Hebrew explanations of how they will fulfill their desire to do something meaningful for the country after the bitter experiences of the Gaza disengagement. " This place has everything," Yossi says as he gazes over the hills that roll gracefully down to the Jordan Valley. "It's important from a security point of view--you can see Jordan from here. The area desperately needs repopulating. We're involved in agriculture already and we'll build a place that will forge good relations with the mostly secular yishuvim in the area and be an example of secular-religious cooperation," he enthuses.

As he drives his visitors around the area on an ATV that kicks up an enormous amount of dust, Yossi points out the few Bedouin encampments scattered around on state land--"90 percent of the time they keep to themselves,"--but he is most excited to take us to the olive grove that bears a sign saying it was a donation of the Christian Friends of Israeli Communities group.

In addition to the thriving olive trees, we see saplings of hundreds of Argan trees that will yield oil that sells for high prices on the European market. About 40 minutes south of Maskiot, just to the east of Niran, Yossi takes us through the security barrier that separates Israel from the Jordan river bed. This is as far east as you can go in the Jordan Valley. Apart from a large army bunker with a secure underground level, there is nothing but date palms as far as the eye can see. This is where Maskiot's main agricultural project is already underway. The succulent Medjool dates will be sent to markets all over Europe in a few years.

As we swat away the persistent flies, Yossi describes the process of planting and irrigating the massive area and relates how it all had to be cleared of minefields before their economic initiative could get underway. Now, as the palms are growing, the entire project is watched over by just two men whom we encounter as they show up for work.

Back at the construction area in Maskiot, we see the foundations being laid for some 20 buildings that should be completed within a few months. Plans call for 100 homes and all kinds of educational and business facilities.

There's no doubt that Maskiot bears absolutely no physical resemblance to Shirat Hayam where I had met Ayelet and Rachel nine years ago. No sparkling Mediterranean Sea in sight; no sand dunes and no supportive network of twenty like-minded communities nearby.

Still, the challenge of fulfilling the mitzva of settling the land speaks to the spirit of the former Gush Katif residents. It's taken a while, but the new version of the extraordinary communities of Gush Katif is beginning to take shape.

Most comprehensive source for info on Goldstone Report

judyinjerusalem — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:24:44 +0100

Check out www.globallawforum.org for the most comprehensive live links to articles, videos, op eds, conclusions of legal scholars etc on the Goldstone Report.

Rising from the Dust of Expulsion

judyinjerusalem — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:17:37 +0100

I remember when I first heard about the dream community that would rise out of the dust and ashes of Neve Dekalim, the largest of the 22 Jewish communities destroyed by the Gaza "disengagement" of 2005.

It was in the cramped room occupied by Rachel and Moshe Saperstein on the 6th floor of the Jerusalem Gold Hotel. Along with hundreds of their former neighbors, the Sapersteins spent 10 months attempting to take the first steps in recreating a semblance of a normal life after they were forcibly removed from their home and the meaningful lives they had built in the Gush.

Rachel would sit on her bed in the hotel and tell anyone who would listen about the new community that would be in a place where their presence would make a difference; where ecological concerns would be paramount and all kinds of educational institutions would be developed to help preserve the values and lifestyle that marked Neve Dekalim. There would even be a hotel and spa, she assured me. By the time they finally left the Jerusalem hotel in June 2006 to go to their "temporary" pre-fab homes in Nitzan near Ashkelon, Rachel and her friends had already pinpointed the Lachish area as the place where they would put down their new roots.

Yesterday, the first step of that dream became a reality as hundreds of people joined the former Gush Katif pioneers in the laying of the cornerstone for the new community of Bnei Dekalim in the beautiful eastern Lachish area.

As the electrifying blasts of an over-sized shofar were sounded by Arik Davidov standing atop a Caterpillar earth-mover, the crowd hushed to take in the views over the rolling landscape that extend to the Hebron hills in one direction and down to Gush Katif and the Mediterranean the other way.

In the presence of a couple of Knesset members(Nissim Slomiansky and Tzipi Hotovely)a slew of rabbis and various members of the local regional councils, Minister Ariel Attias, Minister of Building and Construction told the crowd that the Gaza disengagement was a "mistake" and noted that his ministry had invested 170 million NIS in Bnei Dekalim.

Representatives of the neighboring local councils enthusiastically welcomed the development of the new yishuv and its potential to boost the local population of this sparsely populated area within the Green Line.

But it was left to Rachel Saperstein to relate in English a brief history of Lachish. Rachel explains that Lachish is generally regarded as the second most important city in the southern kingdom of Judah. It enters the biblical narrative in the battle accounts of Joshua, Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar.In fact, on the winding, scenic two-lane road that leads from the main Beersheva-Kiryat Gat highway to Bnei Dekalim, we pass the archeological site of Tel Lachish that is now surrounded by acres and acres of lush grapevines that belong to the small communities long the road.

Lachish was known as the defense center and fortress that monitored entrance into the Judean Hill Country from the west and southwest. Dating from between 598-589/88 B.C., the Lachish Letters, describing the Babylonian conquest of Judah, illustrate the kind of Hebrew used at the time of Jeremiah.

According to Walking in Their Sandals, "when Nebuchadnezzar established the Babylonian domination of Judah in 588-587 B.C., the southern outpost city of Lachish was one of the last remaining Judean cities to be taken (Jer 34:6,7). The Jews had arranged for relay communication between Lachish and Jerusalem by means of smoke signals at Azekah, fifteen miles from Jerusalem, and Lachish, thirty-five miles distant. Letter 4 of the Lachish Letters reads: "We were watching for the smoke signals of Lachish…because we do not see Azekah." This indicated that Azekah had already fallen to Nebuchadnezzar. Soon after this, Lachish would capitulate."

Rachel Saperstein closed her remarks by noting:

"The Kings of Israel built glorious cities here and Bar Kochba the revolutionary found refuge here..
We, the expelled people of Gush Katif will build in this grand tradition.
What an honor. Come and join us!"

There are already 60 families who will pioneer the new community. Eventually, 500 families will make Bnei Dekalim their home and become the center of the revitalized Lachish region, fulfilling the mitzvah of settling the land.

For Rachel Saperstein and her neighbors it's no longer a dream but the dawning of a new reality.

Occupation??

judyinjerusalem — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:33:33 +0100

I spent yesterday in Shechem and Ramallah with a small group of journalists. I'm working on a few articles from the trip, but in the meantime, take a look at some of the photos (there are almost 100, so too many to post to the blog) at http://web.me.com/jbalint1/Site/Photos.html#grid"

What you'll see are two cities completely controlled and patrolled by Arabs; not a Jew or IDF soldier anywhere in sight in either place. Arab police officers, armed and in full uniform are on most street corners. Building and commerce is going on at an incredible pace--we visited the 12-story Nablus Municipal Mall, complete with cinema and the Palestinian Securities Exchange office, both of which would not be out of place in California.

Despite all this, it's "the occupation" that's on everyone's lips in Shechem and Ramallah as they cite the difficulties of moving into the 21st century while somehow under Israel's thumb.

As we drove in our van with PA license plates between Shechem and Ramallah we encountered the remnants of Israel's control in Samaria--the dreaded checkpoints. Since last June, Israel has dismantled and abandoned hundreds of them, and the remaining ones are supposed to protect Israeli Jews living near their Arab neighbors from attack.

At the Tapuach checkpoint outside Shechem,the jumpy soldiers hastily called a close-down in both directions just as we approached. After about 10 minutes of uncertainty, we were summarily waved through. Later we learned that an Israeli was evacuated by helicopter to hospital after he was shot by Arab terrorists a couple of miles south of where we were, between Shvut Rachel and Kida.

While we were wandering around enjoying the sights and color of Shechem's Old City, I remembered that the terrorist responsible for the Park Hotel seder night bombing in Netanya as well as the Dolphinarium horror in Tel Aviv came from Shechem.

Nevertheless, the well-dressed officials in Ramallah and Shechem still intone the same old tired rhetoric about our desire for self-preservation somehow impeding their efforts to go about building their state.

I couldn't help recalling the slogan on the back of an Arab cab in Halhul that I saw a few months ago: "Life is Not Everything." Photo at http://jerusalemdiaries.blogspot.com

Lead Up To The Big Day Just Passed...

judyinjerusalem — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:01:11 +0100

In the days before Yom Kippur, thousands of Torah observant Israelis rush to finish the ritual of kapparot, where human sins are symbolically transferred to a fowl--generally a chicken. It's a custom that does not appear anywhere in the Talmud, but whose origin seems to come courtesy of several 9th century rabbis.

In a parking lot near Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda market, dozens of live chickens are whirled above the heads of men, women and children while a pronouncement is made declaring: "This is my substitute, my vicarious offering, my atonement: This chicken will meet its fate while I will proceed to a good, long life of peace." [See my Kapparot photos from Machane Yehuda at www.Demotix.com] The chickens are then donated to the needy or redeemed with money that goes to the poor.

Meanwhile, curious secular Israelis by the hundreds take part in pre-dawn Selichot tours, where they look in on dozens of congregations where the faithful are immersed in penitential prayers chanted to ancient melodies.

In the streets later in the day, men hurry along with towels to the nearest mikveh (ritual bath). Many have already started building their sukkot (booths) in readiness for Sukkot, the one-week festival that starts the week after Yom Kippur. Sukkot structures of all kinds have sprung up on balconies, street corners and in front of cafes. The final decorations and the schach covering will be added right after the conclusion of Yom Kippur.

The busiest kiosks on the streets are those selling shoes made from fabric or plastic--to comply with the prohibition against wearing leather on Yom Kippur.

Strains of chazanut waft out of many windows, as many radio and TV stations broadcast operatic renditions of the well-known Yom Kippur prayers in a variety of styles. Almost every radio and TV channel also features a physician prescribing pre-fast measures to stave off headaches and ensure an easy fast, and advice on the best type of food with which to break the fast.

Many of the rabbis providing commentary on Yom Kippur in the Israeli media emphasize the festive nature of the day--not only the obvious solemnity. Be happy, we're told, that God grants us this grand opportunity to get a new lease on life--the possibility of teshuva (return) shows that Judaism is optimistic and forward-looking and allows for the reformulation of both our interpersonal relationships and our relationship with God. Singing and dancing are the de rigeur ways in which many congregations here, especially those at yeshivot, end the Yom Kippur day expressing joy at the soul having been uplifted.

While polls indicate that 71 percent of Israeli Jews between 18-35 will fast (Yisrael Hayom, Sept. 22, 2009)non-observant Israelis are also getting ready for Yom Kippur. As the one day in the year when TV and radio shuts down, they're looking for entertainment. A woman in a halter top and shorts stops at my local newspaper stand to buy three books of crossword puzzles. Video stores are doing brisk business, and bicycle shops are working overtime. There are virtually no motor vehicles on the streets of Israel on Yom Kippur, so it's become a traditional time for mass outings on bikes--new and old. Kids and adults enjoy the one-time freedom of movement for two-wheeled transportation.

There's also the obligatory rehash of stories from the 1973 Yom Kippur War in the press. Every year, commentators review the intelligence failures and questionable political decisions that brought Israel to the brink.

As the siren sounds marking the start of the Day of Reckoning and reports of the Iranian threat and corruption trials of former Israeli political leaders are quieted for at least 25 hours, you may be sure that our prayers will include a plea for a better year than the one before. Beyond that, who knows?

What Will They Think of Next??

judyinjerusalem — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:42:06 +0100

As Rosh Hashana approaches and food banks all over Israel work overtime to distribute basic foods for the holiday to thousands of needy families, along comes a news release from a local PR firm about yet another project foisted on Israel by well-meaning, Israel-loving Christians.

"The largest flag in the world - the Jerusalem Flag - recognized by Guinness World Records, will be unfurled and raised at the Teddy Football Stadium in Jerusalem on September 17th, 2009, at 9 am.

The historic event will unfold when the world's largest flag – the Jerusalem flag – will be unfolded at the Teddy Football Stadium, Jerusalem, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

The gigantic flag, with the largest emblem of a lion ever sewed, measures 44,404 square meters (more than 4.3 hectares), was stamped by Guinness World Records on April 11, 2009, when first unfurled in the Philippines.

This unique project was the initiative of Mrs.Grace Galindez Gupana, a 48 year old Filipino businesswoman and Founder-President of Halleluyah Kingdom of Jerusalem Foundation (HKJF).

Mrs. Gupana said that the massive project, which cost $120,000, was carried out by six people who produced the flag in 120 days. The flag weighs 9.5 tons and will travel first through Israel and later around the world.

The launch will take place tomorrow, Thursday, 17 September. The event will start at 09:00 in the presence of representatives of the Israeli government and of the municipality of Jerusalem. Hundreds of children from schools in Jerusalem, musicians and singers like David D'or and politicians will attend the ceremony, which will climax in a helicopter lifting the flag above the stadium. The colorful and exciting event will continue until 12.00. At 15.00 p.m. Mrs. Gupana will meet the Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, at his office.

Mrs. Gupana holds seven Guinness records, for amongst others the largest stone tablets with the Ten Commandments. She emphasizes her continuing support of Israel and its people."

Hmm...$120,000. It's not too difficult to figure out how many holiday food baskets that would pay for...

Bloggers of the Jewish World, Unite!

judyinjerusalem — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:17:36 +0100

Off to the 2nd annual Jewish bloggers convention here in Jerusalem. You can watch segments of it live on-line at www.jbloggers.org beginning at 2p.m Sunday, Jerusalem time...

New Israel guidebook hits the stands

judyinjerusalem — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:43:09 +0100

I spent a good part of last summer working on helping to update the Fodor's Israel guidebook and the new volume has finally hit the bookstores.

Travel book writing is nowhere near as glamorous as it sounds, although there were a few nice freebies that came my way. It's basically glorified fact-checking done on the road. This is the second Fodor's guide I've worked on and I did manage to get some work for a couple of my freelance writer buddies on the new guide. Fodor's is one of the only books that uses writers who live and work FT in Israel--ensuring a much more accurate guide. So, if you're coming to Israel any time soon, this is the place to look for the best info...You can preview the book at http://www.randomhouse.com/category/fodors/display.pperl?isbn=9781400008...

Are We Disney-Landing the Kotel ?

judyinjerusalem — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:28:30 +0100

A new 1.2 ton model of the Second Temple was hauled up to the roof of the Aish building overlooking the Western Wall yesterday.

The model, designed and made by Russian-born engineer Michael Osanis according to the specifications of the Mishna with the input of experts from the Temple Institute will be the centerpiece of a new state-of-the-art interactive museum called the Exploratorium. The model installed yesterday will be open to the public in December, to coincide with a "mission" of Aish financial supporters. The museum itself will open its doors in another two years, according to Aish director Rabbi Ephraim Shore.

Rabbi Shore explains that the model will emphasize the very worthy goal of enhancing the Jewish connection with Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. One assumes that the larger model of Jerusalem in Second Temple times that graces the grounds of the Israel Museum has a similar goal.

In PR material handed out to reporters at yesterday's event,the Exploratorium is described as "a major new tourist attraction...expected to attract around 300,000 people every year." The model was financed to the tune of $360,000 by the R.S Zarnegin family of Beverly Hills, CA. Other parts of the new building were "dedicated" for similar amounts (http://international.aish.com/aishint/building/dedications_gold.asp.)

A similar glitzy project called the Chain of Generations Center opened to mixed reviews a few years ago just a few hundred yards away from the Aish museum. Here's how The Western Wall Heritage Foundation describes its attraction that consists largely of massive sculpted glass columns and a holograph presentation: "Guests to the center will find an unusual and enchanting fusion of many creative elements: music, sculpture, archeology and light effects that together create a masterpiece to delight all the senses." This project was funded by well-known American philanthropists Ira & Inge Rennert and Mortimer Zuckerman.

Both these projects raise questions about the Kotel and its environs. Does the Western Wall need "major new tourist attractions" to draw people to it? What does it say about Jerusalem that private institutions and wealthy donors from abroad are defining our most holy places?

See pictures of yesterday's event at http://picasaweb.google.com/judy.balint/AishModel?authkey=Gv1sRgCM-A3K3L...

The Call of Jerusalem: Tisha B'Av 5769

judyinjerusalem — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:54:06 +0100

I'm in the middle of reading a fascinating old book about Jerusalem--Jerusalem is Called Liberty written by Walter Lever, an English professor and rabidly secular British Jew, who arrived in Palestine with his wife and two children in September 1947 to take up a teaching position at Hebrew University.

Lever's narrative, published in 1951, spans the tumultuous period between the autumn of 1947-1949. The young professor is drafted into the Civil Guard and courageously plays a role in defending his neighborhood of Beit Hakerem. He routinely rides in the armored convoys traveling between Jerusalem and Hebrew University's Mt Scopus campus. He describes the agony of the siege of Jerusalem and meticulously chronicles the despicable behavior of the supposedly neutral British Mandatory authorities.

For Lever and those who lived through that extraordinarily tense period, the idea of Jews walking freely around the walls of the Old City protected by a Jewish police force and army would have seemed completely preposterous. Yet that's exactly what occurs here in Jerusalem every erev Tisha B'Av for the last fifteen years.

Last night, the walk organized by the indefatigable Women in Green started out across the street from the American Consulate, where hundreds gathered to read the mournful words of Megillat Eicha written by the prophet Jeremiah.

We're there to mourn the long litany of national tragedies that has befallen the Jewish people around this date all through Jewish history. While Yom Kippur is the day for personal reckoning, Tisha B'Av is the occasion for some national soul-searching over what led to our various ancient and more recent disasters. Several in the crowd hold placards in English with slogans like: The US Consulate is an Illegal Settlement

As the marchers move off following a huge banner proclaiming a slogan of allegiance to Jerusalem, organizer Nadia Matar reminds the crowd that this is not a social event. In fact, no reminder is necessary, as the restrained mass of Jews soberly sets out to encircle the gates of the Holy City.

Scattered amongst the marchers are a significant number of non-observant Israelis. Women wearing pants walk side by side with others whose hair is carefully covered with a scarf or hat. The predominant languages are French and English, but over the years, the march has developed its own loyal following with little advertising needed to bring out Israelis from all walks of life.

There are wheelchair "marchers" and a number of octagenarian walkers, some supported by younger relatives, who all manage to reach the end of the hour-long route.

As we approach Damascus Gate, the main entry to the Moslem Quarter, we see that all traffic on Route #1 (the main north/south gateway through the city) has been halted by police as we take over the streets and pour down the road toward the east. This year, we find ourselves crossing the tracks of the light rail system that is endlessly under construction.

Spotlights and snipers are visible on the rooftops and although most of the Arab stores are shuttered tight, soldiers keep a tight watch over several dozen Arabs who watch us march by as we pass Saleh el Din Street, the main commercial avenue of eastern Jerusalem. Border police on horseback hold back a few Arabs coming out of Herod's Gate as we stream past.

Walking down the hill we turn to look back at those behind us. People as far back as we can see.

We stop to listen to a few speeches in front of Lions Gate, where Israeli paratroopers broke through to liberate the Temple Mount in the 1967 Six Day War. Looking up to the summit of the Mt of Olives to the east, a huge Israeli flag flutters over the one piece of Jewish-owned property on the hill. All around us and scattered through the nearby Moslem cemetery, Israeli police carrying green glow sticks stand quietly by.

Addressing the crowd seated on the pavement, Knesset member Aryeh Eldad recalls the tragic expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif that occurred on the day after Tisha B'Av in 2005. As Eldad goes on to exhort the crowd to "build, build, build"in defiance of American pressure, a lone elderly Arab makes his way purposefully up the hill through the crowd. Leaning on his stick, his brown robes swaying with his gait, the man proceeds undisturbed through the throng of a couple of thousand Jews.

Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich, former Prisoner of Zion and one of Israel's most unsung heroes, explains that he feels compelled to say Kaddish at this spot just outside the Temple Mount "for the heroes who fell here." He turns to face the site of the Temple and the thousands of marchers who had listened quietly to the speeches rise behind him to gaze up at Lions Gate and join in the response to his passionate rendition of the ancient words of praise and hope.

In front of us we see the Mount of Olives crowned with its Arab and Christian institutions. There's a refreshing feeling of freedom as thousands walk freely down the road above the Kidron Valley across from the ghostly moon-lit tombstones where generations of Jerusalemites lie in repose.

Many marchers wander over to the wall to gaze at the Kidron Valley below with Absalom's Tomb and the monument to the prophet Zechariah. Across the valley we can see the Maale Hazeitim development that acts as a buffer between Abu Dis and the Temple Mount.

"Up there the Jordanians had their soldiers stationed…" "When mashiach will come, it will be through that gate over there…" ""Saba (grandpa) fought here in the Six Day War." Snippets of conversation overheard in a hands-on outdoor classroom as parents walk with their children.

Rounding the corner, we look up at the imposing Southern Wall of the Temple with the steps and Huldah's Gate, before making the ascent towards Dung Gate and the entrance to the Western Wall. A bright half moon lights our way.

"Look over there," says a young mother to her wide-eyed daughter. "You can see the stairs where the Jews used to go up to the Temple," she says as we walk up the hill in front of the southern wall.

Glancing backwards again, the sight of the crowds of people still behind us is awesome. Quiet and dignified, the march has once again gone off without incident.

Watching the masses of faithful Jews still pouring into the Kotel plaza at almost midnight, it's hard not to hearken back to something Walter Lever wrote back in 1951:

"To the story of Jerusalem there is indeed no end. Rather do we seem to face a new beginning. Siege and survival, independence and reconstruction, are only preliminaries to the huge task ahead; and the consummation of a millenial dream becomes an awakening to the first morning of our history."

Singapore # 1: Israel # 40

judyinjerusalem — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:26:35 +0100

Despite all the preening and self congratulation about Israel's various contributions to scientific research and high tech development, the sad fact remains that much of it is inspired by Israelis who were educated abroad or who immigrated from Russia or western countries.

The reality is that Israel consistently ranks at the lower end of international rankings for education.

The annual education report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of Westernized countries that measures growth and modernization around the world,featured results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams that placed Israeli students in 39th and 40th place in math and science, respectively, out of 57 participating nations. The survey essentially gave Israeli education an F: It showed that Israeli teachers earn around half of the global wage average, reported that class sizes in Israel are among the largest in the world, and cited underpaid teachers, over-sized classes and abysmal performances by students in math and science.

In sharp contrast, Singapore, a country with an even smaller population than Israel (approx. 4.3 million as opposed to 7 million in Israel)has consistently managed to achieve #1 rankings in math and science education.

Just last week, Singapore reported that her economy had expanded at an annualized rate of 20% between March and June! Hmm...wonder if there's any connection...

An ordinary Jerusalem morning...

judyinjerusalem — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:00:47 +0100

This morning, having the day off work, I got up late and went for my morning power walk about an hour later than usual. Instead of the quiet streets and the empty park that I usually encounter, today's Jerusalem scenery was a little different.

My southern Jerusalem neighbourhood is on the opposite side of town from the riotous Chareidi areas north of the Old City, so I was set to enjoy the relative tranquility of a mid-summer Jerusalem morning.

I'd walked only about half a block from my apartment when drops started falling from the cloudy sky--not an unusual summer occurrence for any of you who live in the US or northern Europe, but here in the parched Middle East it's a moment to relish. People on the street hold out their arms and look up to the heavens with a smile on their faces, not quite believing that raindrops are actually falling on our heads in mid-July. We haven't seen a drop of rain since late April and don't expect to see any until after Sukkot, so the 75-second shower is a lovely morning bonus for those of us who happen to be out in it.

Still savoring the slightly odd sensation of dampness on my skin, I continue on into Old Katamon. The sewing machine in the unmarked workshop of the elderly neighborhood shoemaker is already whirring. In sharp contrast, just down the block but a century removed, two young technicians stand hunched over an open Bezek box, fiddling with the maze of optic cables that power the neighborhood's Internet and phone connections.

Into the San Simon Park where notices posted by the Jerusalem Foundation announce the opening later this afternoon of a special dog-walking area "where finally, your dogs can run free," (that's the last time this dog-phobic person will include that park on my walking route!)

As I round the corner into the famous Katamon "sniper alley" of the 1948 War of Independence, I notice that the gate of the San Simon Monastery is open and a few Greek Orthodox women are in the courtyard with one of the monks. Tentatively I poke my head into the courtyard to see if there's any chance of sneaking a look inside--I'm summarily dismissed by a wave of the hand from the stern-looking youngish monk and continue on my way.

A few blocks away, I run into a bevvy of observant men of all ages, tallit and tefillin bags tucked under their arms as they hurry toward the next minyan at the Shtieblach, a 24-hour-a-day prayer hall. Just down the street a young bearded man with flowing payot and a green towel flung over his shoulders heads for a morning dip in the mikveh.

On Palmach Street, I stop at the ATM machine, and while I'm waiting in line, I see Aliza Olmert, wife of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert standing on the corner in a white T-shirt and jeans, shmoozing with an English-speaking friend.

All in an ordinary Jerusalem morning...