Katamonim

• How long does it take to walk a third of a mile? Two and a half hours if you have a good guide.
• A good final exam for "guide school" would be to construct a 2.5 hour tour for the unlikelest third of a mile in Jerusalem – say in Kiryat haYovel or the slopes of the Katmonim. (Maps call this neighborhood "Gonen.") The Katamonim are neighborhoods built quickly for "Eydoht HaMizrahkh," Jews who came up to the State of Israel from Arab countries and Iran. Housed first in "asbestonim," prefabs in refugee camps, they were happy to move to tiny apartment buildings and even to huge, public-housing style, blocks of flats. Later, Georgian Jews ("Gruzinim") were settled in the neighborhood.
• The origins of each community, their customs, and how life has turned out for them in Israel have filled many a research article.
• Those in the tiny apartments have expanded into their small gardens. Look closely to see the older stone facing of the original building flanked by extensions that triple the size. Building on required the cooperation of all four families, each starting with about 400 square feet. The results range from jumbles to little palaces.
• Where walls are low enough you may spot the results of those garden stores (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/yabetz.html ), or, elsewhere, an Appalachian junk yard.
• The number 18 and the number 4 buses loop through Katamonim on the way to the Malkha mall and the train station. On the lower slopes, (just above the Teddy Stadium, named for Jerusalems long-time and very successful mayor Teddy Kollek) are the large blocks that seemed to offer flat owners no option to expand. But look there! If my memory is correct, they’ve added on to that building, at intervals, all along its side.
• There’s more than enough in the Katamonim to keep a guide talking and pointing for 2.5 hours.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox