Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Syrup Infused Kumquats

  • On King George, just up from HaMashbir and opposite the original Knesset Building ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/beautiful-clothes.html ), is one of those little candy shops. Not part of a chain, not the kind you find in a mall, but one with bins of nuts, wrapped coconut rolls, unbranded confections.
  • Right now he is also selling syrup-infused kumquats. I don't know whether these are local.
  • They are ambrosial. Bite into one and savor the slightly tangy sweetness, enhanced by the virtue of citrus.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Cemeteries

  • At the base of the Mt. of Olives lies "Absalom's Tomb." It dates from a thousand years after Absalom died. But don't let that make you doubt the authenticity of nearby tombs, some of which Jewish graves are more than 2600 years old.
  • That hillside of cemeteries is on the itinerary of some tours, but rare indeed are the tourists who visit the cemetery between the Knesset building and Sacher park. To understand these burials, and the empty slabs among them, you need a good guide ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/private-guides.html ).
  • An even smaller graveyard is hidden among the brambles just south of Jaffa Rd a little to the west of the old Shaarei Tsedek (now the Israel Broadcast Authority building). Here, when access to the Mt. of Olives was denied Jews, were buried, for a brief period, Jews who refused to be buried, so the guide said, in the "Zionist" cemetery at Sanhedria or the newer cemetery above what is now Gan Sacher ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/view.html ) . There are also two later graves -- one of the dedicated head of Shaarei Tsedek and the other of a Haredi rabbi whose followers buried him there long after the cemetery was declared closed.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Friday, January 26, 2007

Looking Up

  • On the roof of the building at the corner of Rdak and ben Maimon -- the one with the computer store and grocery on the ground floor -- trees and shrubs grow in what must be quite a garden. Farther down Radak are smaller plantings on balconies.
  • Keep looking up and you see well-crafted ironwork and interesting sonework over windows.
  • Here in Rehavia, and in other parts of the city where buildings date from the 1930s and slightly earlier, looking up also takes your eyes to added storeys, some in the style of the building below and others like new buildings built above old.
  • Either way, the increase in population density intensified the neighborhood's flavors.
  • See also http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-jerusalem-neighborhood.html

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Hekdesh

  • Scattered among the dwellings built outside the walls towards the end of Ottoman rule are buildings marked "hekdesh" to a particular Jewish community.
  • This property must be used for the good of that community forever (though I expect developers have lawyers working on how to break such covenants).
  • If you read Hebrew, you can decipher signs marking such buildings throughout the Nakhalaot.
  • In between Agripas and Bezalel, you can walk through a long courtyard with one such building along the Agripas side. Its tiny apartments, little improved since they were built over a hundred years ago, are leased to young couples for tiny rents.

COpyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Incentives

  • When the Old City got so overcrowded it was unhealthy, Montefiorieraised the money to build on a hill to the west. The Jews he invited to move were afraid to leave the rotection of the walls.
  • Some say that cholera finally brought tenants to Mishkanot Shananim (http://www.israelimages.com/files/11880.htm). Others that it was bonus money.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Borokhov

  • On the corner of Yafo and Raoul Wallenberg is the beautiful house that Meshiach Borokhov built for his wife. (It now houses a branch of the Mercantile Bank.) A blue plaque points out architectural details.
  • Cross Yafo at the light (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/not-jaywalking.html ) and enter the dark alley. Wonder what the glass cases lining it once displayed.
  • Turn right and you soon come to the little half amphitheater where guides introduce groups to the neighborhood ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/stupid-question.html ). Continue and you will reach the large orphanage -- actually it was more of a boarding school for poor boys -- built in the second half of the 19th century by Borokhov and another Bukharian Jew with the stipulation that no contributions be taken from anyone else. Mid to late afternoon its gates are usually open, and you can go in and see the large, now quiet, courtyard.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Monday, January 22, 2007

Gates

  • When they tear down beautiful Jerusalem buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries, they often leave a facade and gateway (as a reminder of the old building having been more appealing than the new?).
  • Thus the gateway to the Kiakh (Alliance) school is oddly set in the middle of the Jaffa Road sidewalk, about a block closer to the Jaffa Gate from the location of the demolished school. The Gateway to the Etz Khaim Yeshiva, flanked by the blinded facades of tiny shops, was moved a little way back from Jaffa Road and still leads to the sad expanse in front of the impressive building.
  • The gate to the Talithakumi Building (http://www.jerusalemshots.com/Jerusalem_en2-435.html ) was moved a little bit up King George, and closer to the street (outside the Mashbir department store -- supermarket in basement).
  • It now looks like a monument, and I suppose it is, to older architecture.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Sunday, January 21, 2007

Stage Dressing

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Low Ceiling

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox.

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Thursday, January 18, 2007

Yad Ben Tzvi

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Bus 99

  • Egged's line 99 (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/private-guides.html ) provides a two-hour ride around Jerusalem in a double-decker bus.
  • The views are wonderful. In places they are spectacular.
  • The commentary is sketchy to nonexistent. Nevertheless, the tour is worth the charge (about 10USD) and the time. It is, for instance, the only way you can now see over the wall the Anglicans recently built around their school (http://www.aisj.co.il/ ).
  • Take a map, and use the opportunity to get oriented -- difficult when you are going along twisty streets (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-jerusalem-neighborhood.html ), and easier if you can see over low buildings.
  • The 99 starts opposite the huge clock on the outside of the blue and white central Bus Station. You can also pick it up at other stops -- for example, at the Sherover Promenade, across the street from the road into the Biblical Zoo, and at Yad VaShem. You can buy a ticket for one circuit, or pay more to get off the bus and get back on two hours later -- if it is not already the last bus.
  • http://www.egged.co.il/Eng/main.asp?lngCategoryID=2773 has a little more information.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Safety Stripe

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Sunday, January 14, 2007

Monster

  • HaMifletzet in Kiryat Hayovel (http://www.israelfamily.org/photogallery/Israel6-7-8/slides/HaMifletzet-The%20Monster.html ) is a nonarchitectural monster, well enough known to be featured in the small, excellent, and rarely-seen pamphlet published by the Jerusalem Municipality Tourist Division.
  • In a shady park (a project of the Jerusalem Foundation.), HaMifletset is a tall, piebald monster, whose three tongues are slides.
  • The 18, 20, and 24Alef (from the Israel and Biblelands Museums) bus stop nearby. Ask a fellow-passenger where to get off for hah-meef-let-set. In your question, use as few words as possible. When you get off the 18, go right. It is about a block from the bus stop. You can ask anyone "HaMeeletst?"and get directions.
  • If you walk back to the bus stop, continue a block, cross at the T-junction, and turn right, you will see to your left a good, kid-friendly, little restaurant with tables outside and inside. Childrens will notice the dancing cows on the pillar outside. The restaurabt will also package for you you a freshly-cooked take-out meal (the common Hebrew expression sounds very like take out, and the owner and staff speak enough English to explain what's available) for a very reasonable price. You can get shawarma or regular food.
  • Farther along the street, next to the supermarket (Hebrew: "soopehr") is a pizzaria.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Friday, January 12, 2007

Sidewalks End

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Thursday, January 11, 2007

Almond and Tamarind

  • At about the middle of Mahaneh Yehuda Street (the wide, uncovered one in the shouk), on the left as you face Yafo with your back to Agripas, is a cafe with excellent almond (shkaydeem) and tamarind (tah-mar-indy) drinks.
  • Many say that their sahleb ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/orchid-pudding.html ) is the best.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Why Down

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Monday, January 08, 2007

Floor Tiles

  • The store selling office supplies and other things on KKL opposite the Rehavia Gymnasia (hard g) has been there since the first houses were built. If you need gift wrap, printer paper, envelopes, a newspaper, notebooks, string or any one of umerous other things -- this shop has it. You can ask in English. Not the tiles paving the wmall area between the door and the sidewalk.
  • In the shouk, between Etz Haim and Mahaneh Yehuda Streets, at the end of the alley where the knife sharpener sits, is an unlit staircase. A flashlight reveals that the tiles on its landings are lovely examples of the art. It leads to a roof where floral-patterned tiles form rectangles reminiscent of rugs I have seen in genteel English houses. When the British ruled Jerusalem, this was (I'm told) a popular cafe.
  • See also http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/tiles.html
  • Tiles have these advantages over rugs: In summer they are cool. To clean them you pour on water and squeegee it away (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/august-sun.html ). Sometimes "away" is onto the heads of people below.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Indian Vegetarian

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Thursday, January 04, 2007

Handprint

  • No sign points to it. To see it, you must look down when walking at the very base of the ben Yehuda Midrahov.
  • On an access cover to the city's water system is a right handprint, a tiny sculpture by Micha Ullman (http://www.daad.de/alumni/en/4.2.4_12.html ). In East Jerusalem, on another access cover, is the artist's left handprint. Two hamsas ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khamsa ) connected by precious water.
  • You can only see them if you look for them very carefully.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Apartment

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Wednesday, January 03, 2007

More for Kids

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Chocolates

  • Chocolates by Max Brenner (aka The Bald Man) are still superb, even though they are now sold at the mall.
  • A small chocolate shop and cafe on Arosoroff, just off Aza, sells Max Brenner and other excellent speciality brands, Israeli and Belgian.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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Monday, January 01, 2007

Private Guides

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

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