A Day on Foot and By Bus

• Binyamin MiTudela Street curves around from Derekh Aza . Then Sa'adia Ga'on (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/SaadiaGaon.html ) sweeps down from Kikar Magnes and takes over. Saadia goes on to Ramban (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Nachmanides.html ) and becomes Diskin at an intersection that is difficult for vehicular traffic but not for pedestrians.
• One side of Sa'adia Ga'on is open to the Valley of the Cross (see http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-jerusalem-neighborhood.html ).
• Benches along the way offer a comfortable view. Two or three are always in the shade. The benches at "Ruth's Corner" are a good place to stop and take the long view. Across the street, a park, whose paths are popular with runners, covers the hillside the entire way down.
• In the valley, on the other side of Hazaz, the Monastery of the Cross flies the Greek flag. Beyond that, across the hilltop march white block after white block of the Israel Museum. To the right is the Knesset (parliament) building. Its design has always reminded me of an ancient Greek temple, but I don’t know whether the architect had that in mind. Walking and bike paths go through the valley and on the Gan (Park) Sahkehr.
• Binyamin (Benjamin) of Tudela was a 12th century CE Spanish Jew who traveled through Europe, Africa, and Asia and wrote about what he saw, about a hundred years before Marco Polo’s journeys.
• Saadia Gaon lived in Babylonia (Iraq) from 882-942 CE. By that time, a large Jewish community had already been in Iraq for over 1200 years – from the time the ancient Babylonians first brought Jews captive to Babylon. When the Persians allowed the exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem (and to those of their kin who had managed to remain), many stayed in Babylon as part of a community that became the center of Jewish learning. Saadia was one of the scholars of that community.
• Today's scholars of the ancient world often use CE and BCE (Common Era) instead of AD and BC. This usage started long before Political Correctness.
• If you continue along Diskin (which changes its name again on maps but not on street signs), turn right to walk up the steps at the end, turn left at the first public path to go past "Noah's House" and the park benches and down the steps, cross the street, turn first right, take the first left, keep walking and go up the hill to Bezalel, cross the street (with the light, carefully) , go up the Shiloh steps, and continue along Shilo -- you reach Agripas, across which is the Mahaneh Yehudah market (see http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/unexpected-february-entertainment.html).
• On the way you'll have gotten a feel for Nahalaot.
• Instead of going along Diskin, you can cross the street and wind down through the park (until they turn it into a parhing garage) and go through the pedestiral tunnel at the bottom into the Valley of the Cross. The climb from the Valley of the Cross to the museum is not difficult, if the temperature is under 27 C (80 F). From the bus stop on the built-up side of Saadia Gaon, the 9, 17 and 17 alef (the alef looks like H; http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/gazelles.html ) go to the museum.
• Bus drivers make change.
• The 17s continue to the Malkah mall, while the 9 goes to the Hebrew University's science campus and not far from the Supreme Court building, which is worth touring. The Bible Lands Museum is across the street from the Israel Museum. The hands-on children's science and technology museum is a little beyond.
• Between the Knesset and the Supreme Courte is the Rose Garden (Gahn HaV'reedeem; http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/rose-gardens.html), a venue for many political demonstrations, particularly those to influence the budget.
  

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox