Crowds

Yesterday, which was Purim for the rest of the country, the crowds on ben Ydhuda, King George (V; he was king of England when Allenby took Jerusalem from the Turks) and the part of Yafo Rd that connects them were larger than I remember seeing before. Many children and a few adults were in costume. Today, Purim in Jerusalem, they were huge there (buskers on ben Yehuda), at Kikar Safra (stages with flamenco and other dancers, a Chinese dragon, and various other entertainment) and the Mamilla Mall (fire dancers, a DJ, and stilt walkers). Most of the kids and lots of adults were in costume. Klaxons and bells sounding as loud as they could, tram-trains pushed through pedestrians.

Yesterday and today the above-windshield displays on buses alternated showing the destinations (as they usually do) and Happy Purim. Somehow this brought to mind the bit in Zacharia about inscriptions on horses' bells.

Copyright 2013 Jane Schulzinger Fox

Almond trees, poppies, and cyclamen

The train ride from Jerusalem to Bet Shemesh has always been beautiful, but last Tuesday with the almond trees in bloom along the valley, sometimes below us, sometimes right outside the windows, it was spectacular. In places, with the green groundcover, they formed an eastern carpet beyond the ability of the best weaver or knotter. Really good eyes could see the paler cyclamen.

Today green laced almond-blossom white.

To think, all that beauty and almonds, too.

Copyright 2013, Jane Schulzinger Fox

Jerusalem Poppies

Returning from the excellent Herod exhibit at the Israel Museum, we walked around the Monastery of the Cross's back wall.

Poppies.

Not the calaniot. No white ring around the base of the petals. Nurit, I think, though there is a third variety. Here and there flowers which might be rakefet -- but that would be primroses. Not that I'm sure what a primrose looks like, but I think they are actually cyclamen.

Anyway, gorgeous.

Copyright 2013 Jane Schulzinger Fox

Havatselet Street

Markers like the photograph-on-stone signs I first saw on the walls of the little stone houses in the Nakhalaot across from the Mahaneh Yehuda market are appearing elsewhere in Jerusalem. Walk up Havatselet Street and look at the walls for snippets of history. Note the office-supply shop that's been there for many decades. Near the top, where a bridge over your head connects one part of turn and look back down the street.the Hadassah Technical College to another, turn and look back toward Zion Square (named, I'm told, after the Aion mocie theater that used to be there). Not the renovated ironwork.

Turn back and continue to the top. On your left is an eye clinic in the building of an eye hospital from a hundred years ago. It's worth walking into the yard.

Turn left off Havatselet and watch for a forlorn looking wooden door on your right. Through it is a happy place in a building that seems to have aged for over a hundred years without renovation inside or out. Here children brought to Israel for heart surgery stay with their mothers before the operations and while recuperating after release from hospital. When I visited there were babies and toddlers from Gaza and Iraq. I wondered whether their parents had trouble when they returned home, but Gazans have grown used to getting hospital care in Israel and the Iraqis were Kurds.

Copyright 2013 Jane Schulzinger Fox

Andalusian Orchestra of Ashdod

Nothing on our calendar for the evening! I looked on the Jerusalem Theater website. One of the joys of the JT is that there are several things going on every day. To my delight the Andalusian Orchestra of Ashdod (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWsPnf2vtxA) was giving a concert. Only a few seats showed as available. In fact the Rivke Crown (not large) was only about three quarters full.

The music was as rousing as ever. The three soloists were up to standard.
The small, all-male, choir was from Kiryat Gat. They were excellent, an encouraging sign.

My first complaint ever about the Jerusalem Theater: the sound system was terrible.

Copyright 2013 jane Schulzinger Fox

Details

Many old houses are as full of interesting details as of history. Over the doorway of one on Emek Refaim in the German Colony, a tiny lion looks about to fall asleep.
The Templars came to the Land of Israel starting in the mid 1800s. full of love of the land and humanity and belief in the equality of all of us. One third of their children and grandchildren joined the Nazi party during the 1930s. Education does not always work.

Copyright 201 Jane Schulzinger Fox

Beit Aba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRz4jE0x0lU Elad Gabbay vocals, oud, qanun; Eliyahu Digmi Turkish saz; Ilan Keynan vocals, guitars; Ora Baranes vocals and guitar; Yoni Sharon percussion and background vocals; Yehuda Ashash bass presented a rousing concert. First time I'd every seen an electric oud. It looks wrong, and its sound takes some getting used to. I don't know why Gabbay looked unhappy much of the time. His music was lively and much appreciated by the audience, which participated in several numbers. Bet HaConfederatsia (http://www.confederationhouse.org/en/ ) is a venue to check out. You'll be pleased with yourselves for finding it.

Copyright 201 Jane Schulzinger Fox

To Fill the Void

When I want to go out for entertainment, I check the Jerusalem Theater. We went to see "To Fill the Void," http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2219514/ a well-constructed movie with kharedi characters I could (surprisingly) relate to. I wonder whether the film maker thought it had a happy ending. From the bride's mother's expression at the wedding, and the bride's at the end, I think the idea was:"as happy as could be expected under the circumstances."

Copyright 2013 Jane Schulzinger Fox

Location of the Biblical Zoo

maps.google.com knows the full name of the Biblical Zoo but puts it up by the Jerusalem Theater. See http://www.jerusalemzoo.org.il/len/ for correct info.

Copyright 2013 Jane Schulzinger Fox

Windmilled Revaned

Montefiore's windmill has new sails -- hi-tech looking -- ready to catch the wind. In addition, a new-style windmill top juts jauntily from the side of the tower.
In the light wind Shabbat morning, neither was turning.
The walking-tour guide said that experts from the Netherlands consulted on the new design. Holland has no hills to take into account and perhaps steadier winds. If you see the windmill turning, suspect electric power going in.

Copyright 2013 Jane Schulzinger Fox

Marie Balian's Glimpse of Paradise

Face the central post office on Jaffa Street. To your left is a government building graced by lion doors designed by one of the early Bezalel artists. Farther to your left are steps leading down to Koresh Street. Turn left along that small and unprepossessing street and look right and a little back to see Marie Balian's huge tile mural "A Glimpse of Paradise" ( http://www.tau.ac.il/~kenaank/balian_wall.html ). Balian is the scion of one of the Armenian families of tile artists brought to Jerusalem by Ronald Storrs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Storrs ) in the early 1920s. The families continue their craft tradition today.

Copyright 2013 Jane Schulzinger Fox

Shortly After Noon

Friday, shortly after noon, light rain, temperature around 8 celsius (high 40s farenheit) the shouk demonstrates that lots of people have money for good produce and cheap bakery. Tour groups crowd the shoppers getting a more exciting experience than I had on a midweek tour, but surely they feel twinges of guilt at hindring people there to get food for shabbat and shopkeepers trying to make a living on their busiest day.

Copyright 2013 Jane Schulzinger Fox