Mount Zion Parking Lot

Entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem has been nigh near impossible as of late due to the changes in the traffic rules. The Jerusalem Municipality decided that private cars (except for local residents) could not enter the Old City.

Whether this is a good idea or not is up for debate.

This of course made things very difficult for drivers in Jerusalem, as there was no where near enough convenient parking for people trying to get into the Old City or to the Kotel.

The Givati Parking lot is lot smaller these days ever since they discovered the palace underneath it.

And the Mamilla parking lot is excellent, but it can be a long walk if you are trying to reach the Jewish Quarter.



The Jerusalem Municipality finally did something very smart to handle this problem - they rezoned the Mount Zion parking lot.

For years, the Har Tzion parking lot had space for about 20 cars, and the rest was designated for buses. Lot of buses.

Archive Photo

Yesterday when visiting the Old City, I decided to chance it and see if I could find parking on Mt. Zion. To my surprise, there were no buses parked there at all, and the entire parking lot was converted to parking for cars.

Rumor has it they are planning on building a multi-level parking lot on the site.

While 100 new parking spots may not be much for convenient access to the most important city in the world, it's better than the 20 we had before.

I'm happy to see that the Jerusalem Municipality made a positive change for Jerusalem drivers - something they haven't done in a long time.

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Choo-Choo

The light rail, waiting to go through some testing on Road 1.

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Herod's gate to be re-inaugurated

Herod's Gate, more commonly known as Sha'ar haPrachim (the Flower Gate), will be re-inaugurated tonight (June 28, 2010) as part of a larger conservation plan of the Old City.

The gate was first inaugurated in 1539 CE.

The gate was was named Herod's gate either due to a mis-attribution, or alternatively in Herod's honor.

(Picture courtesy Wikipedia)

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Jerusalem of Lights

It's been the Jerusalem of Lights festival all week, and the Old City of Jerusalem of Jerusalem was lit up, outside, inside, and even underneath (in Tzidkiyahu's Cave).

Enjoy the photos.

This is a video projected on the wall near the Jaffa Gate:

A crooked city near the Rova parking lot:

A big shoe of lights:

Hanging Laundry:

 Men climbing the walls:

A projection on the Hurva:

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The Churva - Opening Soon

We've been following the progress of the rebuilding of the Churva Synagogue in the Old City on this blog.

I took a number of beautiful closeup shots of the detail work, but unfortunately the files got erased.

The synagogue will be officially opened this Monday, March 15 in a big ceremony.

Arutz-7 has a video on their site where you can see what this amazing shul looks like.


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Chanukah in Mamilla

The Mamilla Mall opened its indoor section and for Hanukah holiday they filled it up with artistic (and even musical) Chanukiahs (Menorah).








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World's Tallest Lego Chanukiah

Hidden in Shaarei Chesed is a quiet street called Narkis Street.

Hidden on Narkis Street is the Mayanot Shul, and hidden in the Mayanot Shul is the largest Lego Chanukiah (menorah) in Jerusalem - and possibly the entire Land of Israel. Built with over 5000 pieces of Lego by the children of Jerusalem and one very tall Rabbi (standing on a chair).

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Street Activity on Emek Refaim

Emek Refaim Street in the German Colony (near Baka) took on new life at night, as performance artists lined the streets this past week.

I think everyone knows this ragtime band.


Modern dance.



Music.



Probably the youngest performers on the street.






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In Mamilla

Went to the Mamilla outdoor shopping arcade today. It's much better than when it first opened. More stores have opened, the indoor mall is starting to shape up. A lot of people are walking around.

The Steimetzky's has a great childrens section.



The only thing missing is a meat restaurant!


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Jerusalem Day

The Jerusalem Day parade was yesterday, but today is actually Jerusalem Day - the celebrations are moved a day earlier so that the Parade doesn't happen on Friday (right before the Sabbath).

The Parade began on King George Street and ended at the Kotel by way of Agron Street.

All these pictures are from Agron Street.

I don't know how many people marched, but the parade took nearly 2 hours for everyone to walk on by. The entire road was packed from top to bottom (and on King George, Mamilla, all the way to the Kotel).

Many of the marchers in the parade held up signs supporting a united Jerusalem (and against a 2-State solution) as they passed the American Consulate on Agron Street.

The US Consulate, at the start of the parade

The bottom of Agron, where it intersects with Mamilla

The bottom of Agron, looking up to King George Street

Dancing during the Parade

A policeman breaking open and checking a suspicious vehicle alongside the parade route

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I've been working on the (light) railroad....

The section the light rail being built near Kikar Safra on Yafo Street.


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Another reason to get a street named after you

The Jerusalem municipality plans to replace all the Jerusalem street signs named after famous people with new signs featuring the person's picture and their story, especially what they are well-known for.

The idea for the new signs was recently proposed to Mayor Nir Barkat by Zion Turjeman, director-general of the Ariel company, a subsidiary of the Jerusalem Municipality. The mayor loved the idea and appointed artist Yotam Kuperberg and entrepreneur Maya Fogel to be in charge of preparing the new street signs.

What an interesting idea. We can't wait to show them to you.

Now, perhaps he can next require that all buildings post their building numbers.




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I've got a secret

One of the most familiar sites connected to Jerusalem is the Tower of David Museum, which among other things used to be a fortress.



I haven't been there in a while, and I was happy to see that they uncovered yet another secret tunnel.




You can really get lost in this place with all the different passageways.

Another new edition to the museum is this recently discovered model of Jerusalem made in the late 1800s!




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Hurva update

The Hurva reconstruction is coming along quite nicely...




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Tuesday Night Live

At the beginning of King George Street, next to the Great Synagogue and opposite the Sheraton Hotel is the Heichal Shlomo building. Heichal Shlomo is the former seat of the Chief Rabbinate.



The building serves a few different purposes these days, but the most interesting occurs once a month on Tuesday nights when they film Tuesday Night Live in Jerusalem.



It’s been years since I was in the old theater on the top floor of the building, but there it is, and packed to the gills.

Last night it was a political evening with the Religious-Zionist leaders running for Knesset: Yaakov “Katzaleh” Katz (Ichud Leumi), Moshe Feiglin (Likud/ManhgutYehgudit), and Prof. Daniel Hershowitz (Bayit Yehudi/Mafdal).



I won’t discuss politics, but all the speakers spoke well and the evening was extremely entertaining.

The token NIS 20 entrance fee means this is a great way to inexpensively have a very fun evening in Jerusalem.


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Tolerance

While many people have heard about the controversial Tolerance Museum, most people have not heard about the new Tolerance Park and Monument (no connection to the Museum).

Located immediately past the UN Headquarters just after the Tayelet in Talpiyot, this is nicely laid out little park and a stunning monument at its center.

And of course a great view of the Old City of Jerusalem.










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Yes, we have a new mayor!

What a strange race for mayor of Jerusalem that was.

It primarily pitted the Ultra-Orthodox Meir Porush against the Secular Nir Barkat.

As neither candidate had enough votes from within their natural constituency to win, both heavily courted the swing National-Religious vote who did not field any candidate of their own at all.

Barkat won with 52% of the vote to Porush's 43% (Gaydamak got 3.6%).

Barkat, who made his money in some well known hi-tech ventures and was running for the second time around, has some large and grandiose visions for Jerusalem. In fact he was the candidate who most explicitly laid out his plans for this city.

In his victory speech Barkat said, “Tonight Jerusalem, Israel and the Jewish People have won.” Barkat went on to thank his associates, supporters and families.

Barkat thanked all for the “privilege to be Mayor of Jerusalem.” He called Jerusalem Israel’s eternal capital. He said that the victory belongs to all of Jerusalem’s citizens, those with knit yarmulkes, those with see-through yarmulkes, and those with black yarmulkes. “I will be mayor for all of Jerusalem’s citizens, Jews and Arabs alike,” Barkat said.


Good Luck Mr. Mayor.




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Voting from Israel - the event!

Now, even from the Streets of Jerusalem it will be easy for Americans abroad to vote in the US elections thanks to VotefromIsrael.org.

Tel Aviv
Residents near Tel Aviv can submit your US absentee ballot and vote:

When: Sunday, October 26.
6:00 p.m. till midnight

Location: The Dancing Camel
HaTaasiya #12, Tel Aviv - Corner of HaMasger near the Central Bus Station


Jerusalem
Residents near Jerusalem can submit your US absentee ballot and vote:

When: Tuesday, October 28.
5:00 p.m. till 10:00 p.m.

Location: The OU Center
22 Keren HaYesod, Jerusalem


If you have questions, just contact VotefromIsrael.org at: 052.569.7236





SL

As always, the Liberty Bell park was packed with thousands of people celebrating the end of the Sukkot and Simchat Torah at the annual "Hakafot Shniot" bash with the sponsors, Mr. and Mrs. Gluck.

President Shimon Peres spoke to the audience as did both Chief Rabbis.






SL