Introducing Jerusalem Moments

If you haven't yet discovered it, I want to share with you the new blog of my friend Rachel Sharansky Danziger. This true labor of love was born when Rachel wanted to find a special way to honor the 50th celebration of the reunification of Jerusalem, which we will observe this year on May 24. Like all Jewish holidays, the observance will begin the night before, and continue throughout the day. But for Rachel and her readers, Jerusalem Moments began to capture the spirit of the celebration of the miracle that is Jerusalem 50 days before, on April 5, as Rachel knew that there is so much about Jerusalem to celebrate. From the lofty achievements to the daily grind, from the holy to the incidental, from the tragic to the joyous, Jerusalem is truly the City at the heart of our people's love affair with Israel.

Each day, Rachel spends time formatting the prose or poetry or snippets of commentary and remarkable photographs she has solicited from contributors throughout Israel. Each day, there are new treats for the eyes and souls of those who choose to pop in for a visit. If you begin to peruse the archives of this beautiful blog, you may as well put off doing the dishes or writing that report for a later hour: there is so much of value here to anyone who wants to celebrate our precious and holy Jerusalem. From knitting soldiers to talking pipes, from the heartbreak of Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron to the boundless gladness of Yom HaAtzmaut, from even beneath the streets to the colorful mass of idiosyncrasies that is Mahane Yehuda shuk, you can get a taste of our Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Moments is about geography and history -- but it is mostly about the people that have made and continue to make up this most glorious of cities.

Rachel invites you to participate with your moments, your memories, your photographs of this grand City. Send your submissions to her at jerusalemmoments@gmail.com with a short bio and a headshot, and add your words and pictures to this delightfully diverse collection of viewpoints of Jerusalem's rebirth.

Jerusalem Moments can be viewed at http://www.jerusalem-moments.com/, and you can follow on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/JLMmoments/

It's beginning to look a lot like Sukkos / all around the world...

Yom shishi, 14 Tishrei 5770, Erev Chag Sukkot.

With cleaning and cooking and sukkah-building being top priorities the last few days, I have no time to write.  But you are just as busy, and have no time to read.  Here are some pictures to look at, when you take that well-deserved break.

Here are a few of the sukkot going up around Neve Daniel.

Classy sukkah, yes?  Well -- wait till you see the house that goes with it:

Now I know it makes sense to you.  Classy house, classy sukkah.

I know this fellow has a big sukkah -- but does he really need all that schach???  (Just kidding.  He shleps in schach for all of us to purchase, at very reasonable prices.)

Here is Mizrachi Mansion going up.

I know I've probably said it before; but Sukkot is my favorite holiday.  One of the reasons is because the Dearly Beloved builds me a house with his own hands, and with the help of our sons.  It is filled to the brim with simplicity and genius and love.  There is kedusha there.

We had some time before the aforementioned cooking and cleaning to visit Yerushalayim and Ramat Beit Shemesh and Beitar Illit.  Here are some of the beautiful and interesting scenes that reminded us of why we love living in our country with our people.

(Hey -- who's that guy screaming "Remember Gush Katif!" whilst observing the attention to detail of the Chareidim?)

News flash:  Israel's President, Shimon Peres, invited neighborhood children in Yerushalayim to help him decorate his sukkah.  Politics aside -- this is not a happening thing at the US White House.

The real Chez Mizrachi, ready for ushpizin, meals, holy hanging out, music, and as many guests as wish to drop by.  We look forward to seeing you here.

Chag sameach, from Mishpachat Mizrachi to all of our family everywhere!

Colorful Street People

Yom sheni, 9 Sivan 5769.

It's true that a really nice post could be written about the colorful street people you thought this post was going to be about.  One of these days, I'll be worthy of writing it.  The fact is that I am firmly convinced that the prayers and brachot of some of Yerushalayim's street people have kept my kids healthy, out of serious trouble, and on a Torah path.  (There is one holy lady in Meah Sha'arim whose prayers -- said with my children's names tucked between the pages of her Tehillim for over a decade -- have felt to me like the prayers of a beloved grandmother.  I believe that Hashem surely has counted them as pure love from a pure heart.)

But this post isn't about Leah and her holy ilk.

It is about the joyful metal artwork on Ha-Zehavit Street.  We are privileged to travel this street any time we drive or ride the bus from the Gush into Yerushalayim, via Gilo.  Delightful, colorful and playful characters people the grass strip between the lanes of traffic on this well-traveled road, reminding drivers that there's more to do in life than rush to the office.

 

Avi and I reminisced about the Alte Heimland.  How might such statuary fare in Baltimore, Maryland, or in Lusk, Wyoming?  In Baltimore, these colorful cutouts wouldn't have lasted a month before they were covered with crude graffiti and -- uh -- anatomically-correct Magic Marker appendages.  In Wyoming, the temptation to shoot the cast iron critters full of holes would have been irresistible.  But in Yerushalayim, at least thus far, the only additional artwork has been provided by an errant fowl.

Not bad for one of the most controversial cities on the face of the Earth.

Haveil Havalim #219, the Kakol Hevel Edition is up at DovBear's place.  Give it a read.  Some of my favorite writers pop by to share their opinions on politics in Israel and the US, and on Jewish life.

A Day in Yerushalayim

Yom rishon, 16 Av 5768/17 August 2008, Sunday.

We picked a very hot day to see how people "do summer" in Yerushalayim. If hot, humid Baltimore would adopt some of these hobbies, life in that city might be just a bit more pleasurable, I think. Kids were playing in public fountains all over town -- and no one was yelling at them. In fact, there were fathers sitting and learning nearby. Families were enjoying outdoor barbecues in the parks.
We met some friends for lunch in a busy restaurant in the Ben Yehuda shopping mall. Once again, we were reminded of a positive difference in the dining experience in Israel: in the States, there is a sense of being rushed from one's table for the next customer. In Israel, one dines and shmoozes, and actually needs to accost the waitperson for the check. (Of course, there will always be exceptions. If you can find that sort of restaurant -- other than a serve-yourself establishment -- on the Eastern Seaboard, please let me know for my next visit.)
We stopped in at our favorite bookstore, M. Pomeranz Bookseller, on Be'eri. The books we had ordered had not yet arrived. But we had a lovely chat with the proprietor and one of his long-time employees. That held us in place long enough for a very old friend to stop in. More chatting, and another reminder that there are no coincidences. Call me biased, but this fact seems even clearer in the Holy Land.


In the Old City, an older man walking with a young man, both in tefillin, reminded us of the preciousness of being in our own Land. Was this a father and son, or a rosh yeshiva with a beloved talmid? It didn't matter. In the Rova, every kind of Jew can be himself, without feeling out of place. The shawls handed out to some women at the Kotel may have given them food for thought; but every Jew is welcome.

The main theme of the day was that life is about time with people and Hashem. When we Americans are working so many long hours to live the American Dream, it is sometimes impossible to take time for that reality. Israel can afford us the opportunity to enjoy a simpler life, if we don't try to recreate the USA here. There are no guarantees for an easy life; but I don't remember tripping over that option in the USA either. But Israel has allowed us to emphasize the things we cherish the most: human interaction, time to be ourselves, an increasingly central relationship with our Creator. I am so grateful that we have this privilege. I pray that Hashem will not take it away from us. I pray that more and more of our dear friends will be able to join us at Home.