Emek Tzurim Park: a hidden treasure in Jerusalem
The beginning point of Emek Tzurim
File this one in the “who knew?” department.
During the intermediary days of Passover, my wife and I had the opportunity to join a guided tour through the Tzurim Valley that begins at the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University and ends at the Dung Gate entrance to the Old City, opposite the Western Wall. The route – more an easy walk than a hike – includes so many surprises, that it’s a wonder it isn’t on everyone’s Israeli traveling agenda (we’d never even heard of it).
Surprise number one: there is a blue and white marked trail that leads through a mostly untouched, Judean valley full of olive, oak and “Judas” trees and, at this time of year, red poppies and lots of greenery – not what you’d expect in the heart of East Jerusalem with its ever-present view of the glinting gold Dome of the Rock.
The trail leads past a “sifting tent” where rubble from the excavation of the Solomon’s Stables area of the Temple Mount has been transported to allow visitors to try their hand at archaeology-made-simple. Work by the Islamic Wakf to build a mosque where the Biblical-era Stables once stood caused an outcry in the archaeology community when the remains – full of Second Temple treasures – was found dumped outside the Old City walls.
In the sifting tent, the dirt is placed into raised containers to make it easier for families (there were many children) to poke through. We didn’t try our hand…there was much more to see.
Surprise number two: there is a gorgeous park situated midway along the path named after early Mormon leader, Orson Hyde, and built as part of the mid-1980’s deal that allowed for the creation of the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. A perfect place for picnicking, the park is large, lush and mostly deserted. Perhaps I shouldn’t have told you that.
Descending out of Tzurim Valley (a National Park since 1988) and into the Kidron Valley, we reached the Gethsemane Church and its adjacent gardens. The gardens are open free of charge from 9:00 AM – noon and then again from 2:00 PM until the sun sets.
Zechariah's Tomb
The concluding segment of the journey overlooks the Mount of Olives – not a surprise – but also a number of Jewish tombs – one for Absalom (the rebellious son of King David) and another for the prophet Zechariah, who in all likelihood is not actually buried there: Zechariah preached during the First Temple-era, but graves from that time are located on the western side of the Old City. The tomb itself is carved out of solid rock, much like Petra, although not as colorful or on as grand a scale.
Our tour – led by a Naomi Ehrlich, a charming, competent and occasionally outspoken Israeli tour guide – lasted about three hours, which included many stops for explanation and snacking. You can easily walk it in half the time and the path is well marked. Naomi offers the tours during the Passover and Sukkot holidays through the Jerusalem AACI (Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel).
Of course, if your politics prevent you from walking through East Jerusalem, you’ll have to forgo this extraordinarily beautiful and fascinating adventure. The Tzurim Valley Park itself is controversial (note the ongoing tensions over the creation of the nearby Mount Scopus Slopes National Park) and the sifting tent is run by El’ad, which also backs the City of David archaeological site.
I’d recommend putting such proclivities aside – at least for a couple of hours – to enjoy one of the region’s as yet mostly undiscovered delights.
Foto Friday – Assaf Pinchuk images Israel
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, design, Entertainment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Picture of the Week, Pop Culture, Profiles, Travel
It’s the morning of Erev Pessach, Passover eve, and the country is in its final involuntary shopping, cooking and cleaning spasm. This evening, a blessed quiet will fall over Israel and for a few moments, all will be clean, orderly and in place.
That sense of balance, of everything being as it should be — dare I say it, of seder — is present in these images by commercial photographer Assaf Pinchuk, who specializes in architectural and industrial subjects. In his work, Pinchuk gives us a glimpse of the Israel we aspire to be. Even the unruly building blocks and winding streets of an old Tel Aviv neighborhood fall into place…
A office building lobby becomes a composition of light, shadow, contrasting colors and structural elements…
The city’s famously dynamic night life is omnipresent in the saturated green of a rest room…
A Tel Aviv rooftop apartment glows against a darkening sky…
In daylight, through the windowshades, the harsh Mediterranean sun paints white walls with shadow…
As always, the best days end with sunset on the Tel Aviv beach.
Assaf Pinchuk studied photography at Hadassah College, Jerusalem, after which he interned and worked with Cologne-based photographer Hans-Georg Esch. Together with wife and business partner Miri, Pinchuk opened his own studio in 1998, with the goal of producing unique, dynamic, smart and inspiring images for a client list that includes some of Israel’s leading companies and institutions.
Turning lemons into lemonade in Pe’ekin
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Profiles, Travel
Margalit Zanati on the porch of her house in Pe'ekin.
She’s the caretaker of the ancient synagogue in Pe’ekin which dates back to the time of the Second Temple period (and which is featured on the back of the hundred shekel note). And according to Zanini, Pe’ekin is the only place in Israel where Jews have lived constantly throughout the period of the Diaspora.
That presence was threatened in 1936 when Arab riots forced the Jews of Pe’ekin to leave. One of the only families that returned was Zanati’s parents, and after they died, Zanini, who never married, took it upon herself to keep the Jewish presence alive in the village of 5,000.
Margalit showing a visitor some of the photos and artifacts at the visitor's center.
While the modern, villa-filled town of Peki’in Hahadasha was established in 1955 and boast modern villas and a comfortable suburban life, old Pe’ekin looks pretty much like it did a century ago.
Parking on the side of one of the village’s narrow streets, we started walking around, following not informative signs indicating points of tourist interest. Deciding to take a turn off the main road, we suddenly saw a big Jewish star on an old building, and a small sign explaining that it was the Zanati house. Opposite it was the synagogue.
An elderly woman emerged from the second floor of the ramshackle house, carrying a bucket and started walking down the stairs. I asked her if she knew whether the Jewish family in Pe’ekin was home, and she said gruffly, “I’m the Jewish family.”
A fraction of the lemon bounty.
Margalit took us around the to the corner to the visitor’s center – a big open room with lots of artifacts and photos from the previous decades, including many of her parents with some of Israel’s founding fathers.
Margalit began to warm to us, and asked if we wanted to see the film about the family and the house in the show room next door. After helping her get the DVD and projector to work, we enjoyed the film, and learned that Margalit also gives musical performances to visitors and school kids who come to the home for arranged visits.
Afterwards we walked into a courtyard, which was home to an immense lemon tree, brimming with ripe lemons. “That’s why I have this bucket,” she said, and started picking the low-lying fruit. Realizing it would take her hours on end, we decided to pitch in, and before I knew it, I was on the top rung of a 25-foot ladder pitching huge lemons down into the buckets below.
An hour later, we climbed up to Margalit’s humble living quarters for some tea with nana. It was an afternoon that we received surely more than we bargained for, including a huge bag of lemons.
Elvis fans to head to Holy Land
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, Entertainment, General, Israeliness, Music, Pop Culture, Religion, Travel
Two Elvis impersonators at the Elvis Inn at Neve Ilan - will they scare away the Elvis fans on the Holy Land Tour?
The brainchild of a Toronto/Nashville-based tour organization called Israel Theme Tours, the 10-day Elvis tour caters to the fans who love the King’s gospel music persona. For just under $4,000, they can join three US singers who accompanied Elvis on tour and in the studio in the late 1960s – Joe Moscheo and Terry Blackwood of the Elvis Imperials, and Bill Baize – as they visit the Christian sites of Israel – Nazareth, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, a cruise on the Sea of Galilee and the option of being baptized in the Jordan River.
According to Israel Theme Tours co-founder Joe Amaral, the tour is being limited to 100 people in order to enable access to the stars, who will be performing in a boat on the Kinneret, and will likely break into impromptu performances and hold evening jam and gab sessions throughout the tour.
But for some, the highlight of the tour might be a stop at the Elvis Inn, near Neve Ilan outside of Jerusalem, to experience the kitschy but heartfelt Israeli restaurant/ shrine to the King, complete with a larger-than-life statue in its parking lot. On Elvis’s birthday, they usually have an Elvis impersonator contest, so it would be nice to have the Israeli and the American Elvises get to meet face to face.
They can discuss whether Elvis was a Christian, or really Jewish, as the 1998 book Schmelvis: Searching for the King’s Jewish Roots, claims. It cites the facts that his maternal great grandmother, Nancy Burdine, was Jewish, he always wore a chai (the Hebrew word meaning “life”) pendant; he put a Star of David on his mother’s headstone; and his tremolo vocal style may have been influenced by his upstairs Memphis neighbor, Rabbi Alfred Fruchter, singing cantorial music when Presley was a teen.
They can even have a Jewish Elvis vs. Christian Elvis singdown. Can’t wait.
Northern exposure in Israel
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, coexistence, General, Israeliness, Life, Travel
A picturesque scene from Kibbutz Tuval.
But this time, my wife and I traveled to uncharted territory, courtesy of a two-day coupon we bid for and won on one of those group buy sites. It was for two nights at a tzimmer (B&B) in Kibbutz Tuval, a tiny kibbutz 10 kilometers north of Carmiel, on the way up to the Tefen industrial park and Kfar Vradim.
It turned out that this area might just be the most beautiful of all in our country. The kibbutz lodgings themselves were picturesque, rustic and comfortable – and the location was amazing.
Leaving the site after a hearty continental breakfast, we drove less than 15 minutes to Parod, a hiking trail along a rushing stream that led to a robust waterfall. Our hostess at the kibbutz said that this had been an exceptional winter, and that some years, there’s no water at all. But this week, the waters were roaring, and the school kids we encountered on the trail took advantage of the spring-like weather and dove into the icy stream.
Next were stops at Gush Halav, (Jish in Arabic), a village populated mostly by Christian Maronites from Lebanon, which 2,000 years ago, was a thriving Jewish center and still displays many remnants of that era. After walking and driving through the village, we stopped for some authentic Lebanese hummous.
We ended our day in the Druze town of Yirca, only three kilometers from Tuval, where our hostess tipped us off about the amazing shopping there. There are two side by side department stories – gigantic places with the adorable names of “Shopping Center” and “Amsh Star” – with every kind of clothing available at the trendy stories in the malls, but at greatly discounted prices. We were like kids in a candy store.
Even though we looked more than we bought, the experience of walking around the undeveloped town with its massively developed shopping area was a blast. Our hostess told us that she and her fellow kibbutzniks go there regularly to stock up on shoes and sneakers for the kids and clothes for the whole family. Sounds like the seeds of coexistence in the North has taken full bloom.
After another day of similar touring, we decided that this area of Israel might just be its unmined treasure. So, please ignore all of this and don’t go to visit there. There’s really nothing to see.
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