Acknowledging the obvious
It’s impossible to blog about life in Israel without acknowledging the terrible (and slightly surreal) terrorist attack today in Jerusalem. If you haven’t heard by now a Palestinian construction worker went on a rampage in a bulldozer crashing through cars, overturning buses and attacking pedestrians. This attack left three dead and over sixty wounded.
In a strange twist, Moshe Plesser, the off duty soldier from the elite Egoz unit who killed the terrorist and ended the attack is the brother in law of David Shapira, the off duty soldier who killed the terrorist in the attack on the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva back in March. I guess heroism runs strong in that family.
Terrorist attacks are few and far between these days but when they do happen, they obviously pack a wallop. It’s a chilling reminder of how fragile life, how powerful hatred is, and how we all somehow continue to live through despite with it all.
Mamilla architecture
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture
The best underground parking lot in Jerusalem, possibly the entire country, is underneath the Mamilla pedestrian mall, part of the $400 million complex that was in dispute for many years, but is finally near completion. Large, spacious and with smooth cement floors that may very well be cleaner than those in my own home, I’m thinking of moving in there.
But despite the luxuriousness of the parking lot, that probably isn’t the most striking architectural feature of the complex, which features several dozen boutiques, several cafes and other businesses in the pedestrian-only shopping district along Rehov Mamilla. The stores are also fine, natch, a fairly interesting combo of local and foreign shops that offer some decent options for Malcha Mall-weary Jerusalemites.
What is worth checking out are some of the mall’s reassembled buildings from the turn of the century. The Stern House, for example, was where Theodor Herzl slept when he visited Jerusalem in 1898, and now houses the Mamilla Steimatzky bookstore and an outdoor cafe. What’s cool is that in order to move and reassemble the building, each stone of the facade was carefully numbered in order to reassemble it in its new location and with more modern construction behind the walls. Given that the original structures themselves were demolished, preservationists poo-poo the practice as ‘facadism.’
But, still, it offers the Mamilla project a more layered, architecturally interesting look to have preserved buildings on site, and if the Stern House hosted Herzl, why not Steimatzky?
Jerusalem bridge may divide Jerusalem, but it looks really cool
The new Bridge of Strings was dedicated this week in Jerusalem. Designed by famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the construction of the bridge has not been without controversy. Outrageous traffic jams, increasing costs and even cracks (yes, cracks) in the bridge and other problems have made for a PR nightmare for the municipality. On Wednesday the bridge was officially dedicated and a ceremony was held at the outrageous cost of over 2 million shekel. 
On one hand, its incredible that Jerusalem can host such an architectural marvel which is incredibly cool looking. On the other hand the bridge cost over 240 million shekel and won’t even function as it was intended (for the light rail) for at least another two years. 240 million shekel is a hell of a lot of money to spend on something so extravagant in the poorest city in the country.
The ceremony itself was not without controversy either. A girls dance troupe were forced to cover up after their costumes were deemed immodest.
…the girls, who ranged in age from 13 to 16, were informed by production organizers several hours before the event that at the municipality’s instruction they had to don black knitted hats and wear long clothing for the performance, said Shlomi Hoffman, the director of the Jerusalem dance troupe…
…The head of the dance troupe noted that the girls – who were also informed an hour before the event that they could not perform three out of four of their planned dances – had danced in the official state Independence Day ceremony just one month ago on Mount Herzl in virtually the same attire.
“This was not a religious event or an event at the Western Wall, but an event for the public at large for the inauguration of a bridge,” Hoffman said.
Secular and National Religious remain the majority of Jerusalem’s population and the forcing of the modest dress upon the young dance troupe is being touted in the media as a move by haredi forces who do not want to see Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski as the haredi candidate in the upcoming election. No one saw it coming, but the election for Jerusalem’s next mayor apparently started Wednesday night.
Sex in the holy city
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Pop Culture
Well, actually, there’s no sex in Srugim (roughly translated as Knitted, for the crocheted yarmulkes worn by the mostly Modern Orthodox guys in this series), the new Yes satellite channel relationship drama about religious twenty- and thirtysomethings in Jerusalem. That’s because this is a show about the dating dilemmas, romances and friendships of this very particular crowd, who may kiss, but not necessarily, and generally don’t do boy-girl sleepovers either, except if they’ve had too much to drink and shouldn’t be driving.
And when they do sleep over, as one male character does in the first episode of the show, he asks if either of the two female roommates has tefillin that he can use, which, of course, they don’t. When they get him a pair from the next-door neighbor who is both female and American, he says he can’t use a “Reform lesbian’s tefillin.” At which point, the roommate with whom he had been on the date, tells him to leave.
It’s fairly ground-breaking stuff for Israeli television, given that Laizy Shapira, the creator of the series, takes a long, detailed look at the world of dati, religious Israelis, but with an honest lens. There’s nothing derogatory about the focus either, which may say something about how far Israeli society has come. There was a time, and not so long ago, when I don’t think Israeli television could support a show about the challenges and mores of modern, religious Israeli society.
But times seem to have changed, and here’s a drama that offers pathos, humor and some necessary sarcasm in looking at the lives of these singles and their search for love and truth. Judging by the comments on the YES website, viewers are ready for the next episode, although one did comment that a show without sex just isn’t a TV show. I guess they’ll have to wait and see.
When Berry comes to town…
Seeing 50-year-old Israeli rocker Berry Sakharof in concert is always a treat, even though it usually means squeezing into tight spaces that are packed elbow-to-elbow with teenagers.
One of the godfathers of the Israeli musical export scene, Sakharof started his professional career in Holland with Minimal Compact, an industrial post-glam new wave act he founded with garage punk Rami Fortis. Since the mid-90s, Sakharof has involved himself in a number of musical directions, scoring soundtracks, reuniting here and there with Fortis, and exploring the verses of 11th-century Andalusian Rabbi Solomon ibn Gvirol and the ideas of 20th-century French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas. But most of Sakharof’s projects have more or less surrounded his canon of six classic studio albums, some of which were co-arranged by the rhythm-forging sample master Rea Mochiach.
Sakharof creates soundscapes that are ambitious and challenging to the listener but at the same time energetic and infectious. Sakharof gets respect for his rhythms, his Middle Eastern picking and his overall headiness, but he’s primarily a purveyor of guitar rock that’s just plain good – his songs have something to offer everyone from sing-along melody lovers to snobby hipsters.
This past Thursday, Sakharof and band returned for yet another blistering two-hour show at Jerusalem’s Yellow Submarine club. Like all Israeli entertainers, Sakharof works hard to make a living, which means that fans have the opportunity to catch him live a few times a year without having to bust out the binoculars. The relaxed showman made some jokes about how Jerusalemites are prone to disrespect towards his home of Tel Aviv, gave away a few guitar picks, and even broke into his patented Turkish cha-cha step more than once.
The Submarine staff had some problems with the sound system (Mochiach threw a tantrum from behind his drum kit at one point), but for the most part, the band was tight and properly vicious, from recent edgy jams like “New Wind” to revamped catalogue favorites like “Sampson” (a Dr. Dre-like synth whine replaced the studio version’s whistling high parts) and “I Don’t Love Her” (somehow transported to Kingston). The 1994 anthem “How Yossi” became a springboard for free-form wall-of-noise jams that evoked Crazy Horse. By the time the band hit the last encore for the night, the sparse Fortis-Sakharof hit “No End to Childhood,” the sweaty room was bouncing agelessly.
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