Rioting in Jerusalem? All is normal
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Life, Religion, coexistence
Jerusalem police take away a protestor near the Old City on Saturday. (AP)
The fight between the haredim of Jerusalem and its secular residents (and secular mayor Nir Barkat) is over whether a parking lot near the Old City can be opened on Shabbat to accomodate the throngs of visiting tourists, both local and international.
A compromise involving using a private parking lot instead of a municipal lot was offered, and supposedly accepted, but someone forgot to tell the haredim. There have been clashes the last few Saturdays between haredi protestors and the police, with the protestors demanding that the private parking lot be closed on Shabbat, stating it’s a violation of the status quo in the city – the delicate fine line in the power struggle between the secular and observant Jews of Jerusalem.
However, according to Matt Rees, one of my favorite authors and a good friend, the action on the street is actually a good thing.
Writing in the Global Post, Rees states that if the big item on Israelis’ agenda is an open parking lot on Shabbat, then maybe things aren’t so bad here.
Ultra-orthodox Jews have been rioting the last few weeks against a parking lot the municipality wants to leave open during the Jewish Sabbath, leading to dozens of arrests and quite a few moderate to serious injuries. Secular activists have held protests in favor of free garaging for those who defy God by driving on Saturday.
All of which is a sign of good times in Israel.
Here’s why: It shows that Israelis think there’s nothing worse to worry about.
When I first came to Jerusalem in 1996, the ultra-Orthodox, or “Haredim” as they’re known here (it means “those who quake,” as in quaking before the wrathful God of the Jewish Bible) used to riot over a major thoroughfare that ran through one of their neighborhoods. They wanted Bar-Ilan Street closed between sundown Friday and the onset of Saturday night.
And then, Rees continued, the Intifada started. Since then it’s been one Intifada after the other, with terror, suicide bombings and security fences to be built. Who had time to protest?
But in comparison to the intifada, these are easy times for Israel. Long may the Sabbath be a time for rioting.
One of the proverbs I learned when first coming to Israel was one that said – it’s a good thing there’s an Israeli-Arab conflict. Otherwise, we Jews would be at each other’s throat. These days, it seems like we have the worst of both worlds.
Pooping out the Pope
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Religion, Travel, coexistence
Pope Benedict XVI welcomes Israeli President Shimon Peres at the pope's summer residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome in 2007.
It will mark the first visit of a pope to Israel since Pope John Paul II made a five-day pilgrimage in March, 2000.
I’m not sure who put together Pope Benedict XVI’s schedule, but even doing a quick scan of it left me breathless. It looks like somebody’s trying to poop out this pope, expecially considering he’s in his 70s.
Take a deep breath and imagine you’re in the Popemobile:
Monday, May 11
11:00 Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, Official Welcoming Ceremony
12:05 Arrival at Mount Scopus helipad, Jerusalem. Welcoming Ceremony by Jerusalem Mayor, Nir Barkat.
16:05 Visit to the President’s Residence, joint planting of a tree in the Presidential Garden
17:30 Visit to Yad Vashem, Memorial ceremony at the Remembrance Hall; Wreath laying; Address by the Pope.
19:00 Interfaith Meeting, Notre Dame HotelTuesday, May 12
09:15 Meeting with the Mufti, Temple Mount
10:00 Visit to the Western Wall
10:35 Meeting with the Chief Rabbis, Heichal Shlomo
12:00 Visit to the Church of Dormition – site of the Last Supper
12:30 Visit and Prayer at Latin Patriarch
16:15 Mass at the Garden of GethsemaneWednesday May 13
08:00-19:00 Visit to BethlehemThursday May 14
08:30 Travel to Nazareth
09:15 Arrival in Nazareth, Welcoming Ceremony
10:00 Mass at Mount of the Precipice
15:50 Meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Church of the Annunciation
16:30 Meeting with the Faith Heads in Israel, Church of the Annunciation
17:30 Prayer at the Church of the Annunciation
19:00 Return to JerusalemFriday May 15
09:15 Meeting at the Greek-Orthodox Patriarch
10:00 Visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
13:30 Leaving Ceremony, Ben Gurion Airport
Whew! Talk about an intense four days. Let’s hope the Pope has some comfortable walking shoes.
Murakami to receive Jerusalem Prize from book fest
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Politics
Haruki Murakami
President Shimon Peres and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat are to present Muakami with the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society at the opening of the five-day festival at the International Convention Center. The festival is expected to draw over 1,200 publishers from more that 40 countries displaying some 100,000 books in different languages, organizers said. Entrance to the public is free.
The 60-year-old Murakami is the author of 20 books translated into 40 languages, including Hear the Wind Sing, Norwegian Wood, A Wild Sheep Chase, All God’s Children Can Dance and Kafka on the Shore. The English publication of his latest novel, After Dark, was released in 2007, and chosen by The New York Times as “Notable Book of the Year.” Besides writing, Murakami has made a name for himself as a keen marathon runner, which he addresses in his 2008 book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.
However, as with most international recognitions like this, there’s some controversy. According to The Jerusalem Post, the Palestine Forum Japan urged the writer to cancel his plans to accept the prize in Jerusalem.
In an open letter last week to Murakami, titled “Don’t legitimize apartheid,” the group wrote: “We ask you to seriously reconsider the social and political significance of a world-famous author such as yourself participating in the book fair, which is fully supported by the Foreign Ministry of Israel and the City of Jerusalem,” the letter states. “We would humbly ask you to consider the effects your receipt of the ‘Jerusalem Prize’ would have, what sort of message the world would receive in this Middle East situation, what kind of propaganda value it could have to Israel and the possibility of aggravating the critical situation Palestinians are facing.”
This is the first time the Jerusalem Prize has been awarded to a writer in a non-European language, and the prize committee said the decision to honor Murakami was “made out of profound esteem for his artistic achievements and love of people.”
Previous recipients of the Jerusalem Prize at the book fair, which started in 1963, include Susan Sontag, Simone de Beauvoir, Milan Kundera, Graham Greene, J.M. Coetzee, V.S. Naipaul, Bertrand Russell, Octavio Paz and Arthur Miller.
Here’s hoping Murakami doesn’t back down and that the awards ceremony goes off as planned.
Human nature
An SPNI hike - great even if you're not a VIP
Our American friend, let’s call her Lauren, was planning her son’s bar mitzvah celebration in Israel. In addition to the bar mitzvah itself, she was also organizing other activities that her family as well as parents, cousins, etc would enjoy during the week.
She emailed the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel and inquired as to whether there were any organized trips/hikes during the 10 days they were going to be here at the end of December. She was told no, but if you hire a van, we’ll provide you with a guide to take you around.
“I wrote back, thanks, but we’re trying to keep our budget down and we can’t really afford to hire a van,” said Lauren. Next thing she knew, the SPNI contact had written back and said, the van is on us, and one of our director will be taking you around.
Flabbergasted, Lauren didn’t quite know how to respond. “We’re not even members of SPNI,” she responded. “But we certainly wouldn’t mind joining.”
On the predetermined day, her family gathered at the agreed upon spot, and sure enough, a van showed up wth one of SPNI’s head honchos, and they spent 10 hours hiking in the Judean hills, through Sataf, and having a splendid time. The SPNI suit was atttentive, informative and treated the family like VIPs.
At the end of the day, he said to Lauren, “You have to meet Naomi Tsur. I’ll make an appointment for you.”
Uh, ok, who is Naomi Tsur, Lauren responded, and she was told that Tsur was one of Jerusalem’s new deputy mayors on Nir Barkat’s list, and as a former head of SPNI, was going to spearhead efforts to ‘greenify’ Jerusalem.
The next day, Lauren, her husband, and three of their four kids were escorted into Tsur’s office in Safra Square.
“So, tell me, why exactly are you here?” Tsur asked the family of American tourists.
“We have no idea, we thought you wanted to see us.” answered Lauren.
“Right then, we could have admitted that this must be a big mistake and we were obviously thought to be somebody that we weren’t. Or we could have carried on this charade and continued this painfully awkward dialogue,” chimed in Mr. Lauren. “We chose the latter.”
45 minutes later, they were ushered out of Tsur’s office, still having no idea why they had been singled out for special treatment by the SPNI.
“It was as if the United States took each family of tourists that entered the country, and gave them a van for the day, a guide, and a personal meeting with President Obama,” said Mr. Lauren.
Somewhere, I’m sure, there’s a big SPNI benefactor who’s wondering why the van and VIP day has been cancelled.
Jerusalem rocks?
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Life, Music, Politics, Pop Culture
Ken Stringfellow, not Nir Barkat
The show was advertised for 10 pm, so Shelley and I met Harry at 9:45 pm. When we went to hand our tickets to get in, we were told that there was a special event going on inside and the doors wouldn’t open to the general public until 10. Weird, but alright, we can hang for a few minutes.
However, after a few minutes in the nippy Jerusalem night air, we talked our way into the club’s bar. Turns out the affair we crashed was the 5th anniversary party for Ruach Hadasha (A New Spirit) – a grassroots organization that Jerusalem’s new mayor Nir Barkat founded to galvanize Jerusalem’s youth and create an atmosphere that would nurture the arts and stem the exodus of the young from the capital to Tel Aviv.
Nir Barkat, not Ken Stringfellow
Well, instead of readying for the show, the 100 or people inside were treated to half hour of self-praising speeches from Ruach Hadasha management and from Barkat. All due respect to the work the organization was doing, but this was cutting in on our show time. I went to the entrance and motioned for Shelley to come back out and join us, as we were surely not going to go in there and listen to speeches. But she preferred to stay inside than be rude and walk out.
Meanwhile back at the bar, Harry and I noticed a tall, thin, long-haired guy walking around a little aimlessly, and from his photographs, I recognized him as Mr. Stringfellow. I got up, introduced myself as the guy who interviewed him last week on the phone and invited him to sit with Harry and me. He seemed happy for the company, and graciously talked to us about various topics like his living in Paris, his band in Norway and why we, as obvious North Americans, ended up living in Israel.
At one point, he asked curiously, “What’s going on in there anyway?” Harry explained as best he could that his show was being delayed by the anniversary party of an non-profit organization.
Just then, a Lab handler came over and asked Ken, “Is it OK, if you go on at around 11?”
As good-natured as he seemed with us, Ken said sure, no problem.
Finally, almost an hour after show time was advertised, the Ruach Hadasha event ended. Barkat said to the crowd, “We hope you enjoy the show,” and immediately, over half of the audience got up and walked out, leaving an embarassing 30-40 people in the room which probably holds about 500.
Nonetheless, Stringfellow put on a stellar show, playing a set of morose tunes accompanied by himself on guitar and piano. Nobleman followed with an upbeat rocking set with his band which was noticeably enhanced near the end by the guest appearance of Geva Alon on guitar and harmony.
Then came the evening’s best part – Stringfellow backed by Nobleman and band on a couple of Big Star and Posies classics as well as an obscure Bee Gees nugget. Stringfellow closed the show as he began, with a couple stark edgy ballads. The performance felt like it was in a living room, with Stringfellow eschewing the stage and microphone and playing right in front of us, with his amazing voice carrying over the instrument.
I don’t think there was anyone left from Ruach Hadasha at the end, when Stringfellow announced, “Let’s go to the bar, there’s a piano there, and I’ll play some requests.” It was an auspicous ending to a bizarre evening in which the mayor of Jerusalem shared the same stage with a wonderful, but unfortunately unknown in Jerusalem, historic rock figure.
A Sneak Peek at the Future of Jerusalem Mass Transit
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Politics
CityPass, the international corporation that is building and operating the Jerusalem light rail system, recently opened the doors to its hi-tech transit depot and we joined the tour. We learned more than we wanted to know about the facility’s electricity system and the minutiae of how the maintenance staff cleans dusty wheels.
The highlight for us, though, was getting a chance to wander through the train cars themselves. Despite seats still wrapped in plastic, the enormous vehicles – five times the size of a normal bus – were immensely impressive and a stark contrast with the desert landscape around them (the depot is located just west of the northern Jerusalem satellite community of Pisgat Ze’ev).
Each car consists of five articulated sections and can seat 64 (with a total capacity of 250). There are LCD screens to announce stops and magnetic card readers throughout. 24 cars out of a total of 46 have already been delivered so far.
The Jerusalem light rail has a few features not found in other locations, like France and Spain, where CityPass is operating. The vehicles have to contend with Jerusalem’s notorious hilly terrain. And all the windows have been reinforced to be resistant to stones and Molotov cocktails. A controversial security decision has meant that the light rail travels through the Arab neighborhood of Shuafat…but makes no stops.
Nevertheless, visiting the depot and seeing the cars all in one place gives one the feeling of being in a sci-fi flick: could these state-of-the-art contraptions ever roll through the historic but out of fashion center that represents Israel’s capital?
But that’s just the point.
Jerusalem used to have a more vibrant downtown. But in recent years, many of its more upscale shops have relocated to the Malcha Mall and tourists now flock to the Emek Refaim area. Much of the town center has been reduced to a sad medley of hole-in-the-wall shops selling cheap shmatas and rowdy teenagers who haunt the night hours.
That’s why I’m so enthusiastic about the light rail. Upon its completion, Jaffa Road will turn into a pedestrian-only walkway with the new fangled trolleys running down its center.
Freed from the narrow sidewalks and never-ending traffic, the street will experience a resurgence. Already you can see a row of new cafes in the space of a few blocks, flanked by my favorite The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (the only branch in Jerusalem). A European-style walker-friendly promenade is just the ticket for revitalizing Jerusalem’s core.
Getting there may not be so easy.
Jaffa Road is in the process of being dug up. Large swaths are currently blocked off entirely. Buses have been diverted to adjacent Nevi’im Street which is much too congested to handle the flow. Construction has been painfully slow, leading mayor-elect Nir Barkat to call for the entire project to be stopped and be replaced by high-speed buses.
I’ve already lived through this once. When I was growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, the City’s main artery, Market Street, was dug up for nearly a decade during the building of the BART subway. Businesses folded and Market Street was off-limits for private cars and buses alike.
Eventually, construction was completed and the street now boasts a range of trendy shopping and entertainment facilities. The subway brings in visitors from all over the Bay Area, conveniently and quickly. No one discounts BART’s effectiveness today.
The same will undoubtedly be true for Jerusalem.
A project as grand and complex as Jerusalem’s light rail system has never been attempted before in Israel (the high speed train between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv may eventually top it, if it doesn’t get derailed for the umpteenth time). After a peek at the vehicles that will, hopefully no later than 2010, rattle through town, I remain an enthusiastic supporter.
From Barack to Barkat: A Look Back at the November Elections
The just concluded Jerusalem election, while certainly not as important on a world stage as last week’s U.S. presidential contest, was in many ways spookily similar to its overseas counterpart. For those who supported Nir Barkat, who beat his main competitor Meir Porush by a commanding 9 points (52 to 43 percent), the sheer jubilance that erupted across the city (though certainly not in all parts of it) reminded me of what I’d heard from so many friends and family in the U.S. after Barack Obama bested John McCain.
That tolerance had triumphed over extremism. That inclusiveness would now prevail, not sectarianism. And most importantly, that hope, pride and patriotism had been restored – in the case of Jerusalem, at a time when many residents were saying, either outright or under their collective breaths, what one Beit Hakerem resident was quoted by Haaretz as lamenting: that this election would “determine whether I’m staying” in the city.
The resemblance between the two races extended beyond just the similarity in the winning candidates names. One candidate preached change, the other more of the same. One ran a relatively clean campaign, while the other (or his supporters, it’s not clear) spent much of his political capital on negative attack ads.
To wit: I took a walk several days before the election. There were posters claiming Barkat was really a closet leftist; that with only five years in politics he “lacked the experience” to manage such a complex city as Jerusalem. Sound familiar?
Barkat, to be sure, didn’t run a flawless campaign the way Obama did. He flip-flopped on political positions and took pot shots at low hanging fruit (the light rail fiasco, the over priced “Bridge of Strings”). Posters appeared on city streets in the waning days of the contest almost messianically proclaiming him “HaTikva,” a play on words: the literal translation is “The Hope” but it’s also the name of the Israeli national anthem.
But Porush had his own Sarah Palin debacle when he was caught on tape boasting that, following his presumed election, “there would be no more secular mayors anywhere in Israel within 10 years.” Once publicized, that statement more than any others did the job of scaring away any remaining voters still on the fence.
Vote for Sisso
The November presidential elections in the US aren’t the only game in town. Next month will also see municipal and mayoral elections in a number of Israeli cities and towns.
Most of the attention has been on Jerusalem, where incumbent haredi Mayor Uri Lupolianski has been replaced on his party’s ticket by longtime MK Meir Porush. Just a couple weeks ago, former Shas leader Aryeh Deri was barred from competing against Porush because the timeout by law following his 1999 conviction of fraud and bribery hadn’t finished yet.
And of course, the great white hope, secular high tech candidate Nir Barkat is hoping to wrest the mayoralty out of the haredi hands. And on the side, Russian mega-rich businessman/shady character and Betar Jerusalem owner Arkady Gaydamak is also running on a ‘speak English only’ platform.
But lots of other cities and towns are also holding elections for mayors, with equally scintillating scenarios. Take the Haifa ‘burb of Kiryat Yam. The mayor there for the last 15 years has been one Shmuel Sisso. The veteran lawyer and former Israel consul general in New York been considered such a popular – or powerful – mayor that nobody had even bothered to register to run against him. That is, until just recently, Sisso’s younger cousin Alon, threw his hat in the ring.
According to a Ma’ariv report, Alon, who is running on a Likud ticket, was really only interested in gaining a seat on the local council, but national Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu advised the 38-year-old attorney to go for broke. Older cousin Shmuel, who is running under Kadima auspices, is not happy with the clan competition. Whatever the results in the Kiryat Yam mayoral elections, it will be all in the family.
The nature of Jerusalem
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Politics, Religion
There’s a discussion that keeps getting repeated around certain Jerusalem gatherings these days, particularly in these weeks leading up to the mayoral elections. It’s the question of whether Jerusalem is, or is becoming ultra Orthodox, and what will that mean for those of us who are not?
One story being circulated last weekend regarded the additional eruv erected around Kiryat Hayovel, as the new, ultra Orthodox residents of the neighborhood didn’t feel the existing eruv was sufficient for their needs. There are the increasingly empty secular schools, while ultra Orthodox schools seek more space for their growing population. And there’s the upcoming election, which is pitting an ultra-Orthodox candidate, Meir Porush, against a Russian oligarch, Arcady Gaydamak, and a secular, independent businessman, Nir Barkat. There’s also the strong possibility that Aryeh Deri, a former Shas star, will also enter the race.
It’s a race that perpetuates the nagging question of who really represents the character of the capitol…and Jerusalemites feel that the nature and character of the city will increasingly depend upon who’s sitting in City Hall.
But, a real estate piece in today’s Haaretz says that the numbers don’t necessarily support the prevailing feelings.
“There is evidence of a moderate increase in demand by ultra-Orthodox families throughout the city, and a significant increase in demand by Haredi families in certain quarters of the capital.
The real figures may come as a surprise. Many Jerusalem neighborhoods are indeed increasingly characterized by an ultra-Orthodox lifestyle. But a study of the demographic changes in the city shows that, in relation to Jerusalem’s entire Jewish population, the proportion of ultra-Orthodox has increased quite modestly in recent years.
Jerusalem today has 740,000 residents, 480,000 of whom are Jewish. Dr. Maya Choshen of The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies says that according to the institute’s estimates, in 1995 the ultra-Orthodox constituted 29% of the city’s Jewish population while in 2000, the figure was 30%. Today it’s 32%, or some 196,000 people.
These figures illustrate that the increase of Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox population over the last 13 years was modest. By 2020, the proportion of Haredim out of the city’s total Jewish population isn’t likely to exceed 35%.”
Hard to tell what it all really means. Will another haredi mayor send Jerusalem farther down the path toward total ultra Orthodoxy? Will the liberal religious and secular pockets of Jerusalem prevail? Will a Nir Barkat answer these particular needs, or is that just wishful thinking? And does any of it matter? It seems that only time will tell.
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