Hunting treasure in the Old City
Dr. Clue is the world’s leading team-building company specializing in treasure hunt activities. Dr. Clue is also my brother, Dave. He was just here in Israel for our youngest son Aviv’s bar mitzvah and, as his gift, he planned a special treasure hunt in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Spotting twos shofars at the Beit El Yeshiva
Dave normally organizes hunts for companies like law firms and hi-tech startups, as a way of prodding teams to work more cooperatively. For Aviv, it was less about group dynamics and all about fun.
A treasure hunt can open your eyes to sites you’ve never even heard about; it’s a remarkable way to get to know a city. Our route had us searching for historical plaques, obscure addresses and hidden mosaics throughout the ancient walled streets. Did you know that the Royal Austrian Post Office was located across from the Tower of David museum until 1914? Or that there are two shofars above the door to the Beit El Yeshiva? Have you ever even been to the Church or St. George or St. James Cathedral (we hadn’t)?
But before we could go scavenging, we had to answer the clues, and they were tough: 10 brain twisters including one where we had to organize monopoly cards in the right order to spell out a direction; a Morse code game with lions symbolizing dashes and zebras as dots; and a personalized food twister where recognizing the pattern of our son’s favorite dishes (from meatloaf to sushi) spelled out an address on HaNevel Street.
Once we’d solved all the clues, we only had an hour left to find the locations – for each minute we arrived back at the starting point past the cut-off time, we’d be docked 2,000 points. Dave had rachmanus (sympathy) on our group, which ranged in age from 48 to 74, and waived the penalty we’d accrued for being 6 minutes late. We still lost out to the teenagers. But who’s counting (OK, I was).
Sample clue: hieroglyphics
So, what’s the connection for Israelity readers who didn’t participate in our private family adventure? Dave is working on plans to come back and open up his Old City treasure hunts to overseas tour groups, as well as the general public. He’s already done this in countries ranging from Switzerland to Dubai; he’s even run a program on a cruise ship to the Great Barrier Reef (I’m definitely in the wrong business)!
Imagine if every visitor to Jerusalem took a morning to explore the Old City in an entirely new way – a far cry from the “follow my flag” type of tour guide-led group? What a boon it would be for the city and for engagement with the Holy Land. Nir Barkat – are you listening?
New Years at the Kotel
Filed under: A New Reality, Blogging, coexistence, Entertainment, General, History and Culture, Pop Culture, Travel
Perez Hilton humbled at the Kotel.
Hilton is vacationing here and posting on his daily excursions. The latest on Thursday detailed his visit to Jerusalem’s Old City.
Our favorite day in Israel thus far!
On Thursday, we had the true privilege and pleasure to fully immerse ourselves in the magical city that is Old Jerusalem.
So special – for Judaism, Christianity AND Islam!
Whatever you believe in, it’s undeniable that so many people believe in the special place that is this city, and where there is so much believing – there is energy.
The energy is so strong in Jerusalem. We could literally feel it and it brought us to tears at the Western Wall, the most holy place in all of Judaism.
He may not be very scholarly, but his enthusiasm is contagious. You can read the rest of the post here, while you settle into 2011.
Was it Christmas?
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Religion
Christmas in Israel is always a bit strange – mainly because it’s so easy to forget that it’s Christmas!
Unless you shlep to the Christian quarter of the Old City or to Bethlehem, where services and festivities are taking place, there’s virtually no sign of the holiday.
My friend Barry Leff, a rabbi and businessman, nicely articulated the conundrum of transplanted Americans, used to the clues at every street corner that the holiday has arrived, suddenly living in a Christmas-less society. On his blog at the Neshama Center, he states:
I actually think Christmas is TOO low profile in Israel. It should be a little more visible. There are some over the top religious people who can’t tolerate any other religions, who protest anything that even looks like Christmas lights. I’m not kidding, click here to see an article titled “Haredim threaten to boycott Mamilla Mall.” Why? Christmas lights. The management of the mall tried to quickly claim it was Hanukkah lights left up late.
Why should they do that? Not only do Christians make up 2% of the population in Israel, we get a LOT of Christian tourists this time of year, for obvious reasons. Why shouldn’t we do something to make them feel at home? Most major cities in the US do a Chanukah menorah lighting in a public place, why can’t we in Israel reciprocate and give Christians some acknowledgement of their holiday in our public space?
Read the rest of his entry here
Shlomo Gronich hijacks Jethro Tull
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Israeliness, Life, Music, Pop Culture
Monday night in Jerusalem proved why it’s one of the great cities of the world.
In the radius of a mile or two, you had a myriad of activities – thousands of people attending the two-week Hutzot Hayotzer Arts and Crafts Fair outside the walls of the Old City and listening to Aviv Gefen. And of course, you have the Old City itself, the center of the universe! And almost within ear shot, in the parking lot behind the train station bordering Derech Hebron and Derech Beit Lechem, the classic British rock band Jethro Tull was putting on a spell binding show.
I’m not sure if Jessica made it to the concert, but for the 2000 plus attendees, it was an accomplished performance they witnessed by Ian Anderson and his troupe. Anderson, who donated his personal proceeds from the show, and the previous two performances in Israel last week, to three organizations that work in Israel for coexistence with Palestinians (including Hand in Hand), responded strongly to calls for the band to cancel their shows and boycott Israel.
Not only did he issue a stern letter on his Web site saying that he wouldn’t cave in to pressure, he even did other artists who appear here one better by inviting an Israeli musician to join the band in Jerusalem.
When Anderson introduced celebrated pianist/singer Shlomo Gronich, the rather sedate crowd stood up in cheers. The pony-tailed Gronich strolled to the piano, and with minimal rehearsal (maybe not at all?) joined the band for ‘Bouree,’ the Bach-inspired instrumental off their second album back in the 1960s.
Gronich even added some touches from his own material in a mid-song interlude and generally filled the audience with Israeli pride at being onstage with rock legends and more than holding his own.
Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case with Israelis, Gronich overstayed his welcome to my mind, performing another song in a duet with Anderson on flute. It was nice, but it was Tull the audience had come to hear. And after that song ended, instead of leaving, Gronich asked Anderson’s permission to address the crowd in Hebrew, to which the Tull leader seemingly reluctancly agreed.
Gronich disclosed that the next day was Anderson’s birthday and corralled the crowd into singing a piano-accompanied version of the song, much, I’m sure, to Anderson’s embarrassment. With that, Gronich left the stage, I breathed a sigh of relief, and the show continued. Another international incident narrowly averted.
Hollywood stories
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Movies, Pop Culture, Travel
John Cusack and Woody Harrelson at the Kinneret.
There’s the Leo Dicaprio/Bar Rafaeli way of trying to visit the Kotel a couple years ago without thinking the paparazzi would notice, and getting ambushed on the scene, resulting in a fracas and ill feelings all around.
There’s the Bette Midler way – who this months spent some time here touring with her husband. They apparently planned ahead and gave Yediot Aharonot the chance to exclusively shoot the Divine Miss M in Jerusalem’s Old City. They cleverly labeled the photo “Bette hamikdash.”
When Jim Carrey arrived here from Egypt a few years back undetected, he went to the lengths or remaining incognito by hiring a stand-in look alike to hang out at the King David Hotel pretending to be him, while the real Carrey went out under a baseball cap and toured to his heart’s content.
But now, film stars John Cusack and Woody Harrelson have put one over on us – they were apparently in the country last week, hanging out at the Kinneret and checking out Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. How do we know? Cusack posted about what he called a ‘friendship tour’ on his Tweeter account, including a self-taken photo of the duo on the shores of Tiberias.
No publicists, no photo shoots and no decoys. Maybe we really are turning into a normal country.
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