Good-bye desert, hello new neighborhood

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Oi veh, I knew it had to come sooner or later.
This month they started chopping up the desert to add a new neighborhood to Meitar.
(Meitar is a planned community, begun in 1984, and it expands according to plan.)

Enlarge the photo; see all those sections of pipe just waiting to become underground infrastructure?

Dust is flying as the diggers dig and the dump trucks dump.

Meanwhile they make a whole new landscape.

The new piles look like a field of giant molehills made by some giant burrowing mole.
Kind of unreal.

Bottoms up--there goes another load of several tons of good earth.
Sigh . . .

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(The big blue sky over the former big desert joins SkyWatch Friday.)
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Like a tropical island in a sea of construction

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I wandered around a neighborhood in Jerusalem that was new to me, in the Talpiot area.
I even wandered into a construction zone,  since there was no one  guarding the entrance.
The abyss was deep and abrupt; hope they get a fence and gate or a guard soon!

But I couldn't tear myself away from the exciting scene.
Look at the island they left, complete with three trees! 

The big backhoe went on chomping away at the rocky earth.

You can enlarge both pictures, click two times, to see what not long ago was underground. 

Wondering why that island has been spared  . . .
And what will be built around it . . . 
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)

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Slide reader

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Back in March I wandered around the old Jerusalem neighborhood  Musrara for the first time and fell in love with it.
I remember focusing my attention and camera on Mt. Scopus on the horizon for this shot.
Funny, but only now, when I enlarge the photo, I notice the woman on the slide.
She's getting some warm reading time while the baby probably sleeps.
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Hebrew Book Week is starting now all over Israel, so it seems an appropriate time to share this photo.
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A eucalyptus in the Greek Colony

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Wouldn't you say the poor tree is too near the street?

It is a tall old eucalyptus from the early days of Jerusalem's Greek Colony.

The neighborhood was planned about a century ago.
The land was purchased by wealthy lay members of the Greek Orthodox community.
By 1928 the community center and the 45 planned houses were completed.
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A new apartment building, reflected

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Reflected--a new building in the old German Colony neighborhood.

For Weekend Reflections.
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Cat on a warm tile roof

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A peeping tom?

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For Camera-Critters
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Bauhaus in Jerusalem

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I realized that, living near Jerusalem, I naturally tend to post old stuff on the blog.
I like old stuff.
But maybe you would like to see some of our more modern buildings?

OK. So the blue sign on this one in Rechavia neighborhood says

"Bonem House -- Beit Bonem.
Designed by architect-engineer-artist Leopold Krakauer.
The house was built in 1935-36 for use of the Bonem family.
The building is considered an important example of modern Israeli architecture.
Preservation work was carried out in 2007 by Bank Leumi."
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I think it serves now as a branch of the bank.
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The wave of immigration from Germany in the 1930s brought many architects to Israel who had been influenced by the works of Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, and the Bauhaus.
Here they had to take into consideration Jerusalem's climate, steep topography, and the prevailing construction in stone.
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Artlog lists 25 Jerusalem houses and apartment buildings built in the International style.
If you like Bauhaus, you can click through the pictures of them.
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Soon--less wall, more sky

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Good news for SkyWatch Friday!
Beginning on Sunday, this wall will be torn down.
The residents living across the street in the south Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo will be able to see more sky.

The Gilo residents will also be able to see their neighbor village again, Beit Jala.

Beit Jala is a Christian Arab village in the West Bank.

I should also say that Gilo, built in 1972, is just over the Green Line.

The problem between them began in 2000, during the second intifada.

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Some Palestinian gunmen used a few buildings of the village to shoot into the windows of the Gilo houses on an on-going basis.

That is why the protective wall was put up, to protect those living in Gilo from shells and bullets flying into their bedrooms

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The snipers who came into and used the village hoped Israel would respond heavily to their gunfire and attack the Christian village, causing very bad press for Israel. Well, we didn't.

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To learn more about this you can see

IDF statement on how/why/when the wall will be dismantled

Pre-1948 history of Gilo

Photos of Gilo under siege

Briefing by then-mayor Ehud Olmert

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Happy SkyWatch, hopefully with many sightings of the Perseid meteor shower tonight.

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UPDATE: Haaretz just now (Aug. 13) published a slideshow of 8 photos of different sections of this small wall.

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Silk screen on porcelain Pictures in Stone

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Would you believe? This little (now white) house is where former President of Israel Yitzhak Navon grew up.

The plaque on his house in the old Jerusalem neighborhood of Nachlaot says so.

Here, you can enlarge it and see him, the smallest boy in the 1925 photo.

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Talk about roots!

Former President Navon is descended from Spanish Jews who settled in eastern Europe after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and later moved to Jerusalem in 1670!

His mother's side, the Ben-Atar family, came from Spain to Portugal to Morocco; and finally to Jerusalem in 1884.
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Gilboa street (with the Navon house showing on the left) shows the tell-tale convex paving, meaning a cistern is below.

The little square at the end has the opening to the cistern, now sealed off.

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Navon loved his neighborhood so much that he wrote a play about growing up there.

Bustan Sfaradi (Sephardi Orchard) became a famous musical.
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Sir Moses (Moshe) Montefiore gave money to build the Ohel Moshe section of the Nachlaot quarter, and it is named after him.

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And guess where Montefiore was born!

In Italy, in Livorno!

This I learned from Italian blogger VP. You will enjoy his post http://livornodailyphoto.blogspot.com/2010/05/moses-montefiore.html

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As photo-bloggers, you will be pleased to know that dozens of such signs now adorn the neighborhood.

"Picture in Stone" is a project of Lev Ha-ir Community Center, which gathered family photos and historical testimony from those who lived or live there.
Photos of the original settlers, who left the security of the Old City in the late 19th century for the insecurity of New Jerusalem, are attached to the walls of homes, at the entrances to courtyards, and near the historical locations of schools, hospitals, orphanages, cafés, and more.

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By the 1970s the houses and the society were disintegrating. Lev Ha-ir began a process of restoration and gentrification.

And I believe the Picture in Stone contributed much to the pride of the place.

Nachlaot is now a charming and sought-after place to live, especially for artists, musicians, and--as one funny article claims--especially for "God 'n granola-inspired young American Jews, who lend parts of the neighborhood a feel of a Torah-inflected commune."

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The special technique of silk screen on porcelain is durable but expensive.

I heard from a tour guide who was showing her family's Picture in Stone that the families paid for them.

Even better! Good for them! Thank you!

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"Tolerance and good vibes"

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In A Bunch of Benches VP posted a different view of the benches in a new sitting place in Jerusalem's old and cramped neighborhood of Nachlaot.

This is the other end of the little park.
I thought the shadows of the still-empty pergola would be fun for Hey Harriet's Shadows on Sunday.
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Sitting in the shade with your laptop might be more pleasant than inside some of the old little houses.

Interesting how the long and narrow square is higher than the sidewalks on either side.

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Nachlaot has been undergoing gentrification and is getting to be a popular (and more expensive) neighborhood. Their website, http://www.nachlaot.com/, says that "tolerance and good vibes" would best describe the population mixture.

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Wherever you are sitting or walking today, have a nice weekend.

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Yeshivot

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All morning I was wandering around the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Givat Shaul Bet and Har Nof, seeing some things for the first time. What I actually came for was to see Deir Yassin, but that is not a story to go into right now, just before Shabbat.

It was a day for reflection.
There was even a shot for James' Weekend Reflections.

Here is the whole tall beit midrash or yeshiva.

It seemed like every block had at least one yeshiva and sometimes even several yeshivot.

Did I mention that Har Nof is a religious neighborhood of Orthodox Jews?

This yeshiva belongs to the Vizhnitz Hasidic dynasty.

The new Beth Ramchal, which appears to be built right inside one of the old quarries of Deir Yassin.

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Shabbat shalom. Let's try to have Sabbath peace.

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A windmill in Jerusalem

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The sky is dreary and dull today, not great for SkyWatch Friday.
What is jutting INTO the sky is more interesting: a 135-year-old windmill!
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Before the Jerusalem neighborhood of Rehavia was built in the 1920s, the area was owned by the Greek Orthodox Church and was called Jinzeriah.
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The Church built this windmill around 1875 to grind the local grain crops.
It even had a petrol engine for when the wind died down. This made it superior, in theory, to the other windmill built by Montefiore in Mishkenot Sha'ananim not far away.
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Later, following the Russian revolution, the Greek Orthodox Church was nearing bankruptcy and had to sell the fields to the Palestine Land Development Company.
This (along with the new steam mill technology) put the windmill out of business.
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Then, as the Jerusalem Step by Step guidebooks says,
"[The windmill] remained inactive for years and the children of Rehavia used the opportunity to remove the cross from the top of the structure."
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A famous Jewish architect bought the windmill and lived in it from 1935 to 1941.

His study was just under the dome. How cool is that?!

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Appropriately enough, in the 1950s and 60s the structure housed the Dutch consulate and the consul's residence.

After that, it again stood empty until 1987 when it was converted into a small, exclusive shopping center.

The contractors had wanted to build a residential building instead, but thankfully, the Jerusalem Municipality had the sense to say NO. Thus the windmill was restored and is preserved.

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Zest

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With today's Z, ABC Wednesay has completed yet another cycle of the alphabet, thanks to our much-appreciated host Denise (Mrs. Nesbitt).

Zesting a lemon.

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"Zest, also known as citrus peel, is a food ingredient that is prepared by scraping or cutting from the outer, colorful skin of citrus fruits such as lemon, orange, citron, and lime. Zest is used to add flavor ('zest') to foods." (Wikipedia)

Yesterday I was amazed to see two orange trees growing in urban Jerusalem!
Right in the sidewalk in one of the old neighborhoods near Nahlaot.

Seeing a tree full of fruit adds zest to life!
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In fact there is a lovely mitzvah called Birkat Ilanot, the blessing on the trees, which is done once a year, in spring, with awe and gratitude, the first time you see a fruit tree blossoming.
Its source is a gemara in the Talmud, Masechet Berachot 43b:

“A person who goes out during the days of Nisan and sees trees in bloom, says,
Blessed are you Lord our God, King of the Universe, who did not leave anything lacking in His universe, and created in it goodly creatures and goodly trees, to give pleasure to mankind with them."

In Hebrew:
Baruch ata Adonai , Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, shelo chisar ba-olamo davar, u-vara vo beriyot tovot ve-ilanot tovim, le-hanot bahem bnai adam.
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Amen to that! Just a few more months to spring, when we can say it.
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Approaching evening

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Click to enlarge, please.

A mother hurrying home (or to the shuk?) as the sun sets on Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood.
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A sukkah with a view

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October, but it still feels and looks like summer. SkyWatch Friday visitors have been seeing blue skies at Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo for half a year now. Ho hum . . .
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Israel did do one autumn-like thing however, and that was to end Daylight Saving Time two weeks ago already. Night comes so soon now.
The photo shows the 5:30 pm sky, looking east.

(Click to enlarge--the photo may remind you of a Christmas card.)

Last evening I was invited to a big sukkah and to get there I ventured into Abu Tor for the first time.

Now officially known in Hebrew as Givat Hananya, Abu Tor is a neighborhood on the seam.

The 1948-1967 cease-fire line bisected it.

Abu Tor continues to be a mixed neighborhood. Arabs live on the slope and Jews (as well as many international Christians) live on the top.

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The photo looks toward the (mostly) Arab (but increasingly Jewish) village of Silwan/Siloam/Kfar HaShiloach.

On the horizon is the Mount of Olives.

The other spectacular views from Abu Tor were Mount Zion and the illuminated YMCA and King David Hotel.

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The road below runs through Gai Ben Hinnom, which is Hebrew for the Valley of Hinnom's Son. Gai Hinnom came into other languages as Gehinom or Gehenna and over the years became associated with hell or purgatory.

I didn't go there last night.

Maybe one bright day I will.

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More cisterns

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The lively kitten in the flowerpot was playing hide-and-seek with a litter-mate.
She is my contribution to Camera Critters meme today. However, the other photos are in response to the many readers who got excited about cisterns in new Jerusalem in yesterday's post.

Jews began moving out of the overcrowded walled Old City in 1860, when the first Jewish neighborhood in new Jerusalem was built. Many of the new houses where built around a courtyard which could be locked at night for better protection. Robber bands and wild animals were a danger then, outside the city wall.

Big cisterns were built underground.

Today the openings into the cisterns are plastered shut or locked. Some pumps have become quite decorative.

The three photos above (which are clickable, as usual) show the courtyard of the late Rabbi Kook's yeshiva and of the Museum of Psalms.

The slight curve signals the vault of a cistern below the street.

The two photos above are from the old neighborhood of Nachlaot.

The complex of city center neighborhoods, officially known as Lev Ha-Ir (meaning the heart of the city), was declared an area to be conserved. The are quite charming now.

Can you imagine the hardworking mothers who once gathered here draw water and to wash the laundry and exchange the latest news?

A courtyard of one of the many the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods near the market. Often all the houses surrounding the courtyard made up one little "neighborhood," with a name of its own.

They have big families. With all the little kids playing outside, the openings to the deep cisterns are today carefully blocked.

The beautiful cistern roof in Sergei Courtyard!

The building houses the Jerusalem branch of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.

As we said yesterday, the SPNI is campaigning to have City Hall allow the re-opening of some of Jerusalem's 11,000 cisterns so that rainwater can be caught and held and used, instead of going down the drain.

After five straight years of drought, we need to conserve any rain that might come.

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Ice cream in the street

Ice cream tastes good twelve months a year. But in the summer it's fun to see folks licking away at ice cream cones anywhere they can find to sit.
Enlarge the photo to see pretty tiles on the steps and walls of the ceramics gallery.
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The area is Nachalat Shiv'a, founded in 1869. It was the third Jewish neighborhood to be built outside the Old City wall.
To see how it was saved from the wrecking ball, please read the plaque on the wall.
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Robin's Summer Stock meme still has a few more Sundays to go before we leave the summer theme. Pay a visit or join us.

Stooped

An old man in tattered clothes in Nachlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem was loading his cart with old stuff a woman had brought out to him.
To recycle?
To sell?
To distribute to those in need (even more in need than he)?
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A building meant for rabbis

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The first time I saw this enormous monotonous building on Torah Mitzion Street, I really wondered about its history.
Now I know a little more, but I still wonder . . . about the lives of those many families of pious Jews who live inside.
The shikun, meaning apartment block or housing project, was erected in 1945 to house rabbis who had survived the Holocaust and who had made it from Europe to Jerusalem, probably with nothing but the shirt on their back.
However, it soon became populated with all kinds of refugees and needy people, not just rabbis.

In the first photo you see (especially if you click) a white dome. It is the roof of this synagogue, called Beit Knesset Beit Aharon [of] Shikun HaRabbanim.

The man with his hand on his ear is talking on his cell phone, in case you wondered.

The dedicatory plaque praises several generous and upstanding men who gave money to build the synagogue.

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The neighborhood is called Romema, near the western entrance to Jerusalem. Founded in 1921, it was the first Jewish neighborhood built during the period of British rule and was planned as an exclusive residential neighborhood.

Maybe in a future post I can show you some of the dozen original stately houses, very beautiful.

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The funny story of how the Arab mayor surrendered Jerusalem to two British army cooks in 1917 on the then-desolate hill that would become Romema is in an earlier post.

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