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The Jerusalem Blog
The Jerusalem Blog keeps you up-to-date with all the additions and changes made to The Jerusalem Insider's Guide. It's the easiest and fastest way to stay informed about everything that's happening on the site.
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An evening of Jazz, Folk and Soul with Tofaah
An intimate evening of Jazz, folk and soul with Tofa'ah, Jerusalem's all-woman band. Where: The performance will be held in the Dati Leumi Shul at 22
Learn to Speak Hebrew: The Best Ways to Study Hebrew
Learn to speak Hebrew - the best ways to study Hebrew, common Hebrew phrases, Hebrew alphabet chart and how to choose the best hebrew language study program for you.
Two Jerusalem hotels scored last month when Conde Nast Travel, the luxury travel expert, released its Readers Choice Awards for the top ten luxury hotels in the Middle East.
On the list were two Israeli hotels – both of them in Jerusalem.The Inbal Hotel came in at number four, with visitors raving about "the best food in Jerusalem," the understated elegance and superb view of the Old City from the suites.
The David Citadel Hotel was commended for its décor, classy atmosphere, service and great location, close to the luxury Mamilla Mall and the Old City. It ranked sixth on the list.
So gone are the days that a spiritual pilgrimage was perforce a physically uncomforable journey. You can have your religious uplift and your materialistic pleasures too!
Enjoy Jerusalem in the lap of luxury and comfort at either one of these fine hotels.
Get the best deals on Jerusalem hotels right here:
Cheap Tel Aviv Hotels or the Top Ten: Where to Stay in Tel Aviv
Whether you're looking for cheap tel aviv hotels, or the 10 best hotels in Tel Aviv - here's where to stay.
Jerusalem Holy Sites: a Guide to the Many Religious Places in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem Holy Sites: The Western Wall, Golgotha and the Dome of the Rock are the standards, but there are more more sacred places in this one city than almost any other.
Discover Jerusalem: a pictorial guide to the most unique city on earth. Where to go, what Jerusalem hotels to choose, and what you shouldn't miss when planning your travel to Israel.
Board one of the many additional buses scheduled to take visitors from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on this day or simply spare a prayer in your thoughts for her and the safety of her children.
Kever Rachel is the third holiest Jewish site of prayer and one of the most ancient sacred places in the world.
Harley Davidsons Rule – Even in Jerusalem
As if to prove pilgrimages can take all forms and styles, a group of 71 Harley Davidsons – and their owners – are touring Jerusalem. They were spotted at the Western Wall on Sunday afternoon. Seeing as we used to live down the street from the local Harley Davidson dealership, we particularly enjoyed news of this whimsical tour.
The black-leather, tattoo sporting delegation comprises U.S. military veterans who are members of a church in Amarillo, Texas. They were brought over in conjunction with the Israel Tourism Ministry, which also helped facilitate the administrative hurdles of shipping 71 motorbikes to Israel.
One of the bikers mounted his iphone to his Harley and shot this footage of the group's approach to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. If you don't fancy the virtual experience of riding a Harley on the road to Jerusalem, complete with the sound of the rushing wind, fast forward to about 4 minutes and 15 seconds into the video, when the bikers round the turn that reveals the first views of Jerusalem.
For more on the story and photos of the bikers at the Western Wall at Arutz 7, click here.
Jerusalem Events for November: Best Things to Do in Jerusalem
Best Jerusalem events for the month of November: the top things to do in Jerusalem.
Searching for some last minute Sukkah-building inspiration? (Not sure what a Sukkah is? Scroll down the pictures and check out the fantastic video below, created by The Land of Israel team.)
Spotted in Jerusalem yesterday, less than 36 hours away from the start of Sukkoth, the Feast of Tabernacles, the most joyful holiday in the Jewish calendar, here is an assortment of sukkas to give you ideas – from small, home-balcony models; hotel models; and the world's largest sukkah at Kikar Safra (Safra Square), built by the Jerusalem Municipality.
Jaffa Street, lined with Sukkas - who'd have thought?
You'll spot people everywhere putting last minute finishing touches on their sukkas. Make sure you leave enough time to decorate yours to the max!
Then, check out our October Jerusalem Events Calendar for a taste of the incredible events going on here in Jerusalem in the next week.
Most importantly, may you all have a wonderful, joyful chag Sukkoth!
And here's the promised video - a beautiful presention from The Land of Israel, with a reminder that this is a time of rejoicing for all peoples:
Moshav Country Fair Chol Hamo'ed Sukkot
The Sukkot Moshav Country Fair provides a whole afternoon and evening of live music by a variety of performers, as well women's workshops and lots of activities
May you be blessed with peace, joy and sweetness all year long. Next year - in Jerusalem!
The Dead Sea Scrolls Now Online
In one of the marvels of modern day technology, you can now study some of Jerusalem's most precious cultural treasures from home – or even from your mobile phone. The Israel Museum, in a joint project with Google, has put the Dead Sea Scrolls online.
Five Dead Sea Scrolls have been digitized so far, including the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, the Commentary on Habakkuk Scroll, the Temple Scroll and the War Scroll. The Great Isaiah Scroll, which is the only complete, ancient (circa 125 BCE) Biblical book to have been discovered, can even be magnified, searched by column, chapter and verse and is accompanied by an English translation tool.
While this is a terrific advance for scholars, we still think there are few things quite as impressive, humbling and awe-inspiring as being in the presence of the real thing – here in Jerusalem.
Baking for Rosh Hashanah: Here's our Challah Recipe
It is almost the turn of the year. Next week ushers in Rosh Hashanah and if you haven't started yet, perhaps it's time to start planning a holiday menu, one that includes the traditional honey-sweetened, round challah.
Challah, the bread usually eaten on the Sabbath, is usually braided. For Rosh Hashanah, they are made round, and often sweetened with honey and raisins for a sweet new year. In Jerusalem, you'll see bakery shelves piled high with round loaves, especially in the colorful markets and shops of Mahane Yehuda, near Nahlaot.
In many Jerusalem neighborhoods, the blasts of the shofar echo through the early morning air each day during the month preceeding Rosh Hashannah, heralding a time of introspection and repentance.
The shofar is a beloved Jewish ritual object. The iconic image of Rabbi Shlomo Goren blowing a shofar at the liberation of the Western Wall in Jerusalem in 1967 is engraved in many of our memories.
The exhibit, Sound the Shofar – a Witness to History, displays 140 shofars (shofarot, to be accurate in Hebrew). While the one sounded by Rabbi Goren may be the most famous, others were also witnesses to poignant moments in history. There are shofars that somehow survived the Holocaust and found their way to Israel. There is the shofar that was sounded at the Western Wall on Yom Kippur during the British Mandate – when to do so was illegal and could earn one a prison sentence. Together, the shofars bear witness to Jewish life.
Sound of the Shofar runs until February 2012. There is a free guided tour daily, at 10:30 in English, 11:00 in Hebrew, and additional one on Wednesday evenings at 17:30 in English, 18:00 in Hebrew.
Google Street View Comes to Jerusalem
It's official: Google Street View is going to be providing the world with a virtual tour of Jerusalem's Old City and other tourist attractions in Israel.
There had been some security concerns on the part of the Israeli government, but apparently agreements have been reached with Google and the project is underway.
Cameras will soon be rolling through our city, giving billions of people around the world a taste of the riches that surround us in the most unique city on earth.
"Israel's cultural heritage touches billions of people around the world," says Meir Brand, the managing director of Google Israel, South Africa, and Greece, in the video below. "As an Israeli who was born here and lives here and knows what a beautiful and amazing country we have here, I want people to see and experience its unique character, and I'm happy Google can play a part."
Although the service already provides views of other cities around the world, Jerusalem will be the first city in the Middle East to participate in Google’s program. Haifa and Tel Aviv are soon to follow.
Who knows - you might log onto Google Maps one day and find us waving at you!
Watch the video of the joint press conference by Meir Brand, Google Israel head, and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barakat.
Cheap Flights to Israel: Find the Best Deals
Find cheap flights to Israel - compare prices and book the best deals.
The City of David continues to deliver up its secrets. I personally find each announcement of yet another discovery to be just tantalizing, making me wonder what else is hidden below my feet as I walk through the centuries-old streets of Jerusalem.
The latest area to be almost tourist-ready is not yet open to the public – soon, we're told. But with the Jewish holidays rising on the horizon of the calendar, I wanted to share this particular video. It shows the majestic staircase that linked the Pool of Shiloah – once Jerusalem's main water source – with the Temple Mount.
On the holiday of Sukkot, thousands of pilgrims used these stairs to ascend to the Temple, particularly during the Simchas Beis Hashoevah – the water-libation ceremonies. Tradition tells us that those who have not experienced the ceremony in the Temple have not really experienced joy.
So why am I not saving this post for the holiday itself? Well, this video may remind us of the joy, but it reminds us of Jerusalem's painful history as well: Underneath the stairs were tunnels, in which the Jews attempted to hide during the last Roman siege. Archaeologists have found vessels and hidden here, along with the places where Roman soldiers broke the steps to reveal the tunnels and pull out the hapless Jews to kill them.
Nevertheless, this recently unearthed major thoroughfare gives one an idea of just how impressive the City of David must have been.
Jesus in Jerusalem
Follow the footsteps of Jesus in Jerusalem - there's no better way to make Bible history come alive.
The Mt of Olives rises to the east of the Temple Mount, across from the deep Kidron Valley, and is home to some of the most important Jerusalem holy sites.
Today we approach the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, Tisha B'Av, which commemorates one of the greatest tragedies in our history, the fall of Jerusalem.
Tisha B'Av – the ninth of the month of Av – marks the destruction of the Temple, not once, but twice. The first Temple, built by King Solomon, was destroyed on this date in 422 BCE. The Second Temple, built by Herod the Great, was destroyed by the Romans on this date in 70 CE.
To this day, the 9th of Av is a day of grievous mourning in every Jewish community around the world – Jews fast, sit on the floor, do not wear shoes and weep over the loss of the Temple and the ensuing loss of Jerusalem.
As you can imagine, nowhere is the mourning more painful than in Jerusalem itself, where the archaeological evidence of that horrific event are there for us to see, for example, in the Burnt House and the Wohl Archaeological Museum, where you can visit former homes whose soot covered walls and charred remains bear witness to the destruction.
As we recall past destructions of our city – and pray to avoid any more in the future – here's a 5-minute history of Jerusalem, courtesy of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, that you may find adds meaning, and hope, to the day.
Use the ATM to Get Shekels
So you got some shekels to arrive with - and then need more (and more, and . . .). You realize that there are plenty of change agents - must be a lucrative
The Jerusalem Post reports the government is considering a proposal to build a cable car to transport visitors to Jerusalem's Old City. Ideally, the cable car would transport up to 4,000 passengers an hour in a three-and-a-half minute ride from the heart of the German Colony into the Old City, relieving the traffic congestion around and in the Old City itself.
This wouldn't be the first cable car to the Old City ramparts. During the first Arab-Israeli War, Israel's War of Independence in 1948, the Israelis built a secret cable car that operated only at night and brought supplies and reinforcements to besieged Mt. Zion and evacuated the wounded. The cable was lowered before dawn, so as to be undetectable to the enemy.
The military kept the cable car in working order from 1948 to 1967. Incredible as it may seem, the existence of the cable car, which spanned 200 meters above the Ben Hinnom valley, was a secret until it was "declassified" and made public in 1972! That cable car can still be seen at the Mount Zion Hotel, which houses the Cable Car Museum.
From the Jerusalem Post:
"I remember the cable car on Mount Zion during the War of Independence," Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said at the opening of the session. "There are things that seem impossible – like a cable car passing over us – because they require more effort on behalf of future generations."
Rivlin added that the traffic from the 150,000 tourists per month in the Old City creates "unbearable crowding" that also stops Jerusalemites from moving freely around their city. Rivlin proposed an economic feasibility study to examine the cost of such an initiative in greater detail.
According to a plan from the Transportation Ministry, a cable car could carry up to 4,000 passengers an hour, eliminating the need for some of the 3,000 buses that drive in and around the Old City each month. The plan also stipulated that the cable car would be environmentally friendly and would not harm the view or surroundings of the historic area.…
"The Old City in Jerusalem is the center of tourism and the most visited place in Israel, but the problems of access to the city keep tourists from enjoying its wonders, and even negatively impact the success of business owners," said MK Yulia Shamolov Berkovich (Kadima), head of the Jerusalem Lobby in the Knesset. "There is no doubt that a cable car would be an easy solution that would increase the number of visitors and be an enjoyable tourist attraction for the entire family, even attracting Jerusalemites," she said.
The cable car would stretch across the Kidron Valley, from the building that houses the Government Printing Office on Rehov Miriam Hashmonaite, to the Dung Gate. The 1,030-meter-long ride would take approximately 3 minutes, 30 seconds.
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Top 5 Jerusalem Hotels
