By PEGGY CIDORThough the light rail’s Blue Line has been approved, the fate of its 1.1-kilometer segment on Emek Refaim Street (pictured) is undecided(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)Green light for the Blue Line The district planning and construction committee has approved the next line of the light rail – the Blue Line. Although the committee approved the line, it left undecided for the moment the fate of the 1.1-kilometer Emek Refaim Street segment. Following vocal opposition from area residents, the Jerusalem Transportation Master Plan staff is weighing alternatives. Mayor Nir Barkat supports the original Emek Refaim route, which activists fear would be harmful to the neighborhood and Mesila Park. German Colony residents who created an association and proposed a solution with a tunnel running under Harakevet Street are convinced that their proposal will be accepted. The Master Plan staff has three months to reach its conclusion.History is here A historic agreement has been reached to guarantee the long-term stability and development of the most advanced digital projects related to Hebrew manuscript research. The National Library of Israel and the Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society are merging the cutting-edge resources of FJMS with the NLI’s vast collection.According to the agreement, projects affiliated with FJMS will be gradually integrated into NLI’s technological infrastructure, allowing the resources of both projects to mutually support one another. FJMS’s flagship digital initiative is the Friedberg Geniza project, which allows scholars to view, read and annotate hundreds of thousands of images of fragments and documents from the famed Cairo Geniza. Hundreds of thousands of visits to the site demonstrate its unparalleled contribution to learning and research.In addition, FJMS sponsors Hachi Garsinan, a website that provides images and transcripts of textual variants of the Babylonian Talmud; Yad Harambam, which provides a synoptic text of Maimonides’ influential code of Jewish Law, based on early printings and manuscripts; an online collection of important Judeo-Arabic texts and annotated bibliography of the field; the comprehensive Sussmann Thesaurus of Talmudic Manuscripts; and the Yemenite manuscripts from the collection of Yehuda Levi Nahum.FJMS is the brainchild of Albert Dov Friedberg, a Toronto- based philanthropist and investment manager, whose concern for Jewish sacred texts has made him a leading supporter of Jewish manuscript research. According to Oren Weinberg, director general of the NLI, this agreement will “bring the technological developments of both bodies into conversation with one another, allowing the best minds and products of the Jewish digital humanities to cross-pollinate.”Tunnel vision It may be related the struggle of German Colony residents over the Blue Line path or just a coincidence, but the residents of Kiryat Hayovel are promoting a tunnel between Ya’acov Tahon and Eliyahu Golomb Streets, as part of the vast new renewal project in the neighborhood. As envisioned, the tunnel will be for private cars, while the above-ground route will be for the next planned segment of the light rail (the Violet Line, which will run from Ein Kerem through Kiryat Hayovel, Malha and the Gonenim to Talpiot.)The aim is to transform the Tahon/Golomb segment of into a new “Jaffa Road” in the neighborhood – an area free of private cars and buses, which will be accessible only to the light rail and pedestrians. This is only an initiative of the local neighborhood council, but it will soon be submitted to the municipal Master Plan body, in hope that it will be approved and provide better planning of transportation to and from the neighborhood.Game not over yet The last city council meeting was stormy, with residents of Mishkenot Ha’uma protesting plans for bus parking inside their neighborhood, yet the council still managed to approve a nice proposal: the decision to extend the special campaign for people delinquent in their city taxes. Following agreement with the Interior Ministry, the city is offering residents with significant arnona debt an opportunity to get current with special discounts of up to 50%, in order to prevent judicial action and bank account seizures.Originally, this discount offer was to end on November 30, but the council has extended the allotted time until December 31. The deal is offered to those who have outstanding tax debts from prior to December 2014. Residents who pay their debt in this framework will get a 50% reduction if it is paid in a single payment or up to a 45% reduction if paid in installments – assuming that there are no debts left for the years 2015 and 2016. Additionally, the arrangement will now also include business city tax debts, where the sums owned to the city are more considerable.He’s back Zvika Chernichovski, once a close supporter of Mayor Nir Barkat and before that CEO of the Jerusalem Society for Community Centers, is back in the business of local politics. After a rather long period of separation from the political scene, Chernichovski has apparently changed his mind and has recently announced his intention to compete for the mayor’s seat. He is planning to compile a new local list to run for the council in the November 2018 elections. It is not clear what kind of list he envisions, as the “pluralist” sector already has two or three lists that seem incapable of working together, but Chernichovski sounds confident in his capacity to unite enough quality individuals to form a compelling list.Gold medal Dr. Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and former CEO of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, has been conferred the Statesman Scholar Award – one of the most prestigious awards for statesmen – by the Washington Institute for Research on the Middle East. Considered by Newsweek as the alternative Nobel Prize, the award was bestowed on Gold for his remarkable achievements in the Foreign Affairs Ministry and at the United Nations. Past honorees include US president Bill Clinton, US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and UK prime minister Tony Blair.The festival evening at which the prize was awarded was timed to mark the November 29, 1947 UN session that voted to partition Eretz Israel, paving the way to the establishment of the State of Israel.Artistic sewing The “Sewing Workshop,” a new venue for art and culture events in Abu Ghosh, is holding a series of events sponsored by the Immigration and Integration Ministry. This week’s workshop features “America, America,” a special program of beloved hits of American music and musicals such as Porgy and Bess and West Side Story – ragtime, blues and more – all presented by Bellamya, an ensemble of musicians and artists from the former Soviet Union. The next event scheduled is a special arrangement for soloists and piano accompaniment of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. More details and tickets at www.hamatpera.co.il or 052- 377-7255.Kosher threats Although the High Court has already ruled that eateries should not be punished for choosing the alternative kashrut supervision of Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz’s Hashgacha Pratit organization, the Chief Rabbinate’s kashrut administration has fined a restaurant for that reason. The rabbinate found a way to override the ruling by fining eateries on that ground before the date of the court’s decision. This time, the fines were levied on a restaurant located out of Jerusalem, but for Leibowitz, a Jerusalemite and until recently a city council member with the Yerushalmim Party, this has gone too far. He declared that these acts should be considered blackmail and threats from the Rabbinate. “This is no less than a sick obsession,” he said.For the sake of the mountain A new Knesset lobby was born this week – the Lobby for the Sake of the Mount of Olives (and the ancient Jewish graveyard there). Led by MK Yoav Ben-Tzur (Shas), the initiative is a response to the current situation. Lack of security for the mourners and visitors, desecration of graves and stone throwing at mourners accompanying the deceased to burial prevent many from going there. The new lobby, which all parties at the Knesset except for The Joint List have joined, seeks to find ways to improve the situation in that area.Remembering Rabbi Carlebach Olam Qatan – the legendary beloved bookstore for spirituality, mystique and more – has moved to a new location. Yaqub ibn Yusuf, the founder and owner of the shop, has closed the site near Emek Refaim and opened at the First Station. Music, events, new books and more are now available there, and special events are scheduled.Opening the series of events will be an evening dedicated to a new book on the late singing rabbi, Shlomo Carlebach. The launching of What Do We Know? The Shlomo Carlebach Anthology by Rabbi Joseph Schonwald will take place on Sunday, December 10, at 6 p.m. with readings, discussion, and music by Reb Yankala Shemesh. The book presents more than 30 essays exploring the substance of Carlebach’s teaching, its political/historical and personal/ mystical dimensions, and on his musical contributions.The next highly anticipated event will be on December 17, an evening of Sufi poetry, stories, music and dance in memory of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi. The Persian poet who proclaimed a message of universal love in the 13th century has become one of the best-loved poets not only in the East, but in the Western world. The anniversary of his death on December 17 is celebrated with Turkish Sufi music and Whirling Dervish dancing all over the world.“We will commemorate it here in Jerusalem, with Sufi music and dance accompanying poetry from our Hebrew translation of Rumi’s Diwan, and with stories that fill in some of the background of this extraordinary soul,” says ibn Yusuf.
