By PEGGY CIDORPromoting peace and understanding: Percussionist Chen Zimbalista(photo credit: ZIMBALISTA.COM)Buses and planesHere is some good news for Jerusalemites who have had to choose between the Nesher minibus shuttle or a private taxi to get to and from Ben-Gurion Airport. It’s hard to believe, but there is no direct bus line from the capital to the country’s international airport.As part of the improvement of the public transportation system, which includes light rails in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the Transportation Ministry has decided to provide a direct bus service to and from the airport. The new line will connect passengers from the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem to Terminal 3 at Ben-Gurion. The line will function for longer hours than regular bus lines in the city but not 24 hours as proposed at the beginning of the plan.Although the line is scheduled to start running in early January, it is still not clear what company will operate the service. Egged, the largest bus company and still partly public, was considered the natural answer, but it seems that some bad blood between the company and the ministry may prevent it. In that case, the line will be run by one of the private companies from the center of the country. As it has not yet been decided whether the line will be private or subsidized by the government, it is not known how much the fare will be.Illuminating in more ways than oneThe Boys Town Jerusalem school, founded in 1948, has pursued the mission of turning young boys from limited backgrounds into young men with limitless futures. From junior high through to college level, the three-part curriculum at Boys Town – academic, technological and Torah – is designed to turn disadvantaged Israeli youth into productive citizens of tomorrow. The campus, located on 18 acres in Bayit Vagan, is home to some 900 students, and more than 7,000 graduates hold key positions in Israeli society.Daniel Ben-Hemo, 16, one of the youngest firefighters to battle blazes in last month’s wave of fires, was chosen to light the first Hanukka candle of the Kiryat Noar-Boys Town Jerusalem hanukkia. The 11th grader, who has volunteered for the Fire Department for two years during the school’s community service program, was honored for his important role in fighting massive fires in the Judean Hills.What is special about the hanukkia is that it runs on “homegrown” solar power generated by the school’s solar-energy system, one of the first to be installed by an Israeli school. It is situated on the roof of Boys Town’s academic building on the Bayit Vagan campus, one of the tallest points in metropolitan Jerusalem.Health on the agendaSeveral years ago, MK Rachel Azaria (Kulanu) launched a project in Jerusalem to provide healthful meals for children at school and introduced the need to reduce junk food and soft drinks in schools as much as possible. Now she is doing the same in the Knesset for the rest of the schools in the country. Azaria is one of the founders of the Lobby for a Healthy Lifestyle, launched on December 20. Interestingly, the new lobby project is shared by MKs who are not even members of the same parties – with MK Eitan Cabel of the Zionist Camp and Yisrael Eichler of United Torah Judaism.Following the ceremony at the Knesset for the establishment of the lobby, several debates on issues of healthy food and way of life for Israelis were held at the Commission for Education and Health, followed by a session at the plenary on the connection between healthy nutrition and preventing diabetes, at which Health Minister Yaakov Litzman spoke. He recently suggested avoiding the traditional but not so healthy Hanukka sufganiot.Sights and soundsThe National Library is offering free guided tours on Hanukka at the library’s music archive center. The tours will show the public – children and adults – the archive’s rare treasury of stories, songs and music of Hanukka. The songs and stories are gathered from communities around the world, besides rare and moving recordings from communities that no longer exist. The tours will take place on Thursday, December 29 and on Friday morning, December 30. Advance registration is required via the library’s website: www.nli.org.il.For the sake of childrenChen Zimbalista, the acclaimed Israeli percussionist who has dazzled audiences around the world, is also very much involved in projects to promote peace and understanding among children. As such, he has launched a program to prevent Jewish and Arab high school students from dropping out of music classes and has enrolled them in the Music Factory, a youth orchestra and choir. The youngsters learn and play together and benefit from free master classes from top local musicians and those visiting from abroad. In return for the free lessons, the teens give benefit concerts for the community at retirement homes and community centers.One of those concerts will be held next week, and the proceeds will go to Yad Elie, a nonprofit organization that provides meals for underprivileged children in Jerusalem. The concert, conducted by Zimbalista, will feature mezzo-soprano Noa Hope and soloists from the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Beersheba Sinfonietta. Marion Kunstenaar, the founder of Yad Elie, says she is very moved by the participation of this youth orchestra, which represents the core idea of her organization’s aims.“We provide about 500 meals a day to the children of Jerusalem – Jews, Christians and Muslims alike – and it is so moving to see that Jewish and Arab children will play and sing together for these underprivileged children of our capital,” she says.The Gala Benefit Concert will take place on Sunday, January 1 at 8 p.m. at the YMCA. The management of the YMCA agreed to hold the concert there, even though it generally never schedules events on the first day of the New Year. The program features works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Bizet and Ravel. Tickets are NIS 100. Call *6226 or go to tickets.bimot.co.il.The winner of several international competitions, Zimbalista has performed at the Kennedy Center, played with the Detroit Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York, and with the Spirit of Europe chamber orchestra, to name just a few. He took part in The Laya Project, peace concerts in Angola and more.Law and orderThe Tama 38 project to reinforce old apartment buildings and add housing units is an example of how good intentions can be blocked by bureaucracy. As a result, despite the obvious need for the program, the figures of those joining are still very low.Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman, who heads the municipal planning and construction committee, has apparently decided to take the bull by the horns. He set up a new administration to supervise and shorten, as much as possible, the whole procedure. He says that besides putting limits to bureaucratic obstacles, the new administration will enable entrepreneurs and builders to get, right from the beginning, a clear picture of the possibilities on the ground regarding construction rights and other aspects.Tama 38 is not only a response to the threat of an eventual earthquake but mostly a realistic answer to the lack of plots and locations for building housing units, which are so badly needed in the city. The project enables adding two to three stories to existing buildings.
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