By PEGGY CIDORKehilot Sharot founder and director Yossi Ohana speaks at the Knesset during the ‘Poetic Justice’ session(photo credit: SHMULIK BALMAS/COURTESY KEHILOT SHAROT)Green rideJerusalemites with many traffic violations: some good news. Or Yarok, the association created to help drivers avoid and prevent traffic accidents, is opening a special training program.Fourteen weekly meetings will equip participants to prevent and avoid being involved in accidents that could cause severe injury or death to drivers and pedestrians.Groups will be moderated by a Transportation Ministry representative and an association member – both chosen for their experience and teaching ability. The program, Nesiat Mivhan, is aimed at lowering traffic accidents caused by reckless driving and the resultant casualties on the roads, as it appears penalties have had a very limited effect in deterring traffic violators.More details at local ministry offices or via Or Yarok.National Library This coming Tuesday, April 5, the cornerstone- laying ceremony for the new National Library building will take place at the new location – facing the Knesset and overlooking the Israel Museum. The plan is for the new building to open its gates to the public by 2020, at a cost of NIS 200 million; about 80 percent of this is to be raised through global donations. The National Library had its start in 1892 in the city center (Straus Street); it moved to the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus in 1930, and in 1948 to the university’s Givat Ram campus, where it has stood until now. While over the years the institution was called the Jewish National and University Library, in 2008 it was renamed the National Library of Israel. Gathering material that depicts and belongs to the Jewish people, not just the State of Israel, it recently added audio and digital material.More about booksA project led by the Lev Ha’ir local council offers visitors to the city center’s Horse Park, at the corner of King George Avenue and Ben-Yehuda Street, a mobile library of games for children.A joint project with the Libraries Authority, working under the municipality’s culture administration, with the arrival of the summer it is expected to extend to additional parks in the city center and nearby neighborhoods.At the Horse Park library, there will be plenty of books as well as games adapted for early childhood, since many parents spend time with children here; storytelling hours are also expected to be added.Not on my terrace The phenomenon of terrace agriculture is threatened by modernity as well as development and construction projects, and many feel it needs to be protected. Deputy Mayor Tamir Nir (Yerushalmim), a very engaged supporter of environmental issues, agrees and has initiated a special conference on the matter.The Yuvalim local council of Kiryat Hayovel, the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, the Jerusalem branch of the National Council for the Preservation of Historical Sites, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and the Bio-Center of Jerusalem will all participate in the conference, which will be held at the Tzipori Center in the Jerusalem Forest.The aim is make the public and relevant institutions aware of the uniqueness of these terraces and to find ways to protect them, despite plans for development.Passover and renovations Despite the efforts of many rabbis and educators, Passover time remains a high season for house renovations. This year, there is a slight drop in the scope of these works, although precise data hasn’t been published. Nevertheless, no less than 9,500 residents will be doing some renovations – mostly painting their houses – before Passover. The cost of these works will reach, according to renovation contractors union chairman Eran Siv, NIS 430 million. Siv notes that the drop in the scope of these renovation works is attributed to the security situation, as many residents fear employing Arab workers.Staying with usAll’s well that ends well, we could say in the case of the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s quest for a new home – and the IBA is remaining in the holy city. While the law rules that the public radio and television authority should broadcast from the capital, many recent attempts to change or override it sometimes made it look like a lost cause. So finally, and mainly due to wall-towall opposition to any other solution, it was decided that the IBA and Channel 1 studios will remain in the city and move next October to their new residence in Har Hotzvim.Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin, together with the Jerusalem Development Authority, led the way. With the cooperation of the municipality, work to make the new location ready will begin this month. This solution will not only keep about 1,000 employees in the city, but will also avoid the need to change the familiar opening announcement, “Kol Yisrael broadcasting from Jerusalem.”Follow usThe Knesset this week celebrated the flourishing renewal of the Jewish liturgical tradition of various communities, in a special session of the Lobby for Justice and Equality headed by MK Yossi Yonah (Zionist Union) and Orly Levy-Abecassis (Yisrael Beytenu). Under the title of “Poetic Justice,” the session featured famous local paytanim (writers of liturgical songs) and members of Kehilot Sharot (singing communities). This lobby aims to gain for periphery towns and neighborhoods a fair share of government funding for culture and to rehabilitate the ancient traditions of the different communities whose culture has been neglected over the years.
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