This week in Jerusalem: A league of their own

Jerusalem is launching a new era in the religious life of worshipers.

By PEGGY CIDOR
basketball (photo credit: Courtesy)
basketball
(photo credit: Courtesy)
A league of their own
Jerusalem is launching a new era in the religious life of worshipers. Last week, a basketball league comprising eight community synagogues was initiated and will continue on a regular basis. Teams from three shuls in Katamon and Rehavia, two in Homat Shmuel, two in Pisgat Ze’ev and one in Baka will compete . The launch took place in Teddy Stadium on Jerusalem Day, and the municipality’s sports department is supplying uniforms and organizing the upcoming games.
The end of the first season will be on July 27 at the Malha Basketball Hall in the presence of Mayor Nir Barkat, who gave his blessing to the initiative. So next time you inquire about prayer times, check for game times as well.
The pride of Jerusalem
The Roaring Lion is a competition for the best PR campaign of the year. This year, the winners of the prize are two locals – Avital Bar, the spokeswoman for the Academy of Sciences; and PR company Rav Tikshoret, owned by Jerusalemite Itzhak Rabihiya. The two joined forces in a special campaign to do academic research on the Dead Sea.
Keyboard of education
 Some 1,720 laptop computers have been sent to schools and kindergartens in east Jerusalem since Mayor Nir Barkat launched his revolutionary education program in the city upon taking office. Some 66 have been sent to kindergartens, and more are expected. The program includes providing computer training for the teachers and installing the proper infrastructure for the computers.
The project is sponsored largely by private companies such as Intel and Ernest & Young, as well as the Education Ministry. In the near future, more hi-tech companies are slated to participate in the program until all the schools and kindergartens in both east and west Jerusalem are computerized.
Armchair sports fans
Updating residents on the status of the Arena – the large sports complex being built in the city – has become a top priority for the municipality’s administration. So much so, that a special 24- hour live cam broadcast will enable residents to follow the work in progress. The municipality and the Moriah company, which is responsible for the construction, came up with the idea (arena.jerusalem.muni.il).
The 40,000 square meter complex, one of the most modern and sophisticated of its kind in the country, is financed by Mifal Hapayis and should boost the sporting life of the Holy City.
Up against a wall
A year ago, the municipality built a wall around a park in the Makor Haim neighborhood which, as a result, prevented the children from the nearby Katamonim from playing in the park. Despite all the complaints of the residents, the wall is still there. This week, Bezalel students from the activism and arts program will join residents and local social activists in staging a demonstration near the wall in the hopes of bringing about its dismantling. The event will include a short student film entitled Breaking the Wall and the participation of all the neighborhood parents and children.
Eitan Shucker, a Bezalel photography teacher and the man behind the students’ involvement, says that a public area cannot be inaccessible in Jerusalem when, in the rest of the world, walls are being torn down.