Dear visitor to Jerusalem: Be forewarned.
If you find the bus routes confusing, and you’re not a Hebrew-speaker or sufficiently fluent in Hebrew to understand directions, don’t look for solutions on your cellphone because it’s a frustrating experience.
Unless the route that you need to take is operated by Egged, don’t bother to go to the Central Bus Station’s information counter to find a solution to your problem because the only information that is given out at that location pertains to Egged bus routes and not to any other.
There are several bus operators in Jerusalem, and to learn about their routes you have to call *8787, where you will hear a recorded message in Hebrew advising you what number to press for language, cost of tickets, reservations, complaints, and communication with a live operator. For the latter service, press zero. However if you are hoping to reach an English speaker, you will have a very long wait.
Of course, the easiest way to get to where you want to go is to take a cab – but cabs are not always available, and when they are, they are expensive because so many roads have been closed for light rail and other construction purposes. Even if the cab driver is scrupulously honest, it will cost you a lot.
The other possibility is, if you are aware of the neighborhood to which you have to go, ask passersby to point you in the direction of a bus going there. The driver or fellow passengers will know of a street near where you want to go; but even if no one does, if you alight anywhere in that neighborhood and then take a cab, it will cost you a lot less.
A cab on Yom Kippur
■ ON THE subject of cabs, it’s common knowledge that it’s almost impossible to get a cab in Jerusalem on Yom Kippur, with the possible exception of in distinctly Arab neighborhoods.
New York-born art educator Maureen Kushner, who has lived in Israel for close to half her life, teaches peace through art and humor. She gets children from all backgrounds to draw their visions of peace, to express their hopes and dreams, to put their anger on paper rather than take it out on other people, and to confront personal and political conflicts through art.
She has toured numerous countries with exhibitions of the art of Israeli children from all backgrounds. Some of these exhibitions have been sponsored by the Foreign Ministry’s Culture Department and have met with enthusiastic responses abroad.
Some years ago, Kushner suffered a serious accident which left her with a permanently damaged leg. As a result, she walks slowly and with the aid of a cane. On Kol Nidre night, she managed the walk from her home on the edge of the Mahaneh Yehuda market to the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, and braced herself for the long trek upstairs to the women’s gallery. Her permanent seat is in the top row on an aisle so that she can stretch the injured leg. At the conclusion of the service, she had to hobble down all the stairs to reach the street, and, realizing that she lacked the strength to make it home, she looked in vain for a taxi.
Seeing a cluster of security personnel near the synagogue, she approached the young men and asked whether they could help her. They were unable to help her find a taxi, but they suggested that perhaps the nearby Prima King’s Hotel might have a wheelchair that she could borrow. The hotel obliged, and the small group, which was by then off duty, wheeled her home. They had an exhilarating conversation along the way, and on reaching her destination kept talking for a long time outside her apartment. Just another proof that every cloud has a silver lining.
Professional architect for a changing city
■ WITH ALL the rapid changes taking place throughout Jerusalem, it is essential for every community center to have an urban forum with a professional architect at its head.
With light rail construction, urban renewal, and street renovations – note the preponderance of trees – it is essential that residents of every neighborhood be frequently updated about developments.
Elias Messinas is the point man at the Ginot Ha’ir Community Center, which relates to the neighborhoods of Rehavia, Katamonim, Moshavot, and Nayot. Contact him at: elias@ginothair.org.il
What Christian Zionists do for Israel
■ READING IN newspapers and magazines about what Christian Zionists do for Israel and the Jewish people is like reading a laundry list. You have a vague idea of what it’s about, but you don’t get to the nitty-gritty.
Over the years, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem has raised millions of dollars to help Israel in numerous ways.
Some of the details were revealed this week to some 1,500 Christians from more than 70 countries who were in Israel for the Feast of Tabernacles hosted by the ICEJ. Some were permanent residents in Israel; some were people who spend a year or more working at ICEJ projects, and some were pilgrims who come for a few days. They were participating in highly intensive programs so that they could take home as many impressions as possible to share with relatives, friends, and their communities.
ICEJ Senior Vice President and Spokesman David Parsons and Nicole Yoder, in charge of humanitarian aid projects all over Israel, shared details of seven major reconstruction projects in the Gaza border area being funded by the ICEJ to the tune of $6.8 million. These include:
- Completely rebuilding the destroyed youth activity center in Kibbutz Be’eri
- Turning a retirement home in Be’eri into a trauma care and activity center for seniors
- Repairing a kindergarten to serve as a children’s trauma center in Kfar Aza
- Constructing an innovative music therapy center in Kfar Aza
- Building a greenhouse learning center at a new agrotechnology school in Sde Nitzan
- Restoring and expanding an animal therapy petting zoo and horse ranch in Kibbutz Urim
- Building five large bomb shelters at new trauma care centers in the Sha’ar Hanegev and Sdot Negev regions.
With due respect for and appreciation to the ICEJ, it should be noted that it is one of many Christian organizations and institutions, some of which dedicate themselves solely to Jewish causes, while others stretch out a helping hand to people of all faiths, as well as to communities across Israel’s borders.
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