Ancient Connection – Modern Pioneers
It’s that beautiful time of the year, the month of Adar, with extra happiness-simcha, and the festival of Purim, with its Megilla reading, the Seuda-with extra wine and of course the “giving” of mishloach manot and gifts to the poor. (matanot la’evyonim) But this year – 2024 – we also have THE WAR in the background and our […]
We often times focus on Jerusalem for its spiritual, political, and historical importance. Yet, Jerusalem can be seen as something else as well. The current urban green movement has only recently reached Israel. We see amazing green buildings in Tel Aviv and even a few in the more modern areas of Jerusalem. However, we can […]
One of the things I enjoy the most about taking people on tours for Ateret Cohanim is their response when they see just how many Jews live throughout the Old City. In most other tours the emphasis on Jerusalem having four quarters is so engrained in the visitor’s psyche that it really takes an entire […]
Since 1967, there has been an ongoing concretization of the current quarter system in Jerusalem. Official maps can be found across the Old City showing an official delineation between the “four quarters.” Of course this bolsters the false notion that the current size of the Jewish Quarter is historically accurate. It is not. Up until […]
On August 14th a lone gun man shot 8 pedestrians just outside of Jerusalem’s Old City and then fled into the Shiloach neighborhood (aka Silwan) of Jerusalem. This neighborhood sits opposite of the City of David on the Eastern side of the Kidron Valley. While at one time Shiloach was a majority Jewish neighborhood, the […]
The ongoing rioting in many areas of eastern Jerusalem, especially in the Shiloach (Silwan) and the Damascus Gate area by Arabs during Ramadan reached its height over Shabbat. With constant attacks on Jewish pedestrians, along with molotov cocktails and rock throwing, Arab mobs have been hard to hold back after a full day of instigation […]
Day to day life in Jerusalem’s cramped Old City is a mixture of spiritual highs and in many places, especially in many of the mixed Jewish and Arab neighborhoods is also tense with a degree of uncertainty. While much of the Old City is slowly returning to Jewish hands as it was before the pogroms […]
