I made arrangements to get together with Anne Lerner, a nurses’ tour colleague who was still in Israel, volunteering at the hospital. We had a fabulous dinner at the restaurant, Joy (my 2nd great meal there). The owner of the restaurant is a friend of Patsy, who took me under her wing when we were at Matzrap.
Anyone who is interested in designing and printing a bus map of Jerusalem could make a million easy! It’s just not easy to find out how to get from point A to point B. I was trying to get to the Israel Museum and determined to do it on the bus!
The Israel Museum has to be one of my favorites. The museum is located in Givat Ram, a neighborhood in central Jerusalem and keeps good company with its important neighbors. The Knesset and Israeli government offices are located nearby, as well as one of the two campuses of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Israeli Supreme Court.
The Billy Rose Sculpture Garden is one of the most serene places. Designed by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, it is an expansion, so to speak, on the classic Japanese Zen garden: the ground is covered in gravel, the paths lined with local plants, and trees connect the different sections.
The materials that were incorporated into the garden’s design: stones of different kinds and sizes, exposed concrete, and water, are a perfect fit.Counted among the finest sculpture gardens of the twentieth century, this is considered to be one of Noguchi’s masterpieces. He has blended the cultures of the Far East, the Near East, and the West—against the backdrop of Jerusalem’s dramatic landscape.
Noguchi’s website tells the saga behind the project: there were compromises and surprises along the way. Billy Rose was a larger than life personality who would not accept Noguchi’s initial refusal, in the fall of 1960, to design the project. Negotiations along the way regarding the design of the garden, contractual arrangements with the architect, and oversight by Billy Rose himself proved difficult. After convincing Noguchi to take on the project, who would have expected Rose to put economic strictures: eliminating the architect, questioning the need for structural elements and ground stability, on the project? One major compromise was that the sculpture garden would be self-contained and not integrated with the museum buildings, as originally planned. Noguchi believes that the success of the design may prove him to be an architect, although he still sees him self as a sculptor.
The placement of the garden on a hill called Neva Shaanan, place of Tranquillity, has a Biblical mention. The project took five years to complete and was dedicated the year before Rose’s death.
Billy Rose, best known as a New York showman and philanthropist, had a very interesting life. Here’s a link:
href=""http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Rose"
Noguchi’s final thoughts after the dedication are poignant:
“Jerusalem is an emotion shared by all of us. It gains new meanings, and it is my hope that the garden and museum of which it is a part, will come to be a very integral part of this new image -- an acropolis of our times.”
The collection displayed in the garden includes works by the great sculptors of the late nineteenth century and renowned artists of the twentieth century.
My favorite was the Hebrew Love sculpture. Philadelphia has its own English version, so this was near and dear to my heart.
The tribute to the garment worker was packed with sewing machine parts!
The Model of Jerusalem in the Late Second Temple Period covers nearly one acre. The model recreates Jerusalem: the topography and architectural character of the city, as it was prior to 66 CE.
That was the year in which the Great Revolt against the Romans erupted and the city and the Temple were destroyed. The model thus evokes the ancient city at its peak. Jerusalem at that time was at its largest, extending over an area of approximately 445 acres, more than twice the size of the Old City of Jerusalem today.
This re-creation of Jerusalem is constructed primarily of the same local limestone – so-called Jerusalem stone – from which the city was constructed in ancient times and continues to be constructed today.
The Shrine of the Book was erected in 1965 for the preservation and exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Two American-Jewish architects designed an "ideological" structure, a kind of sanctuary, which seeks to convey spiritual messages. The stark contrast between its white dome, which symbolizes the lids of the jars in which some of the scrolls were found, and the black wall opposite the building alludes to the tension between the spiritual world of the "Sons of Light" (as the sectarians referred to themselves) and that of the "Sons of Darkness" (the enemies of the sect) expressed in the scrolls.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient manuscripts that were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves near Khirbet Qumran, on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea. Their chronology, dating from the third century BCE to the first century CE, is firmly corroborated by carbon dating. The majority of the scrolls are written on parchment, but there are also some texts written on papyrus.
As the fragility of the scrolls makes it impossible to display them on a continuous basis, they are removed from the showcase after
3-6 months where they are given a "rest" from exposure and placed in a special storeroom. This is a revolving system, whereby there are always original scrolls on display.
In addition to the permanent collection, there was a special exhibit of a Hebrew scroll fragment from what is known as the "silent era" – the six hundred year period from the 3rd through 8th centuries CE. This fragment, dating from the 7th or 8th century, is believed to have been part a vast depository of medieval Jewish manuscripts discovered in Cairo's Ben Ezra Synagogue in the late 19th century.
The manuscript is a fragment of a Torah scroll from the book of Exodus (13:19-16:1), which includes the Song of the Sea, thought to be one of the most beautiful examples of biblical poetry. The Song celebrates the Israelites' safe crossing of the Red Sea, and anticipates their arrival in the Promised Land.
I finally found the Liberty Bell, located in Liberty Bell Park, which is often called Jerusalem’s Central Park. The replica of the
Liberty Bell, at the park's center, with its inscription "Proclaim liberty throughout the land, to all the inhabitants thereof," (Lev. 25:10), was a gift to Israel from the city of Philadelphia, in honor of the US bicentennial in 1976.
I also had the opportunity to meet Malka Lipshitz. Malka and I had infrequent communications since February. She had organized a trip to Israel for a childhood friend of mine. Toby thought she might help me with an excursion to Jordan. When we spoke of the phone, it was a convergence of the stars that we were both in Jerusalem (and near by) at the same time! We chatted for a while in the lobby of her hotel, and the plans were put into motion for a few days in Jordan.
I had a fun evening with Sandy Katz, a friend of my cousin Greta’s. Sandy is also a nurse. It really is a small world that Sandy’s dear friend is one of the Israeli nurses who spent the week with us on the Hadassah Nurses Mission. I loved Ora – she was fun and it was her suggestion that we spend time at the wildlife preserve in the Chule Valley. Unfortunately, I missed my Kodak moment with Sandy!
A trip back to the Old City was a must. I did manage to get a bit ”turned around” in the Armenian quarter. I knew that I was in unchartered territory when I saw this spice booth, as I had never seen it before!
A visit to the Burnt House was next on the list. In January 1970, Israeli archaeologists excavated the remains of a house in Jerusalem where a well-off Jewish family had lived before Roman soldiers destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. Within the 32 sq feet of the house, the archaeologists found a kitchen, workrooms, and a small ritual bath, as well as large stone water jars, inkwells and other implements. Judean coins issued by the Romans, as well as those issued by the Jewish rebels in AD 67-69 indicated that the house was burned down at the end of this time. The remains were buried under a layer of ash, and everything was covered with soot supported the theory of destruction by fire.
On one of the stone weights is scratched with the owner's name: Bar Kathros. In the Talmud that name is listed among the families of the High Priests who used their power to line their own pockets. It is believed that the Bar Kathros family was singled out for spreading misinformation and false rumors.
Archaeologists were fascinated by the discovery of the skeletal hand and arm of a woman clutching a scorched staircase in a futile attempt to escape the flames. In yet another multimedia presentation, a video presentation recreates the bitter civil rivalries of the period, and the city's tragic end.
I went back to the Western Wall to leave a special healing prayer for Linwood and Sherry, a prayer for peace in honor of Israel’s 60th birthday, and a prayer to keep me safe as a solo traveler.
Last stop at the Old City was the Tower of David Museum. The museum is dedicated to the history of Jerusalem over the past 4,000 years, showcasing the city’s various ethnic groups and their contributions.
We climbed to the tower situated in the museum for a beautiful view of the four quarters of the Old City - Armenian, Christian, Muslim and Jewish. This might have been just another museum, however the docent brought history to live! She was the most dynamic historian I have met.
My favorite view from the tower was that of Beit Shmuel (my hostel). It was the first time I had seen the outside of the new addition to the building. Look closely; it’s the contemporary metal triangle.
Dale Chihuly had a major exhibit in the museum around the millennium. There are 2 installations that remain. One picture from the archives that I liked is these glass balls that were placed with these concrete balls that were used with slingshots.
The green grasses are a classic Chihuly!
A mix up with hostel dates might have had me homeless except for the kind invitation of (read carefully) a friend of my sister’s college roommate. Denise and her husband had been living and working in Israel since the beginning of the year, and Denise decided to extend her stay after her husband returned to the states. I had the opportunity to explore another neighborhood in the city!
The Anna Ticho House is a hidden oasis with its gardens and terrace restaurant/cafe right in the center of downtown West Jerusalem, just a block off busy Yaffo/Jaffa St. Dr. Avraham Albert and Anna Ticho did not originally own the Ticho House. It was these two married cousins, however, who left their mark on this Jerusalem abode.
In 1912, he was asked by the Lema'an Tzion organization to open an ophthalmologic clinic in Jerusalem. Dr. Ticho quickly became a famous ophthalmologic surgeon. . Anna had been trained as an artist since childhood, but found herself uninspired by the dry Israeli landscape.Anna and Avraham Ticho bought the house in 1924. They converted the lower storey into an eye clinic, which served both the rich and poor population of Jerusalem Anna served as his assistant and at the same time resumed a passion for drawing, coming to terms with what she perceived to be a barren landscape: the hills, views and figures of Jerusalem. Using different media over the years, these remained the chief subjects of her work.
The Tichos, throughout their long lives, were active in Jerusalem’s social and cultural life. After her husband’s death in 1960, Anna continued to live and work in the same house until her own death in 1980. Her work was widely acclaimed and her drawings are found in many museums in Israel and abroad. She received many honorary titles and awards, including the Israel Prize in 1980.
As a token of her love to Jerusalem, Anna Ticho bequeathed the house, all of its collections and its library to the people of the city, to serve as a public center for art. Ticho House hosts poetry and fiction readings, intimate theater and music performances, and a Friday morning concert series. Unfortunately, there were no performances during, my visit.
In the shared courtyard with the Ticho house, is The Kabbalistic Museum of Psalms. The museum’s unique focus is dedicated to a kabbalistic interpretation of each of the Bible’s 150 Tehilim (Psalms), the chants or songs attributed mostly to King David.
83 year-old Holocaust survivor Moshe Tzvi HaLevi Berger expresses the Kabbalistic notions of healing, light and meditation.
No less fascinating is the opportunity to meet the charming painter, the quintessential Eastern European zayda (Jewish grandfather) with a twinkle in his eye. Although he is a Holocaust survivor, he chooses to focus on his art career and life’s passion, which brought him to Jerusalem in 1992 after becoming a ba’al teshuva (a Jewish person who takes on an Orthodox lifestyle) a decade earlier. This permanent exhibit, a series of kabbalistic masterpieces took him 15 years to complete.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/museum-of-psalms/3777623655
Although not really a neighborhood, the Nahlaot quarter stretches all the way from the Mahane Yehuda Market to Nahlat Shiva (the first of the neighborhoods). Constructed between 1869 and the beginning of the 20th century, it includes 32 neighborhoods - amongst them, Mazkeret Moshe and Ohel Moshe (named after Moses Montefiore, the same Montefiore who built the windmill). Some parts of Nahlaot quarter are totally frozen at the turn of the 20th century.
Jews leaving the Old City originally established the neighborhoods. The groups were organized based on either socio-economics or religious-affiliation. Some were constructed as philanthropic initiatives for the poor.
Three years ago, a project to spotlight the history of the neighborhoods, Pictures in Stone arrived in three Nahlaot neighborhoods - Ohel Moshe, Even Yisrael and Mazkeret Moshe.
Photos of the neighborhoods' original settlers are attached in the walls at the entrances to the courtyards and near the historical locations of schools, hospitals and orphanages, and cafés. Explanations and information regarding the specific subject and its locale are apart of the glass-plated photos.
The best time to visit the Nahlaot neighborhoods is towards evening, when the over-numerous synagoguesthat spot the area begin to open and the sounds of traffic begin to die out. Denise and I roamed around the little alleys, crisscrossing Agripas St and Mishkenot St.
We looked into the courtyards and checked out the many synagogues in search of the historical markers. Getting lost amidst the alleys is part of the charm, and we did! Eventually, we returned to Jaffa St, finding our way to the Mahane Yehuda Market.
My plans were taking me back toward Tel Aviv and Ramat Hasharon. Denise, a computer whiz, was instrumental in providing a friend with driving directions to meet me at the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem. Yes, I was passing on a bus ride for the convenience of a car!
And the adventure continues…
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