Grapevine: Jerusalem remembers Peres

Now, he is about to have another enduring connection with Jerusalem when, at 12:30 p.m. on September 9, the 10th anniversary of his death will be marked with the official naming of a room in his memory at the Jerusalem International Convention Center.

This is quite appropriate. In 2013, Peres celebrated his 90th birthday at the convention center with former and sitting heads of state and government

Two of his favorite guests were US president Bill Clinton and British prime minister Tony Blair, who each continued to take an interest in and visit Israel after they were out of office. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also there, as was singer Barbra Streisand, who at Peres’s request sang “Avinu Malkeinu.”

Ongoing changes in traffic regulations with little or no prior warning are causing untold misery and frustration to bus travelers.

Poster board information would be the best option, and should be in at least three languages. Note, as of last Sunday, for approximately a two-month period, the No. 9 and No. 9A buses will not travel through Radak Street. They have been diverted to Ramban and Arlosoroff streets, with a bus stop on Arlosoroff between Ben Maimon and Aza streets.

There's also no notification of changes resulting from light rail construction projects. Great inroads are being made into side streets. People leave their homes during the day, only to discover that part of the street has been dug up or fenced off or both.

Two corners in the street where I live have disappeared, and light rail excavation for infrastructure extends almost the length of a historic residential building for which the relatively new owners paid millions of dollars to purchase and renovate. Though accessible, its beauty is marred by its surroundings.

For the fifth consecutive week, patrons of Hasimta Coffee Shop in an alleyway off Agrippas Street were disrupted in their leisure time pursuit last Saturday by a violent demonstration by a large haredi group protesting the opening of a coffee shop on Shabbat.

The owner of the shop, Yoel Ben David, told reporters that in order not to offend, he had refrained from setting up tables on the sidewalk, and that service was solely in the courtyard of the establishment.

Some of the demonstrators broke through a police cordon and entered into violent clashes with the coffee shop’s patrons, who included Yisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Liberman, who said that there have to be places where nonreligious Jews can go on Shabbat and that the haredim should leave them in peace.

It’s not as if the coffee shop is sitting on the edge of Mea She’arim or Sha’arei Hessed. Is a demonstration in which tables and chairs are overturned, objects are thrown, and physical blows are exchanged between demonstrators and coffee shop patrons, not to mention physical altercations with police, not a violation of the Sabbath?

Of course, such demonstrations are not new. Back in the 1970s, when the Jerusalem Cinematheque, which publicizes its Sabbath screenings, operated out of Beit Agron on Hillel Street, there were demonstrations every Friday night.

These eventually ceased after the Cinematheque moved to its present location in 1981. This may be because it is in a nonresidential area, or perhaps because the site is too far from haredi neighborhoods to walk on Friday nights after synagogue services and before dinner.

Ben David described Saturday’s violent intrusion as scary, but said that he would continue to stay open.

Property developers in Jerusalem and all over the country are finding it difficult to sell new apartments which are simply too expensive for young couples, who would have to tighten their belts too much to meet monthly mortgage payments. Yet at the same time, the demand for rental housing in Jerusalem is soaring.

This is partly because Jerusalem has become a student city with a growing number of academic institutions, led by the Hebrew University and including the David Yellin Teachers College, the Jerusalem College of Technology, the Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College (formerly Hadassah Academic College), the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.

The combined student population is in the thousands, with many from out of town but living in Jerusalem during the period of their studies.

Some share apartments for economic reasons. Others, who can afford it, live alone. Some are married and don’t want to share with anyone other than their spouse.

Anyone requiring evidence of the growing student population just has to walk to see the overflow in restaurants and coffee houses – yes, even on Friday nights, though far fewer.

Aza Street has taken over from Emek Refaim, possibly because it is also within easy walking distance of Hillel and Shammai streets, where there are other bars and eateries open on Friday night.