FOLLOWING HIS retirement around 10 years ago, Rabbi Joseph Abrams, a former long-term day school principal in the US, came to Jerusalem.
In a desire to be useful, he volunteered to teach at a yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Old City. “It used to be easy to get into the Old City,” he wrote. But things have changed.
The small buses there run infrequently. The number 38 bus stops in the Jewish Quarter, but not at the Western Wall, and buses 2 and 3, which used to arrive every 15 minutes, now take 30-40 minutes and are usually overcrowded.
Taking a cab is too expensive for the rabbi as an option. On top of all this discomfort, Abrams has mobility issues, which have caused him to miss buses after waiting for a long time in the heat of the sun.
He lives in the Ramat Eshkol area. If anyone who travels regularly to the Western Wall could give him a ride, or if there is a carpool he could join, he would be most appreciative (write to greerfc@gmail.com with suggestions). After all, he is performing a mitzvah without any remuneration.
Newcomers to Har Hamenuhot Cemetery are in for a big surprise
■ ANYONE WHO hasn’t visited Har Hamenuhot Cemetery in Givat Shaul for a couple of years is in for a big surprise. The final resting place of thousands of people has been transformed into a necropolis in the full sense of the word.
I had not visited the graves of my mother and husband for a couple of years. Despite a difference of 19 years in the times of their demise, their graves are less than a two-minute walk from each other, and until last week, I could get there blindfolded. It was such an easy route from the bus stop. But since my last visit a couple of years ago, the cemetery, like most of Jerusalem, has come under the banner of urban renewal.
New roads have been built. There are street signs leading to different sections. There are proper aisles between the rows of graves. There are new staircases at various levels, and the whole area looks much bigger than in the past.
Admittedly, a lot of people have died since I was last in Har Hamenuhot, but it doesn’t explain why the cemetery appears to be so much larger. It’s also much cleaner, and there are additional bus routes, including the number 54 bus, which for years was the only bus to the cemetery.
That said, I never reached my destination. I took the wrong road, and couldn’t find the graves. It was so hot that I didn’t have the strength to walk back to the bus stop and try another road.
In past years, a Chevra Kadisha (Israel’s burial society) office stood at the entrance to a purification room (tahara shtibl), where a little old man who didn’t use a computer could provide the location of any grave within minutes.
But that office was closed, so I will have to go back another day. It had never occurred to me in the past to take note of the details pertaining to the section where my mother and husband were buried; I knew the way via personal landmarks.
It would be helpful to have a computerized map near the bus stop where visitors could enter the name of the deceased, the date of demise, and, if possible, the designated burial site. I’m sure I’m not the first person to get lost in the revamped city of the dead.
ICEJ annual contribution to Israel's tourism industry
■ DESPITE THE fall-off in foreign tourism over the past three years, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) continues to make its annual contribution to Israel’s tourism industry by bringing Christians from around the world to Israel, and primarily Jerusalem, for its Feast of Tabernacles celebration during the week of Sukkot.
This year, the ICEJ expects to host some 3,000 participants.
Founded in September 1980 to counter the departure of foreign embassies from Israel’s capital, its inaugural ceremony drew representatives from 32 nations. Since then, more nations have been represented.
Although Jerusalem is its home and its main focus, the ICEJ has contributed to causes and projects throughout the country, and this year will take a strong supportive stand for the Jewish communities in the West Bank as they face a growing wave of economic sanctions from European countries.
Participants at the feast will include citizens from some of the countries imposing those sanctions.
“We are excited to be celebrating the biblical festival of Sukkot once more with Christians from around the world,” said ICEJ president Dr. Jürgen Bühler.
“Yet, our feast also is taking place amid the series of extremely troubling sanctions being imposed by European nations on Jews living in Judea and Samaria, the Golan, and even Jerusalem,” he continued.
“These discriminatory measures are intended to choke out the existence of Jewish communities which remarkably came back to life in Israel’s ancient heartland after centuries of Jewish exile among merciless gentile nations,” Bühler said.
“These acts of economic warfare targeting hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews are racist and far too reminiscent of past Jewish boycotts for us to remain silent.”
As part of its support for these Jewish communities, the ECAJ has invited Yesha community leaders to address the gathering.
The event will also feature products for sale from the West Bank in an exhibit hall, in addition to arranged tours for Christians to visit shops, wineries, and biblical sites in the Judea and Shomron regions.
Another highlight of this year’s gathering will be the ICEJ’s extensive efforts over recent years to help the Israeli communities along the Gaza border recover and rebuild their homes and villages following October 7.
The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem currently has nine such major rebuilding projects completed or underway, and a 10th project will be unveiled at the feast to help the hard-hit kibbutz of Nir Oz restore the central facility of its communal life.
greerfc@gmail.com