Gray on gray

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It was a cool gray day in Jerusalem today, with a few drops of rain.
Heavy clouds were sitting on Mt. Scopus at the end of the street.
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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The trip from hell

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Sorry to burden you, gentle reader, with three difficult posts in a row.
But I have to get it off my chest,  memories of my short jump back to Jerusalem Nov. 5-7.
Next post will be a happier one, inshallah.

Jerusalemites are on edge now, at the beginning of what some want to call the Car Intifada. 
 Do see the link!

Plus, I was trying to get home to the quiet Negev on a Friday afternoon--and you must keep in mind that public transportation stops for the Sabbath, from mid- or late Friday afternoon until Saturday night.

When my bus from the Jerusalem Hills reached Mt. Herzl light rail terminus, I saw we were in trouble.
Hundreds of passengers were waiting for the tram that normally comes every five minutes.
The sign was saying "Vehicle stopped, there will be a delay."
Of course everyone starts imagining the worst: maybe there was another car-ramming terrorist attack that stopped the tram on the east side of the city?

Finally, after half an hour, a security guard told us the tram had been stopped at Denmark Square station because of a "suspicious object,"  i.e. a bomb scare. 
That was a relief; we are used to that.
 But everyone was nervously looking at their watch, praying they would get home in time (especially the observant Jews, who do not use mechanized transportation on Shabbat).

When the tram finally came, everyone crammed inside like sardines.
At the next station, another crowd was waiting and our driver had to shut the doors before everyone could get on.
One soldier in a hurry was infuriated that the driver did not let him on, and apparently he "punished" the driver and all of us passengers by standing on the track in front of the train.

The driver got on the P.A. system and said to the insulted young man: "What you are doing is not very nice, move aside or I'll have to call the police."
Meanwhile the driver turned off the power!  It is that moment I dread when it suddenly goes all quiet and the ventilation stops, the moment when my claustrophobia kicks in, when the collective memory of Jews squished together in cattle cars arises.
I closed my eyes and tried to imagine green pastures.

When the way cleared, we finally made it to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station where I was now late for my bus to Beer Sheva.
I finally got to Beer Sheva but of course was late for the connection to Meitar that I had planned and had to sit in the BS Central Bus Station for an hour.

But you know what?   When I finally shlepped my heavy backpack into the last bus to Meitar and slumped into the plush seat, the mood inside the bus was totally different from the tense Jerusalem mood.
The bus driver was singing and whistling along to the good old Israeli pioneer songs on the radio.
I even hummed along.
A crazy old man in the back of the bus started shouting complaints about something to the driver.
The driver carried on driving and answering the man with humor and patience, looking at him in the rearview mirror.  And singing.
I secretly gave him a thumbs-up and he winked back to me.  God bless him.

After five hours on the way I came home, so happy to be home in the desert!
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Will ugly dragon's teeth save our lives?

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So in the previous post I was telling you that I made a short trip back to my old place in the Jerusalem Hills.
And that I arrived Wednesday (Nov. 5) evening, shortly after yet another case of a Palestinian driving onto a tram platform and running over  people. (See the video if you dare.)

I was thinking as I waited for my bus: why doesn't the Jerusalem Municipality set out some dragon's teeth like the British did for blockading Jerusalem streets during the British Mandate.
(BTW, if you follow the link to dragon's teeth, that is one of my photos contributed to Wiki under my username DiggerDina.)
And here is a 1946 photo of British dragon's teeth in actual use in Jerusalem. 

Forty hours later, when I returned to Mt. Herzl tram and bus station to start traveling back to the Negev,  big concrete blocks had indeed materialized!

The new betonadot were strategically placed to prevent any terrorist ramming-car from driving full speed up onto the people platform.

Well, at least they are apparently  good to lean on while you check your cell phone.
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Jerusalem Jerusalem, I cry for you, my beloved city.
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Tension at the tram station

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For SkyWatch Friday watch a twilight sky over the Jerusalem Hills change color.

The Calder statue, Homage to Jerusalem--Stabile, sits high atop Mt. Herzl where the artist intended it to be.

Half an hour later, at 5:26, it was almost night.

I was still standing at the tram and bus station, waiting for my connection, for way too long on that bloody November 5.
A white police van, blue lights flashing, was sitting half on the platform.
Just a few hours earlier, a terrorist had killed several people by plowing into them with his white van at another light rail station on the east side of Jerusalem.
We the public, dependent on public transportation, felt nervous, like sitting ducks, wondering if we would be the next targets in the wave of vehicular terrorism sweeping over Jerusalem's tram stations.
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Fine for the tram

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For ABC Wednesday  F is for fine.
And for failure, franchise, and frequency.

Israel's Transportation Ministry is fining Citypass for failure to meet the franchise conditions:
the frequency of the trams is too low, the hardly-working ticket machines are still frustrating and enfuriating,  and  average travel time is  20% longer that originally planned.

 CityPass, the private consortium that won a 30-year contract to build and run Jerusalem's light  rail system, has had two years of operating the new trams.
But they just can't seem to get it right, and now they will have to pay the State a million shekel fine (about $280,000), according to today's report by Army radio.

Feh.  F is for "This is a fine kettle of fish," that funny old English idiom meaning  a troublesome situation, a vexing problem.

I can honestly say the tram and all the eight years of  its construction (and tearing up the main roads) are not something that I miss after moving away from Jerusalem.
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Teaching tram etiquette

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It has been almost two years since Jerusalem's new trams began running.
Our light rail is the first in Israel.

Strange that only now the company decided we needed a campaign to teach tram riders how to get in and out without pushing and shoving.
Now you see their signs everywhere--on illuminated billboards,

and on the sliding doors of the tram.

They even hired people to pass out thousands of pamphlets (along with a bonbon).
The message is  that first you let passengers get out of the tram and they you can get on.
Pretty basic, eh?
But what is missing in the picture of the three people  are the  247 others who are crammed into each of the two cars of the train.

Can you believe??  They even painted arrows and lines on the ground for us at ALL of the stations next to where the tram comes to a stop.

Now  if they could just teach their drivers not to close doors on people.
Of course we all rush in, otherwise we often get squished by the strong doors closing after a few seconds, or, we get left behind to wait another eight or so minutes for the next tram (which is also too crowded).
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(This post goes to Our World Tuesday , Signs, Signs,  and Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
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Jerusalem of White

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A friend who lives in Jerusalem started out early in the morning yesterday to capture all the beautiful snow-clad places, and now she graciously shares them with you and me.
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Click and then click again to enlarge her photos. 

The tram had its first baptism of snow!
And to encourage people not to attempt to drive on the slippery roads, the tram was free of charge for a few days. 

The yellow JCB doubled as a snowplow.
The Municipality was ready with tons of salt to spread, too.
They had fifty vehicles dedicated to the one rare snow day.

We got about 25 cm or 10 inches of snow.
The palm trees at Safra Square, City Hall, took it well. 

Everybody was excited about our snow.

Families worked together to build snowmen, this one near Jaffa Gate.

People kept on praying.
The Western Wall is never alone.

From the rooftops of the Old City, the gorgeous view of a white Mount of Olives and the golden dome of the Dome of the Rock powdered with snow!
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Thank you, Friend, for these rare photographs.
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Pictures of my white village in the snowy Jerusalem Hills are in yesterday's post.
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Tram travel getting less appealing

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Operation Pillar of Defense is our new tram's first experience with hostilities.
The Jerusalem  light rail has only been up and running for a little over one year.

So after Hamas aimed two missiles toward Jerusalem on Friday evening, the officials had to start thinking--what to do if the air raid siren goes off when I am in the tram?

I heard it announced only once on the radio, but apparently it was decided that the tram would stop and passengers would stay inside. 

And--get this!--the passengers are supposed to get below the level of the glass.
Yeah, sure.
Can you see how low the windows go?

And often people are packed in like vertical sardines, over 250 in each of the two cars of the tram.
Where would there be room to lie on the floor or sit on the floor or even just bend down??
And with all those glass doors and big windows, think of all the potential shrapnel that would go flying.   Oi . . .
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On Friday morning a fake bomb (wires sticking out of a bag or something) was planted in a tram near Mt. Herzl.
The entire line was stopped from 6:30 to 10 a.m.  while they brought in the police robot to investigate the "suspicious object."

Sometimes I wish we stilled used camels and donkeys.
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UPDATE: Another dummy bomb was put in the tram again this morning (Monday).
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A sukkah at the tram terminal!

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Look!
CityPass, the consortium that (tries to) run the new Jerusalem light rail, just gave us somewhere new  to sit at their  Mt. Herzl terminal!
No . . . not more shaded benches at the station;  that would be seen as pampering us, giving ALL of us relief from the 34 C heat.
No . . . not more seats on the tram; they wouldn't want ALL of  us to get used to having a place to sit  (let alone enough room to stand) in the packed trams.

 No . . . it is a SUKKAH they gave us, a temporary booth in which to sit and preferably eat  during the week-long holiday of Sukkot!

The soft walls say "To all the light rail passengers and to all the House of Israel--happy holidays and happy travels."

Inside a sign says it was generously donated by  Sukkot Yerushalaim, the sukkah producers, who claim it is not only kosher, not only kosher lemehadrin, but rather KOSHER LEMEHADRIN MIN HAMEHADRIN.
That's like super-duper kosher!

 Printed on the sides are paintings of Jerusalem.
The one above, at the Western Wall, is the only modern one.
(But notice how the Muslim Dome of the Rock is somehow missing. hmm...)

Throngs of pilgrims would come up to Jerusalem for Sukkot  in biblical times.
Here they are walking toward the Jaffa Gate.

 Here pilgrims are walking toward the Mercy Gate, from the east.
The picture quotes Psalm 122, "Our feet are standing at your gates, O Jerusalem." 

 The Temple is near as they converge from the south.

So many priests, some with trumpets, some tending to the sacrifices!

You might enjoy enlarging this photo to get an idea of how the Temple courtyard might have looked. (Click a second time on the photo that opens up.)

And after you have fulfilled the mitsvah of eating in the sukkah you can sing Birkat Hamazon, the blessing after the meal.
A kosher "roof" covering of a sukkah must let us see the stars at night, hence these "drops of sunlight" falling through the top and onto the walls.

Actually, this could be a good picture for Shadow Shot Sunday meme. 
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These verses from Deuteronomy 16 explain the three great pilgrimage festivals, when Jews from all over the world would make the journey to Jerusalem and walk up to the Temple Mount:

 "Safeguard the month of standing grain so that you will be able to keep the Passover to God your Lord, since it was in the month of standing grain that God your Lord brought you out of Egypt at night...Then count seven weeks for yourself. From the time that you first put the sickle to the standing grain, you must count seven weeks. You shall then celebrate the festival of Shavuot to God your Lord, presenting a hand-delivered offering according to the extent of the blessing that God your Lord has granted you...When you bring in the products of your threshing floor and wine vat, you shall celebrate the festival of Sukkot for seven days...Three times each year, all your males shall thus be seen in the presence of God your Lord in the place that He will choose: on the festival of matzahs, on the festival of Shavuot, and on the festival of Sukkot...
You shall not appear before God empty-handed."

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Mystery on Mt. Herzl

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At the Mt. Herzl tram terminal today I was really curious about two young men.
Each was loaded down with backpacks, cables, and a strange Samsung instrument.
I assume, I hope, they were working for CityPass, the light rail company.

We got on the tram and the guy strapped the thing up on top, above his head, pointing to one of the doors. (Enlarge the photo to spot it on the left.)
I guess they are gathering statistics, hopefully in order to improve the service (it needs some improving).
I know I know, I should have just asked him what the camera (?) or whatever was and what it was for, but he was busy of the phone, writing down stuff, and eating chocolate and I hate to bother a man when he's working.
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One nice thing about the tram: if you feel claustrophobic in the pressing crowd or if you get bored, you can always look up and space out with the funny reflections on the ceiling (for Weekend Reflections, of course).
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Knee-deep

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For PsalmChallenge -- Psalm 40:

1. For the leader. A psalm. Of David.

2. I most surely hoped in the LORD; He bent down toward me, and heeded my cry.

3. He lifted me out of the miry pit,

the slimy bog, and set my feet on a rock, steadying my steps.

4. He put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God. Multitudes see it and stand in awe and trust in the LORD.

5. Happy is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who turns not to the arrogant or to falsehood .

6. You, O LORD my God, have done multitudinous things. Your wonders and Your consideration of us—none can compare with You! I would recite and relate them, but they are more than can be told.

7. You do not desire sacrifice or grain-offering. You opened ears for me: You do not ask for burnt-offering or sin-offering.

8. Then I said, “See, I bring a scrolled book written about me.”

9. To do Your pleasure, my God, is my wish; Your teaching is in my innermost parts.

10. I proclaimed justice in a multitudinous congregation; see, I did not seal my lips; O LORD, You know.

11. I did not hide Your justness within my heart; I declared Your faithful deliverance; I did not conceal Your steadfast faithfulness from a multitudinous congregation.

12. You, O LORD, will not seal off Your compassion from me; Your steadfast faithfulness will always protect me.

13. For injuries without number envelop me; my iniquities have caught up with me and I cannot see; they are more plentiful than the hairs of my head; my heart deserts me.

14. Be it Your pleasure, LORD, to save me; O LORD, hasten to my aid.

15. May those who seek to destroy my life be disgraced and abashed one and all; may those who wish me injury fall back in shame.

16. May those who say “Aha! Aha!’’ over me be desolate because of their disgrace.

17. May all who seek You be glad and rejoice in You; may those who are eager for Your deliverance always say, “the LORD be exalted!’’

18. But as for me, I am lowly and needy; may the Lord consider me. You are my aid and my rescuer; my God, do not hold back.
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Photos:
Wading in wet concrete on Mt. Herzl, 2009. It hardened into the foundation for the light rail tracks.
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Translation by Rabbi Benjamin Segal.
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Hebrew original and an older English translation at Mechon Mamre.
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The silver before sunset

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Long silvery clouds above the long silvery tram.

The end of the line, on Mount Herzl.

For SkyWatch Friday.
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Above the traffic

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The new tram goes up and over the new bridge!

Calatrava's Bridge of Strings was built to carry Jerusalem's first light rail and also pedestrians.
It is the world's first curved suspended train-bearing bridge; and it works, so far at least!

The exciting view of the cables from the tram window!

The view from below.
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Click on my label "Calatrava" for more about the bridge and its construction.
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A post for Sunday Bridges meme.
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Meme mishmash

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Bear with me as I bundle three memes.

Fear not--she is unarmed.

These two are reflecting, in a highly polished and distorted way, the buildings of Jerusalem's Mamilla mall.

For Weekend Reflections.

The hand got into the frame unintentionally.
But now I see it seems to point to the BS on the horse's rump. hmm . . .

We don't often see equines around here, but three horses were tied up under shade trees at our spring down in the valley yesterday.
They wore nice saddles and saddlebags.

Finally, something for Camera-Critters!

First time I have seen the new tram almost empty (well, it WAS just leaving the depot).

The big windows and glass doors make some interesting shadow designs, but this summer we passengers were baking in the sun.
The air-conditioning could not keep pace.
I think the carriages were built in France for a perhaps more merciful French sun.

For Shadow Shot Sunday.

Blockhead

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The poor tram driver looks like a blockhead with that building reflected on his head.
For Weekend Reflections, of course.

Here we are slowly approaching the light rail station at the Central Bus Station.
The waiting throng is about to squeeze themselves into the already over-full tram.
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Red sculpture in a blue sky in a tram window

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Here's a post for both SkyWatch Friday and Weekend Reflections.

I got off Jerusalem's new tram at its terminus, Mt. Herzl, and transferred to my bus home.

I have learned the hard way that each of the two carriages can, and usually does, carry 250 passengers!
Most of us are standing, or trying to.

BUT, the tram, inside and out, is very good for reflections, as witnessed in the top photo.
See the famous "Calder red" color?

Across the street from the tram station stands, once again, Calder's huge "Homage to Jerusalem--Stabile."
It had to be moved while they were digging the underground park-and-ride garage, which has still not been finished.

The blue sky is typical for Israel's long and dry summer; it is normal to have no rain for 5 or 6 months.

To learn more about the sculpture and see some funny photos of its patchwork paint job, see previous posts.
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Israel's first tram in 3,000 years

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With the ride still free of charge and with kids still not back to school and many families on summer vacation, riding the new tram together has become the thing to do.

The lines of excited kids waiting at the stations remind me of cues for Attraction A rides at Disney World.
People still don't realize they should step back and let some passengers exit before rushing into the opening doors.
It is crowded and hot and stuffy inside.
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But . . . at least the shiny-clean ceiling is good for reflections for Weekend Reflections!

The train driver sits in splendid isolation behind glass doors in what is hopefully a cool and quiet cabin.
A security guard always stands nearby.
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We have completed the first week of light rail operation with no major mishaps, so the drivers must be doing a good job.
From this afternoon until tomorrow night is the Sabbath, so the trains and the drivers have a day of rest.

Shabbat shalom.
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Contemplating new ways

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Here's the tram where it runs parallel to the Old City's northern wall (visible on the right).

The new trams started taking people last Friday and everyone along the route of the light rail has to get used to this new phenomenon.

Enlarge the photo to enjoy the stance of the young haredi (ultra-orthodox Jewish) man contemplating this ultra-modern vehicle.
Don't you wonder what he is thinking?
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The little tram that could

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See? Kids posing with Jerusalem's shiny new tram!
Look! Passengers actually boarding!

Today was a truly historic and exciting day as we the public got our first ride!
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And for free.
The first two weeks of the running-in period will be free.

CityPass photographers were happily getting lots of stills and videos.
(CityPass is the consortium that won a 30-year concession to build and operate the tram's first line.)
Many of the passengers were entire haredi (ultra-orthodox) families and some of them shielded their face from the cameras.

The sign says "Welcome to Israel's first-ever light rail!"
It promises the tram will give more clean air, more information, more simplicity, and more Jerusalem.
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Well, what I needed this morning was more air-conditioning.
Even though I boarded at the first station, the terminus at Mt. Herzl, it was already standing room only and it got very stuffy inside very quickly.
I had planned to go the whole 13.8 km (8.6 mi) route but after just a few blocks I had to escape, into the fresh air.
Hoping the AC issue will be resolved next week.

You can see the bumper to bumper car and bus traffic parallel to the tramway, conveniently reflected for Weekend Reflections meme.
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After over a decade of construction, it is great to see the tram actually up and running.
It was fun to blog about the exciting stages of development over the years (see my label "tram").
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Wikipedia has the whole story .
Haaretz has an article from today.
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After its first day of carrying passengers, the tram takes a rest now for the Friday night to Saturday Sabbath.
Shabbat shalom to you too!
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