To Tel Aviv and back

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Hi folks, sorry for my long absence.
I've been away for a few days in the big city.
Tel Aviv!
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More pictures soon, after I get back from Tai Chi/Qigong class.
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(Linking to Weekend Reflections meme.)
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Through a glass elevator, brightly

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Deep reflections in the floor of the elevator, for Weekend Reflections, had an almost dizzying effect as we went up.

But looking through the glass elevator, down onto Zion Square, was even more exciting.

You can see where the Ben-Yehuda Street pedestrian mall begins at Zion Square, corner of Jaffa Street.
The decorated parked car belongs to the joyful NaNach Jews, and the yellow bloodmobile waits for your blood donation.

Enlarge the photo and see the tram.
The light rail is now the only vehicle allowed in this part of Jaffa St., making it too a kind of pedestrian mall.

Here is a wider view (again, from the elevator) .

Hamashbir LeTsarchan was Israel's first department store, and its Jerusalem store recently moved into this new building with the two glass elevators.
You can see the modern building still under construction in an earlier post.
The tower (or rotunda) with the elevators looks like a lighthouse.

Architect Aaronson said he designed the elevators as a "kinetic sculpture" that will radiate light outward and add to the general experience of passersby.
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A new apartment building, reflected

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Reflected--a new building in the old German Colony neighborhood.

For Weekend Reflections.
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Cutting edge technology, under construction

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No, it's not an eggshell on my head. (Remember the Calimero cartoons?)
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All the visitors to tour No. 60 of this weekend's annual Jerusalem Houses from Within had to wear a hardhat because we were in a construction zone.

We got to see the new luxurious bathrooms for future patients in the new Hadassah hospital tower (that I showed you here).
And lots more, including green technology! You will be seeing more in the coming posts.

You too would want to wear a hardhat going up in this external elevator cage!
It was exciting.

Can you see how two walls of the building come together in a wedge?
That's Hadassah--always on the cutting edge!
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For Weekend Reflections.
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Something new on old Jaffa Road

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James in California started his meme two years ago today. Now about a hundred bloggers contribute a reflection photo every weekend. Join the fun at Weekend Reflections.

An old building on Jaffa Street is reflected in a new building under construction.

Here's that new building from the other side (at the beginning of Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall).
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UPDATE:
OK, you curious and questioning readers never let me get by with a quick post. Your comment questions have made me do my homework.
So! This will soon be the new home of the HaMashbir LaTsarchan department store (now located on King George).
It will have five sales floors, a cafe, and a floor of offices.

You asked about the tower. Here is what Haaretz says:

[The] rotunda . . . functions like a kind of lighthouse visible from Jaffa Road and the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall. The rotunda is actually the space that connects all the commercial floors inside, and contains two glass elevators. Aaronson [the architect] says he's designing the elevators as a "kinetic sculpture" that will radiate light outward and add to the general experience of passersby.

Lights On Jerusalem

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As luck would have it, after writing yesterday's post about the derelict decaying empty buildings, I saw a notice at Haaretz today about a different but similar problem.
One new solution is called Turn on all the lights in Jerusalem.
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At the project's website Mayor Nir Barkat addresses the absentee foreign landlords thus:

" . . . the number of Jerusalem homes owned by people in the Diaspora has created a troublesome phenomenon in the city resulting in a shortage of affordable apartments available for young people in the city. In addition, certain neighborhoods are beginning to feel like 'Ghost towns' with large proportions of their residents away most of the year round.

According to the data available to us, there are approximately 11,160 such apartments in Jerusalem, 8,000 of which stand empty for most of the year, while about 7,000 young people leave the city every year, mainly due to the shortage of residential solutions.

Dear friend, we must ensure that Jerusalem's lights will continue to shine even in the months when you are not in the city. If you own a residential property which is not in use throughout the year , we urge you to please rent it to top-tier students or other young people who are so vital to us in the city.

In order to make the process easier and to provide confidence in renting your property, we have selected several leading property management companies, all of which have been carefully vetted for their reliability and quality of service. You are invited to contact the selected companies next time you are in Jerusalem."
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Great, fine idea! Now if the Municipality would also solve the problem addressed in yesterday's post, so much the better.
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Location, location

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An unusual view of the famous old YMCA from the back.
The tall tower and the dome are part of the Y.
In back of it you see the venerable old King David Hotel.

But what's the big new building going up next to the YMCA?
The round sign on the fence says King David's Crown.
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The eight-story crown-shaped residential building will have 200 apartments with underground parking and a tunnel to a new sports complex being constructed by the YMCA.

A 1.25-acre park designed by Israeli sculptor Adani will be artistically illuminated at night and include waterfalls and canals. It will be open to the public, they say.

Here's King David's Crown and the Y seen from the other side, from Keren Hayesod Street.
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Take a virtual tour of the project at their website.
Look at these prices for an apartment, in millions of shekels!
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Other posts about the YMCA are here and here.
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Dona Tower and a strange tree

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For Weekend Reflections here is a quite new office building with its Hebrew name, Migdal Dona, reflected in mirror image.
It has a nice elliptical shape, eh?
It stands in the far-western Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem.
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Here it is as seen from a 3rd floor window in Beit Hakerem.
I had to stick my arm out through the bars of a window, point and shoot, and hope for the best.
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Actually it was the tree I was after, with its spiky orange-colored flowers and compound fern-like leaves.
This is the only one of its kind I've ever seen.
Anyone know what kind it is?
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(Other interesting things in Givat Shaul are in three earlier posts.)
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UPDATE: I believe Diane in Australia has solved the mystery!
The tree seems to be a silky oak (or silk oak), Grevillea robusta, a member of the Protea family, a native to Australia.
Nice photo of the unusual flowers here.
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Shadows in a sunny elevator shaft

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For Shadow Shot Sunday here are strong shadows inside a transparent elevator shaft.

For the first few floors the elevator is inside, but then suddenly it starts facing the outside.

The 17-story building is part of the Technology Park in the Malcha neighborhood of Jerusalem.
(Another post about it here.)

Down below are Teddy Stadium

and more of the Technology Park.
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Across the street you see the train terminal. It and the little train stop at the Biblical Zoo are the only train stations in Jerusalem.
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Rehov Aza

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"People who live in glass houses should not throw stones."
This idiom (meaning don't criticize other people when you yourself have faults and weaknesses) comes to mind whenever I walk past this apartment building on Aza Street in Jerusalem.
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I wonder if that entrance is a 2-way mirror . . . .
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This photo from yesterday reflects the clear blue skies we have been having.
Temperatures of low 20s C (low 70s F) and no rain are perfect conditions for kids wearing costumes for the Purim holiday.
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A combined post for SkyWatch Friday and Weekend Reflections.
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Shabbat shalom!
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"Make a parapet for your roof"

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Even nights are hot in Jerusalem this week.
 IF my roof were flat, I would prefer to sleep on it instead of in the warm house.
In Biblical days the flat house roofs were like an outdoor room, used for many tasks, including sleeping.
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So the Bible, in Deuteronomy 22:8, gave us a good "building code":

"When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you will not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone falls from it."

In Jerusalem we still take that law seriously. Here are some examples of parapets:

David's Village, Mamilla

In Romema

Mamilla Hotel

An old synagogue being repaired in Nachlaot

Israel Broadcasting Authority building (formerly Shaarei Zedek Hospital)

In a very Orthodox neighborhood

Shikun HaRabbanim in Romema

An old hotel near Jaffa Gate, Old City

Apartments over the bastot stalls of Mahaneh Yehuda market

Christian Information Center near Jaffa Gate, Old City

St. Vincent de Paul hospice, Mamilla
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I hope you enjoyed your roof tour for That's My World Tuesday. Shalom!

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High up bridges and low-down scandals

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Today I'd like to join Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridge Series but also to combine it with a little rant.

Sky bridges, also called skyways, catwalks, or skywalks, connect these apartment buildings.
In case they don't count as a bridge proper, the photo also shows a traffic bridge over the main road.
This is the back side of the same Holyland Park at dawn, in 2008.
Then we were doing salvage digs up there, clearing the area of antiquities before the construction bulldozers and cranes moved in.
(To see what we found, and how, in those Canaanite shaft tombs click on my label "Archaeology.")

Just about everyone who drives by wonders how this huge project was ever permitted to mar the skyline of Jerusalem. Jerusalemites call it a monstrosity.

It is said that the only ones who like it are the residents of the 642 apartments. From their windows and balconies, they are the only ones who don't have to see the outside of the complex. They see only the stunning view of Jerusalem, the surrounding hills, and probably even the desert.
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A few days ago the media ban was lifted on a big investigation of a scandalous scandal; and then we, the people, suddenly understood how the towering Holyland monstrosity ever got off the ground.
Land developers allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of shekels in bribes to public officials to get approval for it. :(
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Judge Avraham Haiman described the affair as “one of the most severe instances of public corruption in Israel’s history, which will send shock waves throughout the country and which has caused irreversible damage to the public interest.”
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If only the hill could revert to being just a quiet 4,000 year old Canaanite cemetery . . . .
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Yeshivot

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All morning I was wandering around the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Givat Shaul Bet and Har Nof, seeing some things for the first time. What I actually came for was to see Deir Yassin, but that is not a story to go into right now, just before Shabbat.

It was a day for reflection.
There was even a shot for James' Weekend Reflections.

Here is the whole tall beit midrash or yeshiva.

It seemed like every block had at least one yeshiva and sometimes even several yeshivot.

Did I mention that Har Nof is a religious neighborhood of Orthodox Jews?

This yeshiva belongs to the Vizhnitz Hasidic dynasty.

The new Beth Ramchal, which appears to be built right inside one of the old quarries of Deir Yassin.

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Shabbat shalom. Let's try to have Sabbath peace.

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