There’s something about the Western Wall Plaza in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem that is truly exciting. Aside from all the metaphysical good vibes from the heightened spiritual feelings, there is a true kinetic energy that is experienced.
This infrared photo of the Western Wall (Kotel) Plaza somewhat describes the emotions evoked in me when I’m there.
Click on image for larger size photo.
Here’s the thing to do if you are driving on route 38 near Tel Shemesh just before sunset. Pull your car into the small area for tourist buses and run fast up to the top of the hill. Make sure you have a tripod, and that your camera can do bracketing. Bracketing means that you take many frames of the same image with different exposure settings. If you are lucky, you’ll get a shot like this:
Technical details: Nikon F100, Fuji Velvia Chrome, 28mm, F16, Tripod
Tzfat is a northern city in Israel. It is one of the four holy cities (Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias, and Tzfat).
Here’s panoramic of Tzfat at sunrise on a foggy day with Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) to the left.
Click on photo for super size.
Here’s another photo of the northern newer part of the city.
They’re even in the shuk - Machane Yehuda. On your next trip to the shuk, while you are picking up some tomatoes and cucumbers, you can also drop by their booth to put on tefilin or hear a bit about the Rebbe…
In the heart of Tel Aviv is the municipality building. There is a plaza right next to it. Today that plaza is known as ‘Kikar Rabin’ or Rabin Square (it used to be Kikar Malchei Yisrael).
There is a parking lot that separates the plaza and the municipality building. On the night of his murder in November 1995, Rabin was standing in the entrance to the parking lot after appearing before a Pro-Oslo-Peace rally.
Yitzhak Rabin was the only Prime Minister of Israel to be assassinated.
In 2001, Israeli Cabinet member and Minister of Tourism, Rehavam Ze’evi (Zeevi) was gunned down in front of his hotel room in Jerusalem by an Arab terrorist.
Here is the location of Rabin’s assassination. It remains a silent memory of a place where history was changed.
The Spray painted slogan at the top says “Slicha” (Forgive Us”)
Let’s say you are in the market to buy a new kefiyah. Where do you go? H&O and HaMashbir do not carry Kefiyahs. (Well maybe they do in their Ramallah branch).
You go to the local Kefiyah salesman!
One of the biggest celebrations on the Jewish calendar is when a new Sefer Torah (Bible written on parchment, to be used in synagogue services) is completed. The new Torah is usually danced in to the shul (synagogue) by the one who donated it, the Rabbis, and all of the members.
In this photo, the new Torah was read from the weekly portion, and then was lifted (Hagbah) for all to see.
