Prepare to insert all the puns you want about planting seeds for the future, because Jerusalemite is going to resist the impulse: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's agricultural school, which is in, um, Rehovot (probably because there's little decent farm land in the scrubby, rock-strewn hills of Jerusalem), has just received a $15 million grant from an American foundation. The Staten Island Advance, a newspaper with the enticing slogan "Everything Staten Island," has the scoop:

The Robert H. Smith Family Foundation pledged a $15 million challenge grant to transform the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences in Rehovot, Israel.

The gift will be the cornerstone of the university's and American Friends of Hebrew University's "Feeding the Future through Sustainable Agriculture" campaign, a $51 million reorganization and expansion plan that will broaden and accelerate the University's cutting-edge interdisciplinary research in plant and animal sciences, biochemistry, nutrition and environmental studies.

In recognition of the Foundation's generosity the Faculty will be renamed "The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences." American Friends of the Hebrew University (AFHU) is launching a $15 million fund-raising campaign, seeking support from other American philanthropists and foundations.

This can't be anything but a positive development; the kibbutzim, the breadbaskets of Israel, are flagging as the founding generation passes away and their best and brightest leave home to make a grab for the shiny gold ring of capitalism (leaving an increasing amount of agricultural labor to foreign workers), meaning that a reassessment and rearrangement of Israel's agricultural system may be inevitable. Meanwhile, there still remains a whole lot of desert that nobody has bothered to get a-bloomin'. Hopefully the revitalized Hebrew U agricultural program will inspire more Israelis to tap into the vein of affection and respect for working the land that runs through the Zionist narrative.

Photo of Negev moonscape courtesy of Or Hiltch from flickr under a creative commons license.

For a nation of people who celebrate their independence by hitting each other with hammers and grilling kebabs on roadway medians, Israelis are surprisingly voracious readers. Israeli writers are world-class and widely read. No mall or bus station is complete without a Steimatzky. Prominent novels from abroad - from highbrow literature on down to Harry Potter ve-Hanasikh Hatzui Dam - are promptly translated and well-marketed. The yearly Book Week sparks rushes on discounted tomes. You can't even spend a cold fifty without contending with S.Y. Agnon in all his watermarked violet glory.

So it's only fitting that Jerusalem should play host to the International Writers Festival, a multidisciplinary literary extravaganza starting this Sunday, brought to you by the sober intellectuals at Mishkenot Sha'ananim and - proving once again how little sense Israel makes - the national lottery. Next your friendly neighborhood numbers racket will start a book club. The luminaries showing up for the festival's dozens of conferences include Hebrew heavyweights David Grossman, Amos Oz, Yehudit Katzir, Etgar Keret and Zeruya Shalev, Nadine Gordimer from South Africa, Andrei Makine from France, and from America, the much-vaunted first couple of kinda-Jewy literature: Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss.

Most of the festival's events are lectures presided over by one or more authors, or meetings between foreign authors and their Israeli translators (thrilling!), but if an intimate discussion of the finer points of Hebrew-Spanish translation doesn't appeal to you, there are screenings of films selected by visiting authors, tours of local sites of literary significance, and even a play or two. A significant portion of events are in English.

The festival runs from this Sunday, May 11, until the 15th. View the English program here.

The smell of grilled meat permeated the air throughout the day as Jerusalemites celebrating Israel's 60th Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut) descended upon Sacher Park to partake is one of Israel's national pastimes: roasting animal flesh for hours on end on rapidly fanned charcoal fires in crowded places.

Photos of Sacher Park by Maoz Golomb (second from top) and Ben Jacobson.

The thousands of Jerusalemites and Jerusalem visitors who packed into Zion Quare (Kikar Tzion) last night were treated to a high-budget sound, light and fire show and to a parade of top-name performances on a main stage.

Today the festivities continue, with a cornucopia of offerings to meet all tastes. You can celebrate 60 years of Israel's statehood by visiting a Hasmonean aqueduct, by watching young men jump out of airplanes, or by fanning coals.

Happy Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut) from Jerusalemite.

Photo of last night's laser show in Zion Square courtesy of Jewlicious.

Israel has employed one of the cleverest methods of fueling the emotional fire in order to instill the pride due its independence: contrast. By observing Memorial Day (Yom Hazikaron) right up until the onset of Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut), the joy of the day is effectively amplified. As soon as the stars come out, the festivities begin.

There's always a multitude of parties taking place in closed areas, where overpriced entrance fees only set the stage for expensive drinks from the bar.

But there is also the true, cheap Israeli fashion of celebration. Jerusalemites take to the streets to celebrate in style. The Ben Yehuda St. pedestrian mall teems with teenagers and adults marching up and down like some kind of mad parade of ants. If you're into public places crammed with people, mostly smiling, every one of them out to celebrate their nation's birthday as a collective, then this is the place to be.

The most puzzling aspect of the proceedings is undoubtedly the proliferation of youth engaged in spraying each other with aerosol-propelled white oozes. Most of us probably prefer to stroll about the city with no foam and no silly string caked on our skin, hair and clothing. Other than having the mischievous side-effect of antagonizing innocent bystanders, this custom is a truly puzzling expression if nationalism.

The other primary captivating spectacle during Independence Day is at Sacher Park, where the municipality plans to dispatch beefed-up firefighter patrols this year. The trees that flank the park become giant lips perpetually exhaling billows of smoke, as if having just taken a drag from some kind of colossal celebratory national cigarette. The park itself teems with thousands upon thousands of Jerusalemites ritually roasting chicken liver skewers, turkey dogs and cilantro-laden beef kebabs on smoldering hibachis, paper plates fanning the coals for hours on end.

There are Frisbees being thrown, acoustic musical instruments being played, drinking and dancing, among many other forms of merrymaking. So if you don't pass out from smoke inhalation, or get driven insane by the shrieking youth (or by the shrieking adults for that matter), then the sense of community and bonding over the open flame is sure to please.

Photo of the hammer-bonking and white foam-exchanging masses in Zion Square for Independence Day 2007 courtesy of the15 from flickr under a creative commons license.

Tonight at sundown, the nation of Israel ushers in Memorial Day (Yom Hazikaron). Unlike in other parts of the Western world, where anonymous casualties are several times removed from the masses, Israel's Memorial Day involves no mega retail sales, no football games and no barbecues. It is a bleak day where the entire nation pauses to reflect on the sacrifices our heroes have made in the name of our elusive peace and security.

Tonight at 20:00, a siren wails and Jerusalem stands in silence for one minute to remember the fallen. The state ceremony takes place at the Western Wall, and tomorrow, a two-minute siren will wail at 11:00, and families and locales will hold their own ceremonies and memorials.

An alternative ceremony for Jerusalem's religious population will take place for the first time tonight at 20:00 at Binyanei Hauma, in an effort to reach out to those who have trouble relating to the conventional ceremonies and events.

Jerusalem's official municipal ceremony will take place tomorrow at Safra Square, starting at 9:15, featuring numerous speakers and musicians performing somber songs.

Photo of soldiers at Latrun courtesy of elliotfreeman from flickr under a creative commons license.

There has been a flurry of activity over the past few days on the streets of Jerusalem as the city and its people prepare for tomorrow night's festivities and celebration. Jerusalem sent out a photographer out on a mission to photograph the city's preparation. Ok, we didn't - he just took the photos on the way to the office.

When the municipality announced the laser show, Jerusalemite was a bit suspect, expecting something not too professional and absolutely cheesy. As demonstrated by the photo directly below, the laser show might be worth checking out after all.

Photos by Ben Jacobson for Jerusalemite.

How's that song go? Something like, "Every time I tried to tell you / The words just came out wrong / So I'll have to say I love you in a song targeted squarely at gaining entry in a popular reference book of bizarre feats and obscure world records."

That seems to be the operating principle behind the Live Hatikva initiative, anyway. On Wednesday, May 7, the eve of Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut), at 22:50, Israel-lovers at home and abroad will make an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the category of "greatest number of people singing a national anthem simultaneously," which you can find in the record book somewhere between "longest distance (overland) a 1973 Ford Pinto has been pulled by human hair alone" and "fastest mile run on stilts at a major historical site while performing an aria from Tosca."

The attempt will be kicked off in Israel at the conclusion of the Independence Day Lighting Up the Sky show, a fuzzily-explained spectacle described by its press release as "the lyrics of 'Hatikva' lighting up the sky all over the country." Whether this will be accomplished through fireworks, lasers, or a Book of Daniel-esque disembodied hand tracing portents of doom in the sky remains unknown. The countdown and following mass performance of "Hatikva" will occur publicly in Jerusalem and in dozens of other Israeli towns. Participating international cities and Jewish communities include New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, New Jersey, Chicago, Colombia, Toronto, Jamaica, Finland, Ukraine, Moscow, Argentina, Riyadh, Cairo, Beirut and Kiryas Joel, New York. Okay, except for the last four.

Says event organizer Galia Albin: "This is the first event of its kind in the world, in which Jews unite around a song dedicated only to the Jewish world.... In this time, in which the possibility of one state for two peoples has increasingly been brought up in public discourse, including within leftist circles in Israel itself, there arises a need to strengthen the Jewish affinity of a State of Israel that respects the minorities living within its borders. In singing 'Hatikva,' every Jew in Israel and in the world salutes the state on its 60th birthday."

Albin, a businesswoman and television commentator, spent her time before the "Hatikva" initiative establishing her own leftist bonafides with ventures ranging from regional peace conferences to the Israeli debut of Penthouse magazine, which was beaten back by religious groups who evidently had some sort of moral quibble with frank pictorials of nude models frolicking with other nude models. Puritans.

For information on participation in this record-breaking event, visit its official website. Participating groups who adhere to the strict criteria set down by those pubhounds at Guinness will, in the event that the record is broken, receive an official commemorative certificate from the World Records people. They will not, however, receive any Guinness, which hardly seems fair.

Photo of tasty Guinnesses in various states of dismemberment courtesy of Scott Thompson from flickr under a creative commons license.

Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut) celebrations kick off Wednesday night and not one age demographic will be left out of the evening’s activities. Dozens of activities are happening throughout the city but here are the main four hubs of entertainment for Wednesday night and beyond.

Old Train Station Plaza
A relic of Mandate-era Jerusalem, the once abandoned train station abundant open space has turned into a hub of young and savvy Jerusalem culture. Train Stop (also known as Party for Independence) kicks off the summer activities with what is being billed as the party of the summer with numerous local bars and clubs teaming up for the event which will be a huge draw for Jerusalem’s twentysomething demographic.

Zion Square (Kikar Tzion)
If you plan on attending the laser light show and concert at Zion Square make sure you aren’t wearing any clothing you actually care about. The crowds will be large and the atmosphere rambunctious, some might even say mischievous, with Jerusalem’s potentially rowdy youth hitting each other with plastic hammers and dowsing one another with silly string and foam. But don’t let the potential mayhem stop you. The laser show should be at the very least entertaining and if the laser beams don’t blind you, perhaps seeing the, uh, sultry Maya Buskila will.

Safra Square (Kikar Safra)
Kick it old school in Safra Square with Israel’s national pastime, folk dancing, and an Israeli classic song sing-a-long. See, despite what you actually thought, they actually really do have Israeli dancing in Israel, it is not something that just exists in the diaspora. Here they just call it dancing.

Jerusalem Theater Plaza
Not to have their thunder stolen by all the other events and parties going on in the capitol, the Jerusalem Theater has decided to hold their Independence Day event after the holiday has ended. From 18:00 to 19:30 the theater plaza will have singing and dancing with special activities for children and families hosted by Levi Bar Gil. At 19:30, its time to let your hair down as Yaron Ben Simhon will host Israeli folk dancing followed by a performance by the Hebrew University student band and special performances by Yossi Azouly and Aviva Avidan. Make sure to check out Avidan's voice and moves in the following video. You won't be able to resist the dance.

None of the above float your boat? Do not fret. Odds are you'll find something to do on Independence Day in our comprehensive Jerusalem event listings.

Jerusalem's City Hall plaza, Safra Square, welcomes 60 people, aged 60, standing in the shape of a 60, yesterday in preparation for more complex choreography set to take place in same venue later this week (courtesy Municipality of Jerusalem's spokesperson's office).

Jerusalem is an impressively fireworks-loving town when we consider that many of its residents are likely to wet themselves when they hear things go "pop" in the night. Hardly a mainstream outdoor cultural event goes by without some sort of culminating fireworks display, and the nation's 60th Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut) makes for an especially worthy excuse to blow stuff up into colorful streaks.

Those of us who remember the heady night back in spring 1998 when Israel celebrated 50 years in existence might recall that the City Center offered a different pyrotechnical display on a different block at intervals of what seemed like every few minutes. Of course, that was at a time when both the local high tech and the local party scenes were booming, enjoying up-and-coming international reputations - not to mention that the Oslo Peace Process was in full swing. A decade later, and this year's celebrations are predicted to be a bit more laid-back and community-oriented. Not that downtown will be lacking in bombastic revelry and spectacle.

Regardless, here's a list of neighborhoods around Jerusalem planning to stage pyrotechnical displays at specific times:

• Baka's Efrata School on Gad St. offers a fireworks display at 23:00.
• Beit Hakerem's Neighborhood Center at Herzl Blvd. 137 offers a fireworks display at 22:45.
• Chomat Shmuel (Har Choma)'s Ilan Ramon School offers a fireworks display at 23:00.
• East Talpiot's Neighborhood Center offers a fireworks display at 22:30.
• The French Hill's Neighborhood Center at Hahagana St. 13 offers a fireworks display at 23:10.
• Gilo's Zeidenberg Park on Haganenet St. offers a fireworks display at 23:00.
• Givat Mordechai's Payis Center offers a fireworks display at 22:30.
• Givat Shaul-Kiriat Moshe's Maimon School at Ben Tzion St. 7 offers a fireworks display at 22:30.
• Kiriat Yovel's Danya Park offers a fireworks display at 23:15.
• Neve Yaakov's Neighborhood Center at Neve Yaakov Blvd. 38 offers a fireworks display at 23:00.
• Pisgat Zeev's Payis Center offers a fireworks display at 22:30.
• Ramot's Tzofim Plaza at Truman St. offers a fireworks display at 22:30.

And the Sheraton Plaza's rooftop is set to shoot its share of fireworks over Independence Park at 23:00 as well.

And don't forget to reference Jerusalemite's complete list of Independence Day events going on all over the City of Gold. Included are underground DJ sets, aeronautical shows, charity kumzitzes, ethnic jazz concerts, interactive founding father reenactments and everything in-between.

Photo of the fireworks display over Passover overlooking the walls of the Old City from the Jerusalemite archives.