Shalom and welcome to Jerusalemite, the Jerusalem Culture Guide. After more than a year of hard work – more than a year of tireless research which left few Jerusalem stones unturned – the team behind Jerusalemite is thrilled to finally debut the fruit of its labor, the most comprehensive English-language guide to the city of Jerusalem ever published in any form.

Now you, the Jerusalemite reader, not only have access to an unprecedented repository of exclusive, high-quality Jerusalem-related content on Jerusalemite, you'll also have a hand in shaping the future of the site as we progress from our current beta to our final wide release – a release that will trump any and all Jerusalem guidebooks and websites in scope, depth and interactivity.

Jerusalemite is no passive repository of information, either. It is a community nexus which will foster the development of municipal culture, whether artistic, culinary, touristic or religious, while empowering residents and visitors to fully appreciate the vivid palette that colors life in the city.

The site brings an unprecedented level of interaction and customizable content to users, including downloadable maps of Jerusalem streets and Wi-Fi hotspots; up-to-the-minute Jerusalem information directly to your computer via three specialized RSS feeds delivering the latest blog entries, newest additions to our expansive guides and events in Jerusalem; the ability to comment on and rate blog posts, venues and events; the option to upload your own submissions to help flesh out the site; the ability to share your personal Jerusalem favorites with other users with the My Jerusalemite feature; and much, much more. Every Jerusalemite user has the power to make Jerusalemite an even better resource.

This first release of Jerusalemite is in the beta stage, meaning that we're still ironing out kinks, improving functionality and user friendliness, and working on new features – and for that we need your help. Our metro guides are up but are in the process of undergoing an updating and augmenting overhaul, with ideas for many new guides sections to go live in the coming months. Our event listings are live, but we're constantly adding venues and performers and are in the process of expanding the depth of our coverage on each event that we post. Our chief interactive features are ready, but many more are in the pipeline.

That's where you come in: You, as a Jerusalemite beta user, are encouraged to contact us with tech improvement suggestions and/or bug reports (in as much detail as possible to info@jerusalemite.net), guides suggestions/corrections (to guides@jerusalemite.net) and event suggestions/corrections (to events@jerusalemite.net or via the automated form).

We're also interested in general feedback/suggestions and love content submissions and offers to help (to info@jerusalemite.net, for terms see here).

Thank you for being with us as we begin our journey, and we hope you'll help us remain Jerusalem's definitive culture guide.

– The Jerusalemite Crew

Photos of Rey (above) and photo of a street scene outside of Sira (below) by Asaf Kilger.