November is a good time to be a Jerusalemite. While much of the rest of the world twists futilely in the grip of inexorable winter, we're enjoying sunny, room-temperature days and nights just the perfect temperature for a having a warm drink at the café while wearing your favorite sweater. In another month, of course, it's going to be a different, much wetter story, so get out there now to enjoy the best of this week in Jerusalem:
Are you old enough to fondly remember blue-and-white tin JNF pushkes and first hearing the strange sounds of non-Ashkenazi Hebrew? Man, has the Jerusalem Theatre got a nostalgic sing-along for you.
Friday is, as it always should be, all about the ladies. First, check out the opening of an exhibition devoted to up-and-coming distaff Israel painters at Barbur.
Eat your hearts out, Cannonball and Coltrane: a whole jazz saxophone quartet (soprano, alto, tenor and baritone) is playing on Saturday outside the city at Latrun.
Jerusalemites are essentially split into two camps: people who enjoy the oeuvre of Shlomo Carlebach, and people who hate those people with a white-hot passion. If you fall into the former group, there are multipleperformances on Saturday night in honor of the controversial singer/rabbi's recent yahrtzeit.
Federico Lorca may be dead and gone, but you can still enjoy his provocatively titled play Blood WeddingSunday evening at the Nissan Nativ Studio in Talpiot.
Jerusalem rock outfit Malachei is covering Jimi Hendrix Monday night at Stardust, always a dicey proposition. If things go well, though, this is a rare chance to see some guitar heroics in the Holy City.
This 3000-year-old laptop was unearthed in the Western Wall Tunnels
Not to toot our own shofars, but we're a committed bunch here at Jerusalemite. Not only do we work every day to bring you relevant, comprehensive and unique coverage of city life from restaurants to events and everything in between, we're always thinking of ways to improve Jerusalemite itself to make your experience here more pleasant and your time in Jerusalem more full.
To that end, we've recently unveiled a slew of brand new features to help make Jerusalemite just a little bit more definitive. Some of them you may have already noticed; others you'll come to appreciate the next time you need to plan an evening out, get in touch with us or stay abreast of every update and development on the site and in the city. Many are the result of feedback from readers like yourself, which we sincerely appreciate (and hope you'll keep sharing). So why not spend a few minutes cruising Jerusalemite and checking out what's new?
We've updated some of the window dressings. Ugly brown boxes are out; cool sheared-corner teal menus and text boxes on our Guides and Events pages are in.
Our events system has been made loads more convenient with a feature that lets you see all upcoming events at major venues, accessible from every event page as well as the new and improved event search function.
Speaking of that event search function, it's now at the top of the Events page, and beefed up with new search parameters that let you winnow out exactly what you want from our vast database. And our City Guides have been given the same treatment.
Search results have been enriched - instead of a list of names and categories, results are clearly differentiated by type, and you can choose to filter the results further so only guides listings, events or blog posts appear. Guide entry search results now include price, address, phone number, and user rating.
Oh yeah. User ratings. You can now rate and comment on your favorite restaurants, theaters, museums, bars, hotels and more. Feel free to disagree. Vent your feelings. Show your enthusiasm. Even if you're the kind of maniac who prefers Pinati over Ta'ami, we want to hear from you.
In addition to our "email to a friend" and "My Jerusalemite" features, we now offer "Share," which allows the user with one click to share favorite items of our content with their peers via Facebook, MySpace, Digg and many other social networks and services.
Advertising with us has never been easier thanks to our new media kit.
The left column's "Browse by Category" and "Archive" navigation links are now drop-down menus, making them far less cumbersome.
We've optimized our RSS offerings, with more prominent subscription links and a page dedicated to explaining how and why to subscribe.
If, for some reason, you would ever want to leave, we have a new Links page full of relevant sites for any Jerusalem lover.
Getting in touch with us is super-easy with the new and improved contact form. We want to hear from you.
And we're not quitting with this update. Very soon, you'll be seeing even more handy upgrades - including the rollout of a new commenting system to foster a healthy debate about what's really important in this city: having a good time.
Thanks for reading, and keep coming back!
Image courtesy of RahelSharonfrom Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
Jerusalemite does not care for the word "foodie." It is a silly name for a serious passion: seeking out and consuming the very finest in comestibles. That passion is given ample outlet in Jerusalem, currently in the midst of the classed-up peasant food culinary revolution that has swept the world - but every self-respecting gourmet, gourmand, gastronome, epicure or (sigh) foodie knows that experiencing a city's edible best requires looking beyond the guidebooks, the restaurant reviews and the temples of modern haute cuisine to the humble workingman's establishments that feed residents from teething babies to toothless old-timers.
Sometimes the food within is weird, or at least unfamiliar. But as any traveler who's sampled raw sea urchin gonads in Tokyo, whole late-term-embryo-filled duck eggs in Hanoi or, uh... a garbage plate in upstate New York can attest, it is by embracing the new and strange that one truly experiences the soul of a culinary culture.
So put down the Lonely Planet and let Jerusalemite show you real Jerusalem food with this list of the top five Jerusalem foods you've never eaten before:
Meorav Yerushalmi You can't really be a New Yorker without lox and a schmear. You're hardly Edinbourgeois if you eschew fish and chips. And you're no kind of Jerusalemite until you've tucked into a pita or plate full of meorav yerushalmi, a dish so identified with Jerusalem that it's named after it. Meaning "Jerusalemite mix," and often called "Jerusalem mixed grill" in English, the concept is simple: every edible-but-unappealing part of a chicken heavily seasoned with Middle Eastern spices and seared on a griddle with onions. Hearts? Yeah. Lungs? Sure. Liver? De rigueur. Spleens? Pray to God you don't forget them spleens. Don't be a sissy. Meorav is generally chopped up into a fairly uniform mix, and if you've ever eaten a hot dog, you've stuffed your face full of offal before - and it wasn't nearly as good as the signature meorav at Agrippas Street landmark Chatzot (pictured).
Sabich Not so long ago, Jews were Iraq's cultural elite, a full one-third of Baghdad's population, vastly overrepresented in commerce and the arts. Then they were expelled, and made their way to Israel to become this country's culinary elite. Anybody who's eaten falafel is familiar with the Iraqi laffa, a large chewy flatbread, but more obscure, and more delicious, is sabich, a dish either invented or popularized by Iraqi immigrants in Ramat Gan (althought the jury is still out when it comes to the origins of the name). It's true poverty food: a pita dramatically overstuffed with slices of fried eggplant; long-cooked, brown hard-boiled eggs; hummus; cucumber and tomato salad and spicy charif, then topped with amba, the pickled mango sauce adored by Iraqis. A whole rack of lamb wouldn't fill you up as full. For sabich in Jerusalem, there is no better choice than the aptly named Sabichiya on Shammai Street.
Maqluba First, learn how to pronounce it: urban Palestinian Arabs pronounce the Arabic letter qaf as a glottal stop, so "Al-Quds" (the Arabic name for Jerusalem) becomes "Al-'Uds" and "maqluba" becomes "ma'aluba." No matter how you say it, though, it's tasty. Meaning "upside-down" in Arabic, and often called the Palestinians' national dish, maqluba is a casserole made from rice, sliced eggplant, sliced tomato, onion, cauliflower and mountains of savory lamb (or sometimes chicken). Plenty of east Jerusalem and Old City holes in the wall offer their versions of this homestyle fare, and upscale locavore bistro Eucalyptus is famous for its gussied-up version.
Knafeh Desserts rarely make an appearance in weird food lineups. As much as human tastes vary from culture to culture, sweet is sweet, and what's sweet is rarely surprising - unless it happens to be neon orange shreds of phyllo dough drenched in syrupy sugar water and filled with gooey, salty warm goat cheese. Oh, confounding knafeh. It's a combination just about as incongruous as ice cream in a hamburger bun, but this Nablus delicacy is hugely popular in Jerusalem - especially during Ramadan, when feasting on pastries, dried fruits and nuts at night is traditional - among both Arabs and Jews. For the real deal, head over to Muslim Quarter landmark Jaffar's Sweets, where the knafeh is made fresh every day.
Sachlab When it gets cold in Jerusalem, forget eggnog, brandy, or hot cocoa: the real restorative drink is sachlab. Called "salep" in English, and perhaps familiar to European readers if not North American ones, sachlab is a hot, sweet, perfumey drink, thinner than pudding but thicker than whole milk, derived from the powdered extract of certain species of Middle Eastern orchid. It doesn't quite taste like anything else, but topped off with a mountain of coconut shavings, ground nuts and cinnamon, it will let you temporarily forget that the city is 45 degrees, pouring, and a single, unbroken shade of gray-brown. All-night cafe Mifgash HaSheikh is famous for its sachlab, and no winter nighttime shuk shopping trip is complete without an invigorating dose from one of several sachlab samovars.
Now doesn't that all sound tasty? And after you've gorged yourself on Jerusalem's unique delicacies, don't forget to head to our friendly neighborhood witch doctor for one more only-in-Jerusalem refreshment: khat smoothies. Mmmm. Eat well, and stay tuned for more Jerusalem best-of lists in the coming weeks.
Photo of knafeh-making at Jaffar's Sweets by Ben Jacobson for Jerusalemite; photo of meorav madness at Chatzot by Asaf Kliger for Jerusalemite; photo of sabich courtesy of roboppy from Flickr under a Creative Commons License; photo of maqluba from Wikipedia under a GNU Free Documentation License; photo of knafeh courtesy of Tololy Tutunai from Flickr under a Creative Commons License; photo of sachlab by Harry Rubenstein for Jerusalemite.
The annual International Oud Festival kicks off this year on November 20 with a tribute to the golden age of the oud, and from there staggers nightly performances in venues through the city during its two-week run. Highlights include a musical exploration of the link between kabballa and Sufi Islam; Turkish giants of the oud Erkan Oğur and Ismail Demircioğlu; and the world premier of a performance by ethnomusicologist Maureen Nehedar, who will sing traditional Persian Jewish ballads from the oldest Jewish Diaspora community in the world.
The festival closes December 4 with a first: a performance of oudacious music from the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, whitch borders on Pakistan and marks the eastern boundary of the instrument's traditional influence. It's no Goa techno, but it should do.
Perhaps the most famous of Middle Eastern instruments, the oud, is that lute-like piece that resembles an overweight guitar with a broken neck. Plucked from Sicily to India and all the provinces in between, the instrument has become emblematic of Arab culture. As it has spread into Israeli hands, and, like falafel and hookah, it has become an easy go-to when looking for a cultural touchstone to talk about ethnic sounds and bridging traditions. Hence the Confederation House-organized festival, which brings harmonious music to the very front lines of our culture clash.
Tradition holds that the origin of the oud isn't so tranquil, though. The Bible attributes the birth of music to Yuval, son of Lamech (the great, great, great grandson of Adam), but Arab legend tells a slightly different story, in which Lamech accidentally kills his other son Tuval-Cain (after accidentally killing the original Cain) and hangs his body to dry in a tree, with the skeleton serving as a model for the first instrument. We don't want to know how they think the tuba was invented.
Even if you don't believe all that jibber-jabber, scholars believe the oud still stands as one of the oldest instruments known to civilization, dating back over 5,000 years. The ones being played today are probably considerably newer, but the sound certainly harkens back to a simpler, clichéd time, as many a Jerusalemite will hear during the festival.
Most of the concerts run between 80 and 120 NIS, but before you go saying the price is oudrageous, remember the famous saying about how oud music isn’t free. Or was that freedom? And If you're Ashkenazi and just not connecting to the flavor, no need to fret. Chanukah is right around the corner.
Photos of mystical composer Samir Mahoul, performing on December 1 (top), and of master hand percussionist Zohar Fresco, performing November 26, courtesy of the Oud Festival.
Yes, it's the artists. In fact, Jerusalem does not want for lack of institutions that cater toward artists. Ever since Boris Schatz started sculpting old ladies and founded the Bezalel School of Art and Design, the city has been rife with galleries, academies, musicians, poets and starving artistes all dedicated to "the scene." Now, a new project is being formulated to turn that scene into more of a community of artistic minded Jerusalemites. Ruach Chadasha, a student rights organization founded by next mayor Nir Barkat, recently gathered together movers and shakers of the Jerusalem arts movement to lay the groundwork for the communities.
The meeting took place at Agripas 12, a gallery well known for fostering cooperation between the various artistic institutions in the city. Among the cognoscenti there were Avi Sabag of the Musrara school and members of the Zik, Koresh and Hagagit groups. Maya Felixbrodt, director of young artists for Ruach Chadasha said she had been approached by many others about working with them to create the community, which is meant to made up of those already out of school who want to remain in Jerusalem. "We mean to give them some framework to go and create together and to give to Jerusalem as artists," she said. The community is meant to be something completely open to the participants' choosing, meaning they or may not live together and create together and eat together and work together. Basically, it may be about as communal as a privatized "kibbutz."
Though Thursday night brought cold and rain over 20 interested artists crwoded into the gallery to hear what would be going on and get in on the ground floor. Felixbrodt said she wasn't sure what Barkat's victory would mean for the project, but hoped it would translate into more support from city hall, though she said the project would go ahead no matter what happens.
Of course, this effort is far from being the first to try and bring artists together to create in Jerusalem. Chutzot Hayotzer (the artists colony right outside the old city, not the related festival) touts itself as being one such place, though its fine arts showcases have more of a commercial tilt. The Jerusalem Artists House also brings artists together under one roof, though it is more a gallery than a community effort. Plus nobody even lives in the house. In September, Jerusalem was the home to Lift-Off, the first, possibly annual, installment of an event that sought to bring together over 100 artists to display their work in a number of venues throughout the city. And there's always artsy tchochkes and expensive Judaica available at Ben Yehuda and the Cardo. In short, art did not leave Jerusalem with the original Bezalel.
We've been devoting most of our rail-related attention these past few months to the light rail (or as shiny new mayor-elect Nir Barkat likes to call it, "the blight rail"), but there is another train slowly but unsurely making its way to the Holy City: the long-awaited high-speed Israel Railways line from Tel Aviv. The line, which will replace the hideously slow and outdated current inter-city train, has been beset by constant delays, from the simply bureaucratic to the bizarrely "only-in-Israel" (how many construction projects in other countries get delayed because workers keep uncovering ancient Jewish graves?). In fact, plans hit a major snag just last week - but this is the kind of snag that Jerusalemites can celebrate:
The Council of National Parks and Nature Reserves blocked a route building plan proposed by Israel Railways in the Judean Hills Nature Reserve on Thursday.
The plan was part of the route for the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem hi-speed train.
The Council rejected a plan to build a series of bridges over the Yitle Stream and approved a Nature and Parks Authority suggestion to build a 13-km tunnel instead.
Environmental groups had claimed building and maintaining the bridges would cause serious harm to the reserve.
The campaign against the harmful (and no doubt aesthetically horrifying) Israel Railways plan was spearheaded by those admirable nudniks at the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), a group responsible for much of the green space currently surrounding the city. SPNI's other recent environmental endeavors in Jerusalem include defeating the much-loathed Safdie Plan for heavy development in the Jerusalem Hills and failing to prevent speculative drilling for the Judean Desert's 2.4 barrels of make-believe oil. Hey, you win some, you lose some.
As far as Jerusalem restaurants go, you can't get more involved than Assaf Rizi. A native Jerusalemite, Rizi co-owns Adom, Lavan and Colony, key hangouts for Jerusalem's hip and hungry. Rizi got into the restaurant business, along with his brother Noam, because he wanted to spend his time in a job he enjoys and that brings joy to others. The brothers opened their first restaurant, Adom, seven years ago, timing that unfortunately coincided with the start of the second intifada. The brothers, and the restaurant, nevertheless managed to pull through, and three years later opened Colony. The latest restaurant in their empire, Lavan, opened last year.
Your three restaurants are very different from each other. For the uninitiated, would you please explain a bit about the concept behind each one? And what is the common thread between them, aside from the ownership/management team? Adom has the most complicated food - the cuisine is a combination of Jerusalem and France. Colony is a more populist place with simpler food, food that is more understandable to people. At Colony people know before they get there what they want to order - there are no surprises. Lavan is Italian and dairy - it's more like a coffee shop than a restaurant. It's a place to go to relax at the Cinematheque (where it is housed), with views of The Tower of David.
Only small things connect the restaurants: our service style; the way our staff treats the customers. There are not things you see on the outside - they're more internal.
One of the elements of Jerusalem's character that is so distinctive is the city's mixture of high-class poseurs and working-class grit. How has this mixture influenced the foodie scene here in recent years, and how has that affected your businesses? We try to connect to both these elements in each of our restaurants. Each restaurant has a range of prices, so anyone can eat there. We have very expensive dishes as well as cheaper ones, so that we're open to all Jerusalemites, from people coming to celebrate with a fancy dinner or people just coming in to drink beer and order a carpaccio or pizza. We want our waiters to treat all our diners as if they were their [personal] guests and as people deserving of attention no matter what their background or how much they spend - whether they're getting a big meal or just coming in for a glass of wine and a bite to eat.
Since your three restaurants in Jerusalem are so successful, have you felt any pressure to open one in Tel Aviv? Many people have asked us if we plan on opening a Tel Aviv restaurant, and many people have requested that we do so, but right now we're very comfortable here, both with our businesses and with the city. If we open a restaurant in Tel Aviv, it would only be because one of the partners [only the Rizi brothers are partners in all three restaurants, but each restaurant has additional partners as well] moved there, which can happen, but it won't happen until somebody moves, because we don't want....(For more questions with Assaf Rizi click here).
Five years ago, the Palestinian east Jerusalem neighborhood of Kfar Ekev was cut off from the rest of the city by the security fence, and municipal services completely ceased. Now, finally, the neighborhood has gained some token acknowledgment by the city's government in the form of....
400,000 NIS worth of new trash bins! Sixty in all, to be precise. It ain't the light rail exactly, but it's a fresh-smelling start.
Hopefully, unlike the reliably short-lived municipal trash bins of Meah Shearim and Geulah, nobody will set these on fire as the opening salvo in healthy municipal political dialogue....
Photo of Kfar Ekev's new fleet of dumpsters courtesy of the Jerusalem Municipality.
Unlock the culinary secrets of Machane Yehuda this week in Jerusalem
It's the first week of a new Jerusalem. Or at least a different Jerusalem. Well, provided outgoing mayor Lupolianski doesn't cap off his useless term by seizing total control of the city and devoting 100% of the municipal budget to his twin initiatives of delaying the light rail and making his beard wispier. Hey, you can't rule anything out. But assuming the transfer of power goes well, this is a good week to make a toast to the fading reign of Mr. Lupolianski, and as always, Jerusalemite has plenty ideas of how to go about it:
Jerusalem has some of the world's greatest food. Learn about (and sample) the many foods Jerusalemites love, including the offalicious meorav yerushalmi, as you follow Beit Shmuel through Machane Yehuda today.
And tonight is your chanceto catch some rare English-language Jerusalem theater with After Eden at the Merkaz.
Is there any better place to see a 18-piece choral ensemble specializing in Jewish and Israeli music than at the the Tower of David? Dunno. Ask the Jerusalem Cameri Choir tomorrow.
Jerusalem is an orthodox city no matter what religion you follow, but if you happen to be a Conservative Jew, don't feel alone and uneducated: English-language Conservative Torah study starts up tomorrow.
This Saturday tour is not optional, even if you observe Shabbat, keep kosher or don't speak Hebrew. Beit Shmuel is taking a group of gourmands to the hummus restaurants of east Jerusalem and the Old City, and all that wonderful, historic hummus is worth the eternal punishment for any transgression.
Everybody in Israel loves rock ensemble Beit Habubot (except those guys who think music is a sin). Hop on the bandwagon Saturday night at the Yellow Submarine.
As if Jews and Arabs don't got enough beef, in The Return to Haifa, a Jewish family and an Arab family tussle over an adopted child in the post-War of Independence era. Catch it Sunday at the Jerusalem Theatre.
Sunday is also your last chance to catch Shakespeare's Henry V in English at the Ma'abada.
Dganit Ben-Admon is whitewashing everything in sight and calling it modern art. Two words, lady: "Tom Sawyer." Stop by the exhibit at the Jerusalem Artists' House on Monday.
Don't you wish your children cared at all about music that didn't sound like the pitiful dying screech of the last of an endangered species? Try to introduce them to some classical music with Speak to Me in Sound at the Jerusalem Theatre on Tuesday.
How can Jerusalem sustain multiple Dixieland bands? Gain some insight, maybe, by seeing the New Orleans Function Tuesday at the Yellow Sub.
How's your Jewish identity lately? If you don't know the answer, consider attending the first in a series of English lectures on the subject at the Shalom Hartman Institute on Wednesday.
And remember, you can always check the whole week's listings in our Events section. Have a good week in this new Jerusalem.
The rabbis of the Talmud wrote it, and every guidebook and tour operator repeats it: "Ten measures of beauty descended on the world; nine were taken by Jerusalem." Trite, perhaps. Immodest, certainly. Untrue? Well... not really. No matter what ill-advised (or painfully ironic) contemporary architectural claptrap the government flings skyward, the modest beauty of the olive-studded, elaborately terraced Judean mountains and the quiet grandeur of the ruins of glorious pasts remain unsullied. But even those aforementioned guidebooks and tour operators might not tell you where to go for the city's most spectacular vistas. That's what we're for. So get ready for Jerusalemite's definitive list of the best views of Jerusalem's Old City:
Haas Promenade This is a vantage point so well-known that every person (or at least every cabbie and tour guide) in Jerusalem refers to it simply as "HaTayelet"("The Promenade"). This is where every first-time visitor - from synagogue tour groups saying Shehecheyanu (the blessing over meriting to have achived benchmark experiences) to prayerful Christian Zionists and peace activists - comes to get a sense of Jerusalem in all her grandeur. The heart of the view is the distant glimmer of the Dome of the Rock and the entirety of the Old City's walls, but there's not much you can't see from the Haas Promenade. The sections of the Haas Promenade park that are highest in altitude and closest to the road and parking lot can sometimes bustle with tourists and families out on scenic constitutionals, so if you're looking for an opportunity for quiet contemplation, you might want to venture down into the terraced and beautifully landscaped lower sections (although this is not necessarily advisable after dark).
Mt. Scopus Promenade This is Jerusalem's other major tayelet, and a much quieter one than the Haas. The lookout point hugs the ridge of the upper slopes on Mount Scopus, directly below the Hebrew University campus at its peak, leading ultimately to the Arab neighborhood of A-Tur atop the Mount of Olives. Fittingly, the promenade offers an Old City view similar to that of its more crowded competition, but from the opposite direction. This is the view that gave Mount Scopus (Har HaTzofim, "Lookouts' Mountain") its name; from here, the legions of Titus camped and planned their siege of Jerusalem during the Great Jewish Revolt in 70 CE. When you visit, try to avoid similar plans.
The Austrian Hospice It's all about the advantage of height with this Jerusalem view. While the Old City is the star of many a vantage point, the Austrian Hospice offers the best view of the most ancient section of Jerusalem from within. Perched high above the bustle, you can peer down into the winding alleys of the Christian and Muslim Quarters, and take in everything from the countless steeples and minarets to the not-so-distant Dome of the Rock. And when you're done, pop inside the cafe downstairs for some serious dessert options.
Mount of Olives None other than Jesus himself famously scoped out Jerusalem from atop the headstone-strewn Mount of Olives, so there's plenty of historical precedent for Jerusalemites enjoying the view. Take the steep hike up to the top of the world's oldest and most densely-populated Jewish cemetery and behold an incredible panorama stretching from desert to Gehinnom to the Temple Mount to Mount Scopus. And try to ignore the pushy guys selling postcards and camel rides.
The Ramparts Walk What better method could there be to finding the best Old City vistas than circling its perimeter at roof-level? At the paltry entrance fee of 14 NIS for adults and 7 NIS for children, the Ramparts Walk allows adventurous visitors to explore the Old City's various highlights, including the Arab market, the Lion's Gate plaza, the Church of the Dormition and residential clusters of the Armenian and Muslim Quarters. The ramparts allowed 16th-century Ottoman defenders of the city to peek out behind various specially designed nooks and counter-attack Jerusalem conquerer wannabes, so role playing fun for the entire family is also afoot here.
And that isn't all, of course. Honorable mentions go to the Kollek-initiated terraced sidewalks of Yemin Moshe; to anywhere in Ein Kerem for the unparalled Jerusalem hills vistas; to the Goldman Promenade at Armon HaNetziv; and to the roof of the Harry S. Truman building on Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus for a stunning panorama of Old City, new city and vacant desert (see if a Hebrew U friend will take you).
Photo of Jerusalem at sunset from Mount Scopus courtesy of mockstarfrom Flickr under a Creative Commons License; photo from the Haas Promenade courtesy of moomoobloofrom Flickr under a Creative Commons License; photo from the Mount Scopus Promenade courtesy of MiKix by Mirellafrom Flickr under a Creative Commons License; photo from the Austrian Hospice's roof courtesy of delayed gratificationfrom Flickr under a Creative Commons License; photo from the Mount of Olives courtesy of Ladyhawkefrom Flickr under a Creative Commons License; photo of the Ramparts by Ben Jacobson for Jerusalemite.