Making Love to Jerusalem

Today was the second MAKOM seminar. After class this morning (Issues of Jewish Law from the Holocaust), I walked and met the group at Schocken. Schocken is a JTS building on the same street as the prime minister's house/compound. Basically, go to the blockade, through the blockade and walk half way to the blockade on the other side. If you reach more guards and the fence, you've gone too far. At Schocken we played a quick getting to know you game and then headed out to meet Yoram Amir, a lifer Jerusalemite. In addition to reminding us multiple times that he is a wedding photographer, he also photographs Jerusalem–not just any Jerusalem but the meshing of the old and the new. For Yoram, this does not often seem to be a positive thing. He is upset with the lack of consideration to the history and architectural styles in the city when new developments are made. He complained about new stories that are added to old buildings where you can see the difference between them and implied that if the people of Jerusalem cared about their city, they would invest the time and the money to maintain the beauty. In his words, it is important to make love to the city and these buildings are not men who are making love to the fair bride Jerusalem. (Did he mention that he was also a wedding photographer because if you missed it, he will remind you he is also a wedding photographer.)

Yoram then took us to different places in the center of town where he felt that old and new did not mesh well. An hour and a half later we ended at his studio near Machaneh Yehudah where we had 1 1/2 hours to get lunch and make love to Jerusalem–aka take at least one photograph of the juxtaposition of old and new until we regrouped at the Fuchsberg Center for "processing" and photo sharing.

Having understood the intent of the day from the beginning and having already taken my photos during the guided walk, I ate a falafel at the shuk (with humus), shopped a little for shabbat and then went skirt and shirt shopping. Today I bought a very cute Israeli-style short denim skirt and two purplish tops for shabbat.

Here are the photos that I shared.

This one is the older style of building which by making love, the designers made each floor a different style of window that builds like a relationship while the port-a-potty which is new addition to the park area with an exterior that is designed to look a little like Jerusalem stone.



This one is the new Jean with the not-so-old Arab worker with the "old" hey pretty girl attitude.


This one is graffiti with a classic Jewish phrase and yet airbrushed style. I think that it is kind of cool although I do not in any way think that graffiti should be an acceptable mode of expression.


This last photo that I took is a tribute to one of my favorite Hebrew children's books Tiras Cham (hot corn). mmmmmm...


I have to say that I do not totally agree with Yoram. I think that there is a difference between history and modernity. While I do agree with him that there is a lot of the newish buildings that are incredibly ugly (thanks in part to Emah and Abba's expert teachings as I served as an apprentice to their 20/20 Hindsight company), I think that it is important to recognize that change and evolution are a natural part of the growth of a city. Not once did Yoram stop and show where the addition of the new had been done well. One example that I saw was on our walk together. There is a beautiful ancient building which has been completely gutted so that all that is left is the facade. It is being turned into the New Jerusalem Waldorf-Astoria hotel. Something so new on the inside and preserving the old on the outside. Below is a photo of the construction.