King David Stables 15 minutes from Jerusalem MAY 24, 2019 Summer Horse Riding JERUSALEM’S & Sports Camp 4 sessions of 2 weeks For ages 6-15 Transport provided GRAND GALA Call Anthony or Arik for registration: 053-747-1681, 053-739-8866 Email: [email protected] www.kingdavidstables.com Buying and selling home upholstering renovation and styling Tel. 052-3936376 ∙ 14 Yad Harutzim, at the Dafna and & Vera passageway 4 The always-anticipated Israel Festival kicks off this week, with the 58th Bs”d edition honing in on multiculturalism Water proof your home and identity • Camera leak detection + moisture • High standard interior – exterior painting • mold mildew expert • Sealing solutions • Water damage • Roof coating • Waterproofing, pools, porches, stone walls, tiled roofs • Licensed & insured [email protected] www.freshcoatpainters.co.il 052-840-5660 Bs”d Bs”d Not on Shabbat • Advanced sealing technologies IntercIty taxIs • Licensed by the Standards SERVICE Institution of Israel 02-966-6610 • Insured Intercity trips only From city to city at reasonable SEALING Jerusalem-Airport NIS 199 prices | 6-seat vehicles | trips from BERESHIT Jerusalem-Tel Aviv NIS 219 destinations back to Jerusalem | Very courteous service Jerusalem-Netanya NIS 319 • Roof sealing and coatings *Prices don’t include toll roads and port tolls Special trips to all parts of the country בראשִ ית Modern taxis and professional drivers • Sealing exterior walls איטום ושיקום Our service is competitive • Waterproofing of basements Call now מורשה מכון התקנים Abseiling services • advance notice for payment by credit 052-434-5299 IN JERUSALEM MAY 24, 2019 JUST THE FACTS Cover Israel Festival 2019 – From the directors’ desks 6 – Pop-up performance party 8 Features Displaced in Musrara Can Modernity be Reconciled with Get in the mix 10 Sections Particulate Matter (PM10) as Measured in Baka, April-May 2018 350 Just the Facts 3 Lag BaOmer Jewish Halachic Tradition? This Week 4 300 250 Capital Calendar 12 Passover and Mimuna 200 3 • Crossword/Grapevine 15 Do you sense a dissonance between the halacha µg/m 150 and the world of 2019? Independence Day Eve 100 • Does that dissonance disturb you? 50 10 0 • When can I follow my heart and when must I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 April May submit to authority? date Come and hear RABBI HERZL HEFTER Where there’s construct an authentic fusion of tradition and modernity. ETOPIA CENTER for Art and Technology, Spain will perform at the smoke... A Two-Part Series Musrara Mix festival.(Courtesy) • YAIR ASSAF-SHAPIRA 6 ag Ba’omer is the holiday of bonfires and also of air pollu- At Beit Knesset Ohel Nehama, 3 Chopin St., Jerusalem tion. It is very pleasant to sit around the campfire, especially Las the spring nights are getting warmer, but although we do our best to evade the smoke, it seems that it’s there even when Wednesday, May 29 & we aren’t aware of it. Ask whoever did your laundry after the last campfire you enjoyed. Wednesday, June 5, 2019 Using the website of the Environmental Ministry’s Air Quality Monitoring System, we checked the air quality data for Lag at 7:30 pm Ba’omer 2018. On ordinary days, the respirable particulates whose diameter is 2.45 to 10 microns veer between 0 to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air, but on Lag Ba’omer evening, the reading at the Efrata School in Jerusalem’s Baka neighbor- hood was 324 micrograms per cubic meter, more than a six-fold (Marc Israel Sellem) increase. At the same time, it seems that the smoke, at least last year, vanished as quickly as it arrived, and the extreme value recorded lasted for only a few hours. (We checked three-hour RABBI HERZL HEFTER is the founder averages). It therefore comes as no surprise that those who suf- and Rosh Beit Midrash of Har’el, the first fer from respiratory difficulties are advised to stay indoors on coed Orthodox smicha program. Rabbi Lag Ba’omer. Hefter whilst at Yeshiva university Lag Ba’omer is celebrated after about a month that abounds with studied under Rabbi Yosef Dov and later received ,זצ”ל fires of various kinds. It starts with the burning of chametz (leav- Soloveichik ened food) on Passover eve, and continues with barbecues during the week of Passover, and Mimouna the day after Passover (186 smicha from Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein Rabbi Hefter taught Yoreh De'ah .זצ"ל micrograms of particulate patter were recorded in 2018). The fires 14 Rabbi Akiva Street Editor Cover Photo continue on Independence Day (111 micrograms per cubic meter) to the Kollel fellows at the Gruss Kollel of Erica Schachne Dafna Ben Ami which – in addition to the fireworks – boasts traditional celebra- Yeshiva University and served as the head tory barbecues. of the Bruria Scholars Program at Midreshet Graphic Design The amount of smoke could easily be reduced, as could the suf- Lindenbaum. He also taught in Moscow and Moran Snir fering of those with respiratory problems if people chose, for example, to make smaller fires (which would also be much safer), served as Rosh Kollel of the first Torah MiZion or to share one fire among several groups of picnickers. Kollel in Cleveland, Ohio. His essays and online Write to us! [email protected] Hope you had a happy Lag Ba’omer! shiurim can be accessed at www.har-el.org To advertise: (02) 531-5680 Translated by Gilah Kahn-Hoffmann. [email protected] The writer is a researcher at The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research. 2 IN JERUSALEM | MAY 24, 2019 www.jpost.com | IN JERUSALEM 3 MUSIC THIS WEEK IN JERUSALEM Special Offer A two bedroom luxury apartment of Peggy Cidor’s round-up of city affairs 90 sq.m. with a luxurious living room, two bathrooms and two balconies. Quality Sheltered Housing for Seniors Spectacular views. Permission to speak tation and traffic portfolio in the city. Seven members of the city council He argues that as long as there are not Monthy rental only opposition Hitorerut Party, led by Ofer enough light rail lines, the automo- Berkovitch, have asked the city’s legal bile-driving public cannot be punished. adviser to instruct Mayor Moshe Lion to publicly announce that he has not Invoking biblical curses issued an order to impede contacts Fashkevilim (posted announcements) between them and civil servants and have appeared in Mea She’arim and officials. While Lion has never issued Geula calling to organize a pulsa de nura such a prohibition publicly, nor is there (lashes of fire) kabbalistic ritual to pun- any written evidence that he has done ish haredi MKs who enter the govern- so, he has also not publicly announced ment coalition and make compromises that he supports robust contact. on the conscription law. As a result, Berkovitch and his list Radical haredim strongly oppose members feel they are trapped in an enrollment of young haredim into the ambiguous situation, hence, their open IDF. Some of the MKs of the haredi lists letter to adv. Eli Malka. They request are former members of the city council that he officially endorse their unfet- and might even be neighbors of those tered right to interact freely and openly who are posting these announcements. with officials at Safra Square to fulfil their role to investigate whether things Staging history are being done properly and lawfully. The Mikro theater is launching its new HITORERUT LEADER Ofer Berkovitch talks with movement supporters during production next week – a play based of the mayoral election. (Marc Israel Sellem) Park place Josephus Flavius’s landmark history The The municipality is developing a few Jewish War, adapted for the stage by the- new options for dealing with the serious ater founder and director Irena Goralik. lack of parking in the city center. New This is the first theatrical adaptation proposals include 1) narrowing side- of the 2,000-year-old classic book, walks to make room for more parking; 2) which has been a seminal source for allowing parking on large sidewalks that understanding and tracking the histo- will not be narrowed; 3) legislating that ry of the Jewish people during the all contractors building in the city must Roman era. also build parking lots; and 4) convert- The Mikro theater group is staging a ing empty plots for parking along the series of original plays at the Jerusalem main streets in the city center. Theater, mostly written by its own direc- The proposal to forbid parking in the tors and playwriters, to bring Jewish city center to encourage increased use of historical and cultural themes to life the light rail has been rejected, at least with modern theatrics. for now, by coalition member Yossi Opens May 28. Tickets (NIS 70 to NIS FINDING PARKING in Jerusalem: Havilio, who holds the public transpor- 140) and info: (02) 560-5755. No easy feat. (Wikimedia Commons) Golden Hill invites you to begin a new chapter in a quality apartment complex SHABBAT UNDER THE STARS on the heights of French Hill Celebrate our Holy City with over Luxurious building with a beautiful garden at the entrance. 600 young professionals! Join Jewish Spacious and maintained apartments, each of which comprise International Connection for its annual a bedroom, sitting room, bathroom, kitchen and balcony. Jerusalem Day dinner under the Sheltered housing and nursing services at a high level, stars (preceded by a festive Kabbalat providing residents with support and safety. Shabbat service) with olim from over 30 countries, lone soldiers and Israelis.