On day 3 of yet another long stretch of trips, my archaeology class visited the Cardo Maximus in the Old City, where we discussed the dimensions of the Byzantine "Shuk". Many areas have been excavated, some older than others, and where there is an area of three streets of the Arab Shuk lined up, that was the width of the main Cardo.
Afterward we visited the Holy Sepulcher, discussing the mix of architecture and remnants from different periods. I had been there before so you can see it once again way back when. Afterwards, I headed to town to tutor english with an Ethiopian Israeli student, and then I fell asleep at a park in Rehavia, near Jason's Tomb, and a slide built on top of a bomb shelter.
But the real story is about the night's events. All month long, ads on buses and streets, as well as at the university, had been posting up details of this "Student Day" in the center of town. I bought a ticket, but didn't really know what I was getting into. I only knew that Idan Raichel, and unfortunately, Macy Gray were going to be there. I did know know that 16 THOUSAND students were going to show up, filling an entire park; that there were performances from 9-2am, and then from 4-8; and that in between shops of Ben Yehuda street were to be opened all night. This night coincded with the annual celebration of Yom Yerushalayim or Jerusalem Day, recognizing when Israel recaptured the Old City and all of Jerusalem, making it a Jewish city for the first time in 2000 years. For the 19 years beforehand that Israel was a state, the Old City was in Jordanian hands, and no Jews were allowed into their holiest site, the Western Wall, which the Jordanians turned into a garbage dump...
Anyway, the way I understood this evening event was that Israel was trying to bring to make Jerusalem more complete by including it's missing element: Tel Aviv, the NYC equivalent, the town that doesn't sleep, the cultural capital, etc. I didn't know that Tel Aviv was having its own Student Day, but this night was a real push to show that youth were still fond of Jerusalem and it wasn't just a religious hub.
The Idan Raichel concert was great, and as you can see, I got pretty close and recorded most of it, but Macy was HORRIBLE!!
I couldn't understand a word she said, compared with the performance in Hebrew, and she made the audience do ridiculous things like shout out their names at once. She also told them they smelled good. In the middle of her gig I left with some friends to get waffles at Max Brenner's (Chocolate Bald Guy), and then I went back because of what was sure to be an interesting yom Yerushalayim...
No comments:
Post a Comment