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Menachem's Writings Yom Yerushalayim -- Jerusalem Day Today is Yom Yerushalayim -- Jerusalem Day -- the 41st anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel that the whole world knows is the capital of Israel and the Jewish people but refuses to officially recognize because they are afraid to. Each year there is a parade (you could call it that, but dance may be closer to the truth) -- from "new" Yerushalayim to the old city, to the Kotel haMaaravi, the Western Wall, the Wailing Wall. The girls and boys (of all ages, up to 80 and 90 plus) come from two directions, the girls from Gan Sacher and the boys from Independence Park. There are bands at various locations along the way playing popular Jewish music -- and hundreds of flags everywhere. I have photographed this event a number of times on the past and some of the photographs are in my book. This year, for the first time for quite a while, I "danced" with the girls for the first part of the event. The dancing starts at 5:00 p.m. when the middle east sun starts to cool down. There was a slight breeze blowing by then so it was quite pleasant when we got started. Although this year is forty-one years since the Israeli army conquered the entire city of Yerushalayim (and Hevron, Shechem, Gush Etzion, the Golan and the Dead Sea too), the Jerusalem Municipality decide to post signs with "Israel at 60 -- Jerusalem at 40" and used that stupid logo they had last year. When people pointed out their fallacy (or rather stupidity), they said, no this is end of the 40th year -- well I've got news for those guys -- tomorrow is the beginning of the forty-second year! Are they that short of cash that the can't afford a new logo!? Everyone had a lot of fun -- everyone met lots of their friends -- maybe a few shidduchim (matches) will come out of the event. Music was great. Lots of spirit.
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