Midday photo report 27 October 2014

In the morning, the media were frightened by the specter of an intifada roaming the expanses of Jerusalem. And then - only a few days have passed since "auto-terrorist attack" at the tram stop that claimed the lives of an innocent baby and a young girl.

They wrote about the emptiness of the Old City, the complete absence of tourists, complaints of Arab shopkeepers about stagnation in trade (for which they fought.?!)

But my friend and I, who were traveling to Israel for the first time, to Jerusalem, went to the Kotel (“Wailing Wall”). Like this? Can a Jew visit Jerusalem and not touch the sacred stones?

To our surprise, in the Jewish quarter there was a great multitude of people, both Israelis and foreign tourists.

Even from afar, we unexpectedly for ourselves, somewhere ahead, heard the sounds of the shofar (horns for trumpeting). Going forward, they realized that on the landing near the ruins of the palace of King Herod the Great bar mitzvah (celebration of the boy's age) While I was getting my optics, the trumpets were over, the shofar was removed somewhere, and switched to ordinary dancing songs. (see video)

Meanwhile, a large group of mostly black, English-speaking tourists was flowing around the bar mitzvah. Judging by their clothes, I don't think they were American. I didn't understand who it was. But some were wearing kippahs (along with crosses!). Apparently they are members of some Christian organization of our friends?

Groups, one after another, descended into Kotel Square.

And there was a stormy life there. Basically, they celebrated a “bar mitzvah.”

Crowds of tourists descended from the Muslim quarter. Looking ahead, I will say that my friend and I returned on this particular road, through the Muslim and Christian quarters, through the Arab bazaar. Speaking with him, I forgot about my camera, otherwise I would have captured the usual crowd among the cramped streets.

And many “bar mitzvahs” were celebrated on Kotel Square! And under the awnings that were not removed after the autumn holidays (the heat, by the way, that day was practically summer!

And, most importantly, directly at the Boiler.

Where the most prestigious place was the corner between the Kotel and the partition between the male and female halves, through which loving mothers watched the dedication of their thirteen-year-old children to men ...

And in the Kotel synagogue ...

In short, thanks to the inexhaustible optimism of our people, the rumors of a third intifada that day seemed greatly exaggerated.

Alive the people of Israel! עם ישראל חי