Remember the episode of "Pistachio's House" for Jerusalem Day? Sure you remember. This is a cultural gem that cannot be forgotten. A moment (Tzipi Mor) and Pistachio (Sefi Rivlin, they hadn't invented the crunch yet) hear that Aunt Hannah is sick, and they go to visit her. On the way, they decide to pass through the Western Wall in order to bury a note for her healing among its stones. When they reach the plaza, crowds of kindergarten children dressed in white give hands in large circles, and one strange uncle, who came out of a "nice butterfly," says in his sweet voice: "Hello there, dear children, and welcome to Jerusalem Day."
The sound is distorted, because that's how the educator was at Eaties, and the camera switches in a cut to the kindergarten teacher, who sings to us from a song of Zion and at the same time gives instructions to the staff and the toddlers alike. It sounds like this:
"At the gate, applause!
Yerushal-l-e-ha-sea, Jerusalem-sea-built-ya-h, Jerusalem-sea-built-ya,
And get up and arrange circles,
which was joined together.
As a city that was joined to it, it was joined together.
as a city connected to it; As a city connected to it. As a city connected to it. Together!"
I don't know who you are, dear kindergarten teacher who may have already been 40 when I was 4 and watching the broadcast. But you had a high ponytail, an educational mission consciousness and a love for the capital. Maybe you were exhausted by the masses of little ones that morning, and maybe you're even a pedagogical instructor - you will know that in the life of the Kor children from Tel Aviv you are a formative figure. I have never heard anyone sing the song that prevails there, and generations upon generations have been educated and are still educated here on the exact text I quoted above. A city joined together, on its own.
When Pistachio (Sefi Rivlin, back then they hadn't invented the crunch) arrived at the Western Wall, he met children dressed in white dancing in circles, and his uncle, a stranger, who came out of a "nice butterfly," said in his sweet voice: "Hello there, children, and welcome to Jerusalem Day."
"Jerusalem is built as a city joined together, a city that makes all of Israel friends" - this is a verse from the Book of Psalms. Anyone who knows simple, everyday Jerusalem knows that this is true. Influenced by Jerusalem Day, and effortlessly, here are pan-Israeli examples from the past week that will make Jerusalem and us happy on its holiday:
1. Passports and beneficiaries
Although there is no reason to leave the country - there is everything here, and this - sometimes there is no escape. The long lines at the population offices, which almost competed with the population explosion, began to be solved this week.
Reminder: The coronavirus caused people not to leave their homes even when the population offices were open. About a million people, who would normally attend these offices, tried to make appointments when the coronavirus ended. That means the usual million people trying to make regular appointments have been supplemented by a million who have waited since the pandemic.
Passport handling kicks into high gear, photo: Dudu Greenspan, (illustration)
The person who picked up the gauntlet was Shasnik Minister Moshe Arbel. According to Israeli identity politics, it is unlikely that the ultra-Orthodox minister will be the one to decide within such a short time from the moment he enters the bureau to launch a pilot, in which the four largest bureaus will work continuously from 7:30 a.m. to 22:00 p.m., concentrating only on issuing passports.
The usual stigma assumes that secular people travel abroad for sunbathing vacations, certainly in July or August, or for such quick business meetings – and not the third Israel. And when the ultra-Orthodox fly, the painful sub-sectoral political segmentation digs – they are the Ashkenazim, not Moshe Arbel's electorate.
"Sneakers fly less? What does it matter! The Ministry of the Interior makes all of Israel friends. In a major national move, and in exchange for overtime, all Population Administration employees – who, according to the law, are the only ones authorized to issue biometric passports – were recruited to reinforce.
On a normal day, a large bureau issues about 2,000 passports. On an extended day, such as this week, an average of 7,000 passports were issued at such a bureau. And those who had the opportunity to visit the Central Bureau this week in preparation for closing saw that at the end of each day, the staff of the positions – newly married, young parents, retirees who retired and returned to work for the operation, as well as staff members who do not usually work in the field – are photographed as souvenirs of another day of out-of-the-box activity.
2. No statute of limitations
MKs Simcha Rotman and Pnina Tamano Shteh held a joint discussion this week between the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and the Committee on the Status of Women, which they chair. This was in order to discuss two bills intended to stop the statute of limitations on sexual offenses within the family: one proposed by MK Efrat Reitan of Labor and the other by Eliyahu Revivo of the Likud.
It is actually Shasnik Minister Moshe Arbel who is solving the major passport crisis, contrary to what Israeli identity politics would have predicted. This week, the Interior Ministry issued 65,309 passports, almost double the usual quota
The hearing began with Hila Tzur's testimony about the rape committed on her by her older brother, the pilot (as revealed on the "Source" program), and continued with the testimony of MK Erez Malul of Shas. Malul, flanked on one side by MK Tali Gottlieb and on the other by MK Merav Cohen, spoke about a family he knows intimately and about the cruel incest that took place there. The tears made it impossible for him to explain how necessary it was to abolish the statute of limitations in the face of the reverberating trauma, even years later. Everyone present at the hearing cried with him, regardless of party, religion, race, gender or personal acquaintance with the victims.
Speaker Tamanu Shteh said: "MK Malul, I feel like hugging you" – and no one was angry about modesty or immodesty. Only a simple sense of solidarity was in the air.
Noa Kirel and Rabbi Rimon on the plane, photo: None
3. Noa Kirel and Rabbi Rimon
And how is it possible without the Hasidic tale that took place earlier this week, when the Eurovision star asked for a selfie from the rabbi of Gush Etzion, who did not recognize her? Whoever loves Jerusalem will make a poster of this picture and hang it on the Eastern Wall in his sukkah. Together the tribes of Israel.
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