Tel Aviv is all about commerce. It's a beautiful modern coastal Mediterranean city. Tsfat is the center of the world for Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, and art. Jerusalem, the eternal, undivided capital of Israel is a mixture of many cultures. There's the old - the Old City, Yemin Moshe, Nachlaot - and the new. There are building projects on all the edges of the city. The adopted bird of Jerusalem (and indeed all of Israel) is the crane. There are moslem arabs and Haredi Jews. Churches, mosques, and synagogues. On public transportation it's not uncommon to find arabs, religious Jews, and Christians sitting next to each other (no, there's no apartheid).
In the arab quarter near Damascus Gate:
Pedestrian traffic in the modern Mamilla Mall, just outside the Old City:
Studying Talmud in the Hurva Synagogue:
Praying at the Kotel. Access to the Western Wall is open to everyone. The main section is for men of all denominations, and adheres to the principles of separation of men and women. Next to it, separated by a mechitza, is the women's section - where women are permitted to pray at the wall, read Torah, wear tallit and tefillin. And a new third section, build near Robinson's Arch, is the egalitarian section where men and women of any denomination of Judaism can worship together.
In the arab quarter near Damascus Gate:
Machane Yehuda, the Shuk:
Pedestrian traffic in the modern Mamilla Mall, just outside the Old City:
Studying Talmud in the Hurva Synagogue:
Praying at the Kotel. Access to the Western Wall is open to everyone. The main section is for men of all denominations, and adheres to the principles of separation of men and women. Next to it, separated by a mechitza, is the women's section - where women are permitted to pray at the wall, read Torah, wear tallit and tefillin. And a new third section, build near Robinson's Arch, is the egalitarian section where men and women of any denomination of Judaism can worship together.
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