The old Turkish railway station in Beersheva

 

The old Train station from the Ottoman                         Period was lately renovated and became one of the         attraction of the Capital City of the Negev

          BEER SHEVA

 

 

 

 

The dream of the Mayor of Be’er Sheva, Rubik Danilovich, was to find out where that old 70414 train had gone and bring it back to his city. Despite numerous challenges and with the help of Britain he was finally able to repatriate a copy of the legendary train to the delight of the oldtimers who remember with nostalgia the sound of the train and its whistle. It was called PR, “Palestine Railways.”

A well known song relates the story of this legendary Train.

 

Copy of the legendary 70414

 

Cafe ”Tahana”

 

Beer Sheva Old train Station

Cafe ”Tahana”

 

 

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The Trumpeldor Cemetery – the Tel-aviv ”Père Lachaise”

Shoshana Damari

Trumpeldor street in Tel-aviv, situated south of the White City and close to its beautiful beach is where one can find the most famous cemetery of Israel. One could call it the Israeli  ”Père Lachaise’.

The cemetery was named after

Yosef Trumpeldor – a  Hero of the Modern                         History of Zionism.

At the end of the nineteenth century it was located outside the City of Jaffa,  when Tel- Aviv did not yet exist..

The cemetery was situated far away to the Northern part of the Ottoman urban City of Jaffa. During late afternoons, when darkness fell over the country,  the ‘undertakers” had sometimes difficulties to find their way to the cemetery, and many stories were spread about this awkward transportation. One of the reasons was that the Plague invaded the city and in order to avoid an epidemic the bodies had to be hastily buried as far away as possible.

The dilapidated state of the cemetery has been a deep concern for the Israeli patrimony lovers. Some of the graves are even nameless.

But what a wonder to discover the names of some notabilities that are buried here :

Moshe Sharett – second Prime Minister of Israel , Meir Dizengoff – the First mayor of Tel Aviv, Chaim Arlosoroff, Menahem Sheinkin, Max Nordau and other founding characters of Zionism, Hayim Nahman Bialik, the National Poet and other writers like Shaul Tchernichovsky, Menahem Sheinkin, and the great painters  Nahum Gutman and Reuven Rubin, who rest alongside well-known singers buried more recently ; Shoshana Damari and Arik Einstein.

              As children say, in the Trumpeldor Cemetery one can find

                                          ALL THE NAMES OF THE STREETS OF CITIES OF ISRAEL

Arik Einstein

 

The Chagall Stained Glass windows at Ein Karem

Naftali – Marc Chagall

The Synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Center Hebrew University in West Jerusalem was inaugurated on February 6th, 1962.

It contains the twelve magnificent stained glass windows, created by Marc Chagall.

Marc Chagall donated those windows to the Hadassah Hospital. The only thing he requested was compensation for the cost of materials, the labor specialist Simon Atelier of Reims and expenses relating to the artwork.

When it was decided to request Marc Chagall to paint the stained glass windows, a delegation travelled from Jerusalem to Paris to meet with the famous Jewish French artist. The great violinist Isaac Stern was aboard the same plane and joined the delegation in its cause.

Asher – Marc Chagall

Levy – Marc Chagall

 

 

During the two hours of this remarkable visit, Mrs. Chagall revealed that her husband had always hoped to be approached by the Jewish People one day. The answer of the delegation was:                                                     

 “This is the opportunity to work for posterity and create an unbreakable bond between you and the Jewish people.”    

During the last thirty years of his life, Chagall’s artworks were mainly inspired by the Bible.

Marc Chagall

“I felt while working, that my father and my mother were watching over my shoulder and behind them millions of Jewish people”. 

It took Chagall two years to design, develop and execute the twelve stained glass windows for the Synagogue. They symbolize the twelve sons of Jacob, from whom the twelve tribes of Israel originate.                                                   

Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Gad

                                               Judah, Zebulon, Issachar, Naftali,

                                                                                                              Levy, Asher, Joseph, Benjamin

Naphali, Joseph, Benjamin – Marc Chagall

How can one not be carried away by these vibrant colors of red, green, yellow and blue, and the animals, flowers and trees? As required by Jewish tradition, there is no human figure but only biblical symbols like :

                                                  The Torah              Star of David                    The Menorah

                                          Hebrew letters          The Horn of ram      The Protective Hands

Judah, Zebulon, Issachar – Marc Chagall