Loyalty is a commendable quality, but not when loyalists go overboard to the discomfort of others. Transportation Minister Miri Regev makes a habit of this.
After a long delay, the Jerusalem light rail Red Line route from Neveh Ya’acov to Hadassah Medical Center, Ein Kerem, was finally completed and inaugurated last week. The completion of the route was publicized in full-page advertisements in several newspapers.
On Friday morning of last week, Cfir, which operates the light rail franchise, was notified that there would be a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sunday, and that traffic to Hadassah, including the light rail, would have a long temporary cessation until the prime minister was safely out of the area, and the security tent that had been placed over the railway line had been removed.
Some of the members of the city council boycotted the ceremony and notified Regev that they would not attend. But she was adamant that the show would go on – and it did.
Nevermind the discomfort of patients who came from out of town to Hadassah for specialized treatments for which they had appointments, or the overcrowding on this and a connecting route when the light rail finally started operating again. Most people patiently accepted the situation, but some passengers who panicked while crushed like sardines screamed at others boarding at every stop, saying there was no room.
Regev has been having ceremonies with Benjamin Netanyahu for a few years now. She hijacked the Independence Day ceremony, which was the purview of the Knesset speaker, from Yuli Edelstein, when he occupied that position. She hijacked the Oct. 7 memorial ceremony from the people who suffered and should have had the most say, and now she organized a last-minute ribbon-cutting ceremony with Netanyahu and Mayor Moshe Lion.
The situation with the light rail will get a lot worse before it gets better. The mayor’s obsession with urban renewal and multistory buildings that close out the sky will double Jerusalem’s population faster than anyone realizes. The city is overcrowded as it is. Buses and light rail trains are almost always full, with the possible exception of Fridays because fewer people go to work. The congestion will not be alleviated by the addition of light rail lines.
For instance, in Kiryat Menahem last week, 100 residential units were destroyed in an evacuate-and-build project. In their place, there will be two 31-story towers, and three 10-story buildings. Even if the ground floor in each building houses commercial and office enterprises, there will still be many more people in the area.
Congregation celebration
■ MANY YEARS ago, Michal – one of the 22 grandchildren of child Holocaust survivor Rena Quint – who in recent years has contributed to Quint’s approximately 60 great-grandchildren, often came with her parents and siblings to spend a weekend with her grandparents, and on Saturdays accompanied them to services at Hazvi Yisrael Synagogue, where, at the conclusion of services, congratulatory messages of family and individual celebrations of congregants are announced. Outnumbering birthdays, bar mitzvahs, engagements, and marriages were the births of grandchildren, which prompted the then very young Michal to ask: “Is this a Saba and Savta shul?”
These days, it’s more in the nature of a great-grandparents congregation, though last Saturday congratulatory announcements included the births of great-grandchildren, grandchildren, a mazal tov to a new a bridegroom, and a milestone birthday, with a sumptuous kiddush sponsored by, and on behalf of, the families involved.
Recipients of good wishes were Tova Tokayer on the birth of her great-granddaughter; Elke and Nachman Kupietzky and Rachel and Mottie Eisenberger on the birth of their great-grandson; Esti and Jeff Berk on the birth of their granddaughter; Chana and Ofir Avisar on the marriage of their son Yishai; and Chani and the congregation’s director, Menachem Levinsky, in honor of the birth of two granddaughters – one of them to their son Noam, who on most weeks is the congregation’s Torah reader.
The synagogue committee also honored its chairwoman, Marsha Wachsman, in celebration of her 80th birthday, and the fact that she has the energy of a much younger person.
Time for Azza Zaza
■ AS IS the case every Purim, Rabbi Israel Goldberg, director of Chabad of Rehavia and Nahlaot, has organized an Azza Zaza Megillah marathon, with readings every hour on the hour at several venues in Rehavia, Nahlaot, and Kiryat Shmuel, beginning at 9 a.m. this Friday, with the last reading at 2 p.m. The venues include coffee shops and even a butcher shop, as well as community centers and synagogues. Notices are prominently displayed in Rehavia and Nahlaot.
The commercial venues include Bagel Cafe at 31 Keren Kayemet Street, Rehavia, which starts earlier and has a reading at 8 a.m.; Paris Cafe in France Square at 9 a.m.; Simhovich Butchers at 3 Ben Maimon at 10 a.m.; Rachel Basdera, 13 Ben Maimon, at 11 a.m.; and Landwer Rehavia at 1 Ben Maimon at noon.
Purim in Baka
■ CHABAD OF Baka at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 16, will host a traditional Purim seuda (meal) at 6 Ma’ase Hoshev Street, with entertainment by hassidic rock star Barak Grossberg. Cover charge is NIS 70 for adults and NIS 50 for children.
Happy Purim
greerfc@gmail.com
