I was just shocked to read that the government is planning to demotion, Beit Yonatan, the building in the Yemenite Village named in honor of Jonathan Pollard. How terrible.I recently made a trip to Beit Yonatan and here's some information, plus video clips there:
Beit Yonatan
At the top of the Silwan valley, we left our bus for smaller vans. Large tourist buses would not be able to maneuver through the narrow steep streets of the Yemenite Village, site of Beit Yonatan (pictured above and above right). All around us was illegal Arab construction, Daniel said, “But inspectors refuse to enter this area.”
A tall Israeli flag hangs seven floors from the top of Beit Yonatan, a building named for imprisoned Jewish spy Jonathan Pollard. On the way to the roof, everyone peeked into the Bet Midrash, where young men continued learning. In addition to the kollel, the building is home to seven families.
Six years ago, thanks to the Jewish Reclamation Project, Beit Yonatan and the House of Honey rekindled the Jewish presence in the once-thriving Kfar HaTeimanim (Yemenite Village). Unfortunately there is currently a major struggle over the future of the Jews living in those buildings. JRP is working on “koshering” the buildings so that the court will allow them to remain.
Yemenite families first arrived there in 1882. At its peak, 900 Yemenite Jews lived here, praying in four synagogues and creating a full communal life until the pogroms of 1920s and 1930s.
Daniel Luria commented, “Jews have the right to go back to any old Jewish property, and especially one in which there was a thriving old Jewish community not so long ago. We are fulfilling the dreams and hopes of the Jewish people over the past thousands of years.”
At the top of the Silwan valley, we left our bus for smaller vans. Large tourist buses would not be able to maneuver through the narrow steep streets of the Yemenite Village, site of Beit Yonatan (pictured above and above right). All around us was illegal Arab construction, Daniel said, “But inspectors refuse to enter this area.”
A tall Israeli flag hangs seven floors from the top of Beit Yonatan, a building named for imprisoned Jewish spy Jonathan Pollard. On the way to the roof, everyone peeked into the Bet Midrash, where young men continued learning. In addition to the kollel, the building is home to seven families.
Six years ago, thanks to the Jewish Reclamation Project, Beit Yonatan and the House of Honey rekindled the Jewish presence in the once-thriving Kfar HaTeimanim (Yemenite Village). Unfortunately there is currently a major struggle over the future of the Jews living in those buildings. JRP is working on “koshering” the buildings so that the court will allow them to remain.
Yemenite families first arrived there in 1882. At its peak, 900 Yemenite Jews lived here, praying in four synagogues and creating a full communal life until the pogroms of 1920s and 1930s.
Daniel Luria commented, “Jews have the right to go back to any old Jewish property, and especially one in which there was a thriving old Jewish community not so long ago. We are fulfilling the dreams and hopes of the Jewish people over the past thousands of years.”
You're invited to explore this entire Eastern Jerusalem issue in our Voices TV video clips:
http://voices-magazine.com/voices-videos.php?id=121
http://voices-magazine.com/voices-videos.php?id=121
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We're not going to get justice in This World.
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