Grapevine: Eroding Jerusalem's character

• Author: GREER FAY CASHMAN
• Published date: 03 October 2022
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

As towers 20 and more stories high begin to dominate the skyline, the views for which Jerusalem was once famous are all being blocked out

Almost every time a new tower is constructed, it is taller than the one next door, as if there were a race to reach heaven.

Hotels are also among the new towers. After several months in which it appeared that there was little or no progress with the Intercontinental Hotel on King George Street, there was a sudden spurt of activity, and construction will probably be completed next year. The building is definitely the tallest along the length of King George and its extensions of Strauss and Keren Hayesod streets on either side.

Sukkot Storytellers Festival

■ AMONG THE native sons of Jerusalem who grew up in the city when it still had all its charm is singer, actor and television and radio host Yehoram Gaon, who will appear in the annual Sukkot Storytellers Festival in Givatayim, hosted by actor, writer and radio show host Yossi Alfi. A former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Gaon will appear on Saturday night, October 8. Alfi usually brings a panel of several people, but in this case Gaon will be honored with a solo appearance in which he will sing songs about Jerusalem and share anecdotes about the Jerusalem of his youth.

Albert Einstein

■ THIS WILL not be the only Jerusalem-related feature in the extensive Storytellers Festival. A few months early, Alfi decided to mark the centenary of the first visit to the capital by Nobel Prize laureate Albert Einstein, who was among the founders of the Hebrew University and who visited Jerusalem in 1923, when he lectured at the university for the first time. He was a member of the university's Board of Governors and chairman of its Academic Committee. Einstein was very active on behalf of the university, not only in helping to formulate its academic structure but also with fund-raising.

Following the death of president Chaim Weizmann, prime minister David Ben-Gurion asked Einstein to become the second president of the nascent State of Israel, but he declined. Though involved with various academic institutions in the United States, Einstein willed his personal archives and the rights to his works to the Hebrew University. The Einstein Archives are housed in the Einstein Center, which is located on the Edmond J. Safra Campus of the University. Former Hebrew University president Prof. Hanoch Guttfreund, who is the custodian of the Einstein Archives, will be among those who will be discussing...