A heavenly maiden with an orb of gold Sits by the Mediterranean Sea She gazes at the sailors and ships That pass by for eternity - YJ Draiman

A heavenly maiden with an orb of gold
Sits by the Mediterranean Sea
She gazes at the sailors and ships
That pass by for eternity
Who are you? fair maiden, they ask
What is your pedigree
I am a Jew, she answers, and that's my destiny
I am called Israel born of steel and fire
I have gathered my children from many lands afar
From East and West and South and North
They came in multitude
And they have made me what I am
In everlasting gratitude
I am their mother and they are my children
That's how we both feel
Israel (my name) is a reality
That adversity could not kill.



How many holidays do the Arabs-Muslims celebrate due to historical events in the land of ancient Israel and Jerusalem. r9
The Jewish people celebrate most of their holidays and fast days in memory of Jerusalem and Israel since 70 AD (that is over 2,000 years).
Pleading the Jewish goal and aspiration to return to Israel and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem - where it was before it was destroyed and desecrated by the enemies of the Jews. Many of the Jewish prayers for thousands of years recite the love of Israel and the Jewish aspirations to return to their ancestral land and bring back its glory and holiness.
At Jewish weddings they break a glass in memory of Jerusalem and the aspiration to return and build the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
Every day at the end of the meal the Jews recite a blessing and thank G-d for providing sustenance and beseech G-d to return and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
Most Jewish prayers mention our pleading to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.

Trudy and Miko Schwartz's collection

'Palestine restaurant,' a haredi public's gathering, children in the snow and an unidentified junction in Jerusalem are all documented in recently discovered photos taken by Jerusalem couple

Nadav Man

Published:  02.27.10, 09:26 / Israel Travel

Trudy and Miko Schwartz's collection of photographs has beenpresented in this section on several occasions. Most of the collection is documented in the Haifa University database and can be viewed here.


The Schwartz couple arrived in Israel from Czechoslovakia in 1939. Miko was a certified photographer employed by the mandatory radio authority. He also took photographs for Keren Hayesod (Foundation Fund) and the Jewish National Fund. Thanks to his photojournalist mandatory license, he visited many places: Jewish settlements, Arab villages, cities and agricultural and industrial areas.


Miko also arrived at the countries surrounding the Land of Israel, which were also controlled by the British. Those were extremely significant years for the Jewish people with the Zionist realization in the Land of Israel, World War II and the Holocaust. Miko died in 1945, and Trudy began specializing in photography.

In 1948, before the Britons left the Land of Israel, several soldiers carried out a terror attack on Ben Yehuda Street, in the heart of Jerusalem. A car bomb destroyed the couple's Photo Schwartz store. All that was left from this photography enterprise were negatives and reprints in Trudy's house.

Several boxes including hundreds of negatives were recently found in the house. Trudy had forgotten that they existed, and I decided to document that treasure as well. A number of discoveries from this "new" collection will be presented in this section in the coming weeks.

The ravages of time have damaged the notes, and there are no records of some of the negatives. Please use the talkback feature if you are able to offer any details in order to complete the missing documentation.


 
1. Trudy on a trip to Jericho



2. 'PR Palestine Restaurant', a respectable Arab restaurant, which was apparently located in Jerusalem, where heads of the British Mandate would also gather on different occasions



3. This photo and photographs 4-6 show a beautiful Jerusalem building from all sides. Can anyone tell us about the house and its residents?



4.


 
5.


 
6.


 
7. Snow in Jerusalem. Recognize the junction in the picture?


 
8. Jerusalem's children enjoying the snow


 
9. This photo and photos 10-16 document one gathering (all found in one envelope of negatives) in a place which appears to be a plaza in the Old City's Jewish Quarter


 
10. The dome of the Hurva Synagogue


 
11.


 
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15.


 
16.


 
17. A gathering in Jerusalem's Poalei Agudat Yisrael neighborhood


 
18. Staircase apparently leading from Zion Gate, along the wall, to the Western Wall? Does anyone recognize the location and know what happened to the staircase?


 
19. Another staircase, perhaps related to the one in photograph 18


 

20. The Western Wall, 1940s