Another Nighttime Tour

This evening's entertainment was another Melton-led tour of Jerusalem, this time in the neighbourhood of Nachlaot. Located adjacent to the shuk, this area is one of the oldest in the city, and for many years was home to the area's poorer elements, including many Chassidic families who had lived in the same buildings for generations. Of late, however, Nachlaot has begun a process of gentrification, so much so that the older residents cannot pay the greatly increased property taxes and are at risk of losing their homes. The tour through the area had many highs and lows, some of the former being the many varied chanukiot we saw on window ledges and in doorways and the masses of children playing freely in the dark alleyways, one of the latter being the jarring contrast between the failing and unattractive hovels on one street and the newly-built mansions around the corner. While we had to compete with crowds of other tour groups, the twilight introduction to an interesting element of the city was well worth it.