King David’s Citadel, the Wailing Wall and other historic spots are seeing modern lights for the first time as electricity invades the narrow alleys of the Old City quarter of Jerusalem.
Over the strenuous objections of many who enjoyed the romanticism of the Holy City’s sacred sites by dim oil light, the Jerusalem Municipal Council has appropriated $25,000 for street lamps in the Old and New City of Jerusalem.
A committee of five councillors went into the teeming, tortuous streets to fix the places for placing street lights despite the statements of lovers-of-the-old to the Municipal Council.
“There is no essential merit in modernity,” the council was told.
But even the Mosque of Omar, hallowed to the Moslems, will get a light nearby. The mosque stands on Mount Moriah, the name derived from the Hebrew word for “light,” for it was there King Solomon’s Temple once stood and from there, the sages say, the light first shone on all mankind.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
