■ AS HAPPENS every year, Rabbi Yisroel Goldberg is reminding people who haven’t purchased synagogue seats for the High Holy Days that there are seats available free of charge at Chabad of Rehavia services. For several years now, he has put up signs stating, “We saved a place for you.” This is in line with the global Chabad policy of inclusiveness.
Prior to moving to its current premises at 2 Ibn Ezra Street near the corner of Keren Kayemet, Chabad of Rehavia conducted High Holy Day services at either Heichal Shlomo or the World Mizrachi car park because its own premises on King George Street were too small to accommodate the crowd.
Its current premises are also too small, which is why Goldberg has rented a huge tent, or rather a marquee, which will be put up at the back of his Chabad cultural center, making room for many more people.
Who are hotels hosting?
■ WITH THE war still raging and much fewer direct flights from various countries to Israel, those hotels with high occupancies during October, or Tishrei in Hebrew, will in most cases be hosting mainly Israelis, who simply want to get away from their usual environment.
Several hotels are still hosting evacuees, among them the Theatron, which is part of the global Accor chain of hotels. Built by the Hasid Brothers, headed by Zion Hasid, the hotel, which officially opened in June 2023, currently has around 170 evacuees including children. According to Sheldon Ritz, the owners’ representative, there is no telling how long they will stay. They were initially scheduled to move out in July, but the government extended the time frame to September, and following the escalation of hostilities in the North, it has now been extended yet again to December.
Most of the evacuees are from Kiryat Shmona, Shlomi, and environs, and include two people in wheelchairs who have been placed in rooms specially designed for guests with physical disabilities. There were previously four evacuees from the South, but they have returned home.
This is the first hotel built and owned by Hasid Brothers, which specializes in luxury apartment complexes and has another three hotels in the pipeline. The family is religious and philanthropic, which explains why the hotel has its own exquisite synagogue, and why the other three hotels will also have their own permanent synagogues replete with ark, Torah scrolls, and prayer books, and an elegantly screened-off women’s section.
The hotel is adjacent to a residential complex, a factor that is becoming increasingly popular among property developers, who are also building hotels with adjacent residential complexes, with the idea that apartment owners will have access to all the services provided by the hotel.
Several hotels in Jerusalem have this arrangement.
In fact, Zion Hasid, who lives in one of the apartments leading to the Theatron Hotel, goes to the synagogue every day, has lunch in the regular hotel dining room with all the evacuees, plays Shesh Besh with them, and socializes in other ways, including listening to both their jokes and their problems. Regardless of what the government may decide in December, he will not allow anyone whose home was destroyed by rockets from Lebanon to be put out into the street. Many have lost not only their homes but also their incomes, he says, and he has no intention of adding to their burden.
Moreover, whereas some hotels hosting evacuees serve a sparse menu of sandwiches for lunch, the Theatron has a proper buffet with meat, fish, salads, cooked vegetables, and desserts.
Such an attitude notwithstanding, Hasid Brothers are in business to make money and opened a whole floor of the hotel for paying guests. There’s a coffee shop, a private dining room for business and diplomatic conferences, and an extended menu. For instance, the breakfast buffet for non-paying guests did not include delicacies such as smoked salmon, which is a breakfast staple in upmarket hotels. But once it entered the menu, Zion Hasid, who believes in equal opportunities, decided that it could also be served to non-paying guests, who from day one have had access to all the amenities including the pool, the spa, and the gym.
Even before the hotel was completed, Hasid Brothers built an underground car park with room for 700 cars for use by people attending events at the Jerusalem Theatre across the road. For the benefit of special guests in the top-floor presidential suite of the hotel, there is an elevator that goes directly from the car park to the suite with no stops along the way.
Of the residences, approximately half have been sold, mostly to American buyers. Ritz is confident that once the incoming tourism situation improves, sales will go much faster. Meanwhile, despite the dearth of tourists, it has been beneficial to the hotel to be under Accor management, as the Accor group has a huge loyalty club whose members opt to stay in Accor-managed hotels wherever they are in the world, so the floor reserved for paying hotel guests is usually fully occupied.
With Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur coming up, the hotel has acquired the services of a well-experienced shofar blower and a prayer leader.
Jerusalem mayor hosts unity meeting
■ JERUSALEM MAYOR Moshe Lion has invited heads of religious congregations to a unity meeting to be held on the 6th floor of Safra Square on Sunday, September 29, at 6:30 p.m. The theme of the evening is “unity and heroism.” The guest speaker will be Rabbi Major Shmuel Slutski (res.), who will talk about the heroism of his two inseparable sons, Noam and Yishay, who left their homes in Beersheba in the early morning of Oct. 7 to fight against Hamas and fell in battle.
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