Coexistence in the Jerusalem Family Garden (English version)

(Eine deutsche Version wird folgen)

If you have your own garden, I am sure you are very fond of it. Even if you aren’t the most passionate gardener or suffering from compulsory BBQ-syndrome, you’ll appreciate the joy of your private little outdoor space. The times you go out there may be relatively few compared to the effort it takes to maintain its beauty. However, knowing that the possibility is there makes the difference. A garden means a little more space and a lot of additional freedom where you feel at home. Because usually, outside is a space you pass through when you need to get somewhere. You are either on your way to some place or from some place. A garden is the only outside space where you can slow down, stop and stay for a while. 

I live on the 2^nd floor in a rather crowded Jerusalem neighborhood. No garden here to call my own. But in Jerusalem, if you don’t mind sharing, you can still enjoy the benefits of a family-garden. A huge piece of lawn stretches itself from a major junction near the entrance of the city, along the wide Ben-Tsvi-Boulevard on the one side and the Knesset premises on the other side, all the way down almost to the center of town. It is shaped like a valley, framed by trees and bushes on both long sides, surrounded and crossed by walking paths. At the north side there is a large skate park as well as basket ball and soccer fields. For the smaller children there are swings and slides and whatever people put in their gardens to entertain their offspring. And for those who like to work out there is outdoor exercise equipment under some shade providing trees. Not to forget men’s best friend, who is highly appreciative of the outdoors, has his own free running field a little to the side and away from the crowd.

The place is called “Gan Sacher”, which translates into Sacher Garden. Commonly it is referred to as Sacher Park, but I prefer to call it a garden, because that’s really what it feels like.

 We like to spend Saturday afternoons in the Garden. We, that is me - a German-born blond from a family of business people, my partner - a seventh-generation Jerusalemite from a family of musicians with Yemenite orientation and our snow-white dog Kika, who spent most of her life in a dog shelter. Our first stop is the dog field. After we set Kika free, we make ourselves comfortable on one of the benches scattered close to the fence and just watch dogs of all types, shapes and sizes romp around. People hang out on the grass or on the benches, some read books, others chat, we drink our tea.

Next we make our way to the table tennis in the main garden right next to the exercise equipment. There are always a lot of people and Kika attracts many curious children. Especially the haredic (Jewish-ultra-orthodox) children seem to cherish the opportunity to pet our serene companion. There are children speaking Russian and Arabic, some are black, their parents watch from a distance or come to take a closer look. We play a few games of Ping-Pong and sooner or later someone usually joins in. Often it’s the guy who continuously sings Israeli folk songs or talks and only shuts up when he is about to lose the game. Sometimes the foreign worker from Nigeria, who beats everyone with a smile comes by or the American lady from a fancy neighborhood, who doesn’t want her husband to know, that she comes here to play. Next to us there is always some young hunk making push-ups or pull-ups and as soon as he’s gone the next hunk jumps in.

Later we take a walk through the entire Garden before we chill out somewhere on the lawn. I never seize to be amazed at the unbelievable diversity of people and the variety of their activities. There is always something going on on the sports fields and skate park, put it doesn’t end there. Groups of people play all kinds of ballgames, including some that I have never seen and can not figure out the rules for. Young and old play baseball or Frisbee, some do Yoga or Tai Chi, some wrestle or do acrobatics. The most recent trend is to stretch a special rope between two trees at about one meter above the ground and try to walk on it.

On the paths little children ride their bikes, grown-ups make their rounds jogging, young couples walk hand in hand or with their stroller, old couples also walk hand in hand or push their walkers.

The majority of people celebrate their time outside with food. Couples have a romantic twosome picnic. Entire clans sit around their BBQs and tables full of home cooked cuisine. If you went from one to the next and tasted a little of each, it would equal a culinary trip around the globe. The smells merge in mid-air over the Garden. Some even take it a step further and celebrate their children’s birthday in the Garden. They either play music themselves or bring their loudspeakers so they can sing and dance. If this isn’t your type of fun, the garden is big enough to stay out of the noises reach.

Jerusalem is a multicultural city and it is reflected in the Sacher Garden in its most natural way. Coexistence isn’t just a word.

A group of young Arab-speaking boys will sit chatting under a tree, while little girls in their long haredic skirts are running around playing catch. An Ethiopian woman, who barely had time to learn Hebrew, yet, will bring her child to see the baby of a European Christian couple doing charity work for a year. An old man with roots in Iraq, walking with his Philippine caretaker will take a break sitting down on the bench next to the intellectual reading a book on philosophy in French. Jerusalem is the home of all of these people and they all feel that they can be themselves in their garden. When they meet they smile, make sure to give each other space and often lend a hand. And when they meet they all speak Hebrew (more or less) in the Jerusalem Family Garden.