Snow shuts down Jerusalem

LINDA GRADSTEIN THE MEDIA LINE

Residents of the Holy City woke up to a blanket of white when some six inches of snow fell overnight last week, the largest snowfall in Jerusalem since 1992. Schools were cancelled, businesses closed and joyful children bundled up to play in the cold white stuff many had never seen before.

“It’s really fun because you can jump in it and not get hurt,” said a pink-cheeked Shalom Hammer-Kosoy, 8, after warning his friends not to throw snowballs at his face. “I remember we had snow once before, but I was really little and didn’t like snow then.”

His friend, Yotam Rothberg, also 8, urged him to keep playing in the six inches of snow that had accumulated. “There’s no school and I’m having a snowball fight with my friends,” he said with a big grin. “This is the first time I’ve seen so much snow.”

Municipal officials urged the city’s 760,000 residents to stay off the treacherous roads. In addition to the school closings, offices followed suit and, for a time, the main entrance to the capital was impassable, highways leading to the city non-functional.

For the adults, it was an opportunity to enjoy a day off. Adina Issachar, a personal trainer, said that at least six of her clients called her wanting to see if they could still train with her. One even walked her one-year-old son over to his day-care centre, only to find it closed. “I’m losing so much money today, but I don’t care,” she said. “I’m lying in bed watching Homeland. It’s so much fun.”

Her husband, Yoram, a contractor, also had the day off. He said he went to synagogue at 6 a.m. and was surprised to find 15 people there. “It was beautiful outside and so romantic,” he said, “but the snow also does a lot of damage.”

The snow came after several days of heavy rain pounded all of Israel in the worst storm in a decade. Rescue workers managed to save Israeli soldiers after the bus they were riding in was swept into a flooded stream in the Negev Desert in the southern part of the country.

On Jan. 8, two Palestinian women were killed in the West Bank when their car was swept away by floodwaters. Their bodies were discovered the next day. An elderly woman in Hebron was killed when a gas heater caught fire in her home.

Israeli authorities are estimating the damage caused by the storm at more than $250 million, not including lost productivity. But, while the snow was on the ground and snowmen were appearing throughout the city, Jerusalemites, at least, didn’t seem to care. The children hoped the snow would last a few days and school would stay closed. Their parents, on the other hand, might have felt differently.

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