By Hannah Borow
On our first Sunday programming in Jerusalem, we had the incredible opportunity of meeting and learning from Mishi Harmon, the founder of the Israel Story podcast. Mishi started our day by telling us a little about his life, Israel Story and why he decided to start Israel Story. One thing that stuck out to me was how he believed that every society is fragmented and because of this other communities fone learn about each other. But if we all hear each other's stories, we can be brought together. His goal with Israel Story is to connect fragmented communities through stories.
The real fun began when we took a 10-minute bus ride up to Tel Elful. A deserted construction site from Jordanian times. Tel Elful was supposed to be king Hussain's summer house and also a glamorous hotel for the famous and royalty from around the world to come. Tel Elful has a gorgeous view of all of Jerusalem, on a clear day you can see all the way to Amman on the East and Tel Aviv on the West. This area shocked me. Not only because after the 6-day war construction was completely halted and the whole thing looked like some dystopian movie. But also because I grew up spending a lot of time in Jerusalem. My grandparents live in Jerusalem, and I thought I knew pretty much all about the city and its neighborhoods, but I had never heard of Tel Eful. This further demonstrated Mishi’s point. The Israeli society is so fragmented that I knew nothing of a deserted palace in Jerusalem! Come to think of it, I knew about nothing about East Jerusalem at all. This little excursion taught me so much about my own perspective on Jerusalem and how much more I have to learn!
