Jerusalemite Day of Diversity 2020

“I was happy and proud to continue the tradition for the fifth year in a row as part of Jerusalemite Day of Diversity…Hope we stop digging into who the bells are ringing for, and understand that they’re for each and every one of us.” Itamar Farhi, Tour of the Nature of Politics

This was the fifth year in which tens of thousands of Jerusalemites took part in Jerusalemite Day of Diversity events. Since many events were online due to the coronavirus crisis, they were open to anyone interested worldwide. This year’s festivities included 71 events that took place during Jerusalem Day, emphasizing grassroots action for a diverse and multicultural Jerusalem. Each initiative was completely autonomous; the activists dreamed, and the activists created, and the JICC provided logistical, strategic, and at times, financial support. The JICC remained completely behind the scenes, assisting where necessary and providing the framework for echoing the authentic Jerusalem voices that call for tolerance and diversity in our complex city. Adjusting to coronavirus-influenced restrictions, events were tailored and adapted to the government health guidelines, ,with many online and outside-only in-person events requiring pre-registration.  While challenging, it also provided an opportunity for a great deal of creativity.

Despite the restrictions and the public’s preoccupation with the coronavirus and its implications, the Jerusalem activists for tolerance invested a great deal of time and energy in a wide variety of projects, which provided a welcome change from everyday matters. Events included:

• Online lectures on Christians in Jerusalem, the Arabic language in the Jerusalem public sphere, the Ultra-Orthodox community, and LGBTQ community, and the Jerusalem diversity in general.

• In-person activities: Tours of Mount Zion, Mamilla, Bayit VaGan – and broadcasted some online (in Ein Kerem and Mount Zion, for example); outdoor breakdance workshop at the First Station.

• Workshops about different art media and its relationship to the other – music, cinema, Islamic art, plastic arts.
• Online workshops about getting to know myself and the ‘other;’ personal stories and stories about communities.
• Online concerts by Jerusalem musicians told about Jerusalem’s multiculturalism through music.

• Movies about historic Jerusalem and contemporary Jerusalem were uploaded to the Jerusalem Tolerance web site;
• Community games and activities for children that emphasized accepting the ‘other,’

Attached is a full list of events in English. Here is a link to Jerusalemite Day of Diversity’s web site.

Important Points for 2020

 “Thank you so much! It is a great honor to take part in such a nice venture! May we come together to ‘do good’ again!” L., Hartman Institute

Dissemination well beyond Jerusalem. Jerursalemite Day event often reaches beyond Jerusalem through our online PR, social media and advertising efforts. However, this year, the Internet-based world that the coronavirus crisis forced us into, amplified the Jeursalemite Day of Diversity’s online reach. The combination of online PR and advertising, Facebook events, content on the Jerusalemtolerance.com web site and numerous events available on Zoom and Facebook Live enabled us to reach broad audiences. We saw that many people, many of whom we had not seen online, participated in a wide range of web-based activities.

A large number of participants, beyond Jerusalemites: Because many of the events and activities were online, more people, as well as people from more distant places, could take part. The ability to take part in events from the comfort of one’s home enabled many more people to participate and be engaged in many more events. While it is not ideal to hold all events online, this year showed us the possibilities of events on Zoom or Facebook Live, and we believe that in the years to come many more events will take advantage of online possibilities and their potential in involving many more people in the events.

Going international: The online nature also enabled many events to include speakers from abroad, which further enriched the programs and emphasized Jerusalem’s worldwide importance. Examples included a panel of rabbinical students from different streams of Judaism, a lecture by Yisca Harani and a monk, which included lecturers and panelists from all over the world. In coming years we will be able to utilize these online tools to engage speakers and participants from around  the world, together with Jerusalemite activists.

Wider range of content: This year, 15 events took place as online content that went live on  Jerusalem Day – videos, shows and activities, which gave participants an opportunity to participate in Jerusalemite Day at their leisure, and provided an additional, deeper layer to the multicultural content available.

Tours: Last year tours had a a relatively low attendance, but this year the tours were packed. This was due to a number of factors. First, because they were held outside, these were among the few in-person events we could offer, and many people jumped at the chance to get out of the house after the coronavirus lockdown. Because of the Ministry of Health restrictions, registration was mandatory, which enabled us to keep track of all attendees, open up additional tour sections according to demand, send Zoom links or links to Facebook Live (for the tours that were broadcast simultaneously online). As we look toward next year we will examine was we can integrate these methods into activities, hopefully without the necessity for health-based restrictions.

Publicity

In addition to advertising and distribution on the web, we were interviewed on Radio Voice Jerusalem about Jerusalemite Day. In addition, Jerusalemite Day was mentioned at noon on the Israel Military Radio News Station, Galei Tzahal, a huge accomplishment.

In written materials, an article was published in Hebrew about the events on the MyNet Jerusalem news web site here, and here is the article that was published in Kol Ha’ir about the amazing initiative of the Nefashot and Moshe organizations on mental health for the individual and for the community. In this article, Nefashot initiator Roni Diller noted:

“The Jerusalem Intercultural Center has held Jerusalemite Day of Diversity for the past five years, which supports activism that advances tolerance in the city. We, as Jerusalemite activists in the field of mental health, we see great importance in raising awareness in creative ways about a population that is often transparent in our city…”

Nefashot produced this video:

In addition, the Jerusalem Municipality website recommended taking part in Jerusalemite Day of Diversity events and was active in announcing and circulating a significant amount of publicity. Even President Rivlin wrote about us on his story and recommended participating in Jerusalemite Day events!

Conclusion

Despite the challenges presented this year, Jerusalemite Day of Diversity was again wildly successful. Many activists continue the tradition from year to year, and there are already a number of events that make up the Jerusalemite Day of Diversity tradition, taking place every year. At the same time, there were also a number of initiatives for whom this was the first time participating, and they fell in love at first sight, deciding that their event will also become part of the Jerusalemite Day of Diversity in years to come.

Here’s the full photo album from Facebook:

And, of course, many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Natan Fund and the U.S. Embassy Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Branch Office and U.S. Consulate General Jerusalem for helping us to advance tolerance and cross-cultural activism in Jerusalem.