{"id":113761,"date":"2025-10-08T12:27:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/?p=113761"},"modified":"2025-10-07T23:03:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T20:03:30","slug":"pigeons-hide-a-major-change-jerusalems-autumn-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/pigeons-hide-a-major-change-jerusalems-autumn-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Pigeons Hide a Major Change \u2013 Jerusalem\u2019s Autumn 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

As autumn settles over Jerusalem, mornings on HaNasi HaShishi Street in the Mishkenot HaUma neighborhood begin with the quiet flutter of pigeons. They walk across the stone pavements, perch on the tiled roofs, and stubbornly search for every crumb and seed. In this city of stone and sky, they have become the season\u2019s main performers.<\/p>\n

Chilly air over Jerusalem\u2019s high neighborhoods<\/h3>\n

This year, unlike previous autumns, the skies of Jerusalem are almost empty. The swallows and starlings that once filled the air have vanished, leaving pigeons to claim the open space. They drive away crows, eye the cats fearlessly, and remind everyone that the city\u2019s rhythm has changed. Autumn feels colder in the high neighborhoods – in Ramot, Gilo, and Kiryat Yovel – where the rooftops catch the first pale light.<\/p>\n

Evenings are quieter too. Windows close early, air conditioners fall silent, and warm blankets return to beds. On the slopes of Mount Herzl and Mount Zion, the city breathes slower, wrapped in its familiar chill.<\/p>\n

Concrete replaces nature in Jerusalem\u2019s autumn<\/h3>\n

Not long ago, walks on the city\u2019s edge revealed white squills and lively wagtails – Jerusalem\u2019s old messengers of the season. Today, the flowers have been replaced by cranes, and the birds by construction dust. The concrete has taken over the hills, and autumn\u2019s poetry has faded. Yet something of its calm remains – a breath of cold air, a brief pause between festival and rain.<\/p>\n

(Jerusalem skyline set to change \u2013 1,000 new apartments<\/a>)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods – prayers mark the season<\/h3>\n

But in the city\u2019s ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods – Geula, Mea Shearim, and Makor Baruch – the idea of \u201cautumn\u201d hardly exists. There, the calendar is measured by prayers, not by leaves. Children won\u2019t learn about falling leaves or migrating birds. When Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret arrive, the moment comes with a verse in the synagogue:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are mighty forever, O Lord… You cause the wind to blow and the rain to fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

That single prayer signals the shift of seasons. The \u201cdew blessing\u201d will wait for spring, but the wind has already begun to blow through the narrow streets.<\/p>\n

And so, between pigeons on the sidewalks, empty skies, and the quiet breath of mountains, Jerusalem proves once again that autumn here is not just a season – it\u2019s a state of mind. A delicate balance between stone and cloud, between memory and the first drop of rain. Even when nature fades, Jerusalem keeps singing its slow, ancient, and unmistakable song.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05e0\u05db\u05e0\u05e1\u05ea \u05dc\u05e1\u05ea\u05d9\u05d5 2025 \u05e2\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d8\u05d5\u05df \u05d5\u05e4\u05d7\u05d5\u05ea \u05d8\u05d1\u05e2: \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05d7\u05dc\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05ea \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e6\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05e0\u05d5\u05d3\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea, \u05d5\u05d4\u05e9\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d0\u05e7\u05dc\u05d9\u05de\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05e8\u05d2\u05e9. \u05d5\u05de\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e9\u05db\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d7\u05e8\u05d3\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":113755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9320","_seopress_titles_title":"Pigeons Hide a Major Change \u2013 Jerusalem\u2019s Autumn 2025","_seopress_titles_desc":"Jerusalem enters autumn 2025 with more concrete, less green: pigeons replace migratory birds, but little shifts in ultra-Orthodox areas","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10327,10414,9314],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-113761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking","8":"category-columns-opinions","9":"category-main-item"},"acf":{"subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}