Jerusalem Sukkot - Security tight for Jewish holiday
NAME: JER SUKKOT 20070926I
TAPE: EF07/1145
IN_TIME: 11:13:37:01
DURATION: 00:02:40:19
SOURCES: AP TELEVISION
DATELINE: 25/26 Sep 2007
RESTRICTIONS:
SHOTLIST
300 Crossing, Jerusalem - 26 September, 2007
1. Barrier closing at crossing
2. Sign (English, Arabic and Hebrew writing "Stop. Wait for policeman to call you")
3. Wide of Bethlehem (Palestinian city) beyond Barrier wall
Israeli side of Jerusalem/West Bank checkpoint - 26 September, 2007
4. Israeli truck arriving at checkpoint
5. Wide of soldiers at checkpoint
Jerusalem - 25 September, 2007
6. Ultra-orthodox Jewish father and sons building 'sukkah' (ritual shelter)
7. Father banging nails in sukkah
8. Wide of men building a sukkah outside synagogue
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Moshe Kirshner, sukkot celebrant:
"Sukkot, the word sukkah is referring to these (pointing at a sukkah) buildings that we build, special temporary type buildings as a remembrance of when we came out of Egypt. So when God redeemed the Jewish people from slavery he surrounded us with clouds or we built these type of buildings and it commemorates that miraculous time that God protected us in the desert for 40 years."
10. Various of ultra-orthodox Jews building a sukkah
11. Man choosing branches for the roof of the sukkah
12. Ultra-orthodox Jew holding sprigs of myrtle
13. Close up of myrtle (plant) as an ultra-orthodox Jew examines it
14. Branches for sukkah on sale
15. Etrogs (a citrus fruit) on sale in a sukkot market
16. Various of Jewish men as they choose etrogs
17. More of men choosing myrtle branches
18. Various of men building a sukkah
19. Wide of of finished sukkah on an apartment balcony
20. Tilt down from sukkahs to street in a religious neighbourhood
21. Wide of finished sukkahs in a religious neighbourhood
22. Jewish boys kids holding branches for a sukkah roof
Jerusalem - 26 September, 2007
23. Exterior of of big 'sukkah' outside city hall
24. Pan right from jar of sweets to decorations inside sukkah
25. Sweets in vending machines
26. Wide of sukkah interior
STORYLINE:
Israel's Defence Force closed border crossings from Gaza and the West Bank on Wednesday as the Jewish nation prepared for Thursday's Sukkot festival.
The military statement did not say when the closure, banning Palestinians from Israel, would be lifted. It said some exceptions would be made, mostly for humanitarian cases.
Police were put on high alert in case of attacks during the holiday.
Falling shortly after the fasting day of Yom Kippur, Sukkot - known simply as "The Festival" in biblical times and 'Feast of Tabernacles' in English - is one of Israel's three great pilgrimage holidays.
It is a time to celebrate the harvest and pray for rain.
Jews all over the world prepare 'sukkahs', flimsy, temporary structures where they will eat all their meals and pray for a week, beginning on Wednesday evening, to mark the forty years which Jews spent in the desert wilderness after fleeing slavery in ancient Egypt.
Later, it evolved into temporary dwellings in fields and orchards where farmers could rest and eat during harvest time.
In Israel the holiday is taken very seriously and a lot of effort goes into building the sukkahs.
Simple ones are small booths on the balconies of apartments or in parking spaces. Others are more elaborate structures and richly decorated.
Within a sukkah, Jews study, sing, play games, relax, enjoy meals with friends and family and even invite 'ushpizin', symbolic guests such as biblical figures or ancestors to join in.
Families which don't build their own sukkah often celebrate at a synagogue, restaurant or hotel that does.
In Jerusalem the municipality set up a huge sukkah filled with sweets, the exterior decorated with coloured drawings. Marshmallows and chocolates will be handed out to visitors on Sukkot Eve.
Another important part of the festival is a daily blessing recited while holding four plant species - a citrus fruit called an etrog which nowadays is grown largely for this purpose, myrtle sprigs, a palm frond and willow leaves.
In Jerusalem all week before Sukkot, there have been special markets selling the four species where religious Jews choose their fruits and branches with extreme care.