‘You’ll Be Our Eyes And Ears’

Just-launched program calls on local retirees to lend their expertise to tourists in Old City.

Avi Bitzur, general manager of the Ministry for Senior Citizens, left, speaking with pensioner Yaakov Youlus during the first session of a new program to train retired Israelis to assist tourists in Jerusalem’s Old City. Photos by Michele Chabin

by Michele Chabin
Israel Correspondent

Jerusalem — Roaming the crowded Old City of Jerusalem,
through the colorful, noisy Arab shuk filled with trinkets and the Jewish Quarter, where hordes of Orthodox tourists shop for Judaica or munch on bagels, it’s difficult to remember just how abandoned the walled city was during the years of the intifada.

Now that tourists have rediscovered Israel, the government is trying to make the country, and particularly Jerusalem, an easier, friendlier place to navigate.

Last month, the ministries of Tourism, Pensioners’ Affairs and the Environment and the municipality of Jerusalem launched a pilot program that will encourage local retirees to volunteer their time and expertise to assist tourists visiting the Old City of Jerusalem.
Following a course, the 60- to 80-somethings enrolled

in the Pensioners Watch will patrol the routes leading to holy sites and report back to the Tourism Ministry’s Information Office at Jaffa Gate, advising of any problems relating to cleanliness, security, traffic problems and so on, and will offer assistance to tourists, providing information and orientation.

According to surveys, more tourists visit Jerusalem than any other part of the country. Roughly 75 percent of tourists in Israel visit sites in Jerusalem: the Western Wall (64 percent); the Jewish Quarter (54 percent); the Mount of Olives (38 percent); the Church of the Sepulcher (38 percent) and the Via Dolorosa (38 percent). The 50-or-so pensioners who have signed up for the program speak a wide variety of languages, including Spanish, French, Hungarian, Greek, Arabic, Rumanian, Italian and English. During patrols they will don special uniforms bearing the name “Pensioners for Tourism and the Environment.” Many had distinguished careers in the business, arts and education sectors but now say they have too much free time on their hands.

The participants were warmly welcomed to the introductory session on May 25 by senior government officials who seemed genuinely excited by the project.

Avi Bitzur, director-general of the Minister for Pensioners’ Affairs, said the idea was conceived in his ministry. “But when we approached the other ministries and the municipality they jumped at the idea, and what began with a tiny budget grew and grew,” he said.
“You are the generation that built this country and we say thank you,” Bitzur continued. “But just because a person is retired doesn’t mean he has nothing to contribute. We know that active seniors stay healthier longer. Today, old age doesn’t equal weakness. Look at my father. He’s 75 and goes to the elementary school near his house every day, helps children cross the street and goes home. He doesn’t receive money for this job. He simply receives,” Bitzur said.

Bitzur assured the retirees that they would not be put in dangerous situations. “You’ll walk in pairs and you’re not the police. Still, there will be a lot you can do to improve the quality of life here. I love Jerusalem, but it could be a lot cleaner, for example. You’ll be our eyes and ears.”

Perched on the Tourism Information Office’s second-floor balcony, which offers a beautiful view of the Tower of David, the entrance to the Arab market and the rest of Jaffa Gate, Oren Mor, who heads the office, said the Pensioners will be a welcome addition to his small team.
“I’ve been doing this job, though not in this office, for 16 years,” Mor said. “When I arrived at Jaffa Gate one and a half years ago, I stood on this balcony and surveyed everything. I saw that there’s inadequate parking,” Mor said, pointing to his right, just outside the Old City walls.

“There were problems with the bathrooms. There was too much trash everywhere. See the taxi drivers down there?” he said, referring to seven or eight white taxis lined up in a row. “The taxi drivers took advantage of tourists. When someone requested they put on the meter, the drivers said it was broken.”

Though the problems existed long before the intifada, Mor said, they were exacerbated by the uprising. “The tourism office here was closed and tourists had no one to turn to for help.”
Mor realized how much the information office was needed after a tourist from New Zealand ran in, saying a group of Arab school kids had just spit on him during a walk on the wall’s ramparts. “The man was very upset and one of our volunteers told him to go to the police. But the police sent him back to us and by this time, the man was shouting. He only calmed down after we asked the company that runs the rampart’s walk to refund his money and to personally take him on a different route. The tourist actually began to cry. He just wanted to be listened to.”

For 64-year-old Yehuda Dahan, who worked in banking all his adult life, “this program will be a way to enter the tourism field. I’ve always wanted to work in tourism but I had to support my family. I’m hoping to help French-speaking tourists in particular, to show them a different perspective of Israel.”

Ya’akov Youlus, a spry 76-year-old Yeshiva University trained rabbi and educator, said he wasn’t sure what to expect when he signed up for the program, and he’s not sure he’ll continue.

“I really don’t want to patrol,” Youlus said. “I work on the Internet with an organization called the Christian Friends of Israel, and I encourage [Christians] to visit Israel. I teach them Torah as a tool to love Israel.”

Even if he doesn’t ultimately participate in the program, Youlus said he was glad he’d attended the opening event. For one thing, the retiree was able to tell Bitzur, face-to-face, about his dream of teaching tourists, free of charge.

Bitzur seemed truly interested in Youlus’ idea.

“These are the people who gave us a country,” Bitzur said. “We owe it to them to listen to their ideas.”

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