Nowadays many outdoor cultural events in Jerusalem take place in the Sultan's Pool. In biblical times, this area was known as the Hinnon valley. It was here that Menasseh, the biblical king offered child sacrifices. Subsequently, the Romans converted the valley into a water reservoir by constructing a wall across it to the south. This was later repaired in the 16th century by the Ottoman Turks, hence its name, Sultan's Pool. In more modern times, this area was part of a dangerous no-man?s land forming the border between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Today, the Sultan's Pool has been magnificently restored. On one side of the valley, rise the walls of the old city of Jerusalem, which were also built by the Ottomans. On the other side are the first buildings constructed in the 1860s when the Jewish population began to move out of the old city. The ambience of this magical place is unique. This was complemented by the lighting effects with intermittent illumination of the old city walls.
One of the main events of the recent Jerusalem Opera Festival, organized by the Israel Opera, which was held at this venue, was an evening devoted to popular arias. The program consisted of excerpts from the operas of Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Mascagni and Cilea. It was performed by soloists and the Arena di Verona Orchestra, under the baton of Italian conductor, Giuliano Carella. Since this orchestra plays at Verona's open air annual opera festival, the musicians were accustomed to this type of venue.
The concert began with a rather pedantic performance of Rossini's overture to William Tell. It took a little time to adjust to the sound. The orchestra had to compete with the wind as well as the traffic on the surrounding eastern and southern roads. The real drama began with the soloists. Pride of place went to Italian tenor Stefano Secco whose Nessun dorma (None shall sleep) from Turandot, was perhaps the real highlight of the evening. Both the soprano Svetla Vassileva and mezzo soprano Mariana Pentcheva hailed from Bulgaria. Mariana Pentcheva was best in Acuzena's aria Stride la vampa (The flames are roaring) from Il Trovatore and Svetla Vassileva rended Butterfly's aria Un bel di vedremo (One fine day) exquisitely. Brazilian bass, Luiz-Octavio Faria captured the subtle nuances of Don Basilio's aria La calunnia (Slander) from the Barber of Seville.
At the conclusion of the concert, the enthusiastic audience clamored for more. Tenor and soprano obliged, perhaps not unexpectedly with the Brindisi (Toast) from La Traviata to the audience's great delight.
Illustration: The setting of the operatic gala by the Arena di Verona Orchestra in Jerusalem's Sultan's Pool (courtesy, Yossi Zveker)
Apparently, Rabbi Milgrom , you would be happier if The state of Israel had never come into being since you compare the Jewish State to O.J.Simpson, a rather invidious comparison. U.N. Resolution 194, passed as an attempt to end the war in 1948 and rejected by all Arab states, is and has been irrelevant. The resolution confers no rights as General Assembly resolutions have no force of law whatsoever. Alan Dershowitz aims for justice. You, sir, aim for the destruction of the Jewish State, which is exactly what would happen if the descendants of the original refugees, most of whom left their homes to allow the invading Arab armies to drive the Jews into the sea, were allowed to settle in Israel.