Where the streets have names

Omer Yaniv

How are street names chosen? Here in Jerusalem, a city with a rich history and religious symbolic importance, we can presume that there are not enough streets, alleys, roads, avenues and squares to commemorate the thousands of figures, spots and events that deserve to be remembered. At present there are over three thousand named streets and sites in the city. To successfully face a growing demand to memorialize so many people, two committees are active in the Jerusalem Municipality, a public municipal name committee and an advisory committee, which together decide whether or not the contribution and legacy of the nominated figures justifies the commemoration. Lately the municipality has been making an effort to give names to the many nameless streets of East Jerusalem, with the participation of the local residents.

A theme in street names can be found in some Jerusalem neighborhoods. Intellectuals of the Middle Ages, for example, can be found in Rehavia; the tribes of Israel, alongside biblical judges, characterize Bak'a; and animals are the theme in Malcha.

Looking at the street names in Israel as a whole, we see that plant names, and especially the seven species, are the most common. Other popular choices are the names of precious stones, animals, Jewish and Israeli leaders, military units and more. The most common street names in the country are HaZayit - 'The Olive' (225 streets around the country); HeGefen - 'The Vine' (213); HaRimon - 'The Pomegranate' (204); and HaTamar - 'The Date Palm' (174). Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, is the most popular person among street names, with 79 streets named after him. The woman who is commemorated in the highest number of streets is Hannah Senesh - 41 streets in Israel are named after her. 

Sha-Bus Rider

Erela Ganan

Lately, we have witnessed growing civic activity aimed at expanding the operating time of public transportation to include service on Shabbat. But will there be significant demand for a Shabbat bus? 

To find out, we can first look at the number of people using public transport on weekdays. In its last census (conducted in 2008), the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) found that 41% of the workers in the country commuted to work using alternative modes of transportation, rather than their own private car: 1,115,900 people traveled to work via bus, train, shuttle, taxi, bike, or simply walked. In Jerusalem, the rate is even higher, at 50%. In addition, public transport is used by thousands of school children, soldiers, students, elderly people and others, but data on these groups' rate of use are missing. 

Second, we want to find out the public's position on travel during Shabbat. In the CBS' social survey of 2009, which focused on religion, 53% of the Jewish respondents aged 20 and over stated they support activation of public transport on Shabbat. It is important to note that non-Jewish people, who are not likely to object to Shabbat buses, comprise 25% of Israel's residents, and 38% of Jerusalem's population.

Jewish respondents who stated they were traditional or secular were asked if they ride on Shabbat (observant Jews were assumed to avoid it). Eighty-seven percent of the traditional-loosely observant answered that they do not (or scarcely do) avoid traveling on Shabbat, and surprisingly, as many as 42% of the traditional-observant also stated they do not (or scarcely do) avoid it. Altogether, 84% of these populations stated they do not stay away from traveling on Shabbat, which means that 45% of the Jewish public aged 20 and over in Israel, or 2.5 million people, do not avoid it. This, along with the fact that 41% of the workers use alternative transit to commute to work (as stated above), leads us to assume that approximately 18% of the people in these groups are potential clients for public transportation, should it run on the 61 days every year that it ceases to function – weekends and Jewish holidays (not including Yom Kippur). This population sums up to over a million persons. In the meantime, those who are Jerusalemites can use the East Jerusalem transportation system, active seven days a week.

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics

It’s Off to Work We Go

Alon Kupererd

An examination of employment structures in various cities reveals that often a city will specialize in a specific industry or sector, one in which a relatively large percentage of its residents is employed. We can examine these specializations and compare cities using a specialization index.

The specialization index for a city in a specific industry or sector measures the ratio between the percentage of workers in that industry in the city (out of the city’s total number of employees) and the percentage of workers in that sector in the state as a whole. A value higher than 1 indicates relative specialization, that is, the employment weight in this sector is higher than the average for the country.

Analysis of data from the Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem reveals that the sector in which Jerusalem had the highest specialization index for 2012 was that of community, social, and personal services – 1.51. This figure is lower than the highest value for Tel Aviv – 2.89 in banking, insurance, and financial institutions – or for Haifa – 4.41 in the water and electricity sector. It is markedly evident that in contrast to other major cities, Jerusalem does not have a prominent specialization sector and its employed population is more evenly scattered among various sectors.

An interesting question that arises in this context is whether Jerusalem, as the capital, specializes in the public service sector (which includes public administration, education, healthcare, and welfare and nursing services). The data indicate that indeed Jerusalem’s specialization index in these areas is highest among the major cities, at 1.24, yet it is not high in relation to other specializations and evidently does not constitute a distinct specialization of the city. 

One branch of the public service sector is education, where Jerusalem’s specialization index is 1.35, making it the city’s second-highest specialization sector. In contrast, Tel Aviv’s specialization index for education measures 0.54, which is almost the lowest of the city’s indices. In Haifa the percentage of employees in the employment sector is identical to the national average. The variance in Jerusalem within this sector results from the city’s high percentage of schoolchildren and preschoolers. 

A review of specialization indices reveals that Jerusalem is not a business or technological epicenter. In the high-tech industry, Jerusalem’s index measures 0.67. This is a low figure in itself, and it is lower than the figure for Tel Aviv – 0.92 – or Haifa, which has the highest figure among the major cities, at 1.35. In the business service and real estate sector, Jerusalem has an index of 0.92, after Haifa – 1.25 – and Tel Aviv – 1.87. Additionally, in the sector of banking, insurance, and financial institutions, Jerusalem has an index of 0.53, while the figure for Haifa is 0.82, and for Tel Aviv, where as noted it is the city’s distinct specialization sector, it is 2.89.

Source of data: 2014 Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem

May I Take Your Order?

Lior Regev

Most of the Jewish population in Israel keeps kosher. The 2009 Social Survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics, which focused on religion and religiosity, found that 64% of Jewish respondents (age 20 and above) stated that they keep kosher to a large or very large extent.

Recently the issue of kashrut has surfaced as a factor that contributes to the cost of living in Israel. Restaurants and other eating establishments that seek to attract customers who keep kosher are required to meet the restrictions of kashrut established by the State of Israel, which are enforced by the Chief Rabbinate and its agents in local religious councils. In Jerusalem the issue of kashrut is often perceived as part of the discourse on the character of the city. In 2011 a communal kashrut initiative began to operate in Jerusalem ("Hashgaha Pratit" or "private supervision”), and today it has nine participating businesses. 

A short internet search yields a number of websites from which we can learn about the supply side of establishments that sell food in localities throughout Israel. The database of the “Rest” website (www.rest.co.il) lists 667 eating establishments in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv has 1,573, Haifa has 373, and RishonLeZion has 278. In keeping with the image of a city where every corner hosts a café, the number of eating establishments in Tel Aviv is exceptionally high in relation to Israeli standards. Some of the reasons for this are the size of the metropolis and the culture of eating outside the home that is prevalent within the local business community and the young entertainment-seeking community.

There are differences in the extent to which kashrut is observed by eating establishments within each of the three major cities in Israel. According to the website “Rest” a total of 486 (73%) of Jerusalem’s businesses are kosher, compared with 181 (27%) that are not. Tel Aviv has 468 kosher establishments, comparable to the figure for Jerusalem, but these represent only 30% of the total; it also has 1,105 non-kosher establishments (about 70%). In Haifa a total of 96 establishments (only 26%) are kosher, and 277 (74%) are not kosher.

Classification by type of food reveals that the percentage of kosher-certified businesses that sell meat is lower than the total percentage of kosher businesses. This reflects the relative difficulty of observing kashrut for meat, as compared with kashrut in the context of milk. A total of 158 (69%) meat-serving establishments in Jerusalem are kosher (compared with 73% of the total number of eating establishments in the city), and 71 (31%) are not kosher. In Tel Aviv, 31% of meat-serving eating establishments are kosher, while in Haifa the figure is 17%, and in RishonLeZion it is 39%.

Interestingly, the percentage of kosher businesses that offer delivery is higher than the overall percentage of kosher businesses. In Jerusalem 185 (85%) of the businesses that offer delivery are kosher, in Tel Aviv 42% are kosher, and in Haifa the figure is 33%. This higher percentage can be explained by looking at the types of food offered for delivery – pizza, hamburgers, and so on – which are perceived as more populist and are quickly prepared. Such business places cater to a wider target audience and rely on relatively lower profits per unit.

Sources of data:
Rest website (Zap Group): http://www.rest.co.il