Something Extremely Rare Happened in Jerusalem Overnight — Can You Guess What It Was?

Jerusalem is known as the City of Gold, but overnight it became a city of white, as a blanket of snow covered the holy city. Snow doesn’t fall all that often in Israel, so when it does, some interesting, unusual and beautiful photos emerge.

According to one YouTube user, Arabs and Jews dropped their guns and picked up snowballs. This video shows a snowball fight in the Jerusalem neighborhood Sheikh Jarrah. Israeli police stood nearby in case things got nasty. Eitan Shemesh who posted the video wrote it was all in good fun:

David Wilder of the Tazpit News Agency took this picture at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, where the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives are believed to be buried. Today, a snowman appears to be paying his respects at the site which is holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews.

Credit: David Wilder/ Tazpit News Agency

Israeli media reported that the snow overwhelmed local services, which were unable to clear the snow fast enough from the streets. The entrance to the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway was blocked Thursday morning.  In Jerusalem, kids stayed home from school, bus service stopped and citizens were asked to avoid driving their cars. The Jerusalem municipality said that the six inch accumulation rendered this the biggest snow storm to hit the city since 1992.

Here's Jerusalem's Old City:

YouTube screen shot

Here's a nice tour of snowy Jerusalem posted by another YouTube user:

Snowplows couldn't keep up with the challenge, and drivers were asked to stay off the road.

The kind folks over at Kings School of Media in Jerusalem allowed us access to these great shots:

KSMIsrael.com

KSMIsrael.com

KSMIsrael.com

KSMIsrael.com

KSMIsrael.com

KSMIsrael.com

KSMIsrael.com

KSMIsrael.com

Earlier this week, rains caused flooding all over Israel. Peleg Amiton of the Tazpit News Agency took this stunning photo in Shadmot Mecholah in the Jordan Valley after the rains stopped.

Credit: Peleg Amiton/Tazpit News Agency

On Tuesday, an Israeli Defense Forces commando unit deployed a helicopter to rescue an Arab family trapped on top of their flooded home as rising waters threatened to carry them away.

On the same day, another IDF unit comprised of ultra-Orthodox soldiers used a tractor to rescue Palestinian drivers about to be overcome by the rising tide of the Nablus River.

The Book of Isaiah says (2:4):

He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

In a place that’s seen too much violence and bloodshed, at least for a short time, swords turned into … well, snowplows.