A selection of Happy Hours and art exhibitions are featured in this week’s column.
FRIDAY, MAY 6
Enjoy Happy Hour between 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Cactus 9 (4 Shushan St.). Buy one beer or wine glass and get another one for the same price. The location usually offers live music, sample the tunes here before you leave the house: shorturl.at/bhG06.
SATURDAY, MAY 7
Visit Giv’at Haviva for the opening of False Awakening, a new group exhibition at the GH Art Gallery (curated by Rula Khoury). The event begins at noon and the works on offer include art by Fatma Abu Rumi, Manal Morcos, Karam Natour and many others. You can book a private tour via rtgivathaviva@gmail.com.
Enjoy Happy Hour between 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Half Parrot pub (5 Yohanan Hurqanos St.). Buy one beer or wine glass and get another one for the same price, a relaxing Gin and Tonic is on offer for NIS 25.
SUNDAY, MAY 8
Learn about the Cultured Jews of Spain in this English language online lecture by Dr. Katherine Aron-Beller offered at Beit Avi Chai at 8 p.m. Admission is free but please sign up at www.bac.org.il/events/?eventID=15722.
Enjoy Happy Hour at Bab al Yemen (29 Gaza St.) between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. where two cocktails or beers are offered for the price of one.
MONDAY, MAY 9
Do you love cartoons who make you laugh or would you prefer to be taken away to another culture in a part of the world you know little about? This evening the Jerusalem Cinematheque offers you two outstanding choices along these lines.
At 8:30 p.m. film director Alon Gur Arye (Mossad, 2019) will take film lovers on an epic ride following the Simpsons. Not only is the show the longest running television series in history, fans claim it predicted pretty much everything that has happened in the US including the rise to power of Donald Trump. Come learn, laugh, and watch The Simpsons Movie (2007). Visit jer-cin.org.il/en/event/54381.
Or watch the 2021 Indian documentary film Writing with Fire about Dalit women which follows the transition of a newspaper, Khabar Lahariya (News Wave) from print to digital. The Dalit class is the lowest in Hindu society and its members are the untouchable. The 8:30 p.m. screening opens the 49% feminist club film festival (film shown with Hebrew and English subtitles). For more information visit jer-cin.org.il/en/event/54383.
Become a local chess champion by playing (and winning) at the second Shoshana pub chess championship, which begins at 8 p.m. today (7 Shushan St). Admission is free, winner gets NIS 100 as drinking money at the establishment. To sign up, visit shorturl.at/fqK67.
TUESDAY, MAY 10
If you are unable to visit the Venice Biennale, where Ronit Keret is currently showing her art, why not drive to the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and enter the Earth Sciences building to see Personal Structures? Keret examines what will remain of our world after the collapse of the eco-system (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.). Admission is free.
Once you consider the demise of this entire plant and the destruction of humanity that goes along with it, surely you might be tempted to drink as much wine as you can put away at the appealing cost of NIS 69, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Gent Kitchen & Bar (5 Yosef Rivlin St.).
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11
Visit the Contemporary Art Center Ramla (112 Herzl St.) to enjoy Metamorphosis, Cord, Home which presents works by Maya Dikstein and Aniam Dery. Born in Brazil, Dikstein is a performance artist of note. With her works often exploring how the borders of the body can be altered using strings. Deri has shown her works at the Bat Yam Museum of Art in the 2019 exhibition The Believers. 11 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Admission is free.
US rock band Electric Six released the song “Gay Bar” in 1996, containing the immortal words “You! I wanna take you to a gay bar!” Why not visit Videopub (1 Horkanus St.) and enjoy Happy Hour from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. when a one plus one special is on the tap? While the LGBTQ community is famous for being tolerant, please demonstrate good judgment by respecting a space meant primarily for gay men.
THURSDAY, MAY 12
Rubén Gallego overcame disability, being brought up at a Soviet orphanage, and won the Russian Booker Prize for his book White on Black: A Boy’s Story. Now his personal history has been adapted to the theater in a brilliant production directed by Efim Rinenberg, who also performs alongside the Mikro theater group.
Titled Dumb like Hamlet, the performance is in Hebrew with Russian and Hebrew subtitles. 8 p.m. at the Jerusalem Theatre (20 Marcus St.) NIS 140 per ticket. For details, contact 02-560-5755.
Throwing a good party? Opening an art exhibition or a new bar? Bringing in a guest speaker to introduce a fascinating topic? Why not drop me a line at hagay_hacohen@yahoo.com and let In Jerusalem know about it? Send emails with “Jerusalem Highlights” in the subject line. While all information is welcome, we cannot guarantee it will be featured in the column. Due to COVID-19 we advise readers to phone ahead or check online to ensure listed events have not been changed at the last minute.
The selection of Happy Hours and the various pubs offering them is based on a larger list created by the Alternative Jerusalem Guide Facebook group.