Jerusalem Highlights: January 2 – January 8

Visit Orchid Greenhouse Cafe in Kibbutz Ma’ale Hahamisha and feast on Caprese salad (NIS 62) and focaccia baked with al taglio (“by the cut”) dough. Common in Rome, this dough is rich in protein and water. The name is derived from how the dough is cut to make pizza and other baked goods.

A focaccia Manchego (NIS 44) is a good way to fill up before driving to the start of the Tasach Trail. The 1.9 km. downward walk takes around one hour to complete and includes a panoramic view of Jerusalem and the mountains of Beit El. The path ends at the memorial site to the Palmah fighters who died in the War of Independence.

It was designed by Menachem Shemi, an artist who lost his son Aron in the war.

The renowned painter spent a long time “painting the face of his son, who laid dead, and not a muscle on his face moved,” wrote Yoram Kaniuk in his 2010 memoir of the battle in which the young man was killed.

Orchid Greenhouse Cafe hours: Friday 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Kosher. Call (02) 534-7500 for more. The Tasach Trail is free.

Welcome the new week and the new year with a concert by the Adam Chichportiche Trio. A master of the Turkish lute (lavta), Chichportiche released his album Embracing Solitude in September. Clarinetist Tiferet Teimans and percussionist Amitai Ezrony will join him on stage.

9 p.m. at Mazkeka, 3 Shoshan St. NIS 50 per ticket. Call (02) 582-2090 to book.

Give young theater actors a shot with “Hit and Run,” an evening of short Hebrew performances by Nissan Nativ Acting Studio students. Drink a cocktail (or two) before the show, and rummage through the sales section for a nice item.

7 p.m. at 3 Menora St. for drinks and second-hand clothes sale. 7:50 p.m. theater doors open. 8 p.m. show begins. NIS 30 per ticket. Call 051-510-0422 to book or email studiojer@nissan-nativ.org.il for more.

Visit Musrara, the Naggar Multidisciplinary School of Art and Society, and watch The Lost, a new video art project by Orit Adar Bechar. Actors speak lines originally said by activists of the Black Panthers movement in Jerusalem in the 1970s. A revolutionary movement of mostly North-African Jews in Musrara – inspired by the US Black Panthers movement – the Israeli chapter had some successes. Charlie Biton, for example, was elected to Knesset and brought the voice of the common man to that important house. Three other artists are showing their works in addition to Bechar: Tziki Eizenberg, Rustam Bayramov, and Shay Zilberman.

22 Shivtei Yisrael St. Free. Sunday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Take a guided walk at the Israel Antiquities Authority and get a peek into the soon-to-be opened National Hall of Archeology. The “From Ashes to Revival” English-language tour is a highly engaging way to learn how forensic skills normally employed to decipher the deep past were used to save lives, understand the tragedy, and get a complete data-backed understanding of Oct. 7.

10:30 a.m. at Museum Avenue in Givat Ram. For those 15 years old and up. NIS 25 per person. Call 073-350-7350  to book. Visit www.iaa.org.il/en/ for more.

Readers who visited the Israel Museum to see Anselm Kiefer’s installation Ages of the World will no doubt relish the opportunity to watch a documentary about him by Wim Wenders at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.

Titled Anselm, the German- and English-language film (with English subtitles) explores what makes a current artist so distinct. Before the film, art critic Smadar Sheffi will give a Hebrew talk about the past 10 years of the Venice Biennale. In 2026, Israel will be represented there by sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru.

6 p.m. NIS 95. 11 Hebron St. Call (02) 565-4333 to book.

Watch the 2014 film Inherent Vice, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Based on the same-titled 2009 novel by Thomas Pynchon, it stars Joaquin Phoenix as private detective Larry “Doc” Sportello. Doc will soon learn the perils of getting into trouble too quickly in 1970s Los Angeles. Though a box-office flop, critics loved it, and it is said to be a cult film.

8 p.m. In English. NIS 35. Cinema by Sam Spiegel, 3 Menora St. Visit cinema.jsfs.co.il to book.