Tel Aviv had penguins, Zurich had cows and now Jerusalem will have lions. That is, sculptures of lions. In March, the city of Jerusalem will launch an unprecedented domestic tourism campaign, geared at getting Israelis to come discover their capital city. As part of this effort, 80 lion sculptures, which have been painted by a variety of artists, will be displayed throughout the city and will ultimately be auctioned off.

Even before the temporary addition of these lions, Jerusalem already had its share of dozens of lions, scattered throughout the city. There is of course the lion on top of the Generali building on Jaffa Street (see photo) as well as at the entrance to the YMCA building. You can also find lion sculptures in Zion Square and in front of the Machane Yehuda police station.

You might ask why lions were chosen? Well, for one thing, one of the references to the city in the bible is, Ariel (Ari=lion + El=God) - just one of many of the city's ancient nicknames. Another reason might be the fact that lions are mentioned over 150 times in the bible. There is also a long history of lions decorating Jewish ceremonial art. Lions can be found on everything from papercuts, Torah crowns, etc. Two of the twelve tribes, Dan and Judah were compared to lions and an enduring Jewish symbol has been that of the "Lion of Judah". In David's lament over the death of Saul and Jonathan, he declares, "…they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions." The Talmud refers to the lion as the "king of the beasts".