Ronald Proos and Denyse Kirsch: "The children were hugging their
stomachs from pain of laughing."

Actor Ben Kingsley signs the scroll.

Sign On
The Dotted Line

hroughout the Jerusalem 3000 celebra-
tion, which started in September and con-
tinues to January 1997, visitors may come
across people congregating around a rather
strange-looking document.
It is quite probable they may not real-
ize that, in its own peculiar way, history
could be in the making as what may
well be the world's largest scroll, the
Jerusalem 3000 Scroll, gets under way.
For $7, Jerusalemites and visitors have
the chance to show their love for Jerusalem
by filling in their names and leaving their
signature. The scroll carries the declaration:
Jerusalem — 3000 years — City of David —
the peoples of the world gather together —
followed by a quotation from Psalms 122:6:
"Pray for the well-being of Jerusalem: May
those who love you be at peace."
Those who sign do so in a pre-numbered
block on a portion of the scroll and receive a
certificate bearing the same number. At the
end of January 1997, all the different pieces
will be welded together and displayed in a
showcase in the archives of the city. An il-
lustrated index of the scroll will allow for the

Israelis and visitors worldwide
sign a scroll marking support
of Jerusalem.

GIDEON KEREN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

identification of family signatures either via
name or by cross-referencing the sequence
number on the certificate.
The Jerusalem 3000 Scroll was the brain-
child of two South African olim, Denyse
Kirsch and Ronald Proos, who have worked
in Israel as a tour operator and businessman,
respectively. Their families have been close
friends for 18 years.
"People who come here take away a little
bit of Israel in their hearts, especially
Jerusalem," Mr. Proos said. "This is the one
time they have the chance to leave something
of themselves behind."
For Denyse Kirsch, the idea for the scroll

began several years ago with the peace
movement.
"I remember there was a tremendous
euphoria in the Middle East and felt walls
were really tumbling down and barriers
being broken between people," she said.
Her initial plans for a Jerusalem peace
scroll didn't work out, but it was followed
by the successful Jerusalem 3000 scroll.
"I saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime oppor-
tunity to get people together," she said.
Yet initial reaction to the idea from their
own families was anything but encouraging.
"I remember the children lying about the
grass, hugging their stomachs from pain of
laughing," Mr. Proos said. "They all thought
it was a wonderful joke.
"But we had a little more confidence in the
idea, and so expanded on it and followed it
quite vigorously. We didn't know where to
start, where to look, how to go about it. But
slowly, over seven, eight months, we finally
managed to get to the right people and the
right places."

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