Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Food for thought
Monday, September 29, 2008
A new beginning
Jewish life in Israel moves forward according to the Hebrew calendar.
This makes me think of an inspiring song by Naomi Shemer called
"Hakhagiga Nigmeret (Lakum Makhar Baboker)." Here is a translation:
And sometimes, the celebration's over
The lights go out
The trumpet calls
Goodnight to the violins
The last watch welcomes (kisses) the third (one)
To wake tomorrow morning
And begin from the beginning
refrain:
Let's wake tomorrow morning
With a new song in our hearts
And sing it in our strength, and sing it in our pain
To hear the flutes on the fresh, free breeze
And to begin from the beginning [Ulehatkhil mibereshit ].
YouTube has a 1976 video of Hakol Over Habibi group singing the song. Click here to hear it.
Again, a good year to you, Shana tova!
Heads up
Tonight is Rosh Hashanah (literally, the head of the year). On the festive New Year's table, usually on the platter with the traditional gefilte fish, there should be at least one cooked fish head.
This is to remind us of one of the many blessings that God promises in return for obedience to his commandments. Deuteronomy 28:13a says
"And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail . . . "
In The Living Torah translation it becomes "God will make you a leader and never a follower."
The Hebrew blessing said over the fish head is
יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה' אֱלֹהינוּ וֵאלֵֹהי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, שֶׁנִּהְיֶה לְרֹאשׁ וְלֹא לְזָנָב
May it be Your will, Lord our God and the God of our fathers, that we be a head and not a tail.
I pray that every leader and every citizen in our world will use their head to make peace and not war in the new year.
Shana tova, a good and happy year to all!
.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Thank you Paul Newman
![](http://library.vu.edu.pk/cgi-bin/nph-proxy.cgi/000100A/https/blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp91JzZhVWpCD9cCjZpZjk_9pRYSJARq09-JI_65JI46F2dN3QJRwWuUzV9iU0Vng8IBE75FpsCyI8zr-w_P5VYg1e0KvkY2s_7aqTAcpRt18G6x7DfkJ6t1jPca18QI3wT1-0qtM2hvCz/s400/180px-Exodus.png)
![](http://library.vu.edu.pk/cgi-bin/nph-proxy.cgi/000100A/https/blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieGpwHmLstWkFQK2VNij5XXsDylilqMaG-cWrgcMDc9UbeFgIw8u9yN7OyrfgpvXoxilFgwE4-Q2Sf2rjsf59Hx0XWjh7ENL8pvRxiuXLYZ4u0bu_3iIiNcKxqeyHipDI_hjhD77g949Yj/s400/300px-Exodus.jpg)
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Howdy, stranger
The mysterious strangers smiled and the beautiful horses walked on by. Sigh . . .
I love horses almost as much as I love donkeys.
And today is International Day of the Donkey. Good Samaritan Donkey Sanctuary (where I volunteered and lived a month in Australia) had a big field day today.
My other T shirt, "Donkey Warhol," is from Safe Haven for Donkeys in the Holy Land. Heehaw!
Take a look at other animals today on blogs all over the world at Camera-Critters.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Friday at the shuk
Many professional and amateur photographers were taking pictures and movies of the pre-holiday crowd.
Here we go, entering the Sabbath, that "sanctuary in time." And on time. Shabbat shalom, Sabbath peace, to everyone!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Lucy in the SKY
BUT . . . tonight, as we speak, Israel finally has Sir Paul McCartney singing at a grand concert in Tel Aviv!!
by The Beatles
Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she's gone
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Aaaaaah
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
And you're gone
. . .
From Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967 (that wonderful year!)
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
What is underlying justice?
"How many men does it take to open a manhole?" is turning into a series, it looks like.
I always like to peer down the holes in the crust of the earth and see the hidden secrets of a city's infrastructure. (Is that weird?)
As a bonus y'all can see the Supreme Court building.
.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Joel's J's
Jumpin' Jehoshaphat! How to choose just one or two J words when this whole blog is about J's?!
Jerusalem Hills, Jerusalem, Judea, Jewish State, Jews, Jacob, Jesus, John . . . just which photos to judge as fitting??
Jeepers! Hebrew does not even have a sound or a letter J. All these names you see here really begin with Y.
More commonly called the Kidron Valley, it has lots of olive trees
In the short Biblical book of JOEL (3:1-2) God says "For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there. . . ."
The prophet Joel is depicted in this statue at Yad HaShmona Biblical Garden:
.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Liftoff
{ The truck pictures are more impressive when enlarged. Go on, click and enjoy the details! }
The System: Every archaeological excavation needs some form of headquarters in the field.
A lockable place to store the tools and equipment, with a table where the foreman can do a little paperwork and maybe eat his lunch. A shipping container--perfect!
Here's the inside of ours at my latest dig in Jerusalem:
So on the last day of our dig, right after all the forty workers had boarded their mini-buses to be driven back to East Jerusalem, the truck showed up.
And off they drove, one man, one container.
Job done. Such a simple system!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
T-i-m-b-e-r !
As you may have surmised, we completed the archaeological excavation a few weeks ago. It is good to have some time off before the next dig starts. It is still so hot; summer goes on and on. But for the sake of closure, here are some scenes from the final day.
What we did was the required salvage dig before construction of yet another highrise apartment building could start. The building contractor, anxious to begin, wasted no time in sending in his crew to cut down the one tree we had on the site.
The direct sun was SO hot as we raised clouds of dust, sweeping clean every meter of rock with broom heads.
Stone always has to be swept clean before archaeologists take the final photos.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Transporter beam? Star Trek dog??
He knew it and wanted out.
Any Trekkies reading this blog? You reckon the dog was saying, "Beam me up, Scotty!"?
Pomegranate--a symbolic food
This is my friend the pomegranate tree, just outside the window.
Nature--what a great system it has for making food!
And I did say the two required Hebrew blessings before eating it: the Shehechiyanu (see below) and "Blessed are You, Lord our God, who creates the fruit of the tree."
The pomegranate (rimon in Hebrew) always ripens just before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This year the holiday begins on the evening of September 29.
About.com explains it nicely:
"On the second night of Rosh Hashanah, we eat a new fruit which we have not yet eaten this season. When we eat this new fruit, we say the shehechiyanu blessing which thanks God for keeping us alive and bringing us to this season. This ritual reminds us to appreciate the fruits of the earth and being alive to enjoy them. A pomegranate is often used as this new fruit. In the Bible, the Land of Israel is praised for its pomegranates. It is also said that this fruit contains 613 seeds just as there are 613 mitzvot.* Another reason given for blessing and eating this fruit on Rosh HaShana is that we wish that our good deeds in the ensuing year will be as plentiful as the seeds of the pomegranate."
(*the 613 commandments in the Torah)
.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sunset and candles
Here the sun sets behind the next ridge. On Friday evening it is important to know the exact time of sunset, because the two Sabbath candles must be kindled at least 18 minutes before.
Shabbat is a day of rest from any work, and creating fire with a match is considered work.
Candle-lighting times for the various cities in Israel are published in the newspapers and announced on the radio. Notices are printed every week and are hung in public places like bus stops.
Shabbat shalom!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Cheese wheels on wheels
The stack of huge cheese wheels caught my eye and I entered the fancy cheese and wine store in the shuk Mahaneh Yehuda market. Photos were all I got, the rest was way too expensive.
They offer cheeses from around the world in a mind-boggling variety. It is exciting just to see them.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
"I" is for idioms
In the swing. = If things are in the swing, they are progressing well.
I've got a bone to pick with you. = I have some complaint to make against you.
In someone else's shoes = It is difficult to know what another person's life is really like, so we don't know what it is like to be in someone's shoes.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. = Wishing for something or wanting it is not the same as getting or having it.