Boker Tov Yerushala'im

At 6:30 am I received a text message from Hebrew University saying that classes had been cancelled. I jumped out of bed and looked outside. Snow had fallen during the night. I wasted no time. I put on my boots, tights, pants, shirt, sweater, coat, gloves and then thought, what a lovely morning to take a walk. I opened the door and saw......
the steps leading out from my apartment...

Yesheva across the street on Ramban.....

Independence Park.......

Arab cemetery in Independence Park....

Lah de dah neighborhood on my way to the Old City.....

Ahhh, the outside wall to the Old City.....

Gettin' closer....

The faithful heading to the Kotel.....

David Street in the Old City. It's so nice when no one is there.......

No stores open to rip you off.....or hassle you as you walk....

Corner of Muristan Street and David Street in the Old City.....

Snow's a fallin'...........

The Kotel......

This man was having a grand time singing out the Shema at the top of his lungs........

And dancing.....

Meanwhile on the women's side of the Kotel.....

Off with the talit, up with the umbrella.....

I'm sorry, he looks like Father Christmas to me.........

He enticed me and another woman photographer partially down the men's ramp, we went carefully, looking behind us. We took our pictures and then backed out quickly.....

Still crazy...he was loving it...still singing the Shema....it sounded beautiful in the quiet of the snowy morning....

Snow Dome of the Rock...........

Into the Muslim Quarter......

The early bird catches the worm, but there were no worms except me.

Onion delivery...

Keeping warm...still no other worms.......

Out of the Muslim Quarter and into the Christian Quarter...

Church of the Holy Sepulchre...........

Someone is keeping warm.........

The tomb of Jesus..........

Leaving the Holy Sepulchre, some guy was coming with, yes, ski poles...now really!

Cold and windy palm trees....

Entering the Armenian Quarter...I was loosing steam....so I went home....

My feet were cold and wet.......

I hope you liked my winter wonderland tour of the Old City in Jerusalem on this snowy January day. It was well worth the time, the effort and the harsh weather conditions!!! IT WAS GREAT! I left at 6:30 am and returned at 10:00 am. Now I'm ready for a long winter's nap.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Scuttlebutt and the Weather Channel forecasts SNOW for the near future in Jerusalem. Maybe during the night the white stuff will blanket the Holy Land. Let's see. Hebrew University sent out an alternative snow schedule..so did my belly dance teacher. I hear that the rabbinical students at Hebrew Union College also received some information about snow forecasts and schedules. I guess people are gearing up. It is a little weird since it's in the 40's here but I guess you never know.

What I haven't seen though is a mad dash to the grocery store to clean off the shelves. Ya know, I never did understand that anyway. Most people in Fairfield County own SUV's that can run in any weather, on any terrain. It's not like the 19th century where you'll be snowed in for days on end with nothing to eat. They can get out of their driveways with little effort What's with that? But I'm off the track.

Today was cold, rainy/sleety and windy. My neighbor and I went for a walk up to Mea Shearim to pick up an embroidered gift that I had ordered for some friends. She has a miniature poodle named Trotsky who went with us. Trotsky's ears were flapping in the wind; at times we couldn't even walk a step because the wind was so strong. At least the rain had subsided while we walked. Trotsky had on his fur trimmed quilted raincoat; at least he was dry and warm. People stared at him. Some smiled. Some jumped back in fear. Honestly, Trotsky is not the most intimidating dog I've ever seen. There are not so many dogs here in Israel as are in the US. We returned with the gift and a Rabbi Matching game which held our interest for about 45 minutes.

So I'm hunkerin' down for the snow. I guess that's a universal reaction to the white stuff. I made a big pot of my famous chili, baked some banana bread and have poured myself a glass of Yardin Chardonney wine. Now I wait. Baby it doesn't get any better than that!

Every Day, and then the Rest

A knock on the door startled me. It’s not often that I get unannounced visitors or intentional visitors for that matter. My Jerusalem apartment is a garden apartment according to Israeli’s. I call it a mole hole. It’s out of the way in this four floor apartment building because to access it you have to descend street level by seven steps and walk down the side of the building.

I get up to answer the door. A clean cut man, 30ish or so, tried to talk to me by using some hand motions and noise. It was clear to me that he was hearing impaired in some way. He handed me a piece of paper and scribbled on the paper was a message, in French. My knowledge of French is even less than my knowledge of Hebrew. So, I couldn’t read his message. Although I instinctively knew where this conversation was headed, I grabbed a book written in English and I said, I read and speak English only. He pointed to his ear to let me know that he couldn’t hear me. I pointed to the book again to indicate that I only spoke English. He pointed to his ear and mouth to let me know that he couldn’t hear me.

OK, whereto from here? I looked at him and shrugged my shoulders. A part of me was hoping that he would just go away, I knew what he wanted. He was persistent and made signs of eating, hand to mouth. I gestured back at him with my palm turned upward, my thumb gliding over my other four fingers in the universal “I want money” sign. He smiled and shook his head yes. I smiled and gestured “wait a minute”.

I had been collecting spare agorot since I moved into my apartment. Agorot are these annoying lower denomination shekels, like pennies. Only they are much worse. They’re big for being worth so little and heavy in your purse. My intention with the bag of spare agorot was to put it into a tzadaka, charity box somewhere or hand it over to a beggar on the street of which there are many. But now the beggar had come to my door.

Without thinking we come to God’s door each day with our deepest yearnings and needs hoping and praying for a handout. I wonder if, when we beggars knock on the God door, does God think…you again?....what do you want now?...ah, another handout?....let me see if I have some spare change lying around. No, the door is always opened to us even if we think God has just opened it a crack. And, there are no communication problems. God understands the words we use, the gestures we make, the tears, and even our inability to voice our desires. We can come openly knowing that our presence will be fully received by the Divine’s presence. We all beg, and we are all received.

I gave the beggar the agorot plus a few extra shekels that I had in my wallet. He thanked me and left. We are to give freely and unconditionally as God has given to us. It’s not always easy is it? But then again we are not God. Let us pray for the courage to be more God-like in our giving to each other when we are approached by someone in need.

Yad Vashem: Northern Exposure: Crusaders, Pioneers and Soldiers

From our itinerary...."The trip will take us up from Jerusalem to the east and down into the Jordan Valley. We will take a route around Jericho and travel up the Jordan Valley rift to Bet Shean. Just north of Bet Shean, we will travel to the mountain called 'the Star of the Jordan' where we will visit the Crusader castle Belvoir. Built in the 12th century, we will explore the castle and see the beautiful view to the east, north, and south. The mountains of Moav, Edom the Gilad and the Golan to Mt. Hermon are all visible form this castle. From there we will visit Naharayim-and see a model of the original hydroelectric power station that was built there in the 1920's. We will experience the story of Kibbutz Gesher--the pioneers who struggled to settle and cultivate the land and their fight for survival during the War of Independence in 1948. We will have lunch at the Kibbutz Ein Gev and then continue to the Golan Heights. We will travel up Mt. Bental and see the border between Syria and Israel. We will wind up our tour by stopping at the Golan Heights Winery for an explanation about the operation of the winery and will conclude with a wine tasting! From here we will continue due west across the Jordan River to the western Galilee to the Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz where we will sleep for the night".


On Monday we had seminars at the Ghetto Fighters' Musuem and heard the story of the Kibbutz Lochamei Ha Ghetaot. The Ghetto Fighters' Museum, art museum and study center was built and developed by survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in April of 1943.


We left the Museum and headed north just a little bit to Rosh Hanikra. It is a 'love story' of the sea and rock. The grottoes there are the result of a geophysical process that has been going on for thousands of years. The cliff at Rosh Hanikra is made up of soft sea sediment - chalk interwoven with dark flint stones. To get down to the grottoes you take a cable car, the steepest in the world! And, yes it was. It descends from a height of 70 meters above sea level at and angle of 60 degrees. It was beautiful. Back up from the Grotto just about 20 meters is the Lebanese border.

Belvoir Castle

The moat

This is the hydroelectric plant which has ceased to be in operation. The fence in the front is the Jordanian border so what you see on the other side is under Jordanian control.

St. Peter's fish fresh from the Sea of Galilee. Hell no I didn't eat this it was my friend Anna's lunch. I'm still vegetarian. I have to say though, he does look happy.

Sea of Galilee

Oak barrels at the Golan Heights Winery

Stained glass window at the Ghetto Fighters Museum and Study Center

A child's shoes

Liberation Day. And although Jews and other prisoners were released from the camps as you can see it was no celebration. There was no place to go and no family to return to.

Coast line of Israel from Rosh Hanikra

Cable car ride down to the Grotto

Grotto

Before going into the grotto

Israeli navy

Mediterrianean Sea

Israeli border crossing guard

Lebanon