like a lion......
It was nice to get out of the city and into the Jerusalem hills for the weekend. The roses on Moshav Kisalon where blooming and the jackals at dusk were ‘yucking it up’. When the jackals begin their howling it always sounds to me like a fraternity party gone wrong, very wrong. They’ve moved a little closer to the house since I’ve been away which makes for an ever more jovial few minutes.
On Sunday I went with my friend to a homeschooler’s get together in Lehi. The weather was very strange, to me at least. It was hot but the air looked very cloudy. Visibility was extreme low which made seeing the Jerusalem hills just a figment in my imagination.
It’s sharav or khamsin weather in Israel. During the spring, and winter too, very hot, dry winds blow in from the desert, usually from the east. What makes the visibility so low is that the winds bring sand with them. And, lot’s of it. In my mind I wanted to make this sheet of white before me fog, but it just wasn’t.
Sharav is the Hebrew word for these winds and in Arabic it’s Khamsin. As my friend predicted, the sharav broke the next day with lots of wind which cleared the air with a moist, cool, misty air flow. There will be more sharav’s to follow. Khamsin means 50 in Arabic and some speculate that there will be 50 days of Khamsin.
My very inexperienced assessment….this one was not bad.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Mahane Madness
Come on! Let's go shopping.
Be sure to use all of your senses - sight - sound - taste - smell..... anddon't forget to convert your dollars to shekels and ounces & pounds into grams & kilos.
Are your bags filled? Friday, March 7, 2008
A Loss too Great
The sun is shining. It’s warm outside. The buttercups, anemone, daffodils and cyclamen are displaying their colors tempting a watercolorist to try and duplicate their beauty on paper. But there are some things that just cannot be reproduced that emulate the real thing. So it is with life. Life itself can reproduce but a single life cannot be reproduced.
Yesterday at this time students at a Jerusalem yeshiva were together studying and preparing for the rabbinate and today they are mourning the death of eight of their fellow classmates who died a so violent and premature death. With the exception of one 26 year old, the others were high school age. Young. They were too young to be taken out of this world by the hands of a gunman.
This is not exactly the type of experience that I had in mind when I came to live in Israel, but this is the reality of living here. So the bad is unwillingly accepted with the good to understand the nature of Israel. A delicately balanced image of peace can be tipped one way or the other. This time the scale precariously dipped to the side of conflict and ultimately horrific bloodshed. The scale will eventually become balanced once again, but at what cost? How many more people, with the potential that these eight young men possessed, will die? How many Palestinians will also lose their lives or choose to end their lives with an explosive belt wrapped around their body?
One thing is made clear today that perhaps I took for granted yesterday. Peace is delicate and hard to obtain. In order for Israel to continue to exist and sustain itself I see now that Israel must remain alert at all times otherwise the holy books of the yeshiva, the holy places that we visit and see will be nothing but a bloodied reality.
We cannot bring back or reproduce the unique lives of the young people lost yesterday but we can work for a reproductive lifecycle that is free from strife, and hatred, and violence. Perhaps we can then be free in our wildest and most creative imagination to envision a calm existance and dare I even say, reconciliation.
Yesterday at this time students at a Jerusalem yeshiva were together studying and preparing for the rabbinate and today they are mourning the death of eight of their fellow classmates who died a so violent and premature death. With the exception of one 26 year old, the others were high school age. Young. They were too young to be taken out of this world by the hands of a gunman.
This is not exactly the type of experience that I had in mind when I came to live in Israel, but this is the reality of living here. So the bad is unwillingly accepted with the good to understand the nature of Israel. A delicately balanced image of peace can be tipped one way or the other. This time the scale precariously dipped to the side of conflict and ultimately horrific bloodshed. The scale will eventually become balanced once again, but at what cost? How many more people, with the potential that these eight young men possessed, will die? How many Palestinians will also lose their lives or choose to end their lives with an explosive belt wrapped around their body?
One thing is made clear today that perhaps I took for granted yesterday. Peace is delicate and hard to obtain. In order for Israel to continue to exist and sustain itself I see now that Israel must remain alert at all times otherwise the holy books of the yeshiva, the holy places that we visit and see will be nothing but a bloodied reality.
We cannot bring back or reproduce the unique lives of the young people lost yesterday but we can work for a reproductive lifecycle that is free from strife, and hatred, and violence. Perhaps we can then be free in our wildest and most creative imagination to envision a calm existance and dare I even say, reconciliation.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Sunny, in the 70's, and Condie Rice
You cannot ask for a more beautiful day here in Jerusalem…weather wise that is. It’s sunny with just a few white puffy clouds floating by. It’s in the low 70’s and it feels glorious. Sorry for all you snow birds in Connecticut. Really. On campus people were lounging on the grass and the cats are back out begging for their lunch. There are so many flowers and trees in bloom that you forget, almost, about the political situation here.
Whenever a dignitary passes on Ramban Street to the Knesset they are accompanied by at least three or four police cars, and three or four big black sedan type cars. Even when Ehud Olmert goes to work, which is every day, he is driven down Ramban Street with a big fleet accompanying him. Usually traffic isn’t stopped. Which is very good because Israeli drivers are impatient. How do I know he goes to work every day…and goes home at varying times of the night???? Because I hear sirens, ones that are different from the regular Magen David Adom ambulance sirens. The President’s Residence is just about three blocks from away from my humble abode.
After I returned from class, lugged five bags of groceries home with a loaded backpack, I took Trotsky for a walk. Today is really not a day to be inside. I noticed that a policeman on motorcycle had blocked off the corner of Ussishkin and Ramban. I looked down n the street and the next corner was blocked off. Except for bus 19, and backed up cars on Ussishkin, the street was quiet. No cars, no horns, no nothing.
Then I heard the familiar President’s sirens and realized that Condeleezza Rice was in one of the cars. Some might say big whup…well most might say big whup. Not sure if she has much influence on Olmert and Abbas. Funny how living in Jerusalem has changed me. It seems odd that someone, from so far away, who doesn’t understand the true complexities of the conflict, who doesn’t live with the threat of rockets and suicide bombers each day, who doesn’t get text messages from university telling you to keep a head’s up thinks that they can broker peace.
Today, Wednesday, news sources gave three messages. Abbas will not resume peace talks. Israel will begin incursion into Gaza again. And, Condie thinks that she and Bush can end the decades old conflict by the end of his administration which is less than a year away.
She has a nice smile doesn’t she?
Whenever a dignitary passes on Ramban Street to the Knesset they are accompanied by at least three or four police cars, and three or four big black sedan type cars. Even when Ehud Olmert goes to work, which is every day, he is driven down Ramban Street with a big fleet accompanying him. Usually traffic isn’t stopped. Which is very good because Israeli drivers are impatient. How do I know he goes to work every day…and goes home at varying times of the night???? Because I hear sirens, ones that are different from the regular Magen David Adom ambulance sirens. The President’s Residence is just about three blocks from away from my humble abode.
After I returned from class, lugged five bags of groceries home with a loaded backpack, I took Trotsky for a walk. Today is really not a day to be inside. I noticed that a policeman on motorcycle had blocked off the corner of Ussishkin and Ramban. I looked down n the street and the next corner was blocked off. Except for bus 19, and backed up cars on Ussishkin, the street was quiet. No cars, no horns, no nothing.
Then I heard the familiar President’s sirens and realized that Condeleezza Rice was in one of the cars. Some might say big whup…well most might say big whup. Not sure if she has much influence on Olmert and Abbas. Funny how living in Jerusalem has changed me. It seems odd that someone, from so far away, who doesn’t understand the true complexities of the conflict, who doesn’t live with the threat of rockets and suicide bombers each day, who doesn’t get text messages from university telling you to keep a head’s up thinks that they can broker peace.
Today, Wednesday, news sources gave three messages. Abbas will not resume peace talks. Israel will begin incursion into Gaza again. And, Condie thinks that she and Bush can end the decades old conflict by the end of his administration which is less than a year away.
She has a nice smile doesn’t she?
Monday, March 3, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
A Worsening Situation
This morning was an uncommonly quiet morning walking through the souk of the Old City. By the time Church is over and I’m walking home, usually the stalls are open and the merchant’s wares are displayed and hung, just waiting for the first customer of the day. Today was different. Today the shops were closed. Most of the shopkeepers are Arab and they have not opened their doors in protest and solidarity with the worsening situation in Gaza. There is increased IDF and police presence in the Old City. As I understand it, the shops in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank are also closed. People are on edge.
Over the past few days there has been intensification of the Palestinian – Israeli conflict and between Fatah and Hamas. You’ve probably heard about it in the news with different reports. Ashkelon, on the coast, is on red alert after Kassam rockets have hit. Ashkelon is 17 km from Gaza. While it is not close to Jerusalem the missiles are heading farther into Israel. Which, is extremely worrisome. In the Western Negev 20 Kassam rockets and a Grad missile have landed. In addition Sderot, who has been under constant missile attack from Gaza, continues to suffer and people are suffering from trauma of the daily barrage.
In the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza an arms facility was targeted and the number of deaths and injured are close to 100. The hospitals in Gaza are overloaded with wounded. Hamas, the militant Palestinian Islamic movement, has addressed Abu Mazen, the Palestinian Prime Minister and leader of Fatah, stating that there will be no Fatah in Gaza, only the policy of Hamas. Peace talks have been suspended for now as I understand it on all fronts.
In this time of unrest and violence, not only here but around the globe, we must work and pray for peace and hope to end the chaos and despair. Let us keep our eyes fixed on the pain and suffering of all of the people here in this place we call holy. But, let us also envision a future where there is no more pain and suffering. Perhaps it can be so. Really, it has to be so!
Over the past few days there has been intensification of the Palestinian – Israeli conflict and between Fatah and Hamas. You’ve probably heard about it in the news with different reports. Ashkelon, on the coast, is on red alert after Kassam rockets have hit. Ashkelon is 17 km from Gaza. While it is not close to Jerusalem the missiles are heading farther into Israel. Which, is extremely worrisome. In the Western Negev 20 Kassam rockets and a Grad missile have landed. In addition Sderot, who has been under constant missile attack from Gaza, continues to suffer and people are suffering from trauma of the daily barrage.
In the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza an arms facility was targeted and the number of deaths and injured are close to 100. The hospitals in Gaza are overloaded with wounded. Hamas, the militant Palestinian Islamic movement, has addressed Abu Mazen, the Palestinian Prime Minister and leader of Fatah, stating that there will be no Fatah in Gaza, only the policy of Hamas. Peace talks have been suspended for now as I understand it on all fronts.
In this time of unrest and violence, not only here but around the globe, we must work and pray for peace and hope to end the chaos and despair. Let us keep our eyes fixed on the pain and suffering of all of the people here in this place we call holy. But, let us also envision a future where there is no more pain and suffering. Perhaps it can be so. Really, it has to be so!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
A Game of Tag Anyone, Someone??
I've been tagged by Padre Mickey! If you haven't seen his blog then you're missing something. There's a link to it on my blog right here to the right....Padre Mickey's Dance Party.Now I've got to:
1) List three reasons for my blog;
2) List the rules;
3) Tag three others.
My Answers....
Three Reasons:
1) I wanted my family and friends to be able to keep up with my escapes during my sabbatical.
2) I hate, HATE journaling. But I found that if I know there is someone that will read my entries it makes it plausible excuse and experience.
3) I want to remember what I did!
The Rules:
Rules? I didn't know there were any rules. Maybe not use any potty mouth.
Tag Three Others:
I tag Reverend Mom, PeaceBang, and Hoppy Holidays.
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