Sun for the garden

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A monastery  garden, tended by the Sisters of Sion, Ein Kerem.

Clouds over the Jerusalem Hills for Sky Watch Friday.

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Birds enjoying the view

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These crows for Camera-Critters and clouds for SkyWatch Friday are from two weeks ago.
But this Friday, Saturday, Sunday  we are expecting some real rain for a change and temperatures falling down to 18, then 17, then 16 degrees C.
It has not been that cold in a long long time.

The photo is taken from the trail leading down into Ein Kerem village.
I walked there and back, several hours, because on the Sabbath there is no public transportation.
The big wall you see surrounds the convent of the Sisters of Sion.  Notre Dame de Sion was built back in 1861 and it is a beautiful quiet place.

And the farming terraces  are often from biblical times and are common in the Jerusalem Hills.
I love how they were built to last. 
They, too, are part of our built heritage.
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Heartwood

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Something new in the quiet gardens of the Sisters of Zion in Ein Kerem!

Is it not a wonderful way to give a tree a new purpose in life?
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Shadows in the cemetery

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We're almost done with our walk in the Sisters of Sion convent in Ein Kerem, but you still have to see the cemetery.

I like how the tree shadow bends to walk up the stairs to a door to I know not where.
(For Shadow Shot Sunday, of course, and Monday Doorways too.)

The deceased and their visitors have a great view over the convent wall to several other churches and monasteries in the Jerusalem Hills.

The convent was built in 1860 and many of the Religious of Our Lady of Sion (and some of their friends) are buried here.
No worries, the ancient ossuary is just for decoration, not for the Sisters' bones.
It was discovered on a nearby hill.

Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne died in 1884 and is buried in this place that he built and where he lived for several decades.

His last words are engraved in French under Mary's feet:
" Oh Maria, remember thy son who was conquered by your love."

Ratisbonne was born to a French Jewish family but while visiting a small church in Rome he had a sudden conversion experience.
He said that Mary appeared to him and without words taught him everything he needed to know about the Catholic faith.
He went all the way and became a Jesuit priest and a missionary to the Holy Land.

His older brother had converted much earlier; Fr. Marie-Theodor Ratisbonne founded the monastic order and gave them a biblical verse as their foundational text.

You can read it here on Alphonse's grave:
"IN SION FIRMATA SUM" meaning "In Zion I will establish my dwelling."

Wikipedia says this about Theodor:

"In the 1820s, Ratisbonne joined a wave of apostasy in the French Jewish community triggered by a sense that the Jews could not achieve full integration in French society as long as they remained Jews. Ratisbonne reached the conclusion that there was a fundamental incompatibility between Judaism and French citizenship."

The rocks placed on Alphonse's grave in the traditional Jewish custom of showing respect always make me sad, thinking about these two ex-Jewish brothers.

Inside the walls, gardens and huge reservoirs

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I love the old roof tiles like these in the garden of the Notre Dame de Sion convent.
Many of them came all the way from Marseille in the 19th century to roof the houses around here.

Like this precious little outbuilding!

It sits next to one of the huge rain reservoirs that the Sisters of Sion have on the big walled property.
The white yardstick inside goes up to 5 meters.

It finally started to be winter today, cold and rainy; let's hope the pool will fill up this season.

Do you reckon the Rob Roy mixer from yesterday's post contributed some cement to these wall pillars a long time ago?

Just inside the big perimeter walls.
This photo from last spring shows how green the nuns' garden can be.
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R is for Rob Roy

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I came across this old machine near the little orchard inside the Sisters of Sion convent in Ein Kerem.
It's a cement mixer, yes?

It was exciting to read the boilerplate!
The mixer was brought all the way from Monifieth, Scotland, a long time ago.

Please enlarge the photo. What can you make of the "Date made:" date?

Wow, it came all that way, so long ago, in order to build up the Holy Land.

The wheelbarrow with a metal wheel looks to be something of well-used antique also.
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Back home, I learned from Wiki that the Low family (like on our machine's ID tag) first set up a foundry in the village of Monifieth in the early 1800s and in 1815 developed the first carding machine for flax tow in the area.
During both world wars the foundry produced shells.
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The Monifieth History Society adds this:

"The return of the men from the armed services found changes being made in the Foundry. Due to the recession in the jute and textile industry, operations were transformed to the production of building contractors plant, such as dumper trucks, concrete mixers etc. The firm then assumed the name of Rob Roy and was owned and managed by a family from India.
Sadly by early 1980`s all production had ceased and the `foundry` was condemned for demolition to be cleared away to make space for a shopping precinct.
The `heart` of Monifieth was gone and very soon forgotten."
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Well, at least the former foundry is still remembered in a convent in the Hills of Jerusalem.
And Rob Roy is remembered for R day at ABC Wednesday.
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Charming old doors in an Ein Kerem convent

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As you know from yesterday's post, I recently walked through the hill country over to the village of Ein Kerem.
Enlarge the photo and you will see the Sisters of Sion convent surrounded by a big white wall.
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For Monday Doorways I'll show you some of my favorite doors from the beautiful enclosed and peaceful place.


As the main entrance door says, Our Lady of Sion was built in 1861.
Back then Ein Kerem was an Arab village and we were all ruled by the Ottoman Turks.

This nice entrance is to one of the guesthouses.

Not sure what this door leads to . . . .

Near the cemetery, the nice old stones showing through.

A storage place with a heart carved in the shutters.

In the food garden, one of the few gateways through the thick outer wall.
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Two French brothers who converted to Catholicism founded the orders of the Sisters of Zion and the Fathers of Zion and built this convent in Moslem Ein Kerem.
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As the fine Jerusalem, Step by Step guidebook points out,

"The convent, built in surroundings hostile to Christians, looks like a fortress: high, thick walls, water reservoirs inside the grounds and a vegetable garden so that the nuns could grow their own food and withstand a siege."

I'll show you pictures of these elements in coming posts, inshallah.
This post is also for Our World Tuesday.
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A "paned" look inside the walls

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For James' "Weekend Reflections"--part of the garden of the Sisters of Zion reflected in some waiting window panes.

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Inside Ein Kerem's big walled monastery, Notre Dame de Sion, are many lovingly-tended gardens and orchards.

A peaceful quiet place much prayed in.
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Pews and benches

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More scenes of the 1860s church we first saw in yesterday's post.
Notre Dame de Sion monastery in Ein Kerem is a holy oasis of quiet and green in an already-quiet village.

Unusual modern stations of the cross, simple and artistic.

Reminders of Jewish roots.

The Sisters of Zion teach these things.

Some pews have nice fold-down kneelers.

And just outside in the garden, a bench circle.

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Three in one

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I think it is called Plexiglas.
But whatever it is made of, the transparent lectern was great for James' "Weekend Reflections."

Today we visited the convent of the Sisters of Zion in Ein Kerem.
There was the stained glass window of Prophet Elie (Elijah) reflected, next to the book of Psalms!
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And looking straight down through the lectern, you can see the vaulted ceiling of the church.

One of the regular high windows came through most clearly and bright.

Don't you like the clean lines of the church, built back in the 1860s?

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This photo shows the lectern and the things that were reflected in it today.
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What the lady is reflecting about we will never know.

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