Where did the salmon's head go??

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Last night was the Eve of Rosh Hashanah (literally, the head of the year). 
On the festive New Year's dinner table, usually on the platter with the traditional gefilte fish, traditionally there should be at least one cooked fish head. 
Or even a ram's 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!
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Fish jump up the waterfall to spawn!

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Watch my little video and see many big fish attempting to jump up the waterfall! 

The exciting phenomenon happens for just a few days every year (although some say it happens two times in a year).

I got to see it in late November! 

Swiss people come and line both banks of the River Areuse to watch.
They shout their encouragement or their congratulations when one of the fish succeeds.

The big Lake Neuchatel is just downstream.
The fish swim upstream, against the current, to reach distant gravel beds at the river's source.
There they spawn.

I think these are trout.

The water gets smoother just after the strong ones get up that waterfall.

The video and pictures were taken in very late afternoon. 

Here is a shot of the river in sunlight, taken in the time of colorful foliage a few weeks before the spawning:

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(Linking to Camera Critters meme.)

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Made in Norway salmon

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Look at the  s i z e   of this piece of salmon!
Our town's supermarket recently began selling Norwegian salmon.
I think it's because Israelis started having second thoughts about buying frozen fish and frozen vegetables from China after these products got some bad press.

BTW, a supermarket worker in white saw my camera and rushed over, asking if she could help me with something.
I said simply that I had promised a photo to my friend Tanya in Norway, which is true. 

So for ABC Wednesday, N is for Norway, "Made in Norway."
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Proposals to protect our fish population

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Lots of fish on ice are always available at Beer Sheva's open-air market.

For ABC Wednesday, P is for protecting our population of Mediterranean fish.

According to this article in Haaretz --

Restrictions will soon be imposed on commercial fishing in the Mediterranean Sea in order to stem the decline in fish populations, the state promised the High Court of Justice this month. . . .

Among other limitations, the state will restrict fishing by divers during the May-June spawning season along the Mediterranean coast. The use of trawlers – boats that drag large nets along the sea bed, sweeping up everything in their path – will be prohibited from June to August near the shore and at depths of less than 30 meters. . . .
According to environmental advocacy organizations, the two dozen or so trawlers operating along the Mediterranean coast are responsible for the decline in fish populations, both because they account for around 70% of the catch by Israeli fishermen in the sea and because of the nets’ deleterious effect on marine habitats.. . .

But according to Uri Sharon, a spokesman for the fishermen who owns a trawler, the real culprits are pollution and the Aswan Dam, which reduced the amounts of food sources and marine life reaching the Mediterranean from the Nile River.
Menakhem Ben-Yami, an expert on Israel’s fishing industry,  argued that tens of thousands of amateur fishermen use nets and poles, without facing any catch restrictions. 

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H is for High Holy Days and happy new year

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 Happy new year 5774. 

Tonight, Erev Rosh Hashana, we dipped apples in honey in hopes of a sweet and peaceful year ahead.
 And the yellow dates you see on the other plate--the blessing to be said after eating a date tonight is
יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה' אֱלֹהינוּ וֵאלֵֹהי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, שֶׁיִּתַּמּוּ אוֹיְבֵינוּ וְשׂוֹנְאֵינוּ וְכָל מְבַקְשֵׁי רָעָתֵנוּ
May it be Your will, Lord our God and the God of our fathers, that there come an end to our enemies, haters and those who wish evil upon us.

Here are more simanim, symbolic foods, that belong to the Rosh Hashana meal.
The fish head gets the blessing
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.

To the right are patties made from leek.
The Hebrew word for leek is related to the verb karat, to cut, so the rabbis of old made this blessing: 

יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה' אֱלֹהינוּ וֵאלֵֹהי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, שֶׁיִּכָּרְתוּ אוֹיְבֵינוּ וְשׂוֹנְאֵינוּ וְכָל מְבַקְשֵׁי רָעָתֵנוּ
May it be Your will, Lord our God and the God of our fathers, that our enemies, haters, and those who wish evil upon us shall be cut down.
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See more simanim and their blessings at Chabad's "Rosh Hashanah Seder According to Sephardic Custom." 

Chag same-ach / happy holiday  and shana tova / a good year  to you! 
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)

Plasma TV? Nope, fish!

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Have you ever seen a fish tank hanging on the wall?!
I had never even heard of a wall aquarium.

Yesterday I saw my first one, right in the shopping center part of Hadassah Medical Center.
Enlarge the photo once or twice and see the reflected shops and tables of merchandise in the hallway.

I should have taken a picture from the side.
You would see that the narrow waterway for those poor fish must be less than two inches from front to back.
The poor things just swim back and forth, back and forth.  What a life.

Today I consulted a friend who is a professional aquarium builder, and he said it is OK as long as the fish are small ones and the quality of their water is good.
He said Hadassah has installed many of these in the hospital wards.

I guess watching fish is calming, but for me to see these fish confined in such a narrow place only angered me.
I hope fish don't feel claustrophobia.  I wonder if they can see reflections?
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(A post for Weekend Reflections and Camera Critters.)

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Tashlich, year 5773 AM (anno mundi)

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 On  Rosh Hashana afternoon it is customary to do the Tashlich ceremony.
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In the biblical book of Micah (7:18-19) it says:
"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? . . . You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."

"You will cast" in Hebrew is the verb tashlich.

The Jerusalem region has no sea or lake or river.
I am lucky to live  a short walk  from a spring-fed fish pond.

I read the prayer  and then took the symbolic bread crumbs from my pocket.
 I named a personal sin and threw a crumb in the water, named a national sin and threw another, a private sin of omission and tossed more bread.

The fish had a feeding frenzy!

Part of the symbolism is that a fish has no eyelids and cannot close its eyes, and so  too  may God always keep his eyes open watching over us.

You can see the nice Tashlich prayer here. 

Shava tova -- let the new year be a good one.
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UPDATE: The newspapers now have photos of where Israelis like to go for Tashlich .
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Harbor lights

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A few beautiful old fishing boats in the little harbor of Kibbutz Ein Gev on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
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The photo is fresh from yesterday evening, taken right after we had eaten the famous St. Peter's fish at the famous Ein Gev fish restaurant.
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I am busy with two visiting American friends (hence my rather erratic blogging and blog visiting) this month.
We took a quick 2-day trip up to the north to visit all their holy places around the Sea of Galilee.
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(A post for Our World Tuesday, with thanks to the team which has kept the meme alive and well for exactly one year now.)
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Friday fish

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A good catch at the Mahane Yehuda market.
Enlarge the photo to see the expression on the poor fish's face.

While fishing for a title for this post, I remembered reading that the Bishops of England and Wales decided to re-establish the practice of fish on Fridays, effective September 16, 2011.

The Bishops said that they “wish to re-establish the practice of Friday penance in the lives of the faithful as a clear and distinctive mark of their own Catholic identity.”
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I wonder if you could call the traditional eating of gefilte fish on Friday night (Erev Shabbat) a part of our Jewish identity. hmm . . .
But I think the Bishops meant that abstaining from meat on Fridays and having fish instead is what, for many years, made Catholics feel special and set apart.
Come to think of it, the Hebrew word kadosh, holy, actually means "set apart."
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Live fish

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With the shopping center reflected in their aquarium glass, these fish seem to be floating in air.
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For Camera-Critters Sunday.
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Fish and newspapers

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This poor guy was staring at me, at eye level, at Mahane Yehuda market.

The fishmonger even has his own card, David Dagim Ltd. [dagim = fish].
There are many fish sellers in the shuk but David seems to be the favorite.

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Look at those newspapers hanging on a hook and remember what they always say about yesterday's newspaper: It's only good for wrapping dead fish.

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A bridge reflected

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In the reflection you can see the Sea of Galilee and a little bridge over a duck and fish pond-- gifts to the hosts and friends at James' Weekend Reflections and at Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridges.
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You'd never know it, but right behind the windows were hundreds of tourists eating seafood.
Yes, this is the famous fish restaurant of Kibbutz Ein Gev.

A view of the restaurant and patio.
All the palm leaves were furiously blowing eastward.
It was a strange super-hot day in June with a strong west wind creating a dust storm and rare whitecaps and high waves.

This is a map for Christian pilgrims from the Yardenit website.

Ein Gev is on the right (east) side of the lake.

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In case you missed my post on the yummy St. Peter's fish we had at Ein Gev, it's here.

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Room for all in the water

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Christian pilgrims are not the only ones in the water . . .


. . . at Yardenit, the baptism place on the River Jordan.

(Photo by Kristine S.)

Here I am, trying to shoot these giant catfish just as they rose to the surface in a feeding frenzy whenever a tourist threw them bread.
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But then another animal came over to the stairs.

Is it a muskrat?*

I've never seen this rodent before.

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Even more fun than the catfish and the small fry and the (maybe) muskrat* was the little baby which appeared from under its mama.

You can see its head if you enlarge the photo!

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Seems like the Galilee is better for finding animals for our weekly Camera-Critters than is Jerusalem.

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(More on Yardenit here in the coming days.)

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*UPDATE: Blogger-friend (and now also RLF) Robin helped us identify the furry animal as a lutria (aka nutria or coypu), Myocaster coypus.
So it's NOT a muskrat.
Robin used to live in the area and swim in the Jordan, so she knows! See her comment. Better yet, see her blog about their life in Israel!
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St. Peter's fish

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Here's lookin' at ya.

St. Peter's fish, grilled!

So good!

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Its nose points just north of the famous fish restaurant at Kibbutz Ein Gev where we dined yesterday, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

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Russian reflections

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Here is one of the towers of the old (19th century) Russian pilgrim hostel reflected in the fountain in Sergei's Courtyard.

Even the upper "bowl" had the reflection, and fish as a bonus.

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All for James' Weekend Reflections.

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Tashlich, 5770 anno mundi

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On the afternoon of Rosh Hashana it is customary to do the Tashlich ceremony.
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In the biblical book of Micah (7:18-19) it says:
"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? . . . You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."

So tashlich means "You will cast off."

Having no sea or river or lake, I am fortunate to live near a spring-fed fish pond.
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I read the liturgy and then took the symbolic bread crumbs from my pocket. I named a personal sin and threw a crumb in the water, named a national sin and threw another, a private sin of omission and tossed more bread. On and on.
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The fish gobbled them up.
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Part of the symbolism is this: A fish has no eyelids and cannot close its eyes. So, too, may God always keep his eyes open watching over us.
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Insides outside

The marvelous annual Sculpture by the Sea is on in Bondi, Australia. These critter photos were taken by my daughter and son-in-law, who live in Bondi.
As Naomi wrote in her blog, "These animals had their insides showing."

My two grandsons here loved the flying whale.

No, this is not Jonah being spewed out of the great fish's belly. It's Dean, under the baleen!

Naomi and Dean befriend the urchins.

Thanks for the use of your fun photos, Naomi!

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Lots more animals are appearing today over at Camera-Critters, waiting for your visit.

Preaching to the animals

When I walked down to the spring on Rosh Hashanah to do Tashlich, this friendly cat was interested in the bread in my bag. She didn't understand why I was throwing all those sin-crumbs to the fish and not to her. So after I read the prescribed Psalms and prayers and added my private prayer, I sat down next to the purring kitty and spoke aloud to her (it was only the two of us there), explaining why fish:

"Tashlich is preferably recited alongside a body of water containing fish, to remind us that just as fish are protected by the water in which they live, we pray to be protected by G-d. Also, just as fish swim freely and can suddenly be caught in a net, so too we can just as helplessly fall into the net of sin. And even as the eyes of fish are always open, so do we pray that G-d too will keep vigilant watch over his people."

(from the Orthodox Union website)

Interestingly, the same webpage adds this reminder of the old days:
"Historically, Jews would sometimes be instructed by their own community leaders to seek out bodies of water not near the center of town, so as not to be seen during Tashlich by their non-Jewish neighbors, for fear of a 'poisoning the wells' accusation. This was certainly true if actual food was thrown into the water, but even if not, they would be accused of mumbling curses and poisoning the wells by witchcraft."

We have all come a long way since then [I hope].

Food for thought

The first day of the two-day holiday of Rosh Hashanah has been very full. Full of God, prayer, symbolism, food, fellowship--all those good things that start the new year.

  The soul-stirring call of the shofar was sounded in synagogues around the world.

 

Three friends came to have roast beef lunch at my table. We began with some of the symbolic foods for this day: dates, a round challah (for the cycle or "roundness" of a year), apples dipped in honey with the blessing that asks God to renew us for a sweet new year, pomegranate (may our merit be multiplied like the many seeds inside the fruit), and wine for the Kiddush blessing.

  On this day Jews walk to a river or other body of living water, preferably containing fish, to do the Tashlich ceremony. I am lucky to have a spring and fish pond just ten minutes walk from home.

Following the ancient tradition, I read the proper Psalms and prayers from the prayerbook. Tashlich in Hebrew means "You will cast off." In the biblical book of Micah (7:18-19) it says:

"Who is a God like thee, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? . . . Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."

Trying to name a year's worth of sins (so many "sins of omission"), I took the little pieces of bread from my pocket and cast them one by one upon the water. The fish surfaced and devoured them in a flash!

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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!
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