Shimon Peres on Mt. Herzl, then and now

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City Daily Photo bloggers group is posting today on the theme ABANDONED.

Today on Mount Herzl we buried Shimon Peres and I, and I daresay most of the people of Israel are feeling sad, almost abandoned.
The former President was 93 and, well, he was always here, here with us and for us.
As Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Wednesday morning, when Peres died, "This is the country's first day ever without Shimon Peres."
It feels like our father has died.
He is, indeed, the last of our State's founding fathers, the larger-than-life "giants" who brought our State into being in 1948.

Above is a photo I took of  President Peres in 2009 at Mt. Herzl.
(Please enlarge it and enjoy the wonderful faces.)
He spoke moving words at a new annual ceremony called The National Ceremony for Ethiopian Jews who perished on their way to Israel.
To read about the kesim (Ethiopian religious leaders) in the picture and their liturgical or ceremonial umbrellas, please see my posts here and here.

Shalom dear Shimon Peres.  Thank you for your example and inspiration.
We here below will carry on and try to make you proud of us.
Rest in peace.
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Our new President is sworn in

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Today was Shimon Peres' last day as president.
He has been in this office seven years and has contributed some 70 years of his life to public service for the State of Israel.

Peres gave an inspiring speech before a packed Knesset.
Only the seats of the Israeli Arab Members of Knesset were empty, as they were boycotting the ceremony.
The ceremony was toned down because of the situation, so no horses and motorcycles and no big cocktail party this year.

Former Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin then took the oath of office as our new president, with his hand on the Bible.
His speech had stories of what his father had taught him.
Rivlin is an 8th generation Jerusalemite, a big honor in itself!

Long live our new president and the former one too!
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The photo is my only one of Shimon Peres and is from a 2009 ceremony for Ethiopians Jews at Mt. Herzl.
See also this post which explains about the colorful "liturgical parasols" or ceremonial umbrellas.
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UPDATE July 27:   Israel 21C gives some nice anecdotes about President Rubi Rivlin.
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A tree weeps

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In Meitar's small cemetery a tree weeps,  sap running down fence stones.
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Tomorrow Israel will bury Arik Sharon on a hill at his Shikmim Ranch in the Negev, next to his wife.
Today TV showed the preparations for the funeral there.
As I watched a backhoe digging the grave and men lining the deep hole with cinder blocks, the reality hit home--Israel is losing "dor tashach," the generation of 1948, of "nefilim" (giants),  the Palmach generation, the founders of our State.
One by one they are returning to the earth of the Land they loved. 
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See any of the Israeli papers for more on Ariel Sharon and the state of the Nation:
The Times of Israel,   The Jerusalem Post,  Haaretz,   Ynetnews.
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Greening the desert

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See the bust down on the ground floor of this unusual building?

It is David Ben-Gurion,  Israel's first prime minister.

Today I was there  at Ben-Gurion College at  Sde Boker, Ben-Gurion's kibbutz.
One Friday a month they offer great lectures and/or guided tours.

At the entrance to the kibbutz is Ben-Gurion's famous prophecy about how we would make the desert bloom and make the Negev a blessing to the State of Israel.
The green shrubbery overtaking the writing on the wall seems to prove that it  really is happening.
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(Linking to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors meme.)
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Aloha, chaver, dear friend of Israel.

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Aloha chaver.
Shalom dear friend of Israel, Senator Daniel Inouye.
Your memory will be a blessing in Hawaii, in America, and here in Israel.

Official photo (2009) from http://www.inouye.senate.gov/

We are deeply indebted to the Senator for standing by Israel for many decades.

Inouye's latest achievement was to successfully push for funding for our  Iron Dome missile defense system which saved many lives when hundreds of rockets were fired at us from Gaza. 

He visited Israel just last January.  See a nice picture of him and our Prime Minister here.  

In a Jerusalem Post article I learned this: 

Inouye, who lost an arm while fighting in Europe during World War II, and was later decorated with a Congressional Medal of Honor for his service, traced his interest in Jews and Judaism to his rehabilitation in a military hospital in New Jersey in 1945.

Inouye said that in the next bed over was another soldier recuperating from his wounds. When Inouye asked the man about his wounds, the “blonde, blue-eyed officer” said it happened after he liberated a prison camp “where there were ovens, and people cooked in the ovens, and bodies stacked up” like kindling wood.

“I asked him what kind of prison it was, was it for murderers?” Inouye retold the tale in his deep, bass voice.

“‘No,’ he said, ‘they were Jews.’ I asked what crime they committed, and his answer changed my life. He said, ‘Well you know, Dan, people don’t like Jews.’” Inouye said this left a lasting impression on him, and that a few years later, when the honor society at his law school, George Washington University, refused to accept two students because they were Jewish, he said he told the group that if the Jews were blackballed, “then kick me out, too.”

Inouye dated his concrete connection to Israel back to 1951, when he was a salesman in Hawaii for Israel bonds. He quipped that he was the first person in his state to buy an Israeli bond, and still has it framed in his office, along with a mezuzah on the door and “menorahs all over the place.”

“There was a time I considered conversion,” he said.

“But I decided not to because my mother was such a devout Christian, she might not get over it.”

 Through all his accomplishments, starting with his enlistment at age 17, not long after Pearl Harbor, Daniel Inouye remained a humble man. 

 According to a statement from his office, he was asked recently how he wished to be remembered.

 "I represented the people of Hawaii and this nation honestly and to the best of my ability. I think I did OK," he said.

I almost fainted reading about his act of heroism in battle in Italy, April 1945.  

Read his own telling of it in the Atlantic. 

For ABC Wednesday, W is for World War II hero. 

Rest in peace, dear Senator Inouye.  Aloha, chaver.

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UPDATE: See also blogger friend Cloudia's 2-post tribute at Comfort Spiral (she actually lives in Hawaii).
She has a moving video of Inouye telling about how his father took leave of him before he went off to fight the war.  [The war, I might add, of the country that mercilessly put Japanese-Americans into internment camps.]
The video is a lesson for us in honor, sacrifice, honesty, bravery, leadership.
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Also recommended: A loving op-ed by a former Israeli ambassador to Washington, DC.
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Marking 17 years since Rabin's murder

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Yesterday the nation remembered Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the 17th anniversary of his assassination.
Youth movements organized the evening gathering in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, national leaders gave speeches at the grave site on Mount Herzl, the Knesset had a session to talk about Rabin, and Galei Zahal, the army radio, brought Rabin's family together with musically talented soldiers for a night of reminiscing and of singing the moving and appropriate songs. 

This picture of the grave was taken early one January morning when no one was there.
Someone had brought a painting and left it.
Others had put stones or memorial candles.

It was mentioned yesterday on the radio that Rabin's grave is under constant surveillance, lest vandals get any ideas.
Just two weeks ago someone defaced Moshe Dayan's tombstone in Nahalal.
The red paint said "Sar hamechdal, beshem hanoflim," meaning the minister of the failure, in the name of the fallen.

Both Yitzhak Rabin and his wife are buried here, in the cemetery of  Israel's leaders on Mt. Herzl, the Mount of Remembrance. 
Their  grave is covered by the unusual tombstones which Rabin's widow commissioned from architect Moshe Safdie.
Yitzhak Rabin is written in Hebrew on the black marble, Leah Rabin on the white.
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 A touching story was revealed by Prof. Leonard Fein of Boston and was picked up by Israel's Haaretz when Ted Kennedy died in 2009:

After Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin was assassinated (in 1995), Senator Edward Kennedy dug up some earth from the Arlington graves of his brothers John and Robert, who had also been gunned down. 

He carried the dirt onto the plane to Israel. 

After Rabin was buried on Mount Herzl, Ted waited for the crowd and the photographers to disperse. 

Then, on his hands and knees, he gently placed the American earth onto the freshly-dug Israel earth.

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May they all now rest in peace.

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A previous year's story about the Rabin remembrance day:

 http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2010/10/for-tree-of-field-is-mans-life.html

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(A post for Taphophile Tragics and Our World Tuesday.)

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Our President opens his doors to the people

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Today I accepted President Shimon Peres' invitation and came to his house, Beit HaNassi.
Well, I together with ten thousand curious Israelis and some tourists.
The official Presidential Residence is open to the people but once a year, for Sukkot.

I'll show you more of the festivities soon, but first let me post some presidential doors for the Monday Doorways meme before Monday is over.
And for Our World Tuesday too.

I was trying to snap the tall bronze doors when a strawberry woman suddenly walked through.
(Many of the exhibits today were about Israeli agriculture and science.)
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The guidebook calls them "Italian-style" doors.
You can see some of the 63 painted squares which decorate the ceiling of the reception hall, which is used for formal ceremonies.

The inside of the tall doors is of wood.

The guards let us peek through the door of a more cozy meeting room where the President talks with his VIP guests.

Not exactly a door but this is the entrance to the beautifully decorated sukkah, which is what our festival of Sukkot is all about.
The Hebrew above is from the Bible. God is saying "Then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit."

Let it be so.
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The United Nations

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These are fateful days in the United Nations.
My laptop is tuned in to the U.N. webcast right now.
Soon President Obama will speak.
On Friday Abbas will give probably the most important speech of his life.
After him, Netanyahu will say something.

Will a Palestinian state emerge from this talking and voting?
How will it change life here?

We shall see . . .
Let us hope for the best for all of us here in this small land.
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"For the tree of the field is a man's life"

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Mamilla Avenue (the mall) is currently showing an exhibition of sculptures based on fairy tales or legends.
There is also one artwork inspired by a biblical verse.
The artist is Osher Sutil.
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Today the radio is playing sad nostalgic songs in honor of the 15th anniversary of the death of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Appropriate and often heard is "For is the tree of the field a man whom comes in siege before you?"
It is a song by Israeli singer Yehudit Ravitz, based on Nathan Zach's poem and on the verse in Deuteronomy 20:19 [a very good link].
Here are the words, translated by Ariel Brosh:

Because the man is the tree of the field;
Like the tree the man grows up.
Like the man, the tree also gets uprooted,
And I surely do not know
where I have been and where I will be,
like the tree of the field.

Because the man is the tree of the field;
Like the tree he aspires upwards.
Like the man, he gets burnt in fire,
And I surely do not know
where I have been and where will I be,
like the tree of the field.

Because the man is the tree of the field;
Like the tree he is thirsty to water.
Like the man, thirsty he remains,
And I surely do not know
where I have been and where will I be,
like the tree of the field.

I've loved, and I've hated;
I've tasted both this and that;
I was buried in a plot of land;
And it's bitter, it's bitter in my mouth,

Like the tree of the field;
Like the tree of the field.*
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Yitzhak Rabin, z"l, was cut down by an assassin's bullet on this night in 1995 at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
Our nation was shocked that such a thing could happen here--a political assassination by a Jewish Israeli.
Today there is a new generation, kids ready to start their army service, who are too young to remember Rabin or his murder.
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We try to teach them and to remind ourselves today with memorial services across the country and a special session of the Knesset and programs on the media.

The main gathering will be at the unique grave of Yitzhak and Leah Rabin on Mt. Herzl.
Please see my post about how Senator Ed Kennedy brought earth from Arlington to add to this grave and a post about a statue dedicated to Rabin.
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Shalom chaver.

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*From Israeli Poetry: A Contemporary Anthology selected and translated by Warren Bargad and Stanley F. Cheyt, copyright 1986 by Indiana University Press.

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Silk screen on porcelain Pictures in Stone

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Would you believe? This little (now white) house is where former President of Israel Yitzhak Navon grew up.

The plaque on his house in the old Jerusalem neighborhood of Nachlaot says so.

Here, you can enlarge it and see him, the smallest boy in the 1925 photo.

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Talk about roots!

Former President Navon is descended from Spanish Jews who settled in eastern Europe after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and later moved to Jerusalem in 1670!

His mother's side, the Ben-Atar family, came from Spain to Portugal to Morocco; and finally to Jerusalem in 1884.
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Gilboa street (with the Navon house showing on the left) shows the tell-tale convex paving, meaning a cistern is below.

The little square at the end has the opening to the cistern, now sealed off.

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Navon loved his neighborhood so much that he wrote a play about growing up there.

Bustan Sfaradi (Sephardi Orchard) became a famous musical.
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Sir Moses (Moshe) Montefiore gave money to build the Ohel Moshe section of the Nachlaot quarter, and it is named after him.

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And guess where Montefiore was born!

In Italy, in Livorno!

This I learned from Italian blogger VP. You will enjoy his post http://livornodailyphoto.blogspot.com/2010/05/moses-montefiore.html

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As photo-bloggers, you will be pleased to know that dozens of such signs now adorn the neighborhood.

"Picture in Stone" is a project of Lev Ha-ir Community Center, which gathered family photos and historical testimony from those who lived or live there.
Photos of the original settlers, who left the security of the Old City in the late 19th century for the insecurity of New Jerusalem, are attached to the walls of homes, at the entrances to courtyards, and near the historical locations of schools, hospitals, orphanages, cafés, and more.

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By the 1970s the houses and the society were disintegrating. Lev Ha-ir began a process of restoration and gentrification.

And I believe the Picture in Stone contributed much to the pride of the place.

Nachlaot is now a charming and sought-after place to live, especially for artists, musicians, and--as one funny article claims--especially for "God 'n granola-inspired young American Jews, who lend parts of the neighborhood a feel of a Torah-inflected commune."

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The special technique of silk screen on porcelain is durable but expensive.

I heard from a tour guide who was showing her family's Picture in Stone that the families paid for them.

Even better! Good for them! Thank you!

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Ben-Gurion Square in Paris

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Bust of David Ben-Gurion at Hebrew University, Mount Scopus

We CDP bloggers are getting ready for tomorrow's Blog day: The Tenin Technique.
It is a 5th anniversary tribute to Eric of Paris Daily Photo. Eric started the "city daily photo blog" idea, and it has grown to 1,178 members.
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And what luck! Just in time! A Paris-Jerusalem connection!

Ynetnews writes that the French have decided to name a big central Paris square after David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, and that the inauguration ceremony will be on March 13. [Hmm, on Shabbat?]

The Yediot Aharonot daily says, "The square, which has a large fountain at its center, is located on the banks of the Seine River opposite the Quai Branly Museum. A statue of Ben-Gurion is expected to be placed in the square.
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Come back tomorrow for a look at France in Jerusalem.
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Head in the clouds

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For SkyWatch Friday we can watch the changing clouds and sky through American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein's "Modern Head."

Made of brushed steel, the sculpture stands 31 feet (9 1/2 meters) tall.

In the previous post we saw the rock sculpture depicting Abraham's almost-sacrifice of Isaac, his beloved son. On one face of the stone was written in Hebrew pahad Yitzhak, meaning the fear of Isaac, or Yitzhak's terror.

From that "Binding of Isaac" sculpture you see the "Modern Head" as in the photo above. That close.

The two were assembled in close proximity in the garden of Safra Square (Jerusalem City Hall) for a reason.

Following Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's death, Roy Lichtenstein, James Goodman, and Jeffrey Loria donated "Modern Head" to the Israel Museum in honor of Rabin. The museum later lent it to the Jerusalem Municipality.

Together the two sculptures, even though made before the 1995 assassination, create a tacit memorial site to the late Yitzhak (Isaac) Rabin.

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Arlington meets Mount Herzl

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America buries another Kennedy today.
Our leaders say farewell to a faithful friend of Israel.

A touching story was revealed by Prof. Leonard Fein of Boston and was picked up by Israel's Haaretz.

After Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin was assassinated (in 1995), Senator Edward Kennedy dug up some earth from the Arlington graves of his brothers John and Robert, who had also been gunned down. He carried the dirt onto the plane to Israel. After Rabin was buried on Mount Herzl, Ted waited for the crowd and the photographers to disperse. Then, on his hands and knees, he gently placed the American earth onto the freshly-dug Israel earth.

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Now the grave is covered by the unusual tombstones which Rabin's widow commissioned from architect Moshe Safdie. Yitzhak Rabin is written in Hebrew on the black marble, Leah Rabin on the white.

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May the leaders rest in peace.

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The Fellowship

In a festive ceremony yesterday the 18th Knesset was sworn in. After President Peres' speech the acting Speaker read the oath: "I pledge to remain loyal to the State of Israel and to fulfill my duty in the Knesset faithfully." As his or her name was called, each MK stood and declared: "Mitchayev ani," pledge I do.
Of the 120 Members of Knesset, 31 are new.
The average age is 53.
A record number of women, 21.
Haneen Zuabi is the first female Arab MK to enter the Knesset on an Arab list, Balad.
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Now all we need is a government! After the recent elections, things are quite a mess. Bibi Netanyahu, who did NOT get the most votes, was asked by the President to try to form a government. It is hard to form a coalition out of the 12 very different parties that won seats in the Knesset.
This graffito in the center of Jerusalem says VOTE FOR ARAGORN.
If only he had been running for office! He would have won my vote. If only Israel had an Aragron to lead the country . . .
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From his biography:
"Aragorn was known as Strider, a Ranger who lived in the Wild protecting the peoples of Middle-earth. But he was descended from the ancient line of kings, and when he joined the quest of the Ring-bearer, the time came for him to fulfill his destiny. As Frodo Baggins struggled to reach Mount Doom, Aragorn fought the servants of the Enemy and revealed himself to Sauron as Isildur's Heir. After Sauron's downfall the Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor were reunited under Aragorn's reign and peace and prosperity returned to Middle-earth."

Knights then and now

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II bestowed honorary knighthood on our president yesterday, appointing him Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George. Since Shimon Peres is not a subject of the Commonwealth, he (thankfully!) did not have to kneel upon receiving the honor and he may not use the title "Sir."

He is the first Israeli to be knighted. Mazal tov, congratulations Mr. President!

Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom, GPO ([Israeli] Govt. Press Office) in today's Ynet

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All this business of titles and honors is quite foreign to modern Israelis.

And knights?! The last time we had knights in the Holy Land is when Europe's Crusaders came riding in, killing and plundering.
They massacred the Jews as well the Muslims of Jerusalem.
Their kingdom here was short-lived, from 1099 to 1187.

(Click to enlarge for easy reading.)

The exhibits are in the wonderful Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem.

From their website:
The orders of knights combined two Christian ideals: chivalry and chastity. Four such orders were based in Crusader Jerusalem: the Templars, the Hospitallers, the Teutonic Knights and the Knights of St. Lazarus.
The orders, each in its own way, took responsibility for the safety and well-being of pilgrims, and the treatment of the wounded and the lepers. Some of the orders provided an important military force to defend the kingdom as a whole.

GA '08 in Jerusalem this year

The 2008 General Assembly (GA) of the United Jewish Communities/Federations of North America celebrated Israel's 60th anniversary, with the theme “One People, One Destiny.”
These are the Americans and Canadians who contribute their money, time, energy, moral support, and love to Israel all year long.
I got to attend their closing session this morning. The real, registered, paying GA delegates numbered 4,579.

Several floors of the convention center were full of booths exhibiting the good things Israeli Jewish society is doing. I filled a free tote bag with free literature, pen, candy, keyring, calendar, and a DVD. I even scored a T-shirt from a favorite organization. And delicious rogelach at coffee break time.

Who says we don't have trick-or-treating here?! ;)

It was my first time to see our government leaders in person. Prof. Stanley Fisher, Governor of the Bank of Israel, spoke about the current challenges to our economy. Opposition Leader Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu said that he would like to "weave an economic peace for the ordinary Palestinian" and to incorporate Egypt and Jordan in economic development of our region.

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On the big screen on the stage you see the topic of the second plenary: TIKKUN OLAM.

A central pillar of Judaism, it means "fixing the world," or healing the world, making it a better place. Shari Arison stressed that our mission of tikkun olam must begin with personal transformation, inner repair work.

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Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni stressed that the character of Israel must remain a Jewish state and that the nations should accept it as such. My favorite line from her speech: "And a Jewish state is not a monopoly of Jewish rabbis! It is what each and everyone feels inside."

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