Change for the pushke

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Almost full!
Quite some time ago our town's Chabad rabbi gave me this pushke. 
It was empty then.
Rabbi Shneor's hope was that I would put in some loose change every day--not because he needed the money for Chabad House, but because he wanted me to learn the habit of giving tsdakah every day. 

Tsdakah in Hebrew means justice or righteousness but is often translated (for want of a better English equivalent) as "charity."

Today's Theme Day subject at City Daily Blog is CHANGE and I decided to go with coins as change.  But to see how other bloggers did it, see 
http://cdpbthemeday.blogspot.com/ .

To read about the uniquely Jewish perspective on charity, please see
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/814118/jewish/Tzedakah-Charity.htm

and
https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/pushke
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2 bundles of gold treasure dug up near Temple Mount!

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 What the Hebrew University is calling the Menorah Treasure was shown to the public for the first time today.
It was discovered in the Ophel, in the circled part of my photo, outside the southeastern part of the Temple Mount wall.
With two clicks you can enlarge the picture a lot.

UPDATE:   Hebrew U. has just put up a video about the discovery!   
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYsjPFnmAmQ&feature=youtu.be

Woohoo!!   

Buried treasure found in Jerusalem announced today!!

OMG, it is so beautiful!

And 1,400 years old! 

See the gold at 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/gold-treasure-trove-unearthed-at-base-of-temple-mount/

and also  http://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-1.545965

I just wonder how archaeologist Eilat Mazar and the dig volunteers were able to keep it secret since April, when they discovered the treasure! 

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(Linking to Our World Tuesday meme.)

A quandary and a queue at the Holy Sepulchre

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Queue is a queer word,  with too many letters.
I prefer to just say line.
But what to do, today is Q Day at ABC Wednesday. 

Most hours of the day there is a long queue of pilgrims wrapped around the  edicule, the structure built over the tomb of Jesus inside the rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The entrance is narrow and the clergy on duty regulate the flow, allowing you only a brief minute inside.
There is room for only 3 or 4 inside, next to the tomb.
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The news broke this week that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is in trouble.
They owe 9 million shekels (2.3 million dollars) for back payments on the water bill.

Apparently they had a tacit agreement with the late Teddy Kollek z"l, who was mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, that the church would get free water. 
But now the water company says that under  law the company cannot do this. 

And now,  the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which has extensive and valuable property holdings in the Holy Land and maintains a headquarters in the ancient church, had its bank account frozen. 

The Greeks threatened to close the doors to the church for a day  in protest. 
If that were to happen, it would be a sad day in the Holy City. 
'Tis a quandary. 
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Read the whole story in the Jerusalem Post  and more at Ynet.  
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(A last contribution  to Taphophile Tragics.)
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Archaeology evening, Part 2

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Here is one of the guides who explained the Givati Parking Lot excavations on Thursday, as part of the 13th annual City of David conference.
He is showing the buried treasure that was found there in recent years.
Like the hoard of 264 gold coins, never used, in mint condition, dated to 613 CE, worth over half a million dollars today!

A British woman volunteer found the money in the wall of this Byzantine building.
This dig in the Arab village of Silwan, right next to the Old City, is the biggest on-going excavation in Israel.

The other items in the guide's photo are a tile with the stamp of the Roman Tenth Legion and a 2,000 year old earring of gold, pearl, and emerald.
Got $180 (less a holiday discount)? --You, too, can buy a pair of earrings, replicas of this beautiful Roman Period find.
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Cold cash

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Cold cash or credit card?
How do you like to pay?
Either way is good for ABC Wednesday's C Day.

Our newest form of currency, the plastic 20 shekel banknote, first came out in 2008.
The polypropylene (a polymer substrate) note is printed by Orell Fuessli Security Printing of Zürich.
(They say Israel is the land of milk and honey but Switzerland is the land of milk and money.)
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The face of the bill has the face of Moshe Sharett; a picture of the ceremony of the unfurling of theIsraeli flag at the UN building on May 12, 1949; and the text of the speech given by Sharett on that occasion.
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But most fun is the transparent "see-through" in the shape of a magen David.
Here's lookin' at ya!
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The bus to another world

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Our Egged bus driver had lots of mirrors--good for the "Weekend Reflections" meme over at James' blog.
The drive from Jerusalem down to Ein Gedi is just over an hour.
As a senior citizen I pay half-fare for public transportation, so my round trip fare was only 36 shekels.
With my discount the Nature Reserve entrance was NIS 13.
So we had a full day hiking in the desert for only 49 shekels (about $13 or 9 Euros).

Just east of Jerusalem the desert begins, and also the West Bank.
Quite soon you come to a T in the road: left to Ramallah (the seat of the Palestinian Authority government) or right to Qumran, Ein Gedi, Masada, Ein Bokek, and Neve Zohar.
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At the checkpost the back of one van was being searched. Our bus driver was getting worried about the schedule he has to keep, so he started beeping, gesturing, and shouting out the window for the guards to pull the car over to the side of the road and let us through.
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What you see next to the left side of the road is already the Dead Sea.
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While searching (unsuccessfully) for a good modern map to illustrate this, I came across a fine website with a map of FIRST CENTURY Israel! All the place names from the Bible, and Ein Gedi figures prominently. Check it out!
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Gelt, then and now

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During the week of Chanuka kids are given some coins as a gift.
Chanuka gelt (Yiddish for money) became a tradition in 17th century Poland.
Nowadays little pouches of foil-covered chocolate "coins" are welcome, too.

These coins are on display at the Jewish Art Museum in Hechal Shlomo in Jerusalem.
Fourteen gold coins were in the pomegranate jar discovered in the stones of the Holy Ark of the 6th century synagogue Dir Aziz in the Golan.

That is the emperor Justinian I on the Byzantine-era coins (I think).

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Sure wish I could give this little treasure to my grandkids as Chanuka gelt!

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