New Domino's Pizza scooters

Brand new, still partly wrapped additions to the Domino's fleet in Beer Sheva!

Soon they will get their blue boxes mounted on the back to keep your pizza hot en route. 
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A tale of a tail for sale

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I was surprised to see something new in our local supermarket's meat department.
I was then somehow shocked to read the label; it said (and I translate literally from the Hebrew)  "TAIL OF A CALF."
I was really curious by then because never have I seen a whole long tail for sale!
After sneaking a photo for the blog, I came home and started googling.

OK, so I did already know there is something called oxtail, but oxen are not used for that anymore; and if you do see it for sale, the tail bone is chopped into smaller pieces.

Apparently there is a new approach to eating meat based on a 2004 foodie classic, The Whole Beast, Nose to Tail Eating by chef Fergus Henderson.
As one kosher butcher explains it,
"Nose to tail eating is a philosophy in which one eats the entire animal thereby honoring the animal's sacrifice and reducing food waste." 

Here is how an Australian organic food blog talks about it.

I am not qualified to explain about the historic complications of kosher tail requirements.
There is something about having to remove the sciatic nerve and having this nikkur done by specially trained menakrim.
In fact many Jews believe/d -- mistakenly -- that eating beef hindquarters is forbidden.
But if you are interested please see "Cow butts are kosher" in the blog The Kosher Omnivore's Quest.

Your input is welcome, dear readers.
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P.S. Speaking of beef, here is a favorite photo of mine from Jerusalem's shuk (open market):
http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/a-heavy-yoke.html
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday. My K is for kosher.)
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Back

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Just before school opened on Sept. 1, this man was putting up a new "window-dressing" on the glass front of a local shop.

Appropriately, the yellow school bus door is positioned on the store's door.  
Anything to lure the kids in to buy little toys and snack food.
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Dear readers, sorry I have been away from blog writing and blog visiting for several weeks.  My old laptop stopped responding, then got fixed, and then soon died.  I had to buy a new one and I am slowing learning how to set up everything.  The new and dreaded Windows 10 also needs getting used to.   So thanks for your patience.  Shalom to all!
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Lipizzaners in the shop windows

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Want to buy a Lipizzaner stallion?
(Or how 'bout a pewter soldier?  Enlarge the photo to choose one.)

 
The Viennese are very proud of their performing Lipizzaner horses, and if you gaze into the shop windows in stores all around the Spanish Riding School you find SRS souvenirs.
Christmas tree ornaments, pencils in the shape of a horse head, diaries, key chains, cap and gloves . . .

Spanische Hofreitschule calendars and even WINE.
A mug saying "I'm the best horse in the stall."

And books in German and English.
There were tons more horse things in the official gift shop in the palace.
But I took pictures only of the shop windows in the neighborhood, remembering that December 1 would be Theme Day on that subject over at City Daily Photo bloggers group.
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The best and only souvenir I came home with is my 13-Euro ticket for a guided tour of the stables, tack room, and arena -- and the memory of being so close to these magnificent horses.
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Their faces should be red, not white.

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If all these monotonous white shirts say "Sale"  then it must be the end of season sale at the Zara store in a Beer Sheva mall.

The Spanish international fashion chain got in trouble, with Jews at least, for "innocently" putting this shirt on the market.
Shirt is made in Turkey, by the way.

See the full story at The Times of Israel, which begins thus:

For only NIS 80 ($23), your little tyke can have that fashion forward fresh-from-the-concentration-camp look now on sale at international chain Zara.

The children’s 65% cotton, 35% polyester white shirt with dark horizontal stripes sports a fetching yellow Star of David badge on its left breast. It’s called the “sheriff,” and a closer look reveals that the word is indeed lightly etched upon the badge.

And then see Zara's subsequent  foot-in-mouth apology.   Oi.
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Green cheese

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Green cheese?!
It is labeled Gouda with pesto, 30% fat, 15.99 shekels per kilogram.

We shopped at the big and beautiful  Eden Teva Market in Beer Sheva  for the first time.
The daughter happily  stocked up on sheep and goat cheeses. 
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My Meitar

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A whole medley of M words in one photo for ABC Wednesday meme.

My new hometown,  Meitar,  is built around one Mercaz, the commercial center, in its middle.
From right to left: Mercantile Bank, Michlol for school supplies, Maccabi Healthcare Services, and below the antennas--Moetsa Mekomit Meitar, the Meitar Local Council (which is like a municipality/city hall but for small communities).

There are other little businesses and a big supermarket, but their names don't start with M. 
And even an outdoor cafe where you can munch on freshly baked pastries and drink mocha.
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A spiky tree with soft flowers

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In between cleaning my new place and unpacking boxes I ventured out in search of food.
Right in the supermarket parking lot is this strange tree with fearsome sharp shpitzim all over its  trunk. 

Its flowers are beautiful.
You can enlarge the photos 2x.
Anybody know what kind of tree it is?
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In the back you see Meitar's only supermarket and little commercial center.
The food store has a monopoly and oi-- its prices are much higher than what I was used to in Jerusalem.
Maybe I'll start to shop in our nearest big city, Beersheba, instead;  it is about 30 or 40 minutes by bus from Meitar.
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Through a glass elevator, brightly

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Deep reflections in the floor of the elevator, for Weekend Reflections, had an almost dizzying effect as we went up.

But looking through the glass elevator, down onto Zion Square, was even more exciting.

You can see where the Ben-Yehuda Street pedestrian mall begins at Zion Square, corner of Jaffa Street.
The decorated parked car belongs to the joyful NaNach Jews, and the yellow bloodmobile waits for your blood donation.

Enlarge the photo and see the tram.
The light rail is now the only vehicle allowed in this part of Jaffa St., making it too a kind of pedestrian mall.

Here is a wider view (again, from the elevator) .

Hamashbir LeTsarchan was Israel's first department store, and its Jerusalem store recently moved into this new building with the two glass elevators.
You can see the modern building still under construction in an earlier post.
The tower (or rotunda) with the elevators looks like a lighthouse.

Architect Aaronson said he designed the elevators as a "kinetic sculpture" that will radiate light outward and add to the general experience of passersby.
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Something new on old Jaffa Road

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James in California started his meme two years ago today. Now about a hundred bloggers contribute a reflection photo every weekend. Join the fun at Weekend Reflections.

An old building on Jaffa Street is reflected in a new building under construction.

Here's that new building from the other side (at the beginning of Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall).
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UPDATE:
OK, you curious and questioning readers never let me get by with a quick post. Your comment questions have made me do my homework.
So! This will soon be the new home of the HaMashbir LaTsarchan department store (now located on King George).
It will have five sales floors, a cafe, and a floor of offices.

You asked about the tower. Here is what Haaretz says:

[The] rotunda . . . functions like a kind of lighthouse visible from Jaffa Road and the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall. The rotunda is actually the space that connects all the commercial floors inside, and contains two glass elevators. Aaronson [the architect] says he's designing the elevators as a "kinetic sculpture" that will radiate light outward and add to the general experience of passersby.

Fun in the fromagerie

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When stood on edge, cheese wheels really do look like wheels!

One of my favorite memories from Switzerland--Gruyere!

Welcome to the Shuk Mahane Yehuda store of "BASHER, The King of Cheese."
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The hole-y Swiss Emmental was tagged "special price" but I didn't see how much it cost because I was having too much fun just taking pictures.
And I'm sure all these imported luxury cheeses are beyond my budget anyway.

Cheesemaking is such an art and such hard and satisfying work. (This I know from working a year and a half in the cheese dairy of an Israeli sheep farm.)
That's why I was so excited to see the nearly one thousand kinds of cheese in this fromagerie today!

Their website says that Eli Basher travels every month to Rungis, the famous wholesale food market at the outskirts of Paris, to select the cheeses.
Of course, he has plenty of great Israeli cheese and dairy products too.

The store has just been renovated and now it is very open and even more inviting.
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Israeli salad for a blue-tongue

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Even though its bustle and size make me dizzy, I stepped into Malcha Mall.
The pet shop is the one store there that I cannot NOT go into.
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The picture taped to this skink's enclosure makes me believe it is what Australians call a blue-tongue.
I, for one, would not want to keep a 60-centimeter reptile in a glass case for its 20-year life expectancy.
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Well, at least this guy had a nice bowl of "Israeli salad."
We humans eat it for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner.
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Shalom to friends at Camera-Critters meme.
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So many

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All your manger needs (and then some!) can be found in the Old City shops and

in the Franciscan church's gift shop in Ein Kerem.

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Shopping for shadows

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Hey, more "reverse shadows" for Hey Harriet's "Shadow Shot Sunday."

The rectangles of light come down from the windows in the Mamilla Mall dome.

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The opening of this first GAP store in Jerusalem was big news last August.

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And now, last week, everyone was talking about the opening of a Tel Aviv branch of the Swedish fashion house H & M. Shoppers waited in line for hours to be let into the new store.

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IKEA, the international chain selling Swedish-designed furniture, a few days ago opened its second branch in Israel, near Rishon Lezion. They say it is their biggest store in the Middle East. It is a 1.2 mile walk from one end of the building to the other.

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Oi, just the idea is enough to make me dizzy. I'm glad I don't need anything and don't have to go shopping. :D

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Over the hill

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Before we get too far away in time from the Winter Olympics, I'd like you to see this.
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At a big electronics store in the Jerusalem Mall, these young religious girls were glued to the screen(s).
Strictly orthodox Jewish families do not have a television in their homes.
So for these girls it was a few minutes of being transported to another world--Canada, snow, skiiers. . .
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(Well, what am I saying?? I don't have a TV either. I too had fun watching all those skiiers come over the hill. But more fun taking the picture.)
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Books, bookstores, book people

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Jews are known as Am Hasefer, the People of the Book.
This originally meant the holy books like the Torah and the wider canon of written Jewish law.
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I think the definition has widened. This was proved to me when I joined a guided tour called "Sefarim rabbotai, sefarim!" given by the Yad Ben Zvi Institute.
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We love books. Otherwise why would dozens of Jews gather at a windy corner in central Jerusalem, pay 70 shekels each, and walk around for hours on a cold December evening, listening attentively to the Ph.D.-student guide as he led us to legendary old bookstores?
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He also explained where the good libraries used to be some 60 years ago.
It was a big history lesson.
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The one store I could get a photo of was Trionfo, a store full of treasures.
The owner invited our big group in and gave us a lecture about their labor of love.

Their website says they specialize in Chanukah menorahs, yads, torah finials, charity boxes, plates (seder and others), manuscripts, art, ephemera, postcards, documents, and anti-semitica.
(Anti-semitica?? Is that a real word?!)
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They also offer old, antique, and vintage Jewish-related books including 19th century travel books to Palestine; Israeliana (KKL pushkes, posters); Palestine and Jerusalem 19th and 20th
century original photography; and antique maps.
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Trionfo even has an eBay store. Take a look at their photos of Jerusalem in the 1800s.
Quite amazing--like there was almost nothing here, outside the Old City.
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Books and book people--that's my B contribution for ABC Wednesday.
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Sefer Torah

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Welcome to That's My World Tuesday. For the past 26 hours my world has been the solemn Jewish holy day, Yom Kippur, complete with fasting and lots of ancient prayers.
You can see more about the Day of Atonement and a video of my grandson blowing the shofar in yesterday's post.
You may not take pictures in the synagogue on a day like today because "work" is forbidden on Yom Kippur. So in order to show you the beautiful Sephardic-style Torah cases, I took these photos in a store in Jerusalem a couple weeks ago.

The parchment of the Torah scroll would be attached to the two wooden rollers.

The first five books of Moses--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy--are carefully written on the parchment (animal skin) by a special scribe.
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In Ashkenazic congregations the Torah scroll is covered with a velvety mantel instead of being housed in the wooden case.

All the beautiful ornamentation is our way of honoring the Torah.

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Crocs too comfy?

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Our Ynetnew.com has characteristically taken an old and odd bit of religion news and blown it out of proportion. If you want to read the article, read the talkbacks too; they are the funniest part.
A young yeshiva student asked his elderly ultra-orthodox Jerusalem rabbi if Crocs were OK to wear on Yom Kippur. The rabbi reportedly decided: "It is permissible legalistically, but it is inadvisable."
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To quote Ynet,
"The rabbi further explained his ruling saying that he ruled according to the halachic authorities who believe that the prohibition against 'wearing sandals' refers to not wearing leather shoes.
Despite this, the rabbi added, he took into consideration the interpretation of halachic rulers who see the prohibition against 'wearing sandals' as referring to creating a level of discomfort. As such, any shoe that is not from leather but is comfortable to wear is forbidden on Yom Kippur. "

Well, I have no Crocs and my sandals are of rubber and fabric. Will they be kosher enough for my village synagogue tomorrow night?
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All it stipulates in the Bible (in Leviticus 16:29, 31; 23:26, 29, 32; and Numbers 29:7) is that on Yom Kippur "You shall afflict yourselves,* and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you: for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you . . . ."
*Actually the Hebrew says וְעִנִּיתֶם, אֶת-נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם -- You shall afflict your souls.
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The rabbis in ancient times then interpreted this to mean that on Yom Kippur eating and drinking, and washing (with water), and anointing (with oil), and putting on leather sandals, and marital intercourse are forbidden.
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"In the Talmud's terms, for a brief time we elevate ourselves to the status of angels, who have no corporeal needs and whose sole role in the universe is to serve God. (The rabbis also explain that the things we abstain from are all those that make the soul comfortable in the body. By engaging in activities that make it uncomfortable, the soul is more likely to rise up from the body, taking us to a higher spiritual plane.)" -- This is how artist/writer Lesli Koppelman Ross expains it.
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For interesting ideas on the footwear please see her article at MyJewishLearning.com.
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One thing for sure: Life in Israel and in Judaism is never boring!
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Wickerwork in Jerusalem

It's time for something lighter on this blog, eh? And what could be lighter than wicker?
Wicker furniture looks easy to transport.

The little shop is on Agrippas Street, right near Shuk Machaneh Yehuda outdoor market.

In case you still throw your wheat up in the air to let the chaff blow away, these are just what you need.

Loofa is great for gently washing pans or people. Just cut it to the size you need and start scrubbing. It is a plant seed pod. To see how loofa "sponge gourds" are harvested and peeled, visit the luffa.info website.

Please also pay a visit to some of the many bloggers showing off their world tonight on That's My World Tuesday.

Doggie coats

True, it is down to 2-7 degrees C in Jerusalem (36-45 F). But is that cold enough for dogs to need jackets?
This is something I've never seen before. The pet shop across the street from Denmark Square brought out their entire "Winter Collection 2008-9" to display on the sidewalk.
Pretty snazzy coats, eh? But I have never once seen a Jerusalem dog dressed in one.
In Tel Aviv, yes, many. And Tel Aviv is always warmer than Jerusalem. I guess our dogs are just tougher and braver and they grow natural fur coats for our chilly winter.
BTW, snow is predicted here in the central hills tonight. It has been 13 months since the last snowfall. Let's hope and pray you have some white photos to see tomorrow!
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Animal pictures from all over are assembled today over at Camera-Critters.