Welcome back RAIN!

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The times are a'changin'.
This dry sundial in a monastery garden surely has some water in it for that bird today.
YES!!! It rained last night!!
Israel's first rain since last spring!

Rain is such a blessed thing here that Hebrew has a name for this first rain--ha-yoreh.
The last rain, usually in March or April, is called the malkosh.

I slept right through the rain last night, but walking down in the woods this morning I could smell the wetness, so welcome after so much dryness.
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The sundial's shadow did not show the right time but no matter, it is fine for Shadow Shot Sunday.
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Sundial resting in shade

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Sundials for ABC Wednesday S-day, in the garden of the Scots Hotel, St. Andrew's, Galilee, owned and managed by the Church of Scotland.

Enlarge the photo to learn that Tiberias is 3, 390 kilometers from Edinburgh.

The clever sundial tells both local time and time in Edinburgh.

The Hebrew writing says "In sunshine I work, but in shade I rest."

We talked about the newly refurbished hotel in an earlier post.

The Scots built it as a hospital in 1824 and it served as such until 1959. Then it was converted into a youth hostel. In 2005 the site was reopened as an elegant boutique hotel.

A strange ship near the shore of the Sea of Galilee, with the sundial in the background.

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Salutations to artist Pietro Brosio. At his blog you will find lots more sundials as well as his paintings and fine photos of Italy.

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Conflict transformation

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For full impact click on the photo and read the writing on the wall.

It's a good thing that the inscription on this building is safely hidden behind a tall stone wall, a sliding metal gate, and a security guard. An ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood is just a block away.

What the historical building plaque posted outside the wall says is rather tame and lackluster in comparison, pointedly.

The English Mission Hospital was completed in 1897 and the doctors served all the different peoples of Jerusalem. The rabbis were dead-set against any Jew entering the doors of a Christian hospital.

But since the early 1960s the Anglican International School Jerusalem is housed here.

The school cat who came right over for a cuddle shows just how friendly the atmosphere is.

The place is old and beautiful. For their 100th anniversary the stones were cleaned with sandblasting.

The school has grades K-12, all taught in English. The student body is made up of 20-25% Palestinians, a handful of Jews, and the rest from the consular corps.

Speaking of foreign diplomatic families . . . this is especially for blog-buddy Catherine Mark-Beasant who writes about her years at the Anglican School decades ago in this interesting and touching post.
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The sundial quotes the Song of Songs in the Bible: "Until the day break and the shadows flee away."

And some shadows did flee away during the ten weeks I participated in a weekly Slim Peace group in this classroom behind the arch. All women. A few Arabs, a few Jews, a nun, a nutritionist, a facilitator, and a film-maker. Ostensibly coming together to discuss better nutrition and healthier living, but much more than that.

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What's your world like? You too can share it every Monday night with the bloggers at That's My World , or just come for a visit. Shalom!

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Sundials

It's a rare day when you see two old sundials, and both within a short walk one from the other.
Today I discovered this one behind the big wall that hides Jerusalem's Anglican International School from the busy Prophets' Street.

"Until the day break and the shadows flee away" is from the Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) 4:6.
On the other side the verse appears in the original Hebrew.


This building on Jaffa Street, across from the shuk, was built a hundred years ago.
There is still a synagogue inside.
The sundial, a full five meters in diameter, was made by one Moshe Shapira.
He was a self-taught astronomer who had made a study of the science according to the writings of Maimonides and the Gaon of Vilna.
For cloudy days two mechanical clocks were added.
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