Ash Sunday in the forest

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Today I walked in ash, silent and alone and in awe, to see the toll taken by yesterday's forest fire.


The olive trees, each individual with a shape of its own in death as in life.

All of this was just 26 hours ago covered by underbrush so thick you couldn't walk through it, except on the paths worn down by jackal traffic.
Here in the late afternoon sun, the ash looks almost like snow.

A scorched ktalav.

An interesting pattern left under the burned bark.

The cables along the monastery's perimeter wall.

The Franciscans will not have electricity for the next 3 or 4 days.

This tree was both bowed down AND uprooted.

The cat was the only one who could get down or up the steep slope that goes down to the monastery buildings. You can see why planes were needed, in these places where men could not stand.

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Come back tomorrow for three hopeful pictures that came out of the ashes.

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Forest fire on monastic grounds

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Strong winds, 33 degrees (low 90s F)--perfect for a forest fire. And this afternoon it happened, in the woods five minutes walk from me.

Two planes made pass after low pass, dumping red flame retardant.
Those pilots are heroes.

Only if you enlarge the photo can you see Jerusalem through the smoke.

High ranking police officers arrived with their big automatic rifles slung over their shoulder.

The fire was within the monastery's walls. The fire trucks could not get close and had to squirt water from above, over the fences that are atop the stone walls.

We all did what we could.

The poor honeybees were probably roasting.

Franciscans fighting fire.

Please enlarge this photo, it's very dramatic.
 The olive tree trunks would smolder and then start burning again.
 Each one had to be dealt with individually, for hours, into the night.

Surveying the damage.

All the stones, all the plants are now covered with that sticky flame retardant stuff.
 The stones will stay pink for years to come.

Poor, poor trees!

The monks stayed on the job even after the firemen went home.

The main electric pole exploded and all the wires burned, and the monastery will be without electricity for 3-4 days. All the power to our village was purposely shut off while the fire was raging.

Father S. walked meditatively through the last embers and smoke.

When he celebrates Mass tomorrow I'm sure he will thank God that no one was hurt and that no buildings were burned.

But we are sad. These are, were, the woods I walked almost every day to commune with nature and her creator.
Let's pray this night passes in safety.

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Bird of the soul, thoughts on Sept. 11

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A glass bird on a headstone in Mt. Herzl military cemetery

The idea of a soul bird comes from the Talmud. In Hebrew it is tsippor hanefesh, an idiom representing that thing residing deep within you.

The Soul Bird is a best-selling children's book (which even our President Peres keeps on his night table) written by Israeli author Michal Snunit in 1985.
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Here are words explaining the soul bird, from a book review in Hadassah Magazine:

"It is, says Snunit, that part of us that trembles with joy when we are treated lovingly and reels in shock and pain when we suffer cruelty or hurt. It has two legs, but it stands only on one, not because it is a flamingo but because it needs the other foot to do its work. That work is to open and shut a series of drawers embedded within its own body. These drawers contain our deepest and truest feelings, and it is the soul bird's job to decide which of these should be opened in response to various stimuli. In an ideal world, of course, the soul bird would perform its task infallibly, calling upon us, for instance, to feel empathy when that emotion is called for or happiness when that is most appropriate.

This being an imperfect world, however, the bird often opens the wrong drawer. Or, alternately, it may open the right drawer, but we may respond inappropriately. The trick to leading a successful life rests in developing an ability to recognize, listen to and engage our inner soul bird."
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As we remember the victims of the terror of September 11, let us try to keep our soul bird strong enough that it will never be crushed by such dastardly acts. A permanently-handicapped tsippor hanefesh would be a posthumous victory to those terrorists.
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Stone, stone, everywhere

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Feeling the hardness of this date.
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RuneE at Visual Norway helps us collect benches for sharing on Fridays.

Come have a seat.

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Making circles in the sky

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Click to enlarge

A sky full of circling raptors over my village?!
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We do have a pair of resident eagles that soar above the woods on the rim of our hill, but never have I seen a whole skyful of big birds.
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And just as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared.
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You can enjoy other skies of other blogging SkyWatchers by clicking here. Every Friday.

Bar-Kochba coins, right over the ridge!!

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When you hike up the mountain, this is what you see--my village.

But if you make a half-turn and look down, you will see the village of Beitar.
And today the great news just broke that in a cave in the Jerusalem Hills (aka Judean Hills) near Betar a big hoard of coins was discovered by Bar-Ilan and Hebrew University researchers.
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Bar-Kochba coins!!!! In gold, silver, and bronze!!
Some of the Roman coins were overstruck by the Jewish fighters with "for the freedom of Jerusalem."
Beitar was the place of the Jewish rebels' last stand in their rebellion against Roman rule in 132-135 C.E. (A.D.)
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You must see the wonderful photos and the news posted by Avi Joseph at G News.
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This is so exciting, so touching! Bar-Kochba himself was so near to where I now live, almost 19 centuries later.
And there's gold in them thar hills.
Yalla, I feel like going for a hike, trowel and small pick in hand! Bye.
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UPDATE: The GNews Editorial Team has just now kindly given permission to share the photos they posted. "Images were sourced from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and are owned by the Israeli government."


























The last photo is borrowed from an Arutz 7 article (and video) which calls it
"Explorer B. Langford climbing in the cave. (Israel news photo: B. Zissu) ."
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They are brave cave researchers!
A good article with more facts and good historical background just appeared in the Jerusalem Post.
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Hebrew hapax legomenon

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Hebrew hapax legomena -- that is our topic in honor of H day at ABC Wednesday.

Hapax legomenon is Greek for "once said." It is a word that occurs only once in the written record of a language, in the works of an author, or in a single text.
It is a scholarly term much loved, used, and needed by Bible scholars.

In Hebrew literature a hapax is called either a milla bodedah, i.e. an "isolated word," or ʾen lo ah, ʾen lo ḥaver, ʾen lo reʿa ba-Miqraʾ, i.e. it has nothing alike, no brother, no fellow, no comrade in the Bible.
Depending on how broad your definition is, the Hebrew Bible has between 289 to 1,300 hapaxes.

My favorite is the Prophet Ezekiel's one-timer: hashmal (chashmal).

In Ezekiel 1:4 he tries to describe his mystical vision:

וָאֵרֶא וְהִנֵּה רוּחַ סְעָרָה בָּאָה מִן-הַצָּפוֹן, עָנָן גָּדוֹל וְאֵשׁ מִתְלַקַּחַת, וְנֹגַהּ לוֹ, סָבִיב; וּמִתּוֹכָהּ--כְּעֵין הַחַשְׁמַל, מִתּוֹךְ הָאֵשׁ.

Since no one knew what chashmal meant, the translations are very varied.

The RSV says "As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness round about it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming bronze."
NIV: "like glowing metal"
21st Century King James Version: "as the color of amber"

More versions here.

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As you have guessed by now from the photos, modern Hebrew, when it needed to find a word for electricity, adopted Ezekiel's word chashmal!
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And my favorite sign (well, except for this one) is ELECTRICITY DANGER, a translation by the Franciscans of sakana chashmal, posted at the scene of Pope Benedict's Mass in Jerusalem.

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Art at the mall

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My world for That's My World this week and next is Jerusalem's Artfest.
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"A total of 27 exhibits will open daily between 5 to 10 pm, displaying works of art in various spaces and capturing the contemporary Israeli art scene.
In addition to the exhibits, the city will host artist meetings, gallery talks, installations and video art displays. Dozens of artists will open their galleries to the public, offering more intimate gatherings in the natural work place. Some workshops will also offer a glance into the work process of the artist. . . .
The project is supported by the Arts division of the City Council, the Jerusalem Foundation, Mifal Hapais culture council and independent businessmen."

--from the article on Ynet

(A click on the photos gets them to enjoyable largeness.)

Believe it or not, I walked up and down the new Alrov Mamilla shopping mall without entering a single shop. The best stuff was outside and free. You can see some of the sculptures along the wall, to the right of the two Arab ladies.

The Prodigal Son -- Shivat haben by Sam Philipe.

Tefila -- The prayer also by Philipe

Lot uvnotav (Lot and his daughters) created by Mati Yulzari

A cheerful work: Hashoket (The trough)

Portsim et hachoma mispar 7 (I would translate that as Breaking out of the wall, No. 7), Giora Segal

Harechem (The Womb) by Dr. Noni Reina

From the Hebrew word rechem, meaning womb, comes the word rachmanoot, meaning mercy !
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Special report on today's targil

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FEAR NOT, this is only a PRACTICE DRILL.

At 1:00 today police cordoned off the main street of Jerusalem's Machaneh Yehuda open-air market.
Rescuers, first responders, and police all played their part in responding to a mock mega terrorist attack.

Border Police took stock of the situation where plumes of artificial smoke were rising.

Soon small groups of Border Policemen were patrolling up and down busy Jaffa Road in single file, no doubt searching for more bombs or suicide bombers.

Yasam, the special riot police, zipped in and out.

If you enlarge this photo, you can see the new (what I think are called) ambucycles of Magen David Adom.

They have two wheels in front, one in back.

Then the simulated wounded were evacuated to waiting ambulances.

Fortunately sirens were not blaring continually. This I think contributed to the rather calm, albeit serious, atmosphere.

Notice the medic's ritual fringe. Many of Jerusalem's rescue volunteers are religious.

All the wounded had a big tag hung on them.

These Palestinian men looked on, probably while the fruit and vegetable stalls where they work were closed for the two hours of the drill.

Here comes the fire engine.

Everyone has a vest identifying his or her function--medic, paramedic, etc..

Enter the forensic police.

The Magen David Adom van is called Taran, short for Tachanat eru'a rav nifga'im, meaning "station for an event with multiple casualties."
The man in white is a Zaka volunteer. Zaka is the Hebrew acronym for Disaster Victims Identification. These are the haredi (very Orthodox) men who collect the remains of the dead, no matter how small, for proper burial. They deserve a whole separate post.

The social workers and psychologists were sent in from the Jerusalem Municipality.

Thank God, this time the "dead" were but dummies, with black tape keeping their eyes closed.

Plastic arms and legs were scattered on the pavement.

Folding the Zaka body bags.

At the end of two hours of intense activity, the barricades were slid back. The firemen took down their ladder, and the public was free to resume shopping.

Only at the very end were the photojournalists allowed in, after the exercise was over.

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The police order was for us, we the public, lachzor lashigra, to return to our normal routine.

This is said very often in Israel and is held to be very important in order to keep one's sanity.

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