Back to nature

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In yesterday's post I said the Hebrew University has many places that even little kids can enjoy.
Some readers assumed that meant dedicated playgrounds, but actually I showed only an art installation and the Nature Walk. Maybe I should explain better, with some more pictures.

The wooden Nature Walk goes just above rocks and plants, the same terrain that was there when construction of the university's second campus in Givat Ram began in 1953.
It loops around for a long walk or jog. It is wheel chair and stroller friendly.
You can walk your dog there--or your grandsons (like I did last year).

You feel like you are in the wilderness. It is so quiet. Almost no one to be seen.

Some corners of the elevated walkway have benches.

At several points there are stairs down to the ground.

That is what I meant, that little kids know how to explore and enjoy any place by using their imagination. They loved roaming down on the earth.
Eyal looked on as Dean examined the porcupine quill he had just found. A rare find!

Why did Dean climb the boulder? Because it was there!

And then we found a mysterious red mark that invited the three of us to observe and interpret it.
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All this was much more fun than playing on swings and seesaws!

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Shadows at play

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The Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University Jerusalem has many places that even little kids (and their grandma) can enjoy.

Hopefully Hey Harriet and her "shadowy" group at Shadow Shot Sunday will enjoy the long shadows too.

Two brothers and two shadows holding hands.

The Nature Walk boardwalk goes over the boulders and natural vegetation in a still un-built part of the university.

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Lara ascending

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Sweet Lara among the winter rainy season greenery and flowers.

As spring and summer approach, all this will turn brown and dry.
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The stairs going from one terrace to a lower terrace were built by the 12th century Crusaders.
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Happy Camera-Critters Sunday to you and to the animals in your life.
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Pull out a seat, sit down!

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I found a small museum inside the Supreme Court Building.
It is called the Judicial Heritage Museum.
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At the center of the above photo is Israel's Declaration of Independence. (We do not have a constitution.)
Surrounding it are all kinds of video presentations about legal matters.
The screens are better seen in the reflections up on the ceiling--a gift for James and his group at "Weekend Reflections."

I was the only person in the museum (maybe it was after opening hours, dunno, just walked in).
But when a group comes in for a tour, each person can pull out a seat and sit.
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Maybe RuneE will count this as a bench for his "Bench on Friday"?
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The furniture in the Supreme Court Building was designed by the architects themselves.
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Dusk

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The best skywatching over the Jerusalem Hills (Judean Mountains) is during winter.
And the best time is right after sunset.
This sky came at 5:47 p.m. a few days ago. The days are getting longer. There is hope.
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Happy SkyWatch Friday to you all.
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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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Gates, gardens, groves, and government

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Gee, it's time for ABC Wednesday already.

Still inside the Supreme Court Building, we look down the Knesset passageway.
The flag you see flying in the distance is atop the Knesset building.


I walked out the gate of the court and soon turned around to snap this picture.
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The Knesset passageway connects the Knesset, the legislative branch of government, with the Supreme Court building, the judicial branch.
The path represents both the connection and the separation between the legislative and the judicial branches of government.

In between these two important places is the Wohl Rose Park.
Click on the map to see how many gardens and groves there are.
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Foreign dignitaries can land on the park's helicopter pad, and then they are officially received on the parade ground.
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Covering 70 dunams, the public park is a venue for festive and public events.
Over 400 species of roses from all over the world bloom in summer.

Sure enough, the path led to the Knesset, with the famous menorah standing at its gate!
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Water over the dam

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When you take the bus from Jerusalem westward to my village, this is what you see from the window.
Click to enlarge this March 2008 photo and some blue will appear at the center.
That is water in the reservoir near Beit Zayit

The large reservoir is dry in the summer and dry in some winters too.

But the phenomenon which happened over the last few days is something the old-time residents here have not witnessed for many many years.
It rained so hard in the Jerusalem Hills from Thursday to Sunday that the water started flowing over the dam!
It flowed through the dry watercourse of Nahal Soreq like a mighty stream.

From up on the western side of our hilltop moshav I could actually hear the rush of the water and even see part of the river down in the valley. This was a first for me. An exciting first!
It even made the TV evening news.

For four straight days we had torrential rains, thunder and lightning, and even hailstorms.
The Jerusalem Hills got several times more than any other part of Israel, well over 200 mm (more than 8 inches).
This is equal to one third of the normal rainfall for an entire winter!

The reservoir collected rain as well as water from Motza Spring, Halilim Spring, Nahal Halilim, and other streams that fill up with winter rains.
The water captured in the reservoir will help to recharge the thirsty aquifer.
But the rains of last week came down too fast and furious with no time to percolate and mostly they became run-off.

The water over the dam made its way through Nahal Soreq clear across the country, discharging into the Mediterranean Sea at Palmahim.

On a personal note, for a few hours it rained so hard that for a short time part of my yard became a pool. My poor little house must have been sitting in it because water started to trickle in from between the ceramic tiles at the base of the kitchen wall.
The owner said that in all the house's 60 years standing, that had never happened.

I fought bravely to stem the tide on the kitchen floor, but I never want to do that again.
It is very unsettling.
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Thanks for listening. Here is a gift for you. The traditional mishloach manot, the food goodies that you give to friends on Purim.
Today Jerusalem celebrated the holiday of Shushan Purim.
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Happy Purim to all who come for this edition of That's My World Tuesday!
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Passageway into Theme Day

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The Supreme Court Building in Jerusalem has some great passageways.
Ironically, the sign in this one says "Ein ma'avar," meaning NO PASSAGE.
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Instead, tourist groups are guided through this passageway.
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March 1 is our Theme Day at City Daily Photo Blog, now with 1,170 members and still growing.

There will be passageways from all over the world.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
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Mystery in the Courtyard of the Arches

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Supreme Court Building architect Ada Karmi-Melamede calls her courtyards "roofless rooms."
In a post last week we talked about the symbolism of the water conduit in the Courtyard of the Arches.
But today look carefully at the far end of the courtyard shown above.
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From up close you can see it has the vaulted ceiling and the other characteristics of Medieval Crusader buildings in Israel!
A nod to the Crusaders! Yes, those same knights who crossed Europe, slaughtering Jews as they went, and who arrived in the Holy Land and killed all the Jews and Moslems they could find.

And facing it another universal tribute, an arch suggesting a Roman triumphal arch!

So our guide said.

OK, fine, again, no hard feelings.

But what is that mysterious thing in the arch, next to the pool of water?

I found no reference to it in the official brochure.

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Orly Peled, in Yad Ben-Zvi's Jerusalem, a walk through time, writes this:

"Pay special note to the arched structure toward which the water of the conduit flows. Is this a church, a synagogue, or maybe a mosque? The architects intentionally left it enveloped in mystery, thus alluding to the ideal of the legal process that shows no favor on the basis of race, creed, color, or gender."

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Horned animal within a medallion

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This is the only animal I could come up with for Camera-Critters Sunday while still remaining in this week's tour of the Supreme Court Building.

The horned animal inhabits a floor mosaic found at al Makher in the Western Galilee.
Now he lives on the wall of the Supreme Court.
He is pretty old, from the Roman-Byzantine period.

This 5th or 6th century mosaic carpet and its explanation (see below) adorn the wall at the entrance to the largest courtroom.

Other than the one painting of the founders, the flame of justice, and a mysterious thing I'll show you tomorrow, I saw no art displayed in the complex.
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I love it that beautiful stone mosaics native to this land are what was chosen to hang on the walls.
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And of course, the architecture itself is the true creative and symbolic artwork here in the Supreme Court Building.
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Maybe the Greek readers of this blog can translate fragments of inscriptions?

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A library encircling a pyramid

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After walking into the Supreme Court Building, ascending the wide stairs called "The Jerusalem Street," and looking out the panoramic window, you come to a large space that is the formal entrance to the building and is therefore called the "gatehouse."
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BTW, the court's website has a nice interactive map you can play with with your mouse.

Look way up, through the high window, and you see the top of a pyramid!

Apparently this was inspired by the similar shapes of two ancient monuments in the Valley of Jehosafat (Yehoshafat): Yad Avshalom (Absalom's pillar) and the tomb of Zechariah.

Natural light comes through four round windows at the apex of the pyramid, forming slowly moving circles of sunlight on the inside walls and on the floor.

(I've started calling such things "reverse shadows" so I can share them for Hey Harriet's "Shadow Shot Sunday.")

Oh! there's another meme shot: a reflection of me for James' "Weekend Reflections."

As the brochure says, this serene space acts as the inner gatehouse of the building and serves as a turning point before the entrance to the courtrooms.

The marble floor has those straight lines which earlier we said represent the concepts of law and truth as direct paths.

But around the geometric floor, wrapped around the pyramid, is the round library.

Three floors of gracefully curved boxwood shelves from Denmark, filled with law books.

The concept of justice is represented by circles found throughout the building and expressed in the passage of the Book of Psalms, “He guideth me in the circles of justice for the sake of His name.” (Psalms 23:3).

Oops, another reflection! The English-speakers who came to take the guided tour of the Supreme Court.

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The brochure explains, "The volumes, which contain centuries of legal thinking from many countries, embody principles of social justice and moral values. The prominence of the library and its proximity to the entrance to the courtrooms affirms the centrality of law in Jewish history."
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Shabbat shalom!
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Teak benches

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I thought it strange that this Supreme Court Building employee was collecting the ashtrays from the 14 benches in the foyer. Ashtrays??

It left a strange empty hole.

Our guide explained that when the architects of the building were designing the furniture (yes, that too!) back in the 1980s, there were still no laws against smoking in public places.

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Maybe nowadays people throw their chewing gum there instead of cigarette butts. Or whatever.

In any case, the man had a cleaning job to do.

All of the 14 benches in the niches are made of Burmese teak.

Our guide said that in 2010 that would not work. Today we are allowed to purchase only farmed (plantation) teak and not wood from original growth trees.
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If you missed Monday's post on the benches inside the courtroom, you can look here.

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These smooth and elegant benches are a contribution to RuneE's "Bench on Friday," where bench-lovers from around the world converge. You are invited too.
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Bringing the sky inside

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For SkyWatch Friday here is the sky over Israel's Supreme Court Building.

This shot is from Sacher Park.
No, those are not graves in the foreground, only ventilation openings for the road tunnel below.
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On the right is the pedestrian bridge we talked about a week ago that leads up to the main entrance of the Supreme Court Building.
In the center of the building is the tinted panoramic window we looked out of and saw much of Jerusalem below.


I have read that the architects, Ada Karmi-Melamede and her brother Ram Karmi, like to combine modernist universal design principles with a Mediterranean building style, e.g. sensitivity to climate and regard for the importance of the relationship between light and shade in a land blessed with sun.

If you have been following this blog's tour for the past week, you know how well the Karmis succeeded. The interior of the building is indeed bathed in soft indirect natural light.

During the day no electric lighting is needed.

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From almost every place in the building you have a chance to sky watch.

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Koresh, Hammurabi at the gates of Jerusalem?!

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Just a few more beautiful things to show you from the Supreme Court Building.
OK?
The foyer of the courtroom area expresses all the architectural contrasts of the building--inside and outside, old and new, lines and circles.
The natural stone wall is a continuation of the wall that begins at the building's entrance.
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Opposite it, in stark contrast, is a modern white wall with 14 tall niches containing windows and lovely curving benches for the public.

Natural light enters these niches through pyramid-shaped skylights, creating shadows on the white wall that change throughout the day.

As we mentioned a few days ago, courts in biblical times were situated at the gates of the city.

Deuteronomy 16:18 says "You will appoint judges and officers in all your gates . . . and they will judge people with a just judgment."

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Here in the foyer there is a gate for each of the five Supreme Court courtrooms.

The three-tiered design of the entrances represents these gates and is also meant to remind us of the three-tiered design that was used for entrances to many public buildings in the ancient Near East. Our guide mentioned Mesopotamia, for example.

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I am wondering if this could be a form of tribute to the Babylonian King Hammurabi.

Around 1790 B.C.E. he enacted the famous Code of Hammurabi in ancient Babylon.

Our modern law systems in the world are still indebted to this ancient law code.

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Or perhaps it is a hat-tip to Koresh, a.k.a. Cyrus the Great, king of Persia?

After all, following his conquest of Babylon in 539 B.C.E. he did free the Jews, captives of the Babylonian exile.

We were finally allowed to return and to rebuild the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem.

And indeed, in the Supreme Court Building's Judicial Heritage Museum, I found a written tribute to Koresh.

Well, actually it is a thank you letter from Chaim Weizmann to British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour, dated November 19, 1917, thanking him for the Balfour Declaration .

But it says

"Since Koresh the Great, history has never know a declaration that inspired a greater understanding of political wisdom or far reaching diplomacy and justice toward the Jewish People than this declaration, may it be remembered for all time."
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The long answer to a comment

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This pillar is next to, but not part of, the Supreme Court Building.
The Hebrew on its top says Nizkor, meaning We will remember.

Historian/artist/blogger Abraham Lincoln asked me about the trials of Nazis in Israel.
Some information I found is so interesting I'd like to share it with you all.
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Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was captured in Argentina by Mossad agents in 1960 and was brought to Jerusalem for trial.
The only public place big enough for such a trial back then was Binyanay HaUma, the convention center.
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He was found guilty of "crimes against the Jewish people" and "causing the killing of millions of Jews." Eichmann was executed by hanging.
The death penalty is reserved only for such special cases as his.
In fact Eichmann is the only one ever put to death by an Israeli court.
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The second crimes against humanity trial was when John (Ivan) Demjanjuk was extradited from Ohio to Israel in 1986.
The court found him guilty in 1988 and sentenced him to death by hanging.
He was placed in solitary confinement during the appeals process that followed.
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But in 1993, five Supreme Court justices (sitting as the High Court of Justice) overturned the guilty verdict because new evidence had become available after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
This is the trial from which Abe Lincoln remembers seeing parts of our new Supreme Court Building on American TV.
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The Israeli Supreme Court's 405-page ruling read:
"The main issue of the indictment sheet filed against the appellant was his identification as Ivan the Terrible, an operator of the gas chambers in the extermination camp at Treblinka . . . By virtue of this gnawing [new evidence indicating mistaken identity] . . . we restrained ourselves from convicting the appellant of the horrors of Treblinka. Ivan Demjanjuk has been acquitted by us, because of doubt, of the terrible charges attributed to Ivan the Terrible of Treblinka. This was the proper course for judges who cannot examine the heart and mind, but have only what their eyes see and read."
They also added: "The facts proved the appellant's participation in the extermination process. The matter is closed — but not complete, the complete truth is not the prerogative of the human judge."
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I find this remarkable, what the judges said!
And they refer to the Hebrew Bible references, e.g. Jeremiah 11:20, that have God examining our "heart and kidneys," usually translated as "the heart and mind."
The combination heart and kidneys is a Hebraism for the inmost part of the person .
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Meanwhile, Demjanjuk returned to America, was stripped of his citizenship, and in May 2009 was extradited to Germany. His trial is now going on in Munich.

I don't like to recommend anything written about Israel by the BBC, but they do have a brief slideshow explaining the various trials of Demjanjuk.
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Flame of justice in the foyer

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Yes, F is the letter of the day at ABC Wednesday.

The flame of justice "burns" in the foyer of our Supreme Court Building.

The stairs descend to . . . nothing more exotic than the cafeteria.

The "founding fathers," so to speak.

Shimon Peres, Yizhak Rabin, Teddy Kollek, and a Rothschild look on (in the 1980s) as architects Ram Karmi and his sister Ada present their model for a new Supreme Court Building.

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The building, dedicated in 1992, was a gift of Yad Hanadiv, the foundation of the Rothschild family, to the State of Israel.

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This painting hangs at the entrance. It is the only painting I saw during the entire guided tour of the beautiful building.

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(For more, please click on the label Supreme Court.)

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Having my day in court*

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For That's My World Tuesday let's continue our tour of Israel's Supreme Court Building that we started last week.

This photo is from the Court's website.

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The new (1992) Supreme Court Building is in Givat Ram, at the western entrance to Jerusalem.

In this photo you can also see the Knesset, part of Jerusalem, and the hills on the eastern horizon where the desert begins.

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This is the biggest of the five courtrooms for the 15 Supreme Court justices.

The judges sit on the dias, normally in panels of three.

At the computer screens sit a stenographer and a law clerk.

Lawyers sit at the semi-circular table.

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Not in the photo: prisoner's dock to the left and press box to the right.

Members of the press can take notes but not photographs during proceedings.

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You see no place for a jury because Israel does not have the jury system.

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The back wall of the courtroom, of beautiful latticework wood, has a round window up near the high ceiling.

Joan, our excellent guide, said that the window is meant to remind the justices that Someone is watching them.

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All five courtrooms are similar in architectural structure, inspired by ancient synagogues of the Talmudic period (200 C.E. - 600 C.E.) and by various historical periods in the Middle East.

Benches are for the public.

The public has the right to attend all court proceedings except for those matters held “in camera” and which deal with security or matters protected by the right of privacy.

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If you'd like to see more of the beautiful building and learn its symbolism, come again tomorrow.

Shalom!

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(* "To have one's day in court" = to have an opportunity to be heard.)

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