Rome and Jerusalem

UPDATE: I watched all one and a half hours of the live broadcast of the visit and speeches and music. It was all very moving! You can read Pope Benedict's address at
http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/pope-at-rome-synagogue-may-these-wounds-be-healed-forever/ .
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In a few hours Pope Benedict will make a rare visit inside a synagogue, the Great Synagogue of Rome, and then go outside to plant an olive tree together with his Jewish "brothers and sisters."
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Meanwhile, let me show you our own Italian synagogue here in Jerusalem.

I posted the Italian Festival last summer (click on the tag "Italian" below) that took place in the courtyard, but you still have not seen the Italian Jewish Art Museum or the old synagogue inside the building.
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Above the entrance is written Beit Knesset ke-minhag Bene Roma, Tempio Italiano.
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The rite of the Conegliano Synagogue is technically called "Minhag Bnei Roma" (Children of Rome Prayer Custom), "Loez"(Foreign), or "Italiani."
In modern Hebrew it is called " Minhag Italki" (Italian Prayer Custom).
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Wikipedia says that "Italian Jews can be traced back as far as the second century BCE: tombstones and dedicatory inscriptions survive from this period. At that time they mostly lived in the far South of Italy, with a branch community in Rome, and were generally Greek-speaking. It is thought that some families (for example the Adolescenti) are descendants of Jews deported from Judaea by the emperor Titus in 70 CE."
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Welcome inside the 300-year-old interior of the synagogue.
After World War II it was dismantled in a huge rescue operation in the village of Conegliano in Italy. The furnishings arrived in Jerusalem in 1951 and the restoration began.
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This is the bimah, the platform on which the Torah scroll is read.
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The bimah faces the holy ark or aron kodesh, inside which the Torah scrolls are kept.
Elements of the ornate ark may be from even before 1700.
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The women's gallery is on top.
All in grand Baroque style.
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The men sit on the benches on the main floor.
Services are on Saturday (Shabbat) morning.
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Here is a photo borrowed from photographer Jonathan Sierra.

See more of his good photos of the worshipers at an Israelity Blog recent post.

Wiki on the history of Jews in Italy is here.

About Il Rito Bene Romi prayerbook and liturgy (in Italian).

MP3 of the Shema prayer chanted in Roman rite.

The portal for news of Italy's Jews (in Italian), which will soon have hopefully good news about the visit of il Papa --

or in English and other languages, the Pope's YouTube channel.

UPDATE:  The story of the synagogue, from the Museum of Italian Jewish Art:  http://ijamuseum.org/museum/the-synagogue/the-story/

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Rock hyrax everywhere

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Psalms 104:18 says

חָרִים הַגְּבֹהִים, לַיְּעֵלִים; סְלָעִים, מַחְסֶה לַשְׁפַנִּים
"The high mountains are for the wild goats [ibex]; the rocks are a refuge for the hyrax."

I posted a picture to prove that about the ibex, now let's look at the hyrax.
Here is my last-Thursday hiking friend communing with a hyrax near the first waterfalls at Ein Gedi Nature Reserve.
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Families of rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) , or conies, live in rock crannies or in thickets of reeds.
Even though they are mammals, their body temperature changes according to the ambient temperature. So on cold mornings you can see them sunbathing on top of rocks before resuming activity.
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Like the ibex, the hyrax are remarkable climbers.

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And they run really fast!

The rock hyrax have lived in the Jordan Valley for a long time, as evidenced by this ancient mosaic in Tabgha.

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Next week for Camera-Critters Sunday meme we can look at the birds of Ein Gedi.

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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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CDP Theme Day Photo of the Year

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The City Daily Photo community is having a Theme Day today for bloggers to share their own Best Photo of the Year 2009.

Here is one of my favorites.
Eyal, my youngest grandson, was here in Jerusalem, visiting from Australia.
Click here to see The Monster statue where he was playing.
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Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
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Young ibex at the benches

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Enlarge to see the "wild goats."

These two Nubian ibex were roaming around the benches yesterday just inside the entrance to the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve near the Dead Sea.

Just the picture I needed for RuneE's "Bench on Friday" bench-watchers.

Ein Gedi is a wonderful oasis in the Wilderness of Judea.

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Clouds over Ein Gedi

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An ibex in the clouds.

For SkyWatch Friday--today's sky over the Judean Desert!

A friend and I took the bus down to the Dead Sea this morning.

Just 65 minutes out of Jerusalem and we were in Ein Gedi.

We hiked up and down in two different canyons for seven hours.

The Wilderness of Judea is so beautiful!

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Hammer and chisel

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Jerusalem is still warm enough to go without a jacket, but sitting outside directly on paving stones would make you cold in a hurry.
Good to sit on what is available.
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Zest

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With today's Z, ABC Wednesay has completed yet another cycle of the alphabet, thanks to our much-appreciated host Denise (Mrs. Nesbitt).

Zesting a lemon.

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"Zest, also known as citrus peel, is a food ingredient that is prepared by scraping or cutting from the outer, colorful skin of citrus fruits such as lemon, orange, citron, and lime. Zest is used to add flavor ('zest') to foods." (Wikipedia)

Yesterday I was amazed to see two orange trees growing in urban Jerusalem!
Right in the sidewalk in one of the old neighborhoods near Nahlaot.

Seeing a tree full of fruit adds zest to life!
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In fact there is a lovely mitzvah called Birkat Ilanot, the blessing on the trees, which is done once a year, in spring, with awe and gratitude, the first time you see a fruit tree blossoming.
Its source is a gemara in the Talmud, Masechet Berachot 43b:

“A person who goes out during the days of Nisan and sees trees in bloom, says,
Blessed are you Lord our God, King of the Universe, who did not leave anything lacking in His universe, and created in it goodly creatures and goodly trees, to give pleasure to mankind with them."

In Hebrew:
Baruch ata Adonai , Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, shelo chisar ba-olamo davar, u-vara vo beriyot tovot ve-ilanot tovim, le-hanot bahem bnai adam.
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Amen to that! Just a few more months to spring, when we can say it.
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Sugar cane is back

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Something was new yesterday in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market!

Something I had never seen there or anywhere in the world.
Sugar cane!

The juice store man first cut it into manageable pieces with a cleaver and then fed it into a special machine with his right hand. The dry, squeezed part came out on the left side.

Out came the juice for the curious smiling customers.

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In not-perfect Hebrew the sign extolls the therapeutic wonders worked by the "sweet love" drink of lemon juice mixed with cane sugar juice.

Click to enlarge the photo if you can read Hebrew.

Photo by Amir Freundlich

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When I worked at the excavations in Tiberias last October, we volunteers were given a guest lecture by Dr. Edna Stern titled "The sweet Sea of Galilee." Apparently El-Kabri in the Western Galilee and other sugar villages in the north were producing sugar in Medieval times.

The first book about sugar production in Akko, Tiberias, Kabul, etc. was written in the 10th century. Dr. Stern quoted a juicy part: something about that they "ate and danced naked."

Hmm, like, from a sugar high??

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Stern headed a salvage dig at Horbat Manot. The photo above is the sugar mill there.
The Israel Antiquities Authority page about the site and about its planned conservation says this:

"The Crusaders first encountered sugar cane and the growing of it upon arrival to the shores of Lebanon in the 11th century. Within a few years they have come to realize the value of the sugar manufactured from the cane, the profit gained from its production and from exporting it to Europe. Apparently, the Crusaders were the first to develop the process of producing sugar crystals in cones and in molasses amphoriskoi that facilitated the transport and the marketing of the sugar cane products in Europe."

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The cones mentioned are sugarloaves.

Wiki says "A sugarloaf was the traditional form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century when granulated and cube sugars were introduced."

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"The sugar mill consists of remains of an aqueduct that conveyed water from Nahal Kziv; crushing mill sluices, press base for extracting the liquefied sugar and a large barrel-vaulted hall (8 x 35 m) containing furnaces for cooking and refining the sugar cane juice, remains of another hall to the north of it and a subterranean vault to the south of it," the report says about Horbat Manot.

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Sounds the same as the processes shown in this 16th century engraving of sugar production in Europe.
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Today there are but scarce remains of sugar cane in Israel and Jordan.

Once the water sources were more plentiful and supported the plant.

I heard from an old-timer who grew up in the 1930s near the sources of the Yarkon River how Arabs would pass with sugar cane-laden donkeys and he would get a few pieces to chew on for a sweet treat.

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And all this started at the shuk as something sweet to share with you for That's My World Tuesday.
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Down to the river

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And I thought we Jews had a lot of holidays . . .

For the Roman Catholic Church and the churches in the Anglican Communion, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is observed on the first Sunday after Epiphany. Ya'ani, today.
For one thing, it is meant to remind Christians that the public ministry of Jesus began with a consecration--his baptism by John in the Jordan River.
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Here are two pictures from our local monastery, which honors John the Baptist.
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Click on the photo to better see the water and the traditional icon for the day.

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While digging in the Internet I discovered a 5-minute movie trailer from Ten Thousand Films.

You can get a stunning aerial glimpse of the Jordan where it meanders and of the desert and of the dig going on at Bethany Beyond the Jordan.

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(If it takes long to load, try going straight to YouTube.)

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Here is what they write about the video:

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"An archaeological-detective story uncovering the pieces of the ancient mystery of where Christ was baptized. Christians around the world know Bethlehem where Jesus was born, and Jerusalem where Jesus died and was resurrected, but no one knows the location of his baptism. This being one of the three holiest places of Christianity.

Where was he baptized? Why was the site lost? How was it discovered and what was found there? The remarkable story of how the actual location of Jesus’ baptism had disappeared from human memory, lost in time for almost 1000 years; And the fascinating story of its rediscovery and the ongoing excavations taking place there. Only 5% of the area has been dug until today. Who knows what else lies beneath this place and what it could reveal about Jesus Christ and the birth of Christianity.

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The 53 minute documentary is concerned with the recent discovery of the baptism site of Jesus Christ in an area known as ‘Wadi al-Kharrar’ on the east bank of the river Jordan, the 'Bethany Beyond the Jordan' of the Gospels. A complex of unique churches, baptismal pools and monasteries are amongst the important discoveries uncovered so far.

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The area, since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, was a military zone and heavily mined making it impossible of access. However in 1994 after Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty, archaeologists begun their excavations. . . ."

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Kitty tail holder

(Enlarge for de tail)

Ha! Just when I was despairing of finding an interesting animal for today's Camera-Critters
I glanced out the door and saw a neighborhood tomcat snoozing in the warm afternoon sun with his tail draped over the railing!
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With the shadows he looked like a weird hybrid of raccoon and tiger.
Hey! This can be good for Shadow Shot Sunday too, over at Hey Harriet.

He is a nice old cat, one of the few ferals that let me pet them.
I think he has had a hard life, bless his heart.
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Reflections on a life saved

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Reflections were everywhere at Ticho House, just waiting to become part of James' (Newtown Area Photo) meme, "Weekend Reflections."

A Ministry of Tourism website begins to describe Ticho House like this:

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" Long before anyone ever thought of rebranding Jerusalem, the archetype for its user-friendly, family-atmosphere cultural image existed in the home of an ophthalmologist and his [artist] cousin/wife from Austro-Hungary -- a building purchased from a 19th century Arab dignitary."

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But in addition to being a gallery for the late Anna Ticho's artwork, the place has an exclusive cafe/restaurant called Little Jerusalem.

A friend visiting from Europe invited a few of us to celebrate her 80th birthday there.

See us reflected in the flower pot?

I had Saint Peter's fish from the Sea of Galilee.

"Here's lookin' at ya!"

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But seriously, I want to tell you about the amazing lady in the white shirt who is over a decade older than the birthday girl.

When she told her story I got shivers up my spine. She was delivered from death by a miracle I had only just read about in history books.

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Quoting from the synopsis of the film "Transport 222":

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"In June 1944 a hundred and twenty Dutch Jews were released from Bergen-Belsen and transported by train across war-shattered Europe, arriving ten days later at Atlit, in Palestine. Years later these Jews learned that they had been part of a deal in which the Nazis traded Dutch Jews for German Templars detained in Palestine by the British as enemy aliens.

Transport 222 retraces the incredible journey of two groups of people: Germans returning to a collapsing Third Reich, and Jews making their way to what would eventually become the State of Israel."

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(Templers were a sect of German Christians who came to Eretz Israel in the 1860s and established colonies, including the beautiful German Colony in Jerusalem.)

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The "emaciated and bedraggled" Jews rode in the trains for ten days, all the way from Germany to Israel.

I remember standing on the railroad tracks decades ago at Rosh Hanikra, at the border with Lebanon, looking sadly at the bricked-up tunnel. Tracks leading to a brick wall. So symbolic of "the situation."

I had wondered what people had ridden the train when things were still open. . .

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At the birthday party I found out.

That lady is one strong woman!

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This is winter??

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A mid-afternoon late December sky in Jerusalem.
Shirt-sleeves weather. Unnormal.
For Sky Watch Friday, where many bloggers' skies are now full of snow.
This week we bask in temps of 24 degrees C. Mid-70s F.

Minaret of the Mosque of Omar.
The building on the right is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.


The Crusader bell tower of the Holy Sepulchre.
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I just sat in the courtyard watching the clouds and the pilgrims go by.
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Coptic Orthodox

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Today is Russian Orthodox Christmas.
I was planning to post pictures of the big and beautiful Russian Orthodox monastery in Ein Kerem.
But then I read the so very sad news that seven men were gunned down outside the Coptic church right after Christmas Eve Midnight Mass last night in southern Egypt.

In memory of them I give you whatever photos I have of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Jerusalem.

The Copts have a presence in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

You can see their priests and the faithful in this celebration of Palm Sunday 2007.

Since the 13th century the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria has been represented in Jerusalem by a resident archbishop.

They seem to have a nunnery in the Old City.

Slaying the dragon.

At the entrance to the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate.

I think this was on Via Dolorosa Street.

( The signs at the far left are obviously not connected to the Patriarchate. )

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The only statistics I can find say that in 2001 the small community numbered just over 1,000 members, in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth.

I get the impression that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the Coptic Christians have religious freedom and security.

I wish them well on their Christmas Day and always.

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Epiphany at Abu Ghosh

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T.S. Eliot and I wrote about Epiphany last Sunday .

But today, January 6, is the day Christians in Israel celebrate the feast day.
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The beautiful book from which the Bible readings are chanted was hand-written and painted by the French-speaking monastics of the Monastère de la Résurrection.

The church was built by the Crusaders in the 12th century.

It stands next to the mosque in the Israeli Arab village of Abu Ghosh.

The acoustics are heavenly. You can hear the Benedictine nuns and monks singing in this short video on YouTube.

"Gifts from the Magi" perhaps, near the icon of the nativity.

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Traditional bread for this day is among the gifts.

Fragments of frescoes from 12th century Crusader times adorn the walls.

See more of them in a short experimental video by an art student.

(Enlarge to enjoy the winding suspended stairs.)

A Sister in the rain near the monastic enclosure. This is a more modern building, separate from the old Crusader church.

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The Olivetan Benedictines have a double monastery; the men's and the women's monasteries are within the same walled compound, and each has its own superior.
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(These photos are from Epiphany 2007 but I imagine--and hope--that not much has changed since then.)

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