Plasma TV? Nope, fish!

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Have you ever seen a fish tank hanging on the wall?!
I had never even heard of a wall aquarium.

Yesterday I saw my first one, right in the shopping center part of Hadassah Medical Center.
Enlarge the photo once or twice and see the reflected shops and tables of merchandise in the hallway.

I should have taken a picture from the side.
You would see that the narrow waterway for those poor fish must be less than two inches from front to back.
The poor things just swim back and forth, back and forth.  What a life.

Today I consulted a friend who is a professional aquarium builder, and he said it is OK as long as the fish are small ones and the quality of their water is good.
He said Hadassah has installed many of these in the hospital wards.

I guess watching fish is calming, but for me to see these fish confined in such a narrow place only angered me.
I hope fish don't feel claustrophobia.  I wonder if they can see reflections?
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(A post for Weekend Reflections and Camera Critters.)

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One more door opened!

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Another impressive place in the German Colony, on Lloyd George Street, is the big convent of the Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo.
Solid, locked gates are always a challenge; but yesterday I gathered my courage and rang the bell of this intriguing place.
No one spoke on the intercom, no one buzzed me in.
I just looked at the top of the ST. CHARLES (GERMAN) HOSPICE gate  and said into space:  "Hello . . . ?"

I tried the door and lo and behold a nun in white was standing there, and she said "Guten Tag."
I asked her about their policy of renting rooms to tourists, in case I have guests in the future.
We went inside to the desk and she gave me a card, told me the rates, and apologized that I could not see the place because renovations are going on now.

Below I offer you information copied from the guest house website.
It is sad to think of the German nuns and monks of Jerusalem having been interned during World War II, here in this convent; but we were a British Mandate then, and the British did what they thought they had to do.

It was in 1893 when the first Sisters came to the Holy Land and opened an infirmary and a dispensary in the German Colony, Jerusalem. These were the beginnings of St. Charles Convent. Apart from nursing the sick and old people, the Sisters took care of orphans and homeless children by offering them shelter and giving them a good education. In 1905 the Sisters could move into their new convent building, the original part of the present St. Charles Convent. In 1934 the first Holy land pilgrims were given accommodation and were offered meals for groups and from this source of income could be financed school, boarding and shelter for poor children.

World War II entailed hard times for the German Convent. All German Sisters in Palestine as well the Benedictines of the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem were interned in St. Charles Convent. In addition, British officers occupied a number of rooms. After the war, the Sisters took on another work of charity; they offered shelter to German Jews who had survived the Holocaust in concentration camps and had emigrated to Israel.

In the years to come St. Charles Convent saw an ever increasing flow of pilgrims who wanted to visit and worship the Lord in Jerusalem, the heart and origin of our Christian faith. The traditional hospitality of the Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo makes their guests feel at home in the peaceful atmosphere of the house and in the friendly and comfortable rooms. Apart from their various activities the Sisters run a kindergarten and a pre-school class in the building next to the convent.

- 50 Rooms

- Full Board

- Dining Room

- Parking also for Buses

- Soft Drinks

- Chapel

- Elevator

- Garden

- Heating

- TV only in Salons

- Public Telephone

- Payment in Cash

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(A post added to Toby's Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)

Park HaMesila, the Railway Park

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In my wanderings yesterday near the German Colony neighborhood, I was delighted to see the progress that has gone forward in the creation of the Jerusalem Railway Park.

I remember not so long ago when the Emek Refa'im section of abandoned tracks  was overgrown with brush; it had sat desolate since 1998. 
In June 2011 I saw first signs of the railway's rehabilitation, although at the time I didn't realize  just how big a project was planned. 

Now people can stroll on it and bikers can ride on the new bike path.
The Tichnun-Nof Landscape Architects'  guiding principle was "to create a harmonious sequence of pedestrian promenades, bicycle lanes, and a linear park creating an interlock between the neighborhoods on both sides."

The space between the 19th century iron tracks has been covered in colored architectural concrete with wooden overlays on the moldings.

More about this unique urban park:
the philosophy behind it  (and photos!)
and
practical information
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Unused for 30 years

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Shalom again!

I walked along some Jerusalem streets today in the German Colony and Bak'a.
Streets with names like Bethlehem Road, Hebron Road, and Emek Refa'im.

Whenever I see a normally-closed gate open, I duck in to have a look.
So it was today.  The vehicle entrance of the big Electric Company substation was open!  Yay!
What a beautiful old building!

Read the lovely story of how the first power station in Jerusalem (built in 1928) was brought back to life!

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(This "Unused for 30 years" post is for ABC Wednesday U Day.)

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Of Gods and Men

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Verses 6-7 of Psalm 82 are shown at the beginning of the film Of Gods and Men.
The movie's title (in the original French,  Des hommes et des dieux) also comes from this puzzling psalm of Asaph.
The movie is a must-see!

 1. A psalm. Of Asaph.

God stands in the divine assembly; among the gods He issues judgment.

 

2. “How long will you judge perversely, and to the evildoers show favor?   Selah.

3. Judge the weak and the orphan; the lowly and the poor, vindicate.

4. Deliver the weak and the needy; from the hand of the evildoers, save them.

 

5. They know not and grasp not; in darkness they go about; they totter, all the foundations of the earth.

6. I had set you as gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;

7. but you shall die as a human does, like one of the princes, you shall fall.”

8 Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You have Your heritage among all the nations.

Photo from the Facebook page Of Gods and Men

Translation of Psalm 82 is  by Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.  

See his interesting notes for the two very different ways of interpreting this psalm. 

He points out that 

"For over a millennium, until the advent of Christianity, the Israelite faith alone carried the banner of monotheism. As such, it had to confront, uniquely, for itself and for its adherents, apparent evidence of conflicting wills functioning in the universe.

A partial response is reflected in the assumed existence of semi-divine beings, somewhere between God and humanity, who sometimes function as a heavenly court, as it were. . . . "

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This post goes to PsalmChallenge at Daily Athens Photo, with thanks to Robert Geiss for keeping us going.

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My street

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My street is narrow, cracked,  and boring and has no sidewalk.
Like all the streets in our small  moshav on the hill.
No one of the poor new immigrants who started the village  had a car back then in 1949. 

Today it is a tight squeeze when cars  meet the infrequent bus;  often one of them has to pull over or even back up.

Once in a great while horseback riders come clip-clopping down the street, who knows from where. 

The best thing about my street is the view from it.
Look out across the valley and see Jerusalem on the horizon!
Look in every direction and see the forested Jerusalem Hills.
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To see how other City Daily Photo bloggers presented "My Street" for the December 1st theme day, visit the group's nice new portal.
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UPDATE: I added some links if you want to see more in and around the village.
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No room in the inn

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Photo of Pundak Ein Kerem from its own webpage

I'm getting the feeling that my humor in the previous post took a wrong turn.
I didn't mean to diss the restaurant that much.
Probably only a photo blogger's eye would even pay attention to the sign on the dusty car, because the Ein Kerem Inn is always full of people.

You can read a glowing review of the place here  and see a video on YouTube .
Next time I'm in the village of Ein Kerem I should go in and take a first-hand look.

Helen in Australia asked what an inn is in the Israeli context.
I think pundak, meaning inn, is nowadays just a cute name for an eatery.

In olden days it meant a caravanserai, a place on the trade routes where caravans could overnight in safety.    Also called khan.
I discovered that the pundak that we now use in Hebrew is like the  فندق funduq in Arabic (from the Greek, pandocheion, an inn).
Arabic has no p sound, so the Greek p here came into the Arabic as funduk, which went back into Hebrew as pundak.
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This way to the inn

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Would this sign, on this car, entice you to go eat at the restaurant it advertises?
It is parked next-door to Pundak Ein Kerem  (Ein Kerem Inn),  in the village which was annexed to Jerusalem.
The sign claims that eating there has been "a Jerusalem experience" already 25 years.
Who knows, maybe the car has been there that long, too.
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(A post for Lesley's fun meme, Signs Signs.)
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UPDATE:  Please see additional and more favorable information about the restaurant  in my new post. 
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Tractor as trellis

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I always wondered what the top of the old mosque looked like, the one built over Mary's Spring in Ein Kerem.
So I trudged up the steep winding narrow lanes to a vantage point way above.

You can enlarge the photo and find the Church of the Visitation and Gornensky Convent beyond the mosque. 

But the true treasure I discovered parked next to an ancient terrace wall, at the side of the narrow lane!
"Tractor as trellis" would be perfect for today's ABC Wednesday.

I sat on a rock near the tractor, ate my peanut butter sandwich, and tried to imagine the life the tractor had many decades ago.
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Healthy exercise at Hadassah/Hebrew U. (?)

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So which would you chose--to sit on the benches or on the exercise machines?

They were installed a few years ago and I have never once seen anyone using them.

The free outdoor "gym" is right next to the National Medical Library at the Hadassah Ein Kerem medical center.
The Hebrew U. medical and dental students study at Hadassah.
I'm sure they have no time and no energy for a daily workout.
Hmm . . . and what is my excuse? 

Reading all these cautions about using the machines is enough to scare away anyone but Superman.

Anyway, those contraptions bring to mind the tortures of the Inquisition.
Just kidding. Sort of.  
The Jewish collective memory is often a hard thing to bear when it rises to the surface.

(A post for Our World Tuesday.)
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Church doors, John, and a bench

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A blog-friend from Scandinavia came to visit today!
We walked down to the local monastery.
I took this shot through the church doors (while sitting in the church)  to catch a beautiful wooden bench resting on ancient stones.
(You can enlarge this photo a lot to see details.)

That's John the Baptist on the left with his message, in Hebrew.
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(A post for Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
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Honey from the rock

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Beautiful Psalm 81 is for the Sunday PsalmChallege inspired by brave Robert Geiss at daily athens photo.   Please pay him a visit.
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For the leader. on the gittith. Of Asaph.

2. Ring out joyously to God our strength; shout out for the God of Jacob. 

3. Take up a song, and apply the drum, the sweet sounding lyre and harp.

4. Blow the horn on the new moon, on the full moon for our feast day.

5. For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob;

6. He imposed it as a testimony upon Joseph when he went forth from the land of Egypt.

– I am listening to a language I do not know –

7. “I relieved his shoulder from the burden, his palms were freed from the basket.

8. In distress you called and I delivered you; answering you from thunder’s covert; testing you at the waters of Meribah.  Selah.

9. Listen, My people, and I will call you to testify, Israel, if you would but listen to Me:

10. 'You shall not have in your midst a foreign god; you shall not bow to an alien god.

11. I am the LORD your God Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt'—open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.

12. But My people did not listen to My voice, Israel did not yield to Me;

13. so I set him free with their stubborn heart, that they could follow their own counsels.

14. O that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would follow My ways!

15. At once I would subdue their enemies, against their foes bring back My hand.”

16. Those who hate the LORD shall cringe before Him; their doom will last forever.

17. But He would feed him the finest wheat: “So I will sate you with honey from the rock.”

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Translation: Rabbi Benjamin Segal

Photos: 

1,2. A miracle harp strung with invisible sensors at the Jerusalem Science Museum.  Granddaughter Libby was playing beautiful music.

3. First century BCE Hebrew inscription: "Lebeit hateki'a" -- "To the place of trumpeting."

This stone block fell from the parapet at the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount to the street below during the destruction of the Temple. 

The trumpeting may have announced the new moon, or Shabbat, or festivals.

4. A stone fountain spout.  Italy, 1000-1300 CE.  Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem. 

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A capital idea. (And a bloody Ashura)

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 An ancient capital reflected in the glass ramp that leads to

the Church of the Flagellation,  which was originally built by the Crusaders in the 12th century.
The Convent (monastery) of the Flagellation now belongs to the Franciscans.

The external wall of the sanctuary is the 2nd Station of the Way of the Cross, marking the imposition of the cross.
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(A post for Weekend Reflections.)
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UPDATE: 

I see that many readers are freaked out by the name Church of the Flagellation (or Scourging).

It refers, of course, to the whipping Jesus got from the Romans in that place. 

But by some strange coincidence, I now notice that today is Ashura, a major Shi'ite holiday marked by bloody self-flagellation. 

I just saw a YouTube video from Lebanon but will spare you by not giving the link.

The Shi'ite men walk through the street in procession, rhythmically whipping their bare back with chains, or hitting their head and chest, or cutting their scalp with razor blades or swords.

The street is literally running with blood.

The most shocking is to see a few fathers cutting on the head of their young sons! 

I would hope our neighbors in the surrounding countries  could find better ways to publicly express grief and mourning for Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, killed in the battle of Karbala in 680. 
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Thankful today for quiet in the sky

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Have no illusions, it is not the path to peace.
But today's ceasefire is a welcome relief from the week-long conflict.

Today the sky over my village  was so quiet!
No more fighter jets thundering,  no army helicopters to the hospital helipad, no rockets going over, no air raid sirens.
The quiet of the sky--a blessing to give thanks for day by day, not something to be taken for granted.

To all my family and friends and blog friends in America, happy Thanksgiving Day!
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(A post for SkyWatch Friday.)
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BTW, the photo shows the path I walk if I miss the infrequent bus to my moshav/village.  It is only 35-40  minutes brisk walk  from the city limits of Jerusalem to my home in the Jerusalem Hills.
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A hard week is over

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The bad news: a bomb went off in a Tel Aviv bus today.
The good news: the bus was not crowded, the bomb was small, no one was killed.

The best news: a ceasefire went into effect at 9:00 pm tonight.
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UPDATE:  I should clarify that "no one was killed" does not mean that no one on the bus was injured; more than 20  people were taken to the nearby hospital. 
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Thursday night update: Police is now announcing that the suspects were caught within a few hours of the bombing.
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Sirens, escalation, and transparency

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S is for second scary siren for ABC Wednesday.

This afternoon the Red Alert sirens went off again in my village and in Jerusalem and in the villages to her south and west .
From various tweets I understand that the missile exploded in an olive grove in or near a Palestinian village in the West Bank.

The new transparent escalator in Hadassah hospital made me want to title this post
ESCALATION AND TRANSPARENCY.

Despite, or maybe because of,  efforts for a ceasefire by tonight, the fighting seemed to escalate during the day.
And Operation Pillar of Defense is a conflict which, for the first time, is covered by minute-to-minute tweeting and live-blogs, with a lot of transparency.
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The Burmese then and now. Hope.

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Two strong things came together today.
No, I don't refer to Iron Dome intercepting a Grad missile.
Instead, the two things were in my mind.

One was the traumatic memory of the month and a half of being bombarded by Saddam Hussein's huge Scud missiles, the ones he threatened to arm with poison gas, during the 1991 Gulf War. 

It was a Shabbat morning when my employers called my home and said, "Dina, please come quickly. Our office was hit by a missile and we must salvage our equipment and move before the next barrage!"

This was when my family lived near Tel Aviv, the city that  was being targeted by Iraq.
The office where I worked for several years  was an old house in nearby Ramat Gan which was housing  the Embassy of the Union of Myanmar.

His Excellency the Ambassador, in suit and tie,  kept busy all day giving interviews to the countless foreign reporters in the yard while the First Secretary, the other two Burmese staff members, their wives, the Israeli chauffeur, and I salvaged things from the rubble and packed the old typewriter, fax, china, files, etc. into boxes.

My son, who was home from the army that weekend, collected small pieces of the Scud as souvenirs.
We worked without stopping until the kind Japanese ambassador came to visit, bringing Hawaiian pizza with pineapple on it. Bless his heart.

On the day I completed the two-year post-grad course in Translation Studies at Bar-Ilan University, the ad appeared in the paper: "Hebrew-English translator/interpreter wanted for small embassy."
That is how I came to work for the  embassy of a country under a military junta.
It was right after Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest in Yangon.

So imagine how thrilled I am today, November 19, 2012, to see President Obama visiting Burma, the first sitting American president to do so.
And to see him welcomed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, now free, now a Member of Parliament!
What a woman, so noble, so humble, so strong of will!

The long-imposed and self-imposed isolation of Burma/Myanmar is easing up.
The world seems ready to welcome Burma back. 

See CNN's  beautiful pictures from the visit today.
And watch  Aung San Suu Kyi's acceptance speech for the Congressional Gold Medal.

What I learned today, even as Israel and Gaza are under fire, is that true leaders can eventually emerge and change their nation, and that change is actually possible in this world.
There is HOPE.
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Tram travel getting less appealing

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Operation Pillar of Defense is our new tram's first experience with hostilities.
The Jerusalem  light rail has only been up and running for a little over one year.

So after Hamas aimed two missiles toward Jerusalem on Friday evening, the officials had to start thinking--what to do if the air raid siren goes off when I am in the tram?

I heard it announced only once on the radio, but apparently it was decided that the tram would stop and passengers would stay inside. 

And--get this!--the passengers are supposed to get below the level of the glass.
Yeah, sure.
Can you see how low the windows go?

And often people are packed in like vertical sardines, over 250 in each of the two cars of the tram.
Where would there be room to lie on the floor or sit on the floor or even just bend down??
And with all those glass doors and big windows, think of all the potential shrapnel that would go flying.   Oi . . .
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On Friday morning a fake bomb (wires sticking out of a bag or something) was planted in a tram near Mt. Herzl.
The entire line was stopped from 6:30 to 10 a.m.  while they brought in the police robot to investigate the "suspicious object."

Sometimes I wish we stilled used camels and donkeys.
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UPDATE: Another dummy bomb was put in the tram again this morning (Monday).
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Vineyards in the Jura

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The Psalms take on added power during times of danger and of fierce fighting, like  now.

For Psalm Challenge, here is Psalm 80.
(My beloved Swiss photos can be enlarged with a click or two.)

  For the leader; on shoshanim, eduth; of Asaph. A psalm.

¹Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
²before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us!
³Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
⁴O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
⁵You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.
⁶You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves.
⁷Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

⁸You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
⁹You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
¹⁰The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches;
¹¹it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River.

¹²Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
¹³The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.

¹⁴Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; 

have regard for this vine,
¹⁵the stock that your right hand planted.

¹⁶They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
¹⁷But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.
¹⁸Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.
¹⁹Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
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Translation: NRSV New Revised Standard Version, c. 1989

Photos:
Vines and vineyards on the Jura Mountains, near Lake Neuchatel, Switzerland.
Israel does have vineyards but I have not yet visited them. 
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Jerusalem as target

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The air raid sirens went off in my village, and in Jerusalem, and in her surrounding communities late this afternoon--for the first time!

Very surprising and very scary.

This is how the Muslims in Gaza show their love for the city they call holy, Al Kuds, by firing missiles at it??  

The missiles landed short of the city, thank God, in an open area.  Some say in Gush Etzion.

Some friends in my moshav heard a few booms.

So it is not only southern Israel and Tel Aviv, now we too are in range of Hamas. 

Shabbat shalom, in spite of the situation.   

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