A quandary and a queue at the Holy Sepulchre

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Queue is a queer word,  with too many letters.
I prefer to just say line.
But what to do, today is Q Day at ABC Wednesday. 

Most hours of the day there is a long queue of pilgrims wrapped around the  edicule, the structure built over the tomb of Jesus inside the rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The entrance is narrow and the clergy on duty regulate the flow, allowing you only a brief minute inside.
There is room for only 3 or 4 inside, next to the tomb.
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The news broke this week that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is in trouble.
They owe 9 million shekels (2.3 million dollars) for back payments on the water bill.

Apparently they had a tacit agreement with the late Teddy Kollek z"l, who was mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, that the church would get free water. 
But now the water company says that under  law the company cannot do this. 

And now,  the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which has extensive and valuable property holdings in the Holy Land and maintains a headquarters in the ancient church, had its bank account frozen. 

The Greeks threatened to close the doors to the church for a day  in protest. 
If that were to happen, it would be a sad day in the Holy City. 
'Tis a quandary. 
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Read the whole story in the Jerusalem Post  and more at Ynet.  
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(A last contribution  to Taphophile Tragics.)
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Preaching to the donkeys

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Happy World Animal Day!

Wikipedia says it "is celebrated each year on October 4. It started in Florence, Italy in 1931 at a convention of ecologists.
On this day, animal life in all its forms is celebrated, and special events are planned on locations all over the globe.
4 October was originally chosen for World Animal Day because it is the feast day of Francis of Assisi, a nature lover and patron saint of animals and the environment.
Numerous churches throughout the world observe the Sunday closest to 4 October with a Blessing for the Animals."

Of all the animals I love donkeys the most.

In 2005 I was lucky to work as a volunteer for one month at the Good Samaritan Donkey Sanctuary in NSW, Australia.
I got to know the 130 donkeys that the dedicated and hard-working Kokas family has rescued.

(Enlarge the photo to read the sign about donkeys.)

They let me live in a little caravan at the sanctuary, in the middle of rolling hills, with only donkeys and wild kangaroos and koalas and exotic birds for neighbors.

There was a washing machine, but the fence had to serve as my clothesline.

What a rare chance to be far from any human!

One evening, remembering how St. Francis is said to have preached to the birds, I stood on the picnic table and began preaching to the animals in the loudest voice I could produce.
"My brother and sister donkeys, brother and sister kangaroos and birds, sister moon . . . "

I can't remember the words of my sermon, but I did sing Taize songs to the animals.
And you know what? -- They stood still, out there in the pastures and in the bush, looking at me and listening.
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God bless our animals, today and every day.
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(See more posts about donkeys and one about the Aussie sanctuary.)
And for ABC Wednesday, L is for loving lovely donkeys.
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UPDATE: Crystal at Perspective blog posted some really unusual footage of Donovan in the role of Francis (before he was a saint) from the 1972 Franco Zeffirelli film "Brother Sun, Sister Moon."
Recommended!

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Jack, jackal

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For my letter J post for ABC Wednesday you are expecting something about Jerusalem, Jews, Judah, Jeremiah, Jonah, or Jesus, right?

Nope. It is . . .

just a jack. A simple scissor jack.
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I was surprised to see this car on the little old road at the far end of the moshav (village), near the spring.
It was evening, getting dark; no one was in sight.

Where was the driver? Where was the fourth wheel?

It was an eerie sight for me, having never changed a tire on my own.
I headed home, glad to be on foot, meeting only two jackals crossing the road.
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Icons at vespers

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For ABC Wednesday letter I day --

Icons illuminated by evening's last rays of sun.
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In the habit

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Hurrying to do a little horticulture while still in Sunday habit.

(Continuing yesterday's post.)

For H-day at ABC Wednesday .
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Girl soldiers on a safety island

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Good girls, go in peace!

(For G Day at ABC Wednesday.)

Seen today clustered on a traffic island at the busy Jerusalem intersection of Agron and King David Streets--green (as in, new) recruits, going on a tour of the capital as part of their compulsory army service.
Enlarge the photo and see that the gun of their sergeant leader is about half as tall as she is.
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That 5-star hotel is the David Citadel.
The Citadel/Tower of David in the Old City is visible just a few blocks to the east.
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These 18-year-olds look so young to be defending this country, no?
God be with them!
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Fenced-in falling facade

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This was the Russian hospital in its better days, in the 1920s.

The historic photo is by the American Colony photographers, whose wonderful collection is now available online through the Library of Congress.
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The Russian hospital was built in 1863, making it the first such institution outside the walls of the Old City.

I walked through Russian Compound today and was dismayed to find the old building's facade draped with chicken wire.
And a protective roof had been put up over the entrance.

"Fenced-in facade" I thought, as I took a picture for ABC Wednesday F-day.
It's no fun, though, because it must mean that chunks of masonry are starting to fall off.

I think that today some offices of the Israel Police use this building.

But the gable is still topped by the symbol of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society which was founded in 1882 in St. Petersburg for the purpose of studying Eretz Israel and the holy places, aiding Russian pilgrims, and establishing institutions in the Holy Land.

Encircling the khi rho (XP) cross and the alpha and omega is the first verse of Isaiah 62, written in old Cyrillic script:
"For the sake of Zion I will not be silent, for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still."
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Exciting emergency excavation

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Just in time for ABC Wednesday E-day, an emergency (i.e. salvage) excavation in Emek Yizrael (the Jezreel Valley) has unearthed an exciting find!


Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority

A marble statue of Hercules from the 2nd century C.E.!
He is leaning on a club to his left, on the upper part of which hangs the skin of the Nemean lion which according to Greek mythology Hercules slew as the first of his twelve labors.
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As you can guess, it is from a Roman bathhouse.
Benches were found on two sides of the pool, which had a sophisticated pumping system to fill it with water.
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More details and a link to high resolution photos at the IAA press release.
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I hope they find his head.
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