Of harps and horses

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For Robert's 33rd PsalmChallenge at Daily Athens, here is Psalm 33.

1 Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. 2 Praise the LORD with the lyre, make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3 Sing to him a new song, play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4 For the word of the LORD is upright; and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle; he put the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the LORD, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood forth.
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nought; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the LORD stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

13 The LORD looks down from heaven, he sees all the sons of men; 14 from where he sits enthroned he looks forth on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 he who fashions the hearts of them all, and observes all their deeds.
16 A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. 17 The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save.

18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 19 that he may deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and shield. 21 Yea, our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. 22 Let thy steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in thee. .
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Today I used the RSV, but the Hebrew with old English translation is at Mechon Mamre.
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Photos:
Window of Ps. 33 at the Great Synagogue, Jerusalem.
"David's Harp" by Shaul Baz, was at Mamilla mall exhibit.
"The creation of Man--sound of silence" by Betty Wachsstock Schonfeld, was as Mamilla. It is worthwhile enlarging this photo to see how Adam is stepping out of a block.
Ottoman Turkish soldier on horseback, Museum of Islamic Art Jerusalem.
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"Noah's Dove," 1978

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O is for olive branch for ABC Wednesday.
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Or, more accurately translated from the Hebrew of Genesis 8, a "freshly-plucked olive leaf."

"Noah's Dove" rises from the plaza next to the Jerusalem Theater that I posted a few days ago in reflection.

This week's Torah portion is Parshah Noah.
Chabad.org has lots of ways to look at it, and Wikipedia has lots of old paintings of the famous Genesis stories about Noah and the Flood, his naked drunkenness and cursing of Canaan, and the Tower of Babel.
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The olive branch, birds, and St. Jerome

. "Noah's Ark" . It's part of the Bible Stories exhibit still going on at Mamilla mall. Genesis 8: 8 And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him to the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth; and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her in unto him into the ark. 10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11 And the dove came in to him at eventide; וְהִנֵּה עֲלֵה-זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ and lo in her mouth an olive-leaf freshly plucked; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. . . An interesting tidbit from Wiki:

In his 4th century Latin translation of the story of Noah, St Jerome rendered "leaf of olive" (Hebrew alay zayit) in Genesis 8:11 as "branch of olive" (Latin ramum olivae). In the 5th century, by which time a dove with an olive branch had become established as a Christian symbol of peace, St Augustine wrote in On Christian Doctrine that, "perpetual peace is indicated by the olive branch (oleae ramusculo) which the dove brought with it when it returned to the ark." However, in Jewish tradition there is no reference to an olive branch in the story of the Flood and no association of the olive leaf with peace in the story of the flood. 

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Sarah gets a shower

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Early morning pre-opening Mamilla Mall life is reflected in the store window in this picture for Weekend Reflections.
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I was shocked to see the cleaning man throw a bucket of water on one of the Bible Stories statues.
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But our matriarch Sarah just laughed.
She seemed quite tickled when the cleaner scrubbed her with his broom.
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The statue is "Sarah" by Rita Paran, based on Genesis 21:6:

ו וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרָה--צְחֹק, עָשָׂה לִי אֱלֹהִים: כָּל-הַשֹּׁמֵעַ, יִצְחַק-לִי. 6
And Sarah said: 'God hath made laughter for me; every one that heareth will laugh on account of me.'
[This was after God had promised the barren Sarah that she and Abraham would bear a son in their old age.]
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Birds of Paradise

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A rare bird of paradise flower in Jerusalem.
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A bird-of-paradise bird, literally!
The sculpture's Hebrew name is Tsipor Gan Eden, meaning "bird of the Garden of Eden."
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Sculptor Judith Shacher quotes Genesis 1:
And God said, ". . . Let the birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens."
So God created . . . every winged bird according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply . . . and let birds multiply on the earth."
And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
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Creepy crawlies

Enlarge to see the surprising details.

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Every time I walk through Mamilla Avenue (the mall), I find more sculptures have been added to the Bible Stories exhibition.
Here, for That's My World, is a new one.
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The face created by Yael Erlichman is on the wall next to the Ahava (Dead Sea cosmetics) store.
Its inspiration came from Genesis 1:20 --

And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures . . .
So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm . . .
And God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas" . . . .
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Only at this time, 7:30 a.m., is Mamilla Mall so empty. Later in the day and all evening it is packed.
All the black boxes you see, and about a hundred more that you don't see, have sculptures on them.
The Bible Stories theme is going on until October.
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The akeda, the binding of Isaac

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The Days of Awe, the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, are upon us.
On the second day of Rosh Hashana the Torah portion read in the synagogue is from Genesis 22. The binding of Isaac!

The sculpture portrays Abraham's hand covering the mouth of Isaac while his other hand grips the knife with which he was commanded to slay his beloved son.

One face of the rock has the altar on which Isaac was bound. But mercifully, there also appears the ram with the curved horns, caught in the thicket, which God sent as a substitute sacrifice.

Engraved in Hebrew on the back is pahad Yitzhak, meaning Isaac's fear.

And above the words, a dove.

The rock stands in the Municipal Garden, between the Jerusalem City Hall and Jaffa Road.

The artist is the same man who did the giant mural in the Post Office.

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Like our patriarch whom God tested, the artist is also named Avraham. Avraham Ofek created this sculpture in 1987, after he had lost his own daughter, and just a few years before he died of a long and painful illness.

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Let there be light -- Shabbat Beresheet

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Today is Shabbat Beresheet, the Sabbath on which we begin the Torah-reading cycle anew, starting at Genesis.
After all our soul-searching and repenting of the past month, God has hopefully given us a clean slate to begin the new Jewish year.
Every year on this Hebrew date we read all over again how God created the world, and every year we are given a fresh chance to create our own worlds all over again.

"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light."

Here is a story related by Yanki Tauber, content editor of http://www.chabad.org/:

What Is A Chassid?LET THERE BE LIGHT (1:3)

In 1907, when Rabbi Sholom DovBer of Lubavitch was staying at the health spa in Wirtzburg, Germany, a group of chassidim came to spend a Shabbos with the Rebbe. Among them was Reb Yosef Yuzik Horowitz, his son-in-law Reb Feivel Zalmanov, and Reb Elimelech Stoptzer.

The Rebbe prayed for many hours that Shabbos morning, as was his manner. Meanwhile, the chassidim made kiddush and consumed a respectable quantity of l'chayims.
Later, when the Rebbe had finished and they sat with him to the Shabbos meal, Reb Yosef Yuzik asked:
"Rebbe, what is a chassid?"

Replied the Rebbe: "A chassid is a lamplighter. The lamplighter walks the streets carrying a flame at the end of a stick. He knows that the flame is not his. And he goes from lamp to lamp to set them alight."

Asked Reb Yosef Yuzik: "What if the lamp is in a desert?"
"Then one must go and light it," said the Rebbe. "And when one lights a lamp in a desert, the desolation of the desert becomes visible. The barren wilderness will then be ashamed before the burning lamp."

Continued the chassid: "What if the lamp is at sea?"
"Then one must undress, dive into the sea, and go light the lamp."
"And this is a chassid?" Reb Yosef Yuzik asked.
For a long while the Rebbe thought. Then he said: "Yes, this is a chassid."

"But Rebbe, I do not see the lamps!"
Answered the Rebbe: "Because you are not a lamplighter."
"How does one become a lamplighter?"
"First, you must reject the evil within yourself.
Start with yourself, cleanse yourself, refine yourself, and you will see the lamp within your fellow. When a person is himself coarse, G-d forbid, he sees coarseness; when a person is himself refined, he sees the refinement in others."

Reb Yosef Yuzik then asked: "Is one to grab the other by the throat?"
Replied the Rebbe: "By the throat, no; by the lapels, yes."
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Happy birthday to the World

Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the new year. We have just entered, by Jewish reckoning, the year 5769. I have seen it written in some scholarly works as 5769 A.M., from the Latin anno mundi, meaning the year of the world, i.e. of the creation of the world.

In the Rosh Hashanah liturgy (the holy day has its own thick prayerbook) we say to God:
"This is the day of the beginning of Your creation, a memorial of the first day ... today is the conception of the world."
I took the photo now of a postcard I carried around the world for several years. It is a painting by the wonderful artist Sieger Köder called "Schöpfung" [Creation], Und Gott sah alles an, was er gemacht hatte, und es war sehr gut" (from Genesis 1).

40 years

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"God said to Abram, 'Lech lecha, go away from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you . . . and I will bless you . . . .' "
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In March 1968 I did, I left America behind and made aliyah, the spiritual ascent up to Israel.
On today's date, March 18, the good ship Enotria sailed into Haifa port, just as the sun was rising over Mount Carmel.
I disembarked, kissed the ground, and embarked on a new life.
I had never been to Israel except in my dreams, knew no one, had little money.
Fresh out of college, a 22-year-old idealist coming into an idealistic 19 year old country. Population just two million.
We both had a lot of growing up to do.

The photo shows my teudat zehut, my identity card.
We have been together forty years.

Citizen of the State of Israel--this indeed is my identity.
This is the promised blessing. Thank you, God, for showing me the way home.

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