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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Yemen in Jerusalem

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The Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem is just across the street from President Shimon Peres' official residence.

Judging from the big banner on the side of the museum, they are showing an exhibit of photos from Yemen taken by Israeli photo journalist Naftali Hilger.
See beautiful examples at the website.

About the photo above, the caption says "A Muslim woman in Tihama, 1996. There is no law that sets a dress code, but social norms call for women to keep their faces covered."

And for Monday Doorways here are the two front doors of the museum.

Make sure to enlarge the first photo to enjoy the amazing skin decorations.

This post is a little tour for Our World Tuesday.

Click here for more posts about the Museum for Islamic Art.
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To seek forgiveness

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PsalmChallenge is hosted by Robert of Daily Athens.

Psalm 32

1 A Psalm of David. A Maskil.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. [Selah]
5 I acknowledged my sin to thee, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. [Selah]

6 Therefore let every one who is godly offer prayer to thee; at a time of distress, in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
7 Thou art a hiding place for me, thou preservest me from trouble; thou dost encompass me with deliverance. [Selah]

8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.


9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not keep with you.

10 Many are the pangs of the wicked; but steadfast love surrounds him who trusts in the LORD.
11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
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Revised Standard Version translation. For Hebrew-English see Mechon Mamre. For Rabbi Segal's translation and commentary see A New Psalm.
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Photos:
Ceremonial horse trappings. Brass with turquoise and coral inlay. Bukhara, 19th century. At the Museum of Islamic Art, Jerusalem.
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Confession booth, St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, Australia.
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As a Jew, I sometimes wonder what it is like to make confession to a priest. But I do like how the Catholic church now seems to call it the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

For the early Church, Psalm 32 was considered one of a group of seven Psalms of Atonement.
In Jewish tradition, it is the Psalm recited on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
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Keeping cool in Ramadan

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Is that a reflection or a shadow on the floor of the entrance to Jerusalem's Museum of Islamic Art?
Does it go to James' Weekend Reflections or Tracy's Shadow Shot Sunday?
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Enlarge the picture better to see what created the reflection/shadow.

The delicate pattern from the windows is even echoed in the museum's benches.
And hey, there's definitely a shadow under the bench!

Here are the holes in the bench from above.
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You still see a few examples of this on upper windows in the Old City.
The mashrabiy or rushan is an element of traditional Arabic architecture used since the Middle Ages up to the mid twentieth century.
The wooden lattice would prevent people down on the street from seeing the women in their home and yet would allow the women to see what was happening in the street. Or so it was explained to me.
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In addition to the social aspect of privacy, the rushan was like a primitive air conditioner.
Wikipedia says "The wooden screen with openable windows gives shade and protection from the hot summer sun while allowing the cool air from the street to flow through. The wood itself absorbs the humidity from the air."
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This year Ramadan falls in August, the hottest month of the year.
Not drinking or eating during the long hot day must be a real test of character.
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Wishing Ramadan kareem to our Muslim readers.
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Kaaba

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K is for the Kaaba on today's ABC Wednesday.
. A photo of the Kaaba in Mecca at Jerusalem's Museum of Islamic Art.
(And nice benches too.)
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I was surprised to be walking in Herod's Gate (the Flower Gate) and suddenly see a door open on a little storage space filled with an Old City grocer's produce, with a picture of the Kaaba surrounded by Muslim pilgrims.

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If you see a picture of the Kaaba on a Jerusalem door, it probably means that the resident is a hajji, one who has made the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca).

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I'd be happy if one of you could tell me what the Arabic says in this photo.
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Dagger display

To my delight, these dangerous daggers were safely displayed behind glass at Jerusalem's Museum of Islamic Art. 

(Yes, it's ABC Wednesday D-day.)

The kind  without a fancy hilt is called katar, I think.

They are all antique daggers from around the Middle East. 

Besides being a weapon of war, the dagger is useful in hunting and eating, and a beautiful one can be a ceremonial status symbol. 
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UPDATE:  You can see the 4,000-year-old stone  pommel of a Canaanite dagger that we unearthed at the Holyland Park dig in Jerusalem in an earlier post.

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The Mystery of Lost Time

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T is today's letter at ABC Wednesday and TIME is tonight's theme at City Daily Photo. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.
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"Traduttori traditori" the old Italian saying claims.
Translators traitors.

Here in the sign for the exhibit "The Mystery of Lost Time" we wish the Hebrew zman ganuv could have been translated more literally as "stolen time," because that is exactly what happened.

One night in 1983 a thief bent the window bars in Jerusalem's Museum for Islamic Art and made off with 106 artifacts and paintings and the whole collection of timepieces.
It was hailed as the costliest theft in Israeli history and included a pocket watch made by famed watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet for French Queen Marie Antoinette that museum officials valued at more than $30 million.

The watches and clocks started to return to the museum just a few years ago.

A deathbed confession and the written will of the thief was the long-awaited breakthrough in the case.

Absolutely NO photos were allowed when I recently viewed the exhibit, but you can see a 2-minute video of the collection here, if you have TIME.

Ostrich eggs, Orthodox, oil, and opulence

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The ABC Wednesday meme's page is showing an ostrich today, for O-Day.
I will be offering ostrich eggs.

Orthodox monk filling the oil lamps in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

He kneels on the anointing stone on which, it is believed, the body of Jesus was prepared for burial.

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Enlarge this photo and you will see a decorated ceramic egg on the chain above each oil lamp.

Some experts think that in centuries past, these ostrich eggs were barriers against mice.

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An Armenian source says that the mice, attracted by the animal fat used in these lamps, would descend the ropes and chains and then slip off the slick surface of the egg before they could reach the vessel bearing the oil.
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Ostrich eggs were also hung in mosques.

These two opulent eggs (real eggs, not ceramic) are displayed at the Museum for Islamic Art Jerusalem, in the Late Iranian Art room.

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The 18th century ivory colored one is carved with arabesques and inscriptions.

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The painted and lacquered egg is from the 19th century.

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Naomi and the Nargila

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Nice daughter Naomi watching me pretend to puff on the nargila.
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For ABC Wednesday's N-Day.
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We got the family (scattered over three different continents) together for lunch at the Lebanese Restaurant in Ein Kerem village.
We sat for hours eating good food, talking and laughing, welcomed hospitably by host Issa.
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After the hookah/nargila came to the table, we continued sitting even more.
Pretty, isn't it?
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But these water bowls of 17th and 18th century nargilas are more than pretty!
Please enlarge and see the exquisite detail.
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The Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem describes one hubble bubble or hookah as glass with gilded decoration and another as gilded silver with enamel.
The larger hanging one has gold, enamel, and precious stones.
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The small one is a coconut with metal inlay, crafted in Persia or India in the 18th century.
Nargila derives from the Persian word nārghile, meaning coconut, suggesting that early hookahs were hewn from coconut shells.
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The tobacco smoked is referred to as shisha.
Tobacco was introduced by Portuguese traders in the late 16th century.
"And the rest is history."
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Let the light shine through

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Sunlight enters the arched windows, comes through the beautiful benches, and makes a shadow pattern

--all for Hey Harriet's "Shadow Shot Sunday" and for my bench-collecting blog-friends Vogon Poet (http://abunchofbenches.blogspot.com/) and RuneE (http://visualnorway.blogspot.com/).

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