Our matriarch Sarah's laughter, then and now

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And Sarah said: 'God hath made laughter for me; every one that heareth will laugh on account of me.'

 וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרָה--צְחֹק, עָשָׂה לִי אֱלֹהִים:  כָּל-הַשֹּׁמֵעַ, יִצְחַק-לִי

-- Genesis 21:6 --

This was said after God had promised the barren Sarah that she and husband Abraham would bear a son in their advanced old age. 
I am thinking of this statue, called "Sarah," by Rita Paran, based on that Bible verse, because today our City Daily Photo bloggers group is sharing a Theme Day about LAUGHTER. 

Back in 2011 I was walking very early through the still-closed Mamilla Mall in Jerusalem. 
I was shocked to see the cleaning man throw a bucket of water on one of the Bible Stories statues! 
But our matriarch Sarah just laughed.
She seemed quite tickled when the cleaner scrubbed her with his broom. 
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(Linking to City Daily Photo,  Our World Tuesday, and Weekend Reflections.)
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Looking down on Mamilla

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Another "looking down" shot--the upscale Mamilla Mall in Jerusalem.
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"Happy" in Jerusalem. UPDATE: and in the whole world!

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UPDATE!  Today, March 20, is the official U.N. International Day of Happiness and United Nations Foundation's  website 24 Hours of Happiness  is updating every hour with new videos of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" song filmed in every imaginable place in the world!

Timeanddate.com has interesting facts about the newish holiday, including "The day recognizes that happiness is a fundamental human goal, and calls upon countries to approach public policies in ways that improve the well being of all peoples."
The U.N. website about the day is here. 

Just because Jerusalem can be such a happy place!

Take a look at the video
 "A tribute to Pharrell Williams's song "Happy" from Jerusalem.
A production of Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim."

Even Mayor Nir Barkat makes an appearance along with the Ramah Yerushalayim high school kids.
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P.S.  The original with Pharrell Williams where you can SEE the lyrics has been viewed  126 million times on YouTube. 
Yalla, let's get happy! 
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(Linking to J-day at ABC Wednesday.)
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Don Quixote rides again

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D is for Don Quixote.
Zeevik Gottlieb made the unusual sculpture and it was part of the Humor and Satire exhibition along Jerusalem's  Mamilla Avenue  last year.
Looks like the knight errant carries his own windmill that he plucked from a modern wind farm, no? 

LOGON, the Light Opera Group of the Negev, will be staging the musical "Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha."
In English! 
It will open in Beer Sheva on February 27 and will  tour major cities in Israel.
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)
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P.S.  See a video of The Impossible Dream song with Peter O'Toole, of blessed memory, as Don Quixote. 

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(Linking to James' Weekend Reflections.)
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Aaron, big brother of Moses

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For our weekly PsalmChallenge, centered in Athens at Robert Geiss' blog, here is
PSALM 99.

1. It is the LORD Who is king—let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned on cherubim—let the earth quake.

2. The LORD is great in Zion, and exalted is He above all peoples.

3. Let them praise Your name: “Great and awesome, holy is He.”

4. Indeed, “A king’s might is loving justice.”  It was You who established equity; it was You Who made for justice and righteousness in Jacob.

5. Exalt the LORD our God and prostrate yourselves toward His footstool. Holy is He.

6. Moses and Aaron among His priests and Samuel among those who called out His name: they called upon the LORD, and it was He Who would answer them.

7. In a pillar of cloud He would speak to them; they obeyed His statutes and the law He gave them.

8. O LORD our God, it was You Who answered them; for them You were a forgiving God , though exacting retribution for their misdeeds.

9. Exalt the LORD our God, and prostrate yourselves toward His holy mountain, for holy is the LORD our God.

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Translation: Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.  See also his commentary on the Psalms.

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Photos: Aaron the Priest and the Blooming Staff  by Ossi Yalon. 

Based on Numbers 17:16 ff.

Several of her biblical sculptures were shown at the Mamilla mall 2011 exhibit "Bible Stories."

Yalon's Aladdin and the Three Wishes wishing well appears on my blog here, and see the artist's own comments in the Comments there, too! 

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5 things to celebrate today

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 So many reasons to celebrate today! 

1. We now have a friendly and humble Pope.

2. Armenians celebrate the Feast of St. Vartan the Warrior today.
 By some miracle I was allowed to go up to their church in the Holy Sepulchre during the procession!
I have never ever seen the upstairs part and always wanted to.
It is so beautiful!  Pictures will follow.

3. "Go Figure!",  the Jerusalem Science Festival, starts today.

4.  March 14, i.e. 3.14,  is Pi Day.  

5. Albert Einstein's 134th birthday.
The funny sculpture of him by Yuval Mahler is at Mamilla mall.
To quote GoJerusalem.com :

Humor and Satire, the most extensive open air exhibit in Israel to date, kicks off in Alrov Mamilla Avenue beginning on February 19  with 210 sculptures by 63 artists. Visitors are expected to number at least one million.
Humor and laughter are an inevitable part of our lives from the moment we are born. The sages said that "it is man alone that laughs, he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter."
 "Inventing laughter" is exactly the challenge which stood before the artists participating in the exhibit, which will be displayed beginning on Purim at Alrov Mamilla Avenue. Israel's best artists were recruited by the exhibit's curator, Tzipi Vital, to create sculptures that express laughter and basically reinvent laughter in the physical form in such a way that will cause viewers to laugh.

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Sing and spread light

Let's sing some holiday songs, light some candles, eat, and fill the world with AHAVA (love) !

Happy Chanuka!

Sculpture by Ruth Agmon, exhibited at Mamilla mall.
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"How long, O Lord . . . ?"

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For Robert Geiss' weekly PsalmChallenge, here is Psalm 79.
The intense feeling of this psalmist most likely comes in reaction to the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE.
He speaks of violence and calls for vengeance. 

Today is Armistice Day / Veterans Day in the world.
Since biblical days and before,  the need for soldiers and armistices continues.
Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours terrorists in Gaza have fired over 100 rockets, mortars, and missiles into Israel.
Will it ever end?

O God! Nations have come into Your estate, defiled Your holy Temple, reduced Jerusalem to rubble!

2. They have given Your servants’ corpses to the fowl of the heavens for consumption and the flesh of Your faithful to the wild beasts of earth.

3. They have spilled out their blood like water around Jerusalem. No one was buried.

4. We have become a disgrace to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.

5. How long, O LORD will You be angry, forever will Your zeal blaze like fire? 

6. Spill forth Your rage on the nations that do not know You, on the kingdoms that do not call upon Your name,

7. for they have consumed Jacob and laid waste his habitation.

8. Do not recall to us our former  iniquities; speedily may Your compassion come toward us, for we are very low.

9. Help us, O God of our salvation, because of the glory of Your name; save us and grant forgiveness for our sins, for the sake of Your name.

10. Why should nations say, “Where is their god?” Before our eyes  let the vengeance for the spilt blood of Your servants be known among the nations.

11. May the prisoner’s groan come before You; as befits the might of Your arm, reprieve those about to be put to death. 

12. Return sevenfold to the bosom of our neighbors the disgrace which they heaped on You, O Lord.

 

13. For we, Your people, are the flock You shepherd. 
We shall glorify You forever; from generation to generation we shall tell Your praise. 
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Translation by Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.  See also his notes on Psalm 79.
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Photos:
1. Sculpture by Kobi Knaan, at Bible Stories exhibition, Mamilla mall
2. An outdoor people warmer,  Mamilla mall
3. British solitary confinement cell, Museum of Prisoners of [pre-State]  Underground Movements Prisoners, Jerusalem 
4. My neighbor's goat flock and their shepherd
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"In the day of my trouble . . ."

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Psalm 77 today, for PsalmChallege at Daily Athens Photo.

 To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

1  I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, that he may hear me.

2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.

3 I think of God, and I moan; I meditate, and my spirit faints. [Selah]

4 Thou dost hold my eyelids from closing; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5 I consider the days of old, I remember the years long ago.

6 I commune with my heart in the night; I meditate and search my spirit:

7 "Will the Lord spurn for ever, and never again be favorable?

8 Has his steadfast love for ever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time?

9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?" [Selah]

10 And I say, "It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed."

11 I will call to mind the deeds of the LORD; yea, I will remember thy wonders of old.

12 I will meditate on all thy work, and muse on thy mighty deeds.

13 Thy way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?

14 Thou art the God who workest wonders, who hast manifested thy might among the peoples.

15 Thou didst with thy arm redeem thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. [Selah]

16 When the waters saw thee, O God, when the waters saw thee, they were afraid, yea, the deep trembled.

17 The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth thunder; thy arrows flashed on every side.

18 The crash of thy thunder was in the whirlwind; thy lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook.

19 Thy way was through the sea, thy path through the great waters; yet thy footprints were unseen.

20 Thou didst lead thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.  . . Translation: RSV Revised Standard Version, 1971 Photos: "HaNavi Yehezkel" (The Prophet Ezekiel), by Alla Grinberg, Mamilla Mall, 2011 "Tefila -- The Prayer," by Sam Phillipe, Mamilla Mall, 2011 .

Different meanings of horn-raising

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For this week's PsalmChallenge group effort, here is Psalm 75.

1. For the leader; al tashheth. A psalm. Of Asaph. A song.

2. We praise You, O God; we praise, as Your name is near. They recount Your wondrous deeds.

3. “Indeed, I will set a time; it is I who will give judgment uprightly.

4. At the tottering of earth and all its inhabitants, it is I who keeps its pillars firm.   Selah.

 

5. To the boastful I say, 'Do not be boastful'; to the wicked, 'Do not raise a horn!'” 

6. Do not raise your horns on high, speaking with arrogant neck,

7. for neither from the east nor the west nor the wilderness is (one) raised;

8. indeed, it is God who gives judgment; He brings down, He raises up.

 

9. Indeed, there is a cup in the LORD’s hand with foaming wine fully mixed; from this He pours; but its dregs, all the wicked of the earth drink to the last drop. 

 

10. As for me, I will forever declare and sing a hymn to the God of Jacob.

11. “All the horns of the wicked ones I will cut off; but the horns of the righteous one shall rise.”

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Translation: Rabbi Benjamin Segal 

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Photo:

Sculpture by Michal Bein, at the Musical Instruments art exhibition at Mamilla Mall, Jerusalem. 

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Fiddling with art

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Perfect for Weekend Reflections--a very special violin case.

By Moshe Chaimovitch.

Part of the Musical Instruments exhibition now at Mamilla Mall, across from Jaffa Gate.
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A blessing etched in steel

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Next Sunday's psalm will be the last until September.
Our fearless leader in Athens, Robert Geiss, has somehow gotten our little group (which you are welcome to join) to illustrate the first 67 psalms and now we will get summer vacation!
Visit his PsalmChallenge at daily athens photo blog.
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PSALM 67

1. For the leader; with stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.

2. May God be gracious to us and bless us; may He cause his face to shine among us. Selah.

3. That Your way be understood throughout the earth, Your salvation among all nationalities.

4. May peoples praise You, O God; may all the peoples praise You.

5. Let nations exult and shout for joy, because You rule the peoples with equity, and nations You guide throughout the earth. Selah.

6. May peoples praise You, O God; may all the peoples praise You.

7. The earth yields its produce; may God, our God, bless us.

8. May God bless us, that all the ends of the earth fear Him.

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Photo
"Birkat Cohanim" (The Priestly Blessing) by Etchi Werner-Nyiri, at Mamilla Mall, 2011, based on Numbers 6:22-26:

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine on you

and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.
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The translation of today's psalm is by Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.
His notes about Psalm 67 are worth reading, for example:

The terminology of verse 3 is drawn from the priestly blessing (Num. 6:24–26), cited several times in the Bible. Here the original application to “you” singular is transferred to first-person plural, “us.”

And also this:

Psalm 67 anticipates a new world, an ideal world. The psalm addresses the duality of God’s relationship to mankind as previously encountered in Psalms—He is God of both Israel and the world. Here, in this ideal, the two blend smoothly.

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A psalmist's rage against evil forces

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Robert Geiss at daily athens photo PsalmChallenge has somehow brought us all the way to the 58th Psalm, and a difficult one it is.

1 For the leader; al tashheth. Of David. A michtam.

Do you rulers indeed speak justly?
Do you judge people with equity?

2 No, in your heart you devise injustice,
and your hands mete out violence on the earth.

3 Even from birth the wicked go astray;
from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.

4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake,
like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,

5 that will not heed the tune of the charmer,
however skillful the enchanter may be.

6 Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;
LORD, tear out the fangs of those lions!

7 Let them vanish like water that flows away;
when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.

8 May they be like a snail that dissolves as it moves along,
like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns—
whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.

10 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged,
when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.

11 Then people will say,
“Surely the righteous still are rewarded;
surely there is a God who judges the earth.”

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Note:
In his analysis, Rabbi Benjamin Segal writes, "For some, the vindictiveness of Psalm 58 is hard to take . . ."

The rabbi quotes Broyles, who, speaking about the psalmist's desire for vengeance remarks, “These biblical images should at least awaken us who live in the comfortable West to the Bible’s realism about injustice and how victims feel.”

Photos:
1. "The Womb" by Dr. Noni Reina.
2. Statue currently on exhibit at Mamilla by Alexander Metlayev.
3. Snail shells in an old fort on the Roman Road.
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They made music in hell

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It was disconcerting to suddenly come upon this ensemble in the upscale Mamilla Mall last week, as part of an otherwise upbeat Musical Instruments sculpture exhibition.

But it seems more appropriate today because Israel is right now observing Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The official name is Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day and this year's theme is Hayachid vehayachad--My brother's keeper: Jewish solidarity in the Holocaust.

This sculpture's creator is Dr. Martin Kieselstein, who survived five Nazi concentration camps but lost his entire family.
He remembers the Jewish musicians who had to play music at the gate of Auschwitz as the forced laborers went out to work every day.
The artists says that the music gave hope to the prisoners, raised their spirits, and strengthened them.
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From the viewpoint of the SS, however, "The orchestra’s primary task was to accompany prisoners marching to and from work, so that the marching rhythm would allow ease of control over the prisoners. "
So it says in a very interesting page about "the elaborate musical scene" at Auschwitz at holocaustmusic.ort.org.

The first prisoner orchestra began in 1941 and grew to a hundred--they were non-Jews, mainly Czechs, Soviet POWs, and Polish intelligentsia and resistance members.
The articles says "The orchestra had a high turnover rate. In addition to the generally high death rate in Auschwitz -- musicians were not freed from their daily labour assignments -- there was also a high suicide rate, due perhaps to the emotional pressure of the context. "

It was only in October 1944, when mass transports removed large numbers of non-Jews from the camps, that they were replaced by professional Jewish musicians.
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"Some SS officers employed individual ‘musical slaves’, who were required to play or sing whenever commanded to. One such prisoner was the Italian tenor Emilio Jani, whose memoirs are titled My Voice Saved Me. Another was Coco Schumann, who recalled years later that

The music could save you: if not your life, then at least the day. The images that I saw every day were impossible to live with, and yet we held on. We played music to them, for our basic survival. We made music in hell."

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"Taste and see . . ."

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Psalm 34 for PsalmChallenge at Daily Athens.
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1. A Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and be glad. 3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! 4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

8 O taste and see that the LORD is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him!
9 O fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no want! 10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. 11 Come, O sons, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the LORD. 12 What man is there who desires life, and covets many days, that he may enjoy good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. 14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, and his ears toward their cry. 16 The face of the LORD is against evildoers, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivers him out of them all. 20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. 21 Evil shall slay the wicked; and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 22 The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. .
Photos:
Garden of the Scots Hotel, Tiberias.
"Jacob's Ladder (Genesis 12)" by J. Davani, Mamilla
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Psalm 34 in Hebrew and English at Mechon Mamre.
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