Dina crossing the Alps!

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Goodbye for a little while, dear coastline of Israel!

Thursday afternoon we flew over the Mediterranean and a huge pillar of cloud appeared.

Soon after flying over Venice we  were over the stupendous Alps!

Cruising at 38,000 feet, we had ice crystals on the outside of the windows.

The meandering river was already in Switzerland.

Dam! A big dam on the river.
And in minutes we were landing in Geneva.

More tomorrow about where I am volunteering.
(Linking to SkyWatch Friday, of course!)
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Servez - vous

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The new NGO Women Wage Peace had a meeting in Meitar a few nights ago.
After the lectures each of us was given a flower for International Women's Day.

It reminded me of  when I volunteered at Grandchamp, next to les grand champ.
For a few months every year one farmer would plant a huge field of flowers. 
The Swiss had a Help Yourself option, based on the honor system.
Pick as many as you want, just put 3 Euros in the brown metal box for each bouquet.

Here's a nun selecting flowers for the chapel and the refectory. 

Good memories . . .

(Linking to signs, signs and to ABC Wednesday, I being for international.)
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International Mountain Day

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Today is International Mountain Day .
This year's theme is Mountain Farming about which the FAO says, "Here we have an opportunity to raise awareness about how mountain agriculture, which is predominantly family farming, has been a model for sustainable development for centuries."

I like to remember my years in Switzerland, where mountains are mountains and farms are farms!
The slopes of the Jura Mountains, near the French border,  are covered with vineyards.
Lots of wine-making there.

In the Alps most of the mountain farming that I saw was for hay-making.
In the brief summers, green meadows are heaven for  cows, sheep and goats, and even deer.
And of course for hikers too! 
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Women's World Day of Prayer, this year Egypt

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Grandchamp, Switzerland, 2006

Tomorrow (Sunday) is International Women's Day and the 2014 theme is Equality for women is progress for all . 

But did you know?  Today is Women's World Day of Prayer!

Or so my sister-friends at the contemplative monastic Community of Grandchamp in Switzerland informed me.  

The 2014 theme is Streams in the Desert and it was prepared by women in Egypt. 

The World Day of Prayer is a worldwide movement of Christian women of many traditions who come together to observe a common day of prayer each year, and who, in many countries, have a continuing relationship in prayer and service.

• It is a movement initiated and carried out by women in more than 170 countries and regions.
• It is a movement symbolized by an annual day of celebration – the first Friday of March – to which all people are welcome.
• It is a movement which brings together women of various races, cultures and traditions in closer fellowship, understanding and action throughout the year.
Through World Day of Prayer, women affirm that prayer and action are inseparable and that both have immeasurable influence in the world. The motto of the World Day of Prayer is “Informed Prayer and Prayerful Action”.

source

More about the idea and how it started at Wikipedia. 

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A psalm of joy

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A joyful psalm for PsalmChallenge. 
Happy Palm Sunday from Jerusalem to the Catholic and Protestant Christians who celebrate it today!
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 PSALM 96
1 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! 4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols; but the LORD made the heavens. 6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength! 8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! 9 Worship the LORD in holy array; tremble before him, all the earth! 10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns! Yea, the world is established, it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity." 

11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 12 let the field exult, and everything in it!

     Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy 13 before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth. .Translation: RSV  Photos from Switzerland:1. The yearly flower-growing field near Lake Neuchatel2. My favorite Alp in Canton Glarus.. 

Fresh mountain air from Switzerland

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For today's Psalm Challenge, hosted by Robert Geiss in Athens, I felt like using photos from my years in Switzerland, where mountains are mountains.

PSALM 95
[1] O come, let us sing to the LORD;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
[2] Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
[3] For the LORD is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.

[4] In his hand are the depths of the earth;

the heights of the mountains are his also.
[5] The sea is his, for he made it;
for his hands formed the dry land.

[6] O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
[7] For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would hearken to his voice!
[8] Harden not your hearts, as at Mer'ibah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
[9] when your fathers tested me,
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
[10] For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, "They are a people who err in heart,
and they do not regard my ways."
[11] Therefore I swore in my anger
that they should not enter my rest.
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Translation: RSV
For commentary and another translation see Rabbi Benjamin Segal.
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Photos from Switzerland:
1, 2:  A valley and Alps in Canton Glarus.
3: A flock at the foot of the Jura Mountains.
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A darkness psalm

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For PsalmChallenge, hosted by Robert Geiss in Athens, here is the dark Psalm 88.

1. A song. A psalm of the Korachites. For the leader. On mahalat le’annot.  A maskil  of Heman the Ezrahite.

2. O LORD, God of my deliverance, daily I cry out at night in front of You.

3. Let my prayer come before Your face; incline Your ear to my cry.

4. For my soul is sated with evils; my life has arrived at the brink of Sheol.

5. I am reckoned with those who go down into the Pit; I am become like a man without strength,

6. loosed among the dead, like slain corpses lying in the grave whom You remember no more, for they are cut off from Your hand.

7. You make me be at the bottom of the Pit, in utter darkness, in the depths.

8. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and so all Your waves; You cause affliction.   Selah.

9. You have distanced from me my companions; You make me an utter abhorrence to them; I am imprisoned, unable to get out.

10. My eyes throb from affliction; I call to You, O LORD, every day; I spread out my hands to You.

11. Will You work wonders for the dead? Will the shades rise to praise You?   Selah.

12 Will Your steadfast love be recounted in the grave, Your faithfulness in Perdition?

13. Will Your wonders be made known in the Dark, Your righteous beneficence in the land of oblivion?

14. As for me, to You, O LORD, I cry out, and in the morning my prayer greets You.

15. Why, O LORD, do You rebuff my soul, do You hide Your face from me?

16. Afflicted and dying from my youth, I suffer Your terrors wherever I turn.

17. Your fury overwhelms me; Your dread assaults destroy me.

18. They swirl around me like waters all day long; they encircle me totally.

19. You have distanced from me loving friend and neighbor, my companions. Darkness.

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Translation by Rabbi Benjamin Segal.   It is well worth reading his explanations, especially for this unusually dark psalm.

He also points out that "It is of note that the Church prescribed this psalm for Good Friday, implying an appropriate description of Jesus’ suffering on the cross."

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PHOTOS: 

1.  The newer section of the ancient cemetery of Tiberias.

2.  Me struggling in Fribourg, Switzerland. 

3-4. Ancient burial caves, some still with the bones!, under St. Etienne/St. Stephen's in Jerusalem.

5.  Man praying at a tomb in Tiberias cemetery. 

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UPDATE:  See how Orthodox Christians made the blessing of the waters for the Feast of Theophany, not at the Jordan, but on a frozen lake in Minnesota!   Great photos at Leif's blog.
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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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A patriarch, an emperor, and an alp

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For Robert Geiss'  weekly PsalmChallenge, here is Psalm 76.

1. For the leader; with instrumental music. A psalm. Of Asaph. A song.

2. Renowned in Judah is God; in Israel, His name is great;

3. His pavilion was in Shalem; His dwelling place in Zion. 

4. There He shattered the fiery arrows of the bow, the shield and the sword―the war.    Selah.

5. You are resplendent, more majestic than the mountains of prey.

6. The stouthearted were despoiled; they sank into their sleep; and none of the brave men could find their hands.

7. From Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both chariot and horse lay stunned.

8. You―You are awesome! Who can withstand You? Your rage is from antiquity.

9. From heaven You pronounced legal ruling; the earth was quieted with awe

10. at the rising of God to judgment, to save all the lowly of the earth.  Selah.

11. Indeed, human wrath shall acknowledge You, and the last remnants of wrath You shall gird about You.

12 Make and fulfill vows to the LORD your God; all those around Him shall bear tribute to the Awesome One.

13. He breaks the spirit of princes; He is awesome to the kings of the earth.

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Translation by Rabbi Benjamin Segal . He speaks of today's psalm as "Pax Jerusalem."
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Photos:
1. Abraham and the King of Jerusalem
stylized representation,  at the Tower of David
According to Biblical tradition, Abraham met with the king of Salem [in Hebrew: Shalem]: ". . . Melchizedek, king of Salem,  brought out bread and wine . . . and said, 'Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth' "
Genesis 14:18-19

2. A majestic  Swiss Alp

3. Statue of Hadrian, apparently used for the ritual worship of the emperor, was discovered in a camp of the Roman army.
One of the few extant bronze sculptures of an emperor from the Roman Period . . .
117-138 CE, bronze and lead
At the Israel Museum.
Discovered in the camp of the Sixth Roman Legion Ferrata, Tel Shalem, Beit Shean Valley.
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A still-awaited ideal world of just and righteous governing

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Who would have believed that we'd stick with it so long?! Robert Geiss in Athens has led us through almost half of the 150 Psalms at his Psalm Challenge.  Today we complete the second of the five books of Psalms.
It would be a good time for you to jump in and join us!

PSALM 72

1. Of Solomon.

O God, confer Your just rules upon the king, and Your righteousness upon the king’s son;

2. may he judge Your people rightly, and Your lowly ones with justice.

3. May the mountains bring well-being to the people; the hills, righteousness.

4. May he rule the lowly among the people justly, save the children of the poor, and crush the oppressor.

5. May they fear You as long as the sun shines and while the moon lasts, generation through generations.

6. May he be like rain that falls on a mown field, like sprinkling showers of the earth,

7. that the righteous person may flourish in his days and that well-being abound, till the moon is no more.

8. May he reign from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

9. Before him may desert tribes kneel, and his enemies lick the dust.

10. May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores bring forth gifts, kings of Sheba and Seba offer tribute.

11. And may all kings prostrate themselves before him, all nations serve him.

12. For when he saves the poor man who cries out, the lowly who has no one to help him,

13. cares about the needy poor man, saves the lives of the poor,

14. redeems their lives from lawlessness and violence, and holds their blood precious in his eyes,

15. he shall live and be endowed with gold of Sheba; may prayers for him be said always, blessings on him invoked at all times.

16. May abundant grain be on earth, to the tops of the mountains; its crops reverberating like the forest of Lebanon;

and may men sprout up in towns like the earth’s grass.

17. May his name be eternal; while the sun lasts, may his name be re-summoned; and may all nations bless themselves through him, and may they count him happy.

18. Blessed is the LORD, God, God of Israel, who alone works wonders;

19. Blessed is His glorious name eternally; and may His glory fill all the earth. Amen and Amen.

20. The prayers of David, son of Jesse, are ended.

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Translation by Rabbi Benjamin Segal. 

Photos:
At the foot of the Jura Mountains, Switzerland.
Click on the photos and then once again to see the kernels in the heads of grain. 
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God examines hearts and kidneys

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PSALM 7  for the weekly PsalmChallenge which is centered in Athens.
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1. A Shiggaiaon. Of David, which he sang to the LORD, concerning Cush, a Benjaminite

2. O LORD, my God, in You I take refuge; deliver me from all my pursuers and save me,
3. lest he, like a lion, rend me, tear me apart, with no one to save me.
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4. O LORD, my God, if I have done this: if my hands bear the guilt of wrongdoing,
5. if I have dealt evil to my ally, or plundered my foe without cause,
6. then let the enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground, and lay my body in the dust. Selah.
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7. Rise O LORD in Your anger; lift Yourself up against the fury of my foes, bestir on my behalf the judgment You have ordained.

8. An assembly of peoples gathers about You - above it return on high.
9. The LORD brings the peoples to trial; judge me, O LORD, for the righteousness and blamelessness that is in me.
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10. Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; He who probes the heart and conscience  is the righteous God.
11. My shield is with God, the deliverer of the upright in heart.
12. God judges the righteous; God pronounces doom each day.
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13. If one does not turn back, but whets his sword, bends his bow and prepares it,

14. then against himself he prepares deadly weapons, and makes his arrows sharp. 



15. See, he hatches evil, conceives mischief, and gives birth to lies.

16. He has created a pit and dug it out, and he will fall into the trap he made.17. His mischief will turn back on his own head; his lawlessness will come down upon his skull.
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18. I will praise the LORD for His righteousness, and sing a hymn to the name of the LORD Most High.

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Note  Verse 10:  ט יְהֹוָה יָדִין עַמִּים שָׁפְטֵנִי יְהֹוָה כְּצִדְקִי וּכְתֻמִּי עָלָֽי

: י יִגְמָר־נָא רַע
רְשָׁעִים וּתְכוֹנֵן צַדִּיק וּבֹחֵן לִבּוֹת וּכְלָיוֹת אֱלֹהִים צַדִּֽיק

Bochen libot uklayot  means literally  "examines hearts and kidneys." 

 
In Biblical times, the kidneys were the seat of emotion; the heart was the source of thought.
Today the idiom is translated "God tests the hearts and insides" or "probes the heart and conscience" or " tries hearts and minds."
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Photos:  1. Detail, exterior of Church of the Holy Sepulchre   2. a courtroom in Israel's Supreme Court  3 and 4. an archer in Switzerland  5. Canaanite shaft tomb,  Holyland Park excavations
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Alpine meadow with "bridge"

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Because I am running out of new bridges from landlocked Jerusalem to show you for Louis' Sunday Bridges, let's make a quick jump over to the Swiss Alps instead.
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Could this be called a bridge?
If not, then what would you call it? Anyone?
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I found it in a summer meadow, high up (about 1,800 meters) on the slope of an alp.
In spring, when the snow melts, I imagine this is a swampy area or with run-off flowing under the timbers.
The cows, herdsmen, and hikers must appreciate it then.
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Not a bridge for donkeys

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I would never have gotten a donkey to walk over this bridge.

They are so afraid of the open slits.

You can't blame them.

The bridge spans the cold water of the Areuse River.

When the snow up in the Swiss Jura Mountains thaws, it gathers into the river, and the river gets quite some speed as it flows down into Lake Neuchatel.
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This is the inside of the bridge whose outside we saw last week for Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridges (after I ran out of Jerusalem bridges).

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Next to it an elevated section of the new superhighway was then (2006) being built.

The concrete and the wood, side by side but so different.

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I wonder as I wander

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These Ws are for ABC Wednesday.

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We photo bloggers are prone to wanderlust.

While wandering around the Swiss Alps, I was always relieved to find a yellow Wanderweg sign and know I was actually still on the trail.

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Now that Israel is getting some long trails (like the Israel Trail and the Jesus Trail), we are also getting some standardized signage.

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Last month I found a new (I think not quite official) sign added.

The writing under the yellow arrow says "The Gilad Schalit Trail (temporary name)."

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Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been holding our young soldier prisoner for the last four and a half years.

More information about this in my previous posts.

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The pensive, sung in a minor key, Christmas carol comes to mind--"I Wonder as I Wander."

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I hope that everyone walking these renamed paths will wonder about Gilad, wonder when he will be freed to return to his family, free to hike the peaceful hills.

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Bridges abroad

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That's it. I have run out of Jerusalem bridges for Louis' Sunday Bridges.
What would happen if I posted, just once, something from my volunteer years in Switzerland?
Yalla, let's do it!
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Here's a favorite wooden bridge for hikers over the fast-flowing River Areuse, at the foot of the Jura Mountains.
Nicely juxtaposed is the new highway, just being built then, in 2006.
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O the Chimneys

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The siren just now sounded for Holocaust Heroes and Martyrs Remembrance Day.
The shorter, blunter name we usually call this day is Yom HaShoah.

When I lived in Switzerland as a volunteer, this was the view from my window.
It is nothing more sinister than an incinerator that burns people's garbage in order to heat their water.
But there at the foot of the Jura Mountains, I discovered that my sense of the Jewish collective memory is strong and unavoidable.
I could never see the smoke and the chimney without being reminded of Nobel Prize winner Nelly Sach's poem "O the Chimneys."
Here are its opening lines:
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O die Schornsteine
Auf den sinnreich erdachten Wohnungen des Todes,
Als Israels Leib zog aufgelöst in Rauch
Durch die Luft –
.Oh those smokestacks
Above the abodes of death, so ingeniously devised,
When Israel’s body, dissolved into smoke, was drifting
Through the air--

(translated by Reinhold Grimm)
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The entire poem, in German and English, appears in the book German 20th Century Poetry.
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Kuku

Sorry folks, I'm feeling a bit cuckoo tonight.
I'm having an episode of the dreaded Bloggers' Block.

I suggest you visit the guided tours over at That's My World Tuesday instead.
Or, if you have not seen my post about the mosques yesterday, you might enjoy it, especially the two very special comments contributed by two young Iranian Muslim blog-friends.

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Thanks for your patience. I'll be back tomorrow with something on Jerusalem, after a good night's sleep. Good night.

zzzzzzzz

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Gruetzi ! Raise a glass!

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March Theme Day for the friends over at City Daily Photo is Glass. So let me join their fun, albeit unofficially, by jumping back to a former life outside of Israel, just for today.

After a strenuous hike up the Alps on a hot summer day, the reward was one bottle of cold local beer at the upper station of the cablecar. Curious why a beer label would show a pilgrim with a halo, I shlepped the empty back to the chalet and found in the owners' bookcase a history book of the place.

Sure enough, there he was! Fridolin was a missionary who, it is said, converted the people of Glarus to Christianity in the 6th century.
Real or fictitious, Fridolin remains the patron saint of Glarus. Since 1388 (the battle of Nafels) he has appeared on their flag.

St. Fridolin is the only saint to be depicted on a Swiss canton banner, and I'm pretty sure the only saint to appear on a beer bottle.

Let's raise a GLASS to him and to my good years in Switzerland!
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