Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

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Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

May those who love you be secure.

Psalm 122

1I rejoiced with those who said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

2Our feet are standing

in your gates, Jerusalem.

3Jerusalem is built like a city

that is closely compacted together.

4That is where the tribes go up—

the tribes of the Lord—

to praise the name of the Lord

according to the statute given to Israel.

5There stand the thrones for judgment,

the thrones of the house of David.

6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

“May those who love you be secure.

7May there be peace within your walls

and security within your citadels.”

8For the sake of my family and friends,

I will say, “Peace be within you.”

9For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

I will seek your prosperity.

(NIV)

In Hebrew, here.

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Six Day War started 48 years ago today

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Today's soldiers at the Western Wall.

On this date, June 5, the Six Day War started, back in 1967.
(I still lived in Chicago then; I made aliyah to Israel nine months after.)
On the national level so much has changed in those 48 years -- and yet so little.
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Apus apus, the Common Swift, loves Jerusalem

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As the swifts circled above the Western Wall Plaza Wednesday evening, representatives of major faith groups each gave a blessing for the closing session of our First International Jerusalem Symposium on Green and Accessible Pilgrimage. 
Our Jewish Deputy Mayor is on the left, next to a Hindu woman, a Muslim imam, a lady rabbi, an American Baptist preacher, and a man living in the Far East speaking for Shintoism.
You can find more about them in the conference speakers page.

But in my previous post I explained about the Common swifts who return to the Wall every spring and promised to tell you more. 
Here are just a few tidbits I learned in the three days of lectures and round tables:

Prof. Uriel Safrir spoke about the nature of Nature and said that in 40 days of brooding in Israel, each pair of swifts eats 35 million small flying insects.
In this way the birds save us from being "eaten" by these bugs, thus rendering a cultural service, even a disease regulation service.
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Swifts, except when nesting, are in continual flight.
Unlike other birds, they cannot just jump up off the ground and start flying.
They need to be a least 2 meters high to jump out and get enough lift to start flying.
That's why they like to nest in the nooks and crannies of old stone walls and old buildings.
The problem with modern architecture is that buildings are so tightly made, of glass and steel or whatever;  no room for the swifts.

So, as Prof. Yossi Leshem revealed, the Israeli army donated 2,000 old ammunition boxes and school kids in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv  made them into swift nest boxes.
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Lotan Center writes that  "Leshem has established (with the Israel Ornithological Center) a peace and education initiative, Migrating Birds Know No Boundaries, that allows about 250 Israeli and Palestinian students to track migrations.
 Students meet at the Latrun center to study and band birds. The German and American governments help sponsor the initiative."
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See more such blessed initiatives in Prof. Leshem's abstract of his Symposium lecture "Birds: Pilgrims without boundaries."
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Our government rightly declared birds to be a national heritage.
The Bible long ago talked about birds in Israel:

"Even the sparrow finds its home and the free bird her nest where she laid her young,"
says Psalms 84:4.
 גַּם-צִפּוֹר מָצְאָה בַיִת, וּדְרוֹר קֵן לָהּ--    אֲשֶׁר-שָׁתָה אֶפְרֹחֶיהָאֶת-מִזְבְּחוֹתֶיךָ, יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת--    מַלְכִּי, וֵאלֹהָי

In Jeremiah 8:7 the prophets says, "The turtledove, the swift and the crane observe the time of their coming."
 גַּם-חֲסִידָה בַשָּׁמַיִם, יָדְעָה מוֹעֲדֶיהָ, וְתֹר וסוס (וְסִיס) וְעָגוּר, שָׁמְרוּ אֶת-עֵת בֹּאָנָה
Indeed, these birds never fail to arrive at the Western Wall (the Kotel)  right on time.

See Chabad's nice article on The singing stones of the Kotel. 

Here's a nice little video of the swifts and those who love and help them, from last year's ceremony at the Wall.
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And how swift are swifts?
At level flight they can reach 70 miles per hour!
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(Linking to Camera Critters meme.)

Swifts at the Western Wall, birds as pilgrims

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The First International Jerusalem Symposium  on Green and Accessible Pilgrimage all this week was very educational and downright inspiring.
Here are some of the experts and lecturers, who came from many different countries and faiths.

 
On the last evening we walked from the International YMCA (the conference venue), through the Old City, down to the Western Wall.
As you see from the sign [enlarge the photo with a click or two], Jerusalem makes an official ceremony every year at this time to welcome the Common Swifts back to Israel and back to their nesting places inside the Wall.

Deputy Mayor Naomi Tsur, the prime mover of the Symposium, told us that these birds have been returning to Jerusalem for thousands of years.
In fact, they usually come on exactly the same day every year.

Prof. Yossi Leshem, champion of nature and birds in Israel, enthusiastically told how the swifts fly north from southern Africa, nest in the wall and raise their young for about three months, then fly south again. 
They fly incessantly for the next three years, never stopping, even mating on the wing.

Enlarge the photo and look for  two sickle-shaped swifts in rapid flight.
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I'll be sharing lots more about the conference and about the swifts in the coming days, but meanwhile please see this video of the swift welcoming ceremony of 2012.
You can see the birds circling around and around above the Western Wall Plaza.
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See the map of the nesting places inside the Wall here.
Care was taken not to block the entrance holes when the Wall was cleaned and fixed recently.
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See also the abstract of Yossi Leshem's conference lecture about birds as pilgrims without boundaries.
The swifts also nest in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity! 
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Exciting! -- Just a few days ago Common Swift chicks hatched in the Schieff House in Tel Aviv.   Watch them through a LIVE  webcam.
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UPDATE: A Franciscan Media Center video of the Symposium's opening night gala is now available in English.
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(Linking to Camera Critters and Sky Watch Friday.)

Jerusalem of White

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A friend who lives in Jerusalem started out early in the morning yesterday to capture all the beautiful snow-clad places, and now she graciously shares them with you and me.
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Click and then click again to enlarge her photos. 

The tram had its first baptism of snow!
And to encourage people not to attempt to drive on the slippery roads, the tram was free of charge for a few days. 

The yellow JCB doubled as a snowplow.
The Municipality was ready with tons of salt to spread, too.
They had fifty vehicles dedicated to the one rare snow day.

We got about 25 cm or 10 inches of snow.
The palm trees at Safra Square, City Hall, took it well. 

Everybody was excited about our snow.

Families worked together to build snowmen, this one near Jaffa Gate.

People kept on praying.
The Western Wall is never alone.

From the rooftops of the Old City, the gorgeous view of a white Mount of Olives and the golden dome of the Dome of the Rock powdered with snow!
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Thank you, Friend, for these rare photographs.
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Pictures of my white village in the snowy Jerusalem Hills are in yesterday's post.
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With Dean at the Western Wall

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Sorry I've had no time to blog all week.
But I have a good excuse!
My daughter, her husband, and their three young kids are back home in Israel for a few weeks, taking a break from Australia winter.

Dean, my oldest grandchild, got to have a sleepover at my little house for two nights.
We had fun doing things in Jerusalem, just the two of us.

But the most moving thing was standing at the Western Wall with Dean.
After he wrote a kvittel, a little note to God, he stuck it in the wall.
With my one hand touching the stones of the Kotel, I put my other arm around the boy's shoulders in a big hug and a wave of emotion swept over me.

Dean also helped me find a place for my note in the already-stuffed crevices.
I wonder how different--or how alike-- our petitions were. . . .
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Another post about the kvittel is here.
And look here to see how you can e-mail your own prayer to the Western Wall.
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Jerusalem by night

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For SkyWatch Friday, the black dome of the heavens above Jerusalem!

The Old City was lit up last week with dozens of dazzling light displays for the 4th International Light Festival.

At the foot of the newly rebuilt Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter--a whirling "Meetings Composition" with its movements triggered by the location of the spectator.

At the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer--dynamic illumination to nice music.

Illuminated narrow street in the Armenian Quarter.

At Jaffa Gate--the Italian "Cupola."

But even with "just" her normal illumination, the Old City is beautiful, so beautiful.
Here, the Western Wall and above it, the Temple Mount with the Muslim Dome of the Rock and el Aksa mosque.

The Citadel or Tower of David.

Hundreds of thousands walked along the old city wall and entered by various gates.
Enlarge the photo to see the people.
In the sky above the Latin Patriarchate, a big Vatican flag.

The Old City and the new city.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
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Room for all at the wall

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"A Jew, a blogger, and a nun go to pray together at Jerusalem's holy Western Wall . . . ."

No, it's not the opening of a joke. :)
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This is just one of my favorite photos, now shared with City Daily Photo's end-of-year Theme Day.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Have a happy "Sylvester."
Although not so many celebrate the secular new year, Sylvester is how Israelis call the New Year's Eve partying. See the surprising reason why here.

Blessings to all in 2012.
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From Psalms to Beatitudes

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For Robert's growing PsalmChallenge meme, here is today's Psalm 37.
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1. Of David.

Do not be vexed by evil men; do not be envious of wrongdoers.

2. For they soon wither like grass, like green plants they fade away.

3. Trust in the LORD and do good; abide in the land and keep faith.

4. Delight in the LORD and He will grant you your heart’s desires.

5. Commit your way to the LORD; place your trust in Him; He will act.

6. He will bring out your righteousness like the sun, the justice of your case, like the midday.

7. Be still before the LORD and wait for Him; do not be vexed by the man whose way prospers, who carries out his schemes.

8. Desist from anger, abandon fury, do not be vexed; it can only bring evil.

9. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD―they shall inherit the land.

10. In just a little while, there will be no wicked man; you will look for his place―he is not there.

11. But the meek shall inherit the land, and delight in abundant peace.

וַעֲנָוִים יִירְשׁוּ-אָרֶץ

12. The wicked man schemes against the righteous, and gnashes his teeth at him.

13. The Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his time is coming.

14. The wicked unsheathe their swords and bend their bows, to bring down the lowly and needy, to slaughter men of upright ways.

15. Their sword shall come into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.

16. Better the little that the righteous man has than the wealth of many wicked.

17. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, while the LORD sustains the support of the righteous.

18. The LORD knows the time of the blameless; their portion lasts forever.

19. They shall not be put to shame in evil years; in time of famine, they shall eat their fill.

20. For the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD, like meadow vegetation—vanished in smoke, vanished.

21. The wicked man is a borrower who will not repay; the righteous is a constantly generous giver.

22. Indeed, those blessed by Him shall inherit the land, but those cursed by Him shall be cut off.

23. A man’s steps are made firm by the LORD, and He delights in his way.

24. Though he trips, he does not fall down,

for the LORD holds him by the hand.

מֵיְהוָה, מִצְעֲדֵי-גֶבֶר כּוֹנָנוּ; וְדַרְכּוֹ יֶחְפָּץ
כד כִּי-יִפֹּל לֹא-יוּטָל: כִּי-יְהוָה, סוֹמֵךְ יָדוֹ

25. A lad was I, and now I am old, but I have never seen a righteous man abandoned, or his children seeking bread.

26. At all times he is generous and lends, and his children are a blessing.

27. Shun evil and do good, that you may abide forever.

28. For the LORD loves what is just, He does not abandon His faithful; they are maintained forever, while the children of the wicked will be cut off.

29. The righteous shall inherit the land, and abide eternally in it.

30. The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.

31. The teaching of his God is in his heart; his steps do not falter.

32. The wicked looks for the righteous, and seeks to slay him.

33. The LORD will not abandon him to his hand; He will not let him be condemned in judgment.

34. Look to the LORD and maintain His way, and He will exalt you that you may inherit the land; you shall see the wicked cut off.

35. I saw a ruthless wicked man thriving like a luxuriant native tree.

36. He passes on and behold―he is not there; I seek him, but he is not to be found.

37. Mark the man of integrity, and behold the upright; for there is a future for the man of peace.
[or: 37. See and maintain innocence and uprightness, for there is a future for the man of peace.]
שְׁמָר-תָּם, וּרְאֵה יָשָׁר: כִּי-אַחֲרִית לְאִישׁ שָׁלוֹם

38. But transgressors all shall be utterly destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

39. The deliverance of the righteous is from the LORD, their stronghold in periods of distress.

40. The LORD will help them and rescue them, shall rescue them from the wicked and deliver them, for they take refuge in Him.
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Photos:
1. The entrance lane of the Church of the Beatitudes is lined with the eight Beatitudes spoken by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount. Psalm 37:11 entered the New Testament in Matthew 5:5.

2-3. Grandson Dean in his younger years at a favorite hiking place near my home.
4. Dean at a wintery Western Wall.
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The translation I used today is by Rabbi Benjamin Segal, with the addition of an alternative for verse 37.
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The Hebrew original is at Mechon Mamre.
If you'd like to see or try to pronounce the Hebrew words, see them transliterated here: hebrewsongs.com .
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Tisha B'Av begins

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Tonight and tomorrow Jews around the world remember the destruction of the First and Second Temples and many other calamities that befell our people on this day, the 9th of Av.
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More about Tisha B'Av:
How I sat on the floor and read Lamentations by candlelight--here and here
Tisha B'Av at the Western Wall
Diorama of Titus breaching the city wall of Jerusalem
Remembering the destruction on the wall of one's house
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That's My World today--collective remembering for thousands of years.
And for Shadow Shot Sunday too.
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Why?

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Sunday is almost over and this post is late. Who knew I'd be spending half the day watching live coverage of the Naksa Day trouble in the Golan Heights.
So good that Robert at Daily Athens keeps us going with a Psalm a week at PsalmChallenge.
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Psalm 22 is a great one.
Even Jesus spoke its first verse on the cross. The 22nd is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament.
Make sure to check the original version if you know any Hebrew at all.

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¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me,
from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry by day,
but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.

³ Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.

⁴ In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.

⁵ To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

⁶ But I am a worm, and not human;
scorned by others, and despised by the people.

⁷ All who see me mock at me;
they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;

⁸ ‘Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’

⁹ Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.

¹⁰ On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

¹¹ Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls encircle me,
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
¹³ they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
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¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;

¹⁵ my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ For dogs are all around me;
a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shrivelled;
¹⁷ I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
¹⁸ they divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.

¹⁹ But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
O my help, come quickly to my aid!
²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog!
²¹ Save me from the mouth of the lion!
From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.

²² I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
²⁴ For he did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,
but heard when I cried to him.

²⁵ From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.

²⁶ The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
May your hearts live for ever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.

²⁸ For dominion belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.
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³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,
³¹ and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.
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Photos:
"Job" by Rita Paran, Mamilla Mall exhibit
"Fountain" by Yael Erlichman, Mamilla
Potsherds in situ
Goat (?) spine and pelvis
Women's section, Western Wall
"Our Mother Rachel" by Dalia Edelsburg, Mamilla
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Black bird + white bird discuss Mughrabi bridge

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You might have to enlarge the first shot to see that a white bird is looking at the black bird.

The birds are sitting on a ledge of an empty old 2nd-storey room over the women's prayer room at the Western Wall.

Here is the Western Wall (once called the Wailing Wall).

Behind and above it, the Temple Mount which is under the administration of the Wakf (Muslim Trust).

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The place the birds were sitting is under the top part of the big ramp.

It leads up to the Mughrabi Gate, the only entrance onto the Temple Mount for non-Muslims (as explained in a previous post).
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After years of legal battles the Jerusalem Municipality has now given final approval to plans for a replacement bridge.

(It turns out that the old ramp never did have approval. )

See the whole strange story here, in the March 8 Jerusalem Post.

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I'm relieved and happy to read that

"The new bridge is a scaled-down version of the original project, which proposed a massive 95-meter bridge leading from an archeological garden. The original plan prompted an outcry from archeologists worried that such a large structure would not only damage archeological findings, but also detract from the aesthetic nature of the site."

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The new bridge is meant to replace the temporary wooden bridge that has been in use since a 2003 earthquake and winter storm caused part of the original bridge to collapse, leading city engineers to deem it unsafe.

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The authorities have not coordinated this with the Wakf, so I imagine the new ramp will not be finished--or even started--any time soon.

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The sweet birds are for Camera-Critters and the "bridge" is for Sunday Bridges.

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Bridge to the Mughrabi Gate

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For the sake of Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridges, I am going to call this weird contraption a bridge.

As a result of the combined effect of an earthquake and heavy snow in 2004, the original earthen ramp collapsed. A new wood and metal "temporary" bridge was put up in 2007.

Enlarge the above photo and you will see both the old and the new, side by side.

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The ramp leads from the Western Wall Plaza up to the Mughrabi Gate.

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This gate is the only opening through which tourists and non-Muslims are allowed by the Muslim Wakf to enter the Temple Mount.

Muslims enter through ten other gates.
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Their gold Dome of the Rock is on the left of the above photo.

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On the right of the Temple Mount is the Al Aksa mosque.

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Just to the left of the ramp is the section of the Western Wall where women are allowed to pray.

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There was an induction ceremony for soldiers the night of this photo, hence all the flags and people.

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This photo from Wikipedia shows the Mughrabi (aka Morocco) Gate from the inside.

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I learn from the BiblePlaces.com blog that Jerusalem District Archaeologist Yochanan Zeligman recently addressed a letter to Israel Antiquities Authority Director-General Shuka Dorfman,

in which he told of several incidents of stones fallling from the Mughrabi Gate and warned that “a danger exists to the crowd in the women’s section of the Western Wall Plaza, as well to those who walk on the temporary bridge, should stones fall from above.”

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That is not good news.

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More:

Good before and after photos of the ramp's collapse

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"The Real Story" of the problems of Mughrabi Gate access by Yuval Baruch, Jerusalem Region Archaeologist, Israel Antiquities Authority
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And also this, the story as written by a rabbi, but his comprehensive photos let us better understand the situation around the problem of the old ramp, the present one, and a possible future bridge.

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Troubles

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The last two weeks have been hard on Jerusalem.

For eights days straight we have had an unseasonable heat wave and several days of bad dust storms (the sand blew over from North Africa).

Then there was the undiplomatic "mishap" when Vice President Biden was here.
And before that, the young Muslim shabab throwing rocks from the Temple Mount down onto Jews praying at the Western Wall.

Trouble is expected tomorrow. If you hear about it on your media, these two photos will help you in your orientation.
The night photo shows the Western Wall on the left.
Behind the wall is the Temple Mount on which is Al Aksa mosque. Its grey dome looks golden at night.
The ramp leads up to the Mughrabi Gate, one of the entrances into the Temple Mount.

Here is a better view of the ramp and Mughrabi Gate.
The golden dome is the Muslim shrine called the Dome of the Rock (on the Temple Mount).

If you enter the Old City wall through the Dung Gate, you pass through the security check at the lower right corner of the photo and enter the Western Wall Plaza.
On the horizon is the Mount of Olives.
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I am worried what tomorrow will bring.
Please friends, pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
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Tisha B'Av by the Western Wall

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Some people stayed the whole night of Tisha B'Av beside the beloved Western Wall.
When the sun came up and peaked over the Kotel, Jews were still praying or sitting on the ground as in mourning, reading the Book of Lamentations.
You too can see the Hebrew and English text and even listen to the Prophet Jeremiah's words being chanted at VirtualCantor.com (just click on Eicha).
Please see yesterday's post for more about this special day.


This wall was not totally knocked down by the Romans in 70 C.E. when the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed. It is the only remaining remnant, not of the Temple building itself, but of the retaining wall of the elevated platform called the Temple Mount.
For 19 centuries it was a Wailing Wall.

Women to the right of the mechitsa screen, men to the left.

These photos are from the 9th of Av, three years ago. But it would have looked the same this morning. Nothing changes much.

Jews have been observing this fast day for over 1,900 years and will continue to do so.

Why?

As Yossi Goldman of Chabad writes,

"Jews never had history. We have memory. History can become a book, a museum, and forgotten antiquities. Memory is alive. And memory guarantees our future."

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The sun and sky over Jerusalem are for SkyWatch Friday .