בְּרֹב שַׂרְעַפַּי בְּקִרְבִּי תַּנְחוּמֶיךָ יְשַׁעַשְׁעוּ נַפְשִׁי:

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Join us in  illustrating the Book of Psalms, on Sundays.
Robert is hosting at his new blog, Robert Geiss, A PHOTOGRAPHER'S MIND.
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PSALM 94
 1 O LORD, thou God of vengeance, thou God of vengeance, shine forth! 2 Rise up, O judge of the earth; render to the proud their deserts! 3 O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? 4 They pour out their arrogant words, they boast, all the evildoers. 5 They crush thy people, O LORD, and afflict thy heritage. 6 They slay the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; 7 and they say, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive." 8 Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? 9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? 10 He who chastens the nations, does he not chastise? He who teaches men knowledge, 11 the LORD, knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.  

12 Blessed is the man whom thou dost chasten, O LORD, and whom thou dost teach out of thy law 13 to give him respite from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. 14 For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage; 15 for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.  

 16 Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers? 17 If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the land of silence. 18 When I thought, "My foot slips," thy steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.

 19 When the cares of my heart are many, thy consolations cheer my soul. בְּרֹב שַׂרְעַפַּי בְּקִרְבִּי תַּנְחוּמֶיךָ יְשַׁעַשְׁעוּ נַפְשִׁי  20 Can wicked rulers be allied with thee, who frame mischief by statute? 21 They band together against the life of the righteous, and condemn the innocent to death. 22 But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. 23 He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out. .Translation: RSV (Revised Standard Version), 1952, 1971For a different translation and for commentary, see Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.
Photos (all can be enlarged with a click or two): 1. Remains of an ancient shomera (~ watchman's hut).2. A different shomera,  also in the Jerusalem Hills. 3. Rakafot (cyclamens) grow in the ancient terrace walls..

Creepy cistern

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Welcome to ABC Wednesday C-Day.

I always wondered what was in the big (260 dunams) empty nature place locals call Gazelle Valley.
It, and what was originally a herd of 17 Gazella gazella gazella, is surrounded by Jerusalem urban development.
On one side is a fire station, seen in the first photo.
But when I was roaming there exactly a year ago, much of the land was charred black from a recent brush fire.

Within sight of the Fire Department, I was surprised to discover one still-standing long-abandoned stone house almost overgrown by trees and weeds.

Caution to the wind, I came closer to snap a photo of the interior.
From outside, that is; I wasn't cuckoo enough to find a way in. No.

Through the basement window I cringed to see a ghostlike drape hanging on the wall.

Courageous or crazy?
Had I gotten too close to this hole in the ground, something might have crumbled or collapsed.
And then only the jackals would have found me--for dinner.

The thick plaster lining of the hole made me think this was once a cistern, now a creepy cistern.
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Urbex/UE/urban exploration could be fun, but not when one is alone and without a cellphone.
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A tough question in Psalm 11

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כִּי הַשָּׁתֹות יֵהָרֵסוּן צַדִּיק מַה־פָּעָל׃

Verse 3 is concise in the Hebrew.

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It can be understood in three different ways:

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If the foundations are destroyed, what has the righteous one accomplished?

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For the foundations are destroyed; what has the Righteous One done?

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When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous one do?

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Psalm 11 is a short psalm of confidence in God.

The Hebrew text and English translation can be read side by side at Mechon Mamre.

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See what fellow photo bloggers have to show and say about Psalm 11 at Robert's weekly Psalm Challenge at Daily Athens.

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Pioneering Protestants in Jerusalem

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For today's That's My World let's look at a disappearing world.
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The Israeli army guard would not let me in the gate to photograph back in November 2008.
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Written in stone on the building are the Arabic and the German for "Syrian Orphanage."
The place is popularly known as the Schneller School or Schneller Compound.
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I could only get pictures through the perimeter fence and the barbed wire.
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Some of the buildings are roofless.
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Some are gone.

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The army, which had used the compound since 1948, moved out two years ago.

The plan is to build 600 apartments for the neighboring haredim (ultra-orthodox Jews).

The Jerusalem municipality talks of preserving some of the beautiful old European-style buildings and using them as public buildings or a museum.

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By chance, a wooden crate was recently found inside the old church.

In it was the original stone altar from 1860!

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Last night, at the symposium I showed in yesterday's post, the altar was brought to the Church of the Ascension on Mount of Olives to be installed and rededicated there, at Augusta Victoria.

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You can get an idea of the history and the great meaning of the Schneller School(s) for the German Protestants (and also see old photos of the orphanage and Johann Schneller and the kids) by looking at the PDF program of the international symposium, "Schneller--a living heritage in the Middle East."

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The history in brief:

Schneller was sent to Jerusalem as a missionary from a Swiss village in 1854.

From the Arabs of Lifta he bought plots of land and started building.

He and his wife and 4 apprentices became the first Europeans to live outside the protective Old City walls.

They rescued orphans following the 1860 Druze and Muslim massacre of 30,000 Maronite Christians in Lebanon.

The children (up to 180 orphans at its peak) found a new home and a fine school in Schneller's Syrian Orphanage.

Schneller's son and then his grandson carried on his work.

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In World War II all Germans and Austrians were deported from Palestine; many were sent to Australia.

The British Army took over the compound.

When the British Mandate ended in 1948, they handed the compound to the IDF.

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To read the whole fascinating story, please see this good Jerusalem Post article.

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Today the Schneller tradition of holistic education for peace and for future leaders continues at their two schools, in Lebanon and in Jordan.

And they still teach German.

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UPDATE Oct. 2020:  https://www.israel21c.org/landmark-building-to-house-new-museum-celebrating-jewish-heritage/

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