Choosing a prayer spot

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How many of us would conquer any shyness and just do the prayers wherever we find ourselves when the set prayer hours arrive?
Just put off your shoes, kneel down, and do the prostrations?
In Israel you see Muslims (well, mainly men) praying in many public open spaces.
Like this Bedouin father on the lawn at Beer Sheva's Soroka hospital last week.

While exploring the medical center's sprawling campus I discovered this dedicated [Muslim] "Prayer Room."

The door on the right, as you can see from the water running out, is the place to do ritual ablution before prayer.

Soroka's Prayer Room is open at these times during morning, noon, and evening for the five obligatory prayers.
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UPDATE: I read now that Soroka was the first Israeli hospital to open a Muslim prayer room, sometime before 2003.
After a petition was filed in 2013, the High Court of Justice instructed the six largest hospitals to also build such a prayer room.   See article in Haaretz .
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While this is not exactly the "inspirational" religious architecture that bloggers share every weekend at inSPIRED Sunday, still, I'm linking it to the meme.  And also to Our World Tuesday.
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Where'd everybody go?

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I've been negligent lately in my blogging and blog-visiting, but I have an excuse!
I've been preparing for, partly hosting, and then emotionally recovering from an all-too-short visit of my family from Australia.

Under welcome clouds and a welcoming committee of birds, my Naomi, Dean, Eyal, and Libby and I walked over to our local "desert." 

It was the day of the Sukkot holiday, so everyone else must have been dwelling in their sukkas or away on vacation or napping, because we were the only ones out and about. 
Imagine having the whole Meitar Forest to yourself for your picnic.

Then we headed home on the dusty Israel Trail.

Naomi had everyone hose off the dust from their shoes and feet, because the very next day they would  be starting the long journey back, flying from Tel Aviv east to Hong Kong and then another long flight south to Sydney. 

So for ABC Wednesday, N is for Naomi and her husband, (who had to continue on to some professional conferences in Europe) and their kids who were nice enough to come north to visit.
But for not nearly enough time. 
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(Linking also to Our World Tuesday.)

Reflections on, and of, shoes

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For me it might be confusing, with the sudden profusion of limbs.
But smart little Libby had no problem putting the shoe on the right foot.

Kids love  the many mirrors at Jerusalem's Bloomfield Science Museum.
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Wanna see Crocs for a giant? Click here.

(A post for James' Weekend Reflections meme.)
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Bonus:  Shoes and Jews --

According to the 16th century Code of Jewish law (the Shulchan Aruch), when putting on shoes, the right shoe goes on first. When tying shoes. the left shoe is tied first. When shoes are taken off, the left shoe comes off first. This custom is based on the belief that the right is more important than the left. Therefore, the right foot should not remain uncovered while the left is covered.

 The Kabbalists describe the body as "the shoe of the soul." Just as shoes protect feet from the dirt, so too does the soul require the body as a shoe to protect it during its journey in the physical world.

(source: Chabad.org)

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