Watch Dr. Barbra Streisand, singing in Jerusalem for Peres' 90th birthday, soon! On Internet TV!

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Photo from the Facebook page of Shimon Peres,  Israel's President

Yay, we get to hear and see Barbra Streisand for free in just a few hours!
At 9:00 pm Israel time, which is GMT +3, click over to
https://www.facebook.com/ShimonPeresInt?sk=app_214309071924895&app_data

 It sure beats paying hundreds of shekels for her two concerts in Tel Aviv. Anyway, the tickets were sold out immediately.

  Mazal tov to Dr. Barbra Streisand after being awarded an honorary doctorate by the Hebrew University yesterday.
  And happy 90th birthday, dear President Shimon Peres!

Consult the handy website http://www.timeanddate.com/ if you need to figure out the time difference.

P.S.  Also starring PM Bibi Netanyahu, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Shlomo Artzi, Eyal Golan, and Adi Ashkenazi.

More later!
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See Barbra sing Hatikva and talk to Golda Meir in 1978:  http://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Entertainment/Streisand-to-receive-Hebrew-U-honorary-doctorate-313726

Hear "You don't bring me flowers":  http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/barbra-streisand-to-receive-honorary-doctorate-from-hebrew-university-1.524910

Enjoy  http://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Music/Streisand-Israel-is-a-shining-beacon-of-hope-315166
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Happy Independence Day! Join us live!

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The abrupt transition from the somber Day of Remembrance to the joyous Independence Day  will happen very soon, at sundown.
The State of Israel's 65th birthday!
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Join us for the festivities on Mount Herzl, broadcast live.
Our soldiers do fancy marching displays only once a year and this is your chance to hear the band and watch the young men and women.

The TV broadcast starts at 19.50 our time.
Israel is GMT +2 hours.   Time and Date can help you convert the time zones.
Go to http://iba.org.il/media/ and click on the flashing red words to open the TV coverage, and click for full screen.

First comes the ceremonial lighting of 12 torches, symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel.
The theme this year is the national legacy and the preservation of national cultural assets for generations to come.

Quoting The Times of Israel,  the honorees will be
 

1) Colonel (Ret.) Dani Shapira, one of the first Israel Air Force pilots, who went on to spend 57 years flying planes as a service pilot and test pilot.

2) Historian and researcher Muki Tzur, for his work on investigating the settlement of Israel and the kibbutz movement.

3) David Blumberg, chairman of the board of the National Library.

4) Tamar Ross, researcher and presenter in the field of philosophy of Israel.

5)  Meir Buzaglo, mathematician and philosopher, who has worked to renew interest in Jewish poetry.

6) Rishon Lezion Mayor Dov Tzur, who will light a torch together with Iris Halperen, principal of the Haviv school, who has spent over 24 years in education.

7) Bilah Ben Eliyahu, presenter on contemporary Jewish literature.

8) Eliyan Elkrainu, the first Bedouin to preside over an academic institute, the Ahva Institute.

9)  Daphne Shimshon, the daughter of Indian immigrants. Her father was a community leader who was active in gaining full recognition of the community as being Jewish.

10) Rino Tzror, veteran journalist and radio host.

11) Ron Hedvati, a ranger for the Council for the Preservation for Heritage Sites and the founder of a museum in Kibbutz Ein Shemer.

12)  Agatha Farchick, a Ukrainian-born youth leader in the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement that this year marks its 100th anniversary, and Eliyana Elbaz, a youth leader in the Revisionist Youth movement that is marking its 90th year. A year and a half ago Elbaz’s father, who was active in the security forces and the police, was killed on his way to a mission. They will light a torch dedicated to the country’s youth.

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A 1st C. nail in a foot bone

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A heel bone with a spike driven through it.
Found inside a 1st century  ossuary in a burial cave in Jerusalem.
Our only archaeological evidence (so far)  of a crucifixion.

The Israel Museum sign for this gruesome discovery says

In a burial cave in north Jerusalem, an ossuary was discovered inscribed with the name "Yohohanan son of Hagkol."
The iron nail embedded in the right heel bone indicates that Yehohanan was put to death by crucifixion, the torturous and humiliating method used by the Romans to execute rebels, murderers, and thieves.
Even though thousands of people were executed in this manner, this is the only archaeological evidence that has reached us.
. . .
The bones of the deceased allow us to reconstruct the method used for his crucifixion:
his legs were nailed to the sides of the crucifixion post, while his hands were tied or nailed to the crossbar.

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You can watch a live telecast on your computer soon of the Way of the Cross of Good Friday, from the Colosseum of Rome, at http://www.vatican.va/video/index.html 
Pope Francesco will preside.
The meditations for each station of the cross were written this year by Lebanese Christians.
It starts a little after 21.05 Rome time (7.05 in Sydney, 13.05 in California, 10.05 in Hawaii).
Afterwards it will be available on video at the same Vatican Player website.

The printed Way of the Cross meditations are online now.  Very appropriate for the Middle East.
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Tune in to streaming video from Jerusalem church

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This poster and reflection were on the glass door of the Christian Information Center in the Old City.

You can click on it (and click again on the photo that opens) and read about the " 8th Extraordinary Prayer of all Churches for Reconciliation, Unity and Peace, beginning in and proceeding from Jerusalem,"
being hosted by the Armenian Catholics.

You can watch it in live streaming video
--at 6:00 pm Israel time (4:00 pm GMT or 8:00 am California time).
Check on the handy time zone converter timeanddate.com.
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Let's hope their prayer helps the situation.
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UPDATE: It was a nice broadcast of the ecumenical service.
That same Franciscan Media Center that shared it online is a good source for documentary videos on religious life in the Holy Land.
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Clouds, winds of change

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Cumulous clouds for ABC Wednesday.
There is a big heavy cloud over the Middle East.

Here it has rained since Saturday; it is wet and windy and at night it goes down to almost freezing in the Jerusalem Hills.
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The sun is down now and I wonder how cold it is for the over one million people right now in Tahrir Square. Cairo is only 264 miles from here.
Let's all hope for the best, for Egypt and for Israel.
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Future stars

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Today's Tu BiShvat morning sky, for SkyWatch, was deep blue with nary a cloud.
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I happened to be walking past the side entrance of Binyanei HaUma convention center.
The ramps were full of young people.
Some were singing, some were strumming instruments.
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You could feel the high energy, the excitement in the crowd.
I asked a boy what was going on. He said "All this is for Kokhav Nolad!"
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Aha--so they were all anxiously waiting for the doors to open to auditions of A Star is Born, the Israeli version of American Idol and Pop Idol.
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(I don't have a TV. Have I been missing something here?)
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Chicken to bring peace

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Homer Simpson and family have just toured the Holy Land, having been invited by their Christian neighor Ned Flanders, who is always trying to redeem Homer.
The episode of their visit in Jerusalem will be televised tomorrow, Palm Sunday, all across America on Fox.
(We in Israel will have to wait for it to come here. )
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"The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed" --great title, eh?
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An average of 100 tourists per year fall under the sway of Jerusalem Syndrome. Some 40% even need hospitalization.
And sure enough, Homer starts believing he is the messiah.
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If you see it on TV please tell me the funny things I missed, OK?
At least I get to read the article http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/03/21/1011264/holy-homer-sacha-baron-cohen-guides-simpsons-through-jerusalem.
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Executive producer Al Jean says that in the end, “Homer tries to unite the faiths through a message of peace and chicken because everybody eats chicken, no matter what religion they’re in.”
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To which I add the advice of Frank Lloyd Wright:
"Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.”
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No news is good news, but not for these

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This building is part of the Technology Park located in Jerusalem's Malcha neighborhood.
A while back I went there to snoop around for photos.
More interesting than anything I found inside the building was something I spied down below.

Look at all those television vans!
So that's where some of the foreign press have their offices!

These other parking spaces are marked REUTERS.

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Poor guys, they didn't have any bloody news to cover today.

Quiet returned to Jerusalem today, thank God.

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Over the hill

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Before we get too far away in time from the Winter Olympics, I'd like you to see this.
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At a big electronics store in the Jerusalem Mall, these young religious girls were glued to the screen(s).
Strictly orthodox Jewish families do not have a television in their homes.
So for these girls it was a few minutes of being transported to another world--Canada, snow, skiiers. . .
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(Well, what am I saying?? I don't have a TV either. I too had fun watching all those skiiers come over the hill. But more fun taking the picture.)
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yes

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Y is for yes at ABC Wednesday today.

Yes started broadcasting in 2000, breaking the cable monopoly in Israel which had lasted more than a decade and ushering in digital broadcasting technology.
Yes is the sole satellite television provider (DBS) in Israel and has 570,000 subscribers (in a country whose population is just over 7 million).

The first two photos show the roof of St. Louis French Hospital, right next to Notre Dame de Jerusalem.

That is Vatican territory (see the flag?).

Sometimes I wonder if the devout Catholics there have a direct channel from Heaven, with all their satellite dishes. I hope the reception is good. :)

Some 65% of Israeli households own subscriptions to multi-channel cable television or satellite service providers.

The photo above shows one of many yes dishes in a Bedouin village in the Negev desert. Darajat village must have its water trucked in and they are not yet connected to the national electric grid. Which shows you that TVs can work even from generators.

The cats in my village seem to like this spot on my next-door neighbor's roof.

You suppose they have a little television up there and watch cat cartoons?

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My TV news comes only through the Internet, on my notebook computer. No television set for me.

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