"Remain here and watch with me"

What intense days these must be for the Christians--the Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, leading into Easter.
 Tomorrow the drama of the Church will be acted out in the Holy City, in one way or another. 
Washing of the feet of the faithful performed by the superior of the monastery or the priest of the church. Eucharist as part of a seder-like meal. The stripping of the altar. And Tenebrae, ending in silence and near-darkness.
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40 years

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"God said to Abram, 'Lech lecha, go away from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you . . . and I will bless you . . . .' "
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In March 1968 I did, I left America behind and made aliyah, the spiritual ascent up to Israel.
On today's date, March 18, the good ship Enotria sailed into Haifa port, just as the sun was rising over Mount Carmel.
I disembarked, kissed the ground, and embarked on a new life.
I had never been to Israel except in my dreams, knew no one, had little money.
Fresh out of college, a 22-year-old idealist coming into an idealistic 19 year old country. Population just two million.
We both had a lot of growing up to do.

The photo shows my teudat zehut, my identity card.
We have been together forty years.

Citizen of the State of Israel--this indeed is my identity.
This is the promised blessing. Thank you, God, for showing me the way home.

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Little Donkeys of God

A funny thing happened on the way to Bethphage . . .

My two Sister friends were taking me to see, for my first time, the Palm Sunday procession. The walk up the Mount of Olives to the pilgrims' starting point at Bethphage is very steep. Near the Garden of Gethsemane the sisters and I stopped to rest and admire the wildflowers.
We were quite alone among the olive trees and the goats. Silence and peace all around.

Then I caught sight of a sleeping donkey (!) and could not help but be reminded of the story in Mark 11:

And when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it you will find an ass tied, on which no one has ever sat; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord has need of it,' and he will send it back here immediately."
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Suddenly the donkey awoke as if out of a dream. He quickly got up and began walking. And he was headed straight toward the double arches in the city wall! This is none other than the Gate of Mercy, which Christians call the Golden Gate, the Gate Beautiful.

In Jewish tradition this is the gate by which the messiah, mounted on a white donkey, will enter Jerusalem. To prevent this, the Turkish Sultan Suleiman blocked up the gate some five centuries ago.

But sealed gate or not, our donkey must have heard his marching orders and nothing was going to stop him.
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Procession of Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday afternoon everyone gathers on the Mount of Olives and then begin a joyful procession all the way down to the Old City, entering the city walls through the Lions (St. Stephan's) Gate, and gathering again at the old Crusader church of St. Anne. En route there is singing and dancing and waving of palm fronds and olive branches. Oh, and lots of security.

My pictures from last year can be seen small on the slideshow or big at http://picasaweb.google.com/ponddina/ProcessionPalmSunday2007 .

And a link to the previous post's photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ponddina/PalmSundayAtHolySepulchre2007

Palm Sunday in the Holy Sepulchre

Happy Palm Sunday to the Christian friends!
Last year on Palm Sunday I experienced all the colorful and diverse worship services of the many different faith communities within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The ancient church was packed with pilgrims. This year my claustrophobia got the better of me, and I chose to stay closer to home for this festive day.
Enjoy the slideshow. For bigger version of the photos you can go to http://picasaweb.google.com/ponddina/PalmSundayAtHolySepulchre2007

Palm Sunday preparations

In a still-quiet lane of the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City a man prepares palms to be carried in procession by the throngs of pilgrims tomorrow, Palm Sunday.

Uncovering our past

My dig! Be sure to click on the photo to see it in all its full-size grandeur!

A year ago I had the privilege of working here, at the salvage excavations at the Western Wall Plaza. Last night I was watching the news [via Internet since I have no television]. Suddenly my dear former (and future) boss, archaeologist Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, appeared on the screen, announcing important and exciting new discoveries! Yay!

A rich sealed layer of finds was revealed from the latter part of the First Temple period, i.e. the end of the 8th century BCE up to the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE. Artifacts such as a seal bearing the name Netanyahu ben Yaush; animal and fertility figurines; and

a vast amount of pottery vessels, including three jar handles that bear LMLK stamped impressions. An inscription written in ancient Hebrew script is preserved on one these impressions and it reads: למלך חברון ([belonging] to the king of Hebron).

Furthermore, and maybe more importantly, quoting the Israel Antiquities Authority,

"This is actually the first time in the history of the archaeological research of Jerusalem that building remains from the First Temple period were exposed so close to the Temple Mount - on the eastern slopes of the Upper City. The walls of the buildings are preserved to a height of more than 2 meters."

Click here http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early+History+-+Archaeology/Building+remains+from+First+Temple+period+exposed+west+of+Temple+Mount+13-Mar-2008.htm?DisplayMode=print to read the exciting IAA press release.

I love doing archaeological fieldwork, working hard with a good team, and I dearly love Jerusalem and the Kotel! So maybe it's time to get back to my job already.

Here in my picture you can also see the Western Wall, the other salvage dig behind the old ramp up to the Mughrabi Gate, and Al-Aqsa mosque up on the Temple Mount.

UPDATE: A video from the site at http://www.infolive.tv/en/infolive.tv-19840-israelnews-remains-first-temple-found-underneath-planned-walkway-leading-temple but with a caveat: this is not where the walkway is planned. That is a different dig, nearby. And no one ever said the walls found were of the Temple itself. I wish the news media would get things right.

Moses' birthday

How is it to know God face to face?! Deuteronomy 34:10 says "And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face."

Today, the 7th of Adar, is the birthday of Moses. Moshe also died on this date, on Mount Nebo.

This picture of him is in the church of the monastery. I wonder why his tablet has "Shema Yisrael" written on it instead of the more often depicted Decalogue. Any ideas?

Here, at least, he has a halo instead of the horn that Jerome's mistranslation of KRN stuck on his head.

Donkey door

While walking to an appointment in central Jerusalem today, I stopped to look at the tall doors of the legendary Bikur Cholim Hospital. The artist, who was a teacher in the early days of the Bezalel Academy of Art, fashioned the symbols of the twelve tribes of Israel. My favorite is the donkey, of course. In Genesis 49 Jacob blesses each of his sons with the blessing suitable to him. "Issachar is a strong-boned ass (chamor garem). . . ."

Jacob sheep

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Are there days you too feel like this ewe? She lives in the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.

With all those horns, it must be a Jacob sheep. It's an ancient breed, thousands of years old, named after the patriarch Jacob.

In his bargain with Laban, Jacob used highly original methods to achieve spotted lambs and kids. In fact, the story in Genesis 30 is thought to be the earliest record of selective breeding. Give it a read or a reread--you're sure to get a kick out of it.

Give it a whorl

The new neighbors across the street are into permaculture.
Today their young helper built this fascinating garden spiral.

Can you believe, I had never seen such a thing (guess I've been away from Heifer Ranch too long); so I was all questions.
Here's what I learned.
This method combines many permaculture design principles. The base is rubble; this will give some air movement beneath the mound. The height of the raised bed and the placement of the stones create a range of niches and microclimates which can sustain many different kinds of plants.

This one might become an herb spiral. Come back later to see what's growing.

How Green Was My Valley

The now-white almond trees and the white boulders and terrace walls give some "relief" from the ubiquitous green of the valley.

The women of Jerusalem

Happy International Women's Day to you and to these representative women of Jerusalem.
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Rest in peace

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how many of your children will we have to bury?? Two of the eight boys gunned down last night in the library of their yeshiva were laid to rest today here in the ancient cemetery on the Mount of Olives. Together with the blood-stained holy books they were studying. God comfort the mourners in Zion.

But still we say Shabbat shalom.

Old-new ways

Today I joined a serious Tanach Tiyulim tour to learn about the enigma of Elijah the Prophet.

Our bus headed north to Mount Carmel. First stop was Ramat Hanadiv, the memorial gardens and crypt of the benefactor Baron Edmond de Rothschild. The day was warm, the admission was free, and hundreds of both Arab and Jewish school children and many families were enjoying a visit.

But what impressed me most was the woman in the beautiful embroidered dress and her way of carrying her purse. It is indeed the easiest way of carrying and hands are left free.

My fellow Heifer Ranch volunteers will remember seeing me transporting livestock feed using this ancient technique. We just cut a big plastic barrel in half, strung a rope through it, and the rope went just above my forehead, with the load easily carried on my back.

Who knows?! Maybe, inspired by the grandmother in this picture, I will get the chutspah to transport groceries or a backpack down the main street of my village with the aid of a tumpline strap on my head.

Rakefet metsuya

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The rakefet is especially loved among our spring wildflowers, with her shy face turned earthward and her favorite growing place being under a rock. But these cyclamens took root INSIDE the high stone wall and can look out over the valley below.

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Mist

A cloud was hanging in our valley early this morning. Mist is so mystical!

Torah in the shuk

I love to buy fruit and vegetables in Mahaneh Yehuda, Jerusalem's huge outdoor market. But this was the first time I happened by at just the right time to see a prayer service going on in the shuk's little synagogue. The men had just finished reading the Torah and were returning the scroll to the ark.

In ancient times Mondays and Thursdays were market days, when farmers would bring their produce to the city and residents would gather to buy and socialize. For their benefit Ezra the Scribe instituted the practice of publicly reading part of the weekly parasha from the Torah on these two days, in addition to Shabbat. And so it continues.

Row on row

One of the many, too many, sections of the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

They read like a history book of Israel's first sixty years. Walking among the graves, even on a tranquil day when almost no visitors are there, is difficult.

There today, right now, the Dan-Gur family is burying their firstborn, their only son, Eran z"l. He was one of the soldiers killed yesterday in Gaza while trying to stop the barrages of rockets being fired onto our civilians.

How hard it is to blog about pretty things here in the still-quiet Jerusalem Hills when just some 35 miles/55 km to the west the killing and maiming and terrorizing on both sides of the border is in full swing and escalating from day to day. God, let the craziness end!

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Hashkedia porachat--the almond is blossoming

I come, I come! ye have called me long;
I come o'er the mountains, with light and song.
Ye may trace my step o'er the waking earth
By the winds which tell of the violet's birth,
By the primrose stars in the shadowy grass,
By the green leaves opening as I pass.

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From "The Voice of Spring" by John Burroughs
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