Local pride

These murals are scenes of real shops and the real people you can find in Jerusalem's big outdoor fruit and vegetable market, Shuk Machaneh Yehuda.
A juice stand where you can watch your carrot or orange or pomegranate juice being made.

Felafel stand on the right. To the left, shwarma meat turning and roasting, ready to be shaved off the spit and put into pita together with your choice of salads.

The whole sides of the building are beautiful murals of the local people.
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The weekly guided tours of photo bloggers' home towns are starting now at That's My World Tuesday. Join up!

The Monster and the Lamplighter

A grayish day in Jerusalem today but the clouds produced no rain.

From the bus I saw a man in a boom lift, putting up a streetlight.
The Monster seemed to be looking at him and protesting, "Hey, how can any human be taller than I am?!"
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(If you missed my September post about "The Golem" aka Monster and want to see him better, please click here. )
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Up and at 'em

Jerusalem's big, bustling, bright Central Bus Station is full of life, and sometimes even surprises!
This stilt-walker was working together with a young man to promote something to the public. I'm not sure what they were selling, but it was fun to see.

Urban animals

Thought it would be fun to share all the animals I saw in one day in Jerusalem.
Can you find the little sparrow on the huge Herodian stones of the Western Wall?

This kitten was busy chasing a bee.

In the old days (up to ~mid-20th C maybe) houses had gutters to channel rain into underground cisterns. Residents of the houses surrounding the courtyard would draw their water from openings such as this one, now capped.

The same kitten followed us into the Museum of Psalms. Acted right at home, like he owns the place. Well, he was born there so it IS his home.

One of the MANY Old City cats. This one walks down Saint Francis Street in the Christian Quarter.
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More animals will be on display starting tonight courtesy of our Camera-Critters blogger group. Enjoy your visit or contribute a critter of your own. New creatures always welcome!

Sax and the Santa Claus

Just when I was despairing of every finding anything in Jewish Jerusalem to post about Christmas decorations . . . voila! One shop over in the (Arab) Christian Quarter of the Old City had photo-blog fodder.
But why is this Santa Claus playing a saxophone?
 Is he collecting for the Salvation Army?
And why has he ditched the reindeer in favor of a hot air balloon?
This is not as I remember . . . .
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Night falls quietly

Just before 4:00 p.m. the sun still warmed the four tall eucalyptus trees down at our local monastery.
Then only the colored church windows caught the last bits of sunlight.

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SkyWatch Friday is beginning now. Fly on over to visit.

Crossing the threshold

At the wise prodding of readers like Australian Ann, today I actually entered the Iran Bazaar that I showed the outside of yesterday. Many fascinating old things inside, and even archaeological antiquities!
The proprietors fit right in. They were friendly and let me roam and gaze and take pictures.

Just for fun, you can view this post while hearing "In a Persian Market."

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Mazal tov

Need your Persian carpet repaired or cleaned? Want to buy some old and beautiful things?
Like to hear some Farsi spoken? Then welcome to the Ghatan Brothers' Iran Bazaar, located in the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall in central Jerusalem.
I have never been inside. But when I passed this morning, something told me to take this photo for a certain two Iranian bloggers. Now, back home, I see Mashhad (Iran) Daily Photos is celebrating its 200th post. Congratulations to Meead, the blog's founder, and to Sara, who continues the work. We are all invited to share their celebration cake.

The Ubiquitous Nachman of Uman

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Today's letter for ABC Wednesday is U. So it should not seem unusual for us to post about the ubiquitous Nachman of Uman, Ukraine.
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Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810), a great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, was the founder of the Breslov (or Bratslav) branch of Hasidic Judaism.
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" The Breslov approach places great emphasis on serving God through the sincerity of the heart, with much joy and living life as intensely as possible.
Its Hasidim see Torah life as the means to a joyful existence, and their approach to worship is very personalized and emotional, with much clapping, singing, and dancing. . . .
Besides the regular daily services in the synagogue, Rebbe Nachman advised his followers to engage in hitbodedut (literally, "self-seclusion") on a daily basis.
In this distinctively Breslov practice, the individual Hasid engages in a free-flowing verbal communication with God for one hour a day.
During hitbodedut, the individual pours out his thoughts and concerns in his mother tongue, as if talking to a close personal friend.
The goal is to establish a close, personal relationship with God and a clearer understanding of one's personal motives and goals."

(from Wikipedia)

Wiki claims that "A few Breslovers also use a form of mantra meditation by repeating a word or phrase over and over. . . .
A small group of modern-day Breslovers use the Na Nach Nachma mantra, which is based on the Hebrew letters of Nachman's name.
This mantra was not used by Rebbe Nachman himself, but was taught in the 20th century by Rabbi Yisroel Ber Odesser.
However, this group is not part of mainstream Breslov, and is rejected by most adherents."

I think Wiki is underestimating.
Judging from the ubiquitous graffiti, printed signs, and Na Nach kipot all over the place, there must be MANY who believe in the power of the mantra. In Jerusalem, at least, and in Tsfat for sure.

One of the results of reciting and writing the mantra, so they say, will be the hastening of the coming of the messiah.
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Every time you add one more syllable: Na, nach,, nachma, nachman me-uman.
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Uman, in the Ukraine, is where Rebbe Nachman is buried. Every Rosh Hashanah tens of thousands of Breslovers make a pilgrimage to his grave.

If you want to know more about how this mantra was revealed in a mysterious "Letter from Heaven," please read here.
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Meanwhile, be happy!
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The keys to the city--take them already!

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December 9 is the anniversary of a major event in Jerusalem's modern history, but I doubt if anyone will think of it. The only reason I know is because of my explorations this week.
I found a tall office building and from a top (10th) floor window was lucky to get this view to the west. The huge building with the long blue windows is the new Central Bus Station.
But what was that little circular park in back of it??

I went down and discovered this little playground, but no name.
But across the street was a tiny sign on an old wall that said Kikar Allenby, meaning Allenby Square. Aha!

And an old monument! Its inscription reads:

"NEAR THIS SPOT THE HOLY CITY WAS SURRENDERED TO THE 60th LONDON DIVISION 9th DECEMBER 1917.   ERECTED BY THEIR COMRADES TO THOSE OFFICERS, N.C.O.'s AND MEN WHO FELL IN FIGHTING FOR JERUSALEM."

If you click to enlarge this photo and contemplate the figures etched in stone, you may see hooded Crusader knights with shield and sword!! Like these British soldiers they, too, conquered Jerusalem (in 1099).
But wait . . . I always heard that General Allenby accepted the Turks' surrender at the Citadel, just inside the Jaffa Gate, in the Old City. So, back home, I asked the Google god to help in my quest for answers.

Here, written by Aviva Bar-Am in her Jerusalem Post article "Authentic Romema," is (one version of) the amazing story:

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"In the wee hours of December 9, 1917, two British army cooks from the 60th London Division left their Jerusalem base in search of fresh eggs and vegetables for their commander. Less than six weeks had passed since Commonwealth troops had breached the Turkish lines in Israel for the first time and conquered Beersheba; earlier that very morning the British had captured Jerusalem from the Turks, as well.
As the cooks walked through a deserted field on an exposed hill, they were accosted by a number of residents anxious to surrender the city. Among them were four policemen, several youths, the Jerusalem mayor Hussein Selim el-Husseini and a photographer from the American Colony.
Upon sighting British soldiers, the Jerusalemites lifted their arms. They held a white sheet that had been hastily torn off one of the beds at the American Colony’s hospital. Attached to a broom handle, the sheet was the Jerusalemites’ makeshift flag of truce. The mayor then handed the cook and his aide a tender of capitulation, explaining that the Turks had fled the city.

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When the soldiers returned to base, they told their commander what had happened. He was so upset that the ’ceremony’ had taken place without him, that he ordered the mayor to return to the hill, and conducted a second surrender. However, that officer’s commander was furious that he hadn’t been present at either surrender, so he held a third ceremony on the same spot.

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But General Sir Edmund Allenby, commander in chief of the British-Anzac Egyptian Expeditionary Force, was unimpressed by the three surrenders. On December 11, 1917, he entered the Old City of Jerusalem and conducted yet another capitulation ceremony. Unfortunately, the mayor was unable to attend — he is said to have contracted pneumonia after standing on the exposed hill for the three previous ceremonies and to have died soon afterward.

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Ignoring the location and circumstances of the fourth and final surrender, soldiers of the 60th London Division decided to erect a three-meter-high monument near the original site in 1920."

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For more photos and stories from around the world visit the friendly blogger-tour guides at our new That's My World Tuesday. Free tours! No tipping, except maybe to leave a comment. :)
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UPDATE Sept. 2014:  A photograph of the surrender to the two British soldiers is now here!
UPDATE July 2019: More about the famous surrender photo --see here. 
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A retirement center with ambiance

The good thing about having our main streets torn up in preparing the rails for the tram is that I walk more (by foot is now faster than by bus) and discover more of Jerusalem.
I never knew this graceful building was there, just across the street from the ruins of the old Schneller Compound.
Turns out that it is a retirement center.

Some 50% of the residents are Anglos, I just now read.

In case you want to sign up for an apartment there, see this review or the official website of Beit Tovei Ha'ir. I don't even want to think what it must cost every month.

The six-storey complex has 220 units in various sizes. Each apartment has a balcony. Great views of Jerusalem all around.

Don't you love arches? They add a softening touch to a city built all in Jerusalem stone.

Lara Longstocking

My friend Lara, an outdoor, semi-independent cat who lives down in the woods.

front

back

Only the back of her legs have black "stockings."

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It is Saturday night and another round of Camera-Critters is starting up. Funny how a hundred bloggers always find new and nice animals to post every week.

Weekend drivers

From the west side of our hill you can look down on this road. It winds through the Soreq Valley. On Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings during the summer it is a Mecca for motorcyclists. Click on the photo to see how numerous they are!
The sound the engines make, reverberating off the steep stony walls of the narrow valley, always seems in sharp contrast to the quiet, relaxed atmosphere of Shabbat.
Religious Jews do not drive on Shabbat and many non-religious stay around home to rest. Public transportation does not run either. So the bikers pretty much have the road to themselves.
BTW, in Israel we do not have Sunday off. Sunday is just the first day of the work week.

(Same road without zoom)

I haven't heard them much this autumn. But today is (and all week was) unseasonably warm, a sunny 24 C or 75 F, and the bikers are out in full force to feel the sun and wind on their face.

On the fringe

Seen yesterday in the narrow lanes of an old Jerusalem neighborhood near the shuk.

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Freshly laundered, just in time for Shabbat. Arba' kanfot (the "four-cornered garment") is also called tallit katan. Religious men and boys wear it all day in order to keep the commandment to wear a garment with tsitsit (fringes), written in Numbers 15:37-41 and Deuteronomy 22:12.
It is worn between the undershirt and the shirt, although some Chassidim have their arba' kanfot over the shirt.
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Shabbat began so early today. The candles had to be lit at 3:59 (always must be at least 18 minutes before sunset).
Shabbat shalom, Sabbath peace to you.
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With gratitude to the heavens

The big celestial news was, of course, at the beginning of the week when the crescent moon, Jupiter and Venus got together. I posted on Monday (different shots), too excited to wait for SkyWatch Friday.

This was the awe-inspiring beauty we all really needed to be shown, following the hard times on earth in those days.
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Let's go see what other bloggers posted for SkyWatch Friday.

Tear gas, burning olive trees, etc.

One of the hardest things for the Peoplehood thing we all talked about yesterday is when young Jewish police-men and -women have to drag young Jewish students out of a house, the ownership of which is legally contested, as happened a few hours ago in Hebron. It is so hard on all of us to see and hear such scenes. And so traumatic for both the draggers and the dragged.

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And now some of the youth are going on to terrorize the Palestinian residents of Hebron and make trouble in the West Bank and who knows what else.
Your television will soon be showing the evacuation of the "House of Contention" and whatever else happens soon. If you want to see the Israeli media coverage of it you can go to the Jerusalem Post or Ha'aretz. If you don't want to see it at all, I don't blame you.

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Thanks again to all you readers of this blog who enrich me with the ideas and feelings you share in your comments. Long live dialogue.

My thanks to you, blogger-friends

What a week this was. Last Wednesday the terror began in Mumbai. Yesterday brought a bit of closure, as Israel buried the six Jews who were killed in the Chabad House. Three of the victims were laid to rest in the old cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
It was a heart-wrenching day, with tens of thousands of mourners at the funerals.
Namlevy made an inspiring 2-minute video on YouTube, dedicated to the Chabad House hostages.
I think one is missing from the video, because her body was found later than the other five. Fifty-year-old Norma Shvarzblat-Rabinovich was a Mexican Jew who had planned to make aliya to Israel to join two of her children who had already moved here. She had spent the past few months touring India, and had planned to fly from Mumbai to Israel on Monday, the 18th birthday of her son, Manuel.
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For those dreadful three days of unknowing, we here worried and prayed a lot. For all the many there in India who were killed and wounded, of course. But in a more personal way for our Jewish brethren. Because of Jewish Peoplehood, Jews everywhere feel like family, everyone of us is responsible for the wellbeing of the other.
I don't know, maybe it is hard for normal people to understand this feeling. Normal people are spared this burden and/or blessing of being a People, a nation scattered in a big diaspora.
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I asked for your help last week and you gave it. Thank you, dear blogger-friends around the world, for all your support and counsel! It was so wonderful how the tragedy brought us all together. And the other good thing to come of all this was my getting to know the Indian bloggers, some of them right in the thick of things in Mumbai. God bless you all.

Table to Table

Table to Table is a growing Israeli organization that rescues food and distributes it to the growing number of needy people in this country.
I once joined a group of volunteers for a day of onion picking. Here I am pretending to eat a raw onion (feh!). "An apple a day keeps the doctor away; an onion a day keeps EVERYONE away."

You can see short videos at the Table to Table website.

To see other bloggers' "T" words today, click over to ABC Wednesday.

Following yonder star

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Tonight that IS my world, the sky right above the horizon! I've been out watching for hours.

My moshav/village nestles on top of a hill and on the terraced sides of the hill.
This is the view just two minutes' walk from my house, looking west.

At 5:00 p.m. this rare clustering of Venus, Jupiter, and the crescent moon was a sight to see!

The next time the three will be as close and visible as this week will be Nov. 18, 2052.
Gee, I won't be around by then . . .

By 5:33 the sky was black. 
The bright stars looked like a smiley face.

The moon got yellowish after 7:00. I think it is going to eclipse Venus--an "occultation" of Venus!

As the crow flies Bethlehem is only 25 miles from here.
With Advent just starting, this strange phenomenon in the sky could not but remind me of the Star of Bethlehem (even if I am Jewish).
Hey Christians, aren't you glad the three Magi looked up and saw, and GOT up and followed their star?
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Other bloggers present their world tonight at That's My World Tuesday. Take a look.
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Crusader circles

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Two circles in the floor, from Crusader times, 12th century.

One complete with an Advent wreath.

One with marks from water-drawing ropes of the centuries.
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