A heavenly sky

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I was outside the entire day on guided walks in Jerusalem and the Judean Hills.
Can't believe I came home without a sky photo for SkyWatch Friday.

Instead you can enjoy the heavenly dome of a church!

A round church!

Our guide was able to arrange a visit inside.
 Most people have never seen what lies beyond the high stone wall and locked gate. We were lucky today.

The church was begun in the 1880s and completed in 1927.

The convent, school, and hostel belongs to the Catholic Arab women's order called the Congregation of the Rosary Sisters. It is the only native congregation of the Holy Land.

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The order's cofounder, Mother Marie-Alphonsine, born in the Old City in 1843, was beatified just a few months ago.

The sisters went to Arab countries in order to educate girls and raise the "dignity and nobility" of women.
By now they have one million graduates.
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The place is a beautiful island of tranquility in the middle of busy west Jerusalem's Agron Street.

I don't blame the sisters for not opening their gates very often.

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UPDATE Oct. 8, 2014:   See a short video about the Rosary Sisters in the Holy Land.
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UPDATE Dec. 22, 2022:  An article from the Latin Patriarchate Jerusalem about these sisters: 
https://www.lpj.org/posts/portraits-of-sisters-in-the-holy-land-final-chapter-the-rosary-sisters.html
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Symbolic red

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Antependium: a decorative hanging for the front of an altar, lectern, or pulpit.
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Such linens and cloth hangings are also called paraments.
They "clothe" the furnishings in the chancel.
The liturgical colors of the paraments change, following the seasons of the Christian calendar.
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Red, the color of fire, is a symbol for the Holy Spirit; so on Pentecost the paraments are red, and also during ordinations of clergy.
Red is also the color of blood and of martyrdom--the color for any service that commemorates the death of a martyr.
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Red is used by some churches for Holy Week.
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Red is the April 1 theme for City Daily Photo's Theme Day.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
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Wishing the Christian readers a blessed Holy Week.
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Circle K

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"Kosher for Passover" Nutella (all the way from Italy) spread on "kosher lePesach" matsot (made right here in Jerusalem) = the winning combination for the week of Passover, when bread is not permitted.
See the K inside the circle? That's the rabbis' stamp of approval.
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A kosher K for ABC Wednesday.
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Lo bseder

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On my way to the Great Synagogue seder yesterday, I passed this.
Just beyond the wall is the official residence of the Prime Minister of Israel.

The protest tent has been there for a long time. I myself have been posting, here and here, about the movement for too long a time. There seems to be no end to Gilad Schalit's captivity.
As the sign says, our young kidnapped soldier has been held prisoner for 1,373 days and nights.
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Activists fighting for the release Gilad held a mock seder on Sunday night (one night before the actual holiday of Passover). This is the fourth year that they have held the seder to protest what they call government inaction at securing Schalit's release from the Hamas militants who have kept him captive since their 2006 cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip.

The all-too-realistic cutout of Gilad wears a sign asking the traditional question from the Hagadah of Pesach: What makes this night different from all other nights? Literally the sign asks: What has changed? The answer is sad in his case; the sign says: Nothing.
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The seder plate at a real seder has several symbolic foods. Gilad's table has only maror, the bitter herb.
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Two other worrying changes:
Once the signs and stickers (which appear all over the country) said "Gilad is still alive." Now a question mark appears at the end.

And the face of Ron Arad has been added to the banners. The Israel Air Force navigator was captured in southern Lebanon in 1986, held prisoner for two years, and then disappeared. The new signs suggest that Schalit may also go missing unless a deal is quickly struck with Hamas.
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Gilad Schalit's parents asked that everyone leave an empty chair and plate at their seder table.
That's how it is in a little country where everyone feels like family.

For That's My World, that is my world, in joy and in sorrow, always mixed together.

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The Pesach window

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The Passover stained glass window at the synagogue of Hechal Shlomo in Jerusalem.
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I am going there soon for a communal seder. Must catch the 2:40 bus. After that public transportation stops until after Pesach. Bye!

Happy Pesach!

The Festival of Matsot

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In your light we shall see light

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The time of our freedom

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To kindle the lights of Yom Tov

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Pesach

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Entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday

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For me it is the day before Pesach, a day for cleaning the cupboards of the last vestiges of bread, cookies, pasta, etc.--anything that may have touched leavening. Tomorrow we start a week of eating matsa, the hard "bread of affliction," instead of soft bread.
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But for Christians, today is Palm Sunday and I wish you all a joyous holy day.
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If I were a braver blogger, I would have gone to the Holy Sepulchre to get you fresh photos of the festivities.
I should explain that this ancient church is not your modern orderly type of church. It has no pews or chairs. You do not have your own space.
Instead you have surging masses of pilgrims, the press of bodies, a lack of air.

Last time I was in the huge church for Palm Sunday, I was literally trapped in the crowd and could not force my way to the only door.
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But my pictures from 2007 are basically no different from what is happening this very day and year.
So I invite you to see my previous slideshows, from the comfort of our own homes:

• Morning services for Palm Sunday in the Holy Sepulchre
• Afternoon pilgrimage of the faithful from Mt. of Olives to the Old City

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The Palm Sunday donkey on the Mt. of Olives

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Tomorrow being Palm Sunday, the animal of choice for Camera-Critter Sunday can only be the donkey.
My favorite donkey story happened a few years ago, so permit me to repost it.
A funny thing happened on the way to Bethphage . . .
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My two nun 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.
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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 [Jesus] 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 stood up quickly. He 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 five centuries ago.

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But sealed gate or not, our donkey must have heard his marching orders, perhaps from a much earlier time, and nothing was going to stop him.

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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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New art at Hadassah

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Hadassah medical center must have known that I am on the lookout for reflections for James' "Weekend Reflections."  They put in a shiny new sculpture!

(So new it still doesn't have an identifying plaque.)

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 Click to enlarge and see the wide play of reflections from all directions.

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A windmill in Jerusalem

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The sky is dreary and dull today, not great for SkyWatch Friday.
What is jutting INTO the sky is more interesting: a 135-year-old windmill!
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Before the Jerusalem neighborhood of Rehavia was built in the 1920s, the area was owned by the Greek Orthodox Church and was called Jinzeriah.
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The Church built this windmill around 1875 to grind the local grain crops.
It even had a petrol engine for when the wind died down. This made it superior, in theory, to the other windmill built by Montefiore in Mishkenot Sha'ananim not far away.
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Later, following the Russian revolution, the Greek Orthodox Church was nearing bankruptcy and had to sell the fields to the Palestine Land Development Company.
This (along with the new steam mill technology) put the windmill out of business.
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Then, as the Jerusalem Step by Step guidebooks says,
"[The windmill] remained inactive for years and the children of Rehavia used the opportunity to remove the cross from the top of the structure."
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A famous Jewish architect bought the windmill and lived in it from 1935 to 1941.

His study was just under the dome. How cool is that?!

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Appropriately enough, in the 1950s and 60s the structure housed the Dutch consulate and the consul's residence.

After that, it again stood empty until 1987 when it was converted into a small, exclusive shopping center.

The contractors had wanted to build a residential building instead, but thankfully, the Jerusalem Municipality had the sense to say NO. Thus the windmill was restored and is preserved.

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Mall madness

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Passover begins this Monday evening.
Most people are busy cleaning the house and/or preparing food for the seder meal.
The lucky ones are packing their bags for a bargain get-away to Turkey or Europe.
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And then, there is the traditional shopping for new spring clothes; and if you are invited to a seder, shopping also for a gift for the hosts.
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Welcome to the mall! Malcha Mall is also known as Jerusalem Mall.
Have a seat by the fountain.

Or "relax" with some coffee at Cafe Hillel.

Roaming the several floors, containing 260 businesses, together with 35,000 other visitors a day, can be a lot of work.
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My own favorite place is on the outside, looking in.

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Laying their life on the line

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Please click to enlarge and immerse yourself in the photo.

A peep into a Russian Orthodox convent and pilgrim hostel.

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The iconic scene: John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan.

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For ABC Wednesday J Day.

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Be there or be square

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For World Water Day join a protest. Be there or be square.
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For World Water Day people everywhere are being asked to take a stand and join a Guinness World Record attempt to make the world's longest toilet queue.
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One month from now politicians from across the globe will gather in Washington, D.C. to discuss what they need to do to fulfil two of the most basic rights of the world’s citizens – access to a safe toilet and clean water.
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The World’s Longest Toilet Queue is a mass mobilisation event and Guinness World Record attempt bringing together thousands of campaigners from across the world to demand real change at the meeting.
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The lack of access to clean water and basic sanitation affects 2.5 billion people.
These are some results:
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> 4,000 children under the age of five dying every day from preventable water-related illnesses such as diarrhea , typhoid, cholera, and dysentery.
> Over half of hospital beds in developing countries are taken by those suffering with diarrheal illnesses, heavily overburdening fragile health systems.
> The UN estimates that half of girls who stop attending primary school in Africa do so because of the lack of safe and private toilets.
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More info at http://www.worldtoiletqueue.org/eng .
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P.S. This is the first square toilet I've ever seen. They are in the public WC at Jerusalem's Mamilla Mall.
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That's it for That's My World Tuesday.
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Rifling

Straight shadows enter a tunnel and turn into a graceful spiral for "Shadow Shot Sunday."
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rifling: the spiral grooves cut into a tunnel, gun barrel, etc.
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A photo from exactly one year ago of my grandson and half-hidden daughter playing at a Tel Aviv beach on the Mediterranean.
We have the same sun and warmth today, a real spring day.
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Spring has sprung

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Israel's scorpions and snakes have woken up again, right on time for the official beginning of spring.
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I came home yesterday to find this young snake on my patio, next to my door step.
Yikes!
Where are the cats when you need them?!

Making do with what I had, I dropped a cement block and a balata on the snake.
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I am sorry if this saddens some of the Camera-Critter friends. But I live in a rural setting, in a little house almost right on the ground. And there is just not enough room for me and a venomous snake.
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Happy spring.
P.S. Check out my post about the hunter cat with a live snake in her mouth. It's more fun than this post.

CD -- Corpus diplomati cars

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Walking along Agron Street in central Jerusalem means seeing literally tons of American vehicles parked on both sides of the street outside the Consulate of the United States.
(Jerusalem is our capital but most countries are not ready to acknowledge that, so they have their embassies in Tel Aviv and maybe a consulate in Jerusalem.)
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This big black car was conspicuously clean and shiny so I immediately thought of James and his Weekend Reflections meme.
Result: a nice reflection of a gnarly tree and a distorted me.
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A long way from home

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The weekend newspapers on sale today outside a shop near Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda shuk.
Hebrew, English, French, and one paper (I'm quite sure) in Thai language.
Thousands of citizens from Thailand are employed in Israel, mostly as agricultural workers.

Sad to say, one Thai man died yesterday while working in a greenhouse in Moshav Netiv Ha'asara. The Kassam that killed him was one of five rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel within the last 24 hours.
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His name has not yet been released. I would like to be able to call him by name. Instead we keep hearing the generic "a Thai worker. . . ."
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His body will be returned to his family who live "in the provinces" somewhere in Thailand.
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His relatives are entitled to receive compensation benefits from Bituach Leumi (our Social Security administration) under Benefits for Victims of Hostilities Law, 1970.
The webpage about this is quite interesting.
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In legal language,
"A hostilities-related injury is a direct result of hostilities perpetrated by enemy forces, or an injury caused as a result of, or in connection with, hostilities (an injury sustained under circumstances that are reasonably presumed to be the result of hostilities, or an injury from a weapon that was intended to be used for hostilities by enemy forces, or to prevent such an action), or an injury resulting from an act of violence whose purpose was to harm people because of their national, ethnic origin, provided that it arises from the Israeli-Arab conflict or was committed by a terrorist organization."
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The Color Red siren sounded when the rocket was fired. I wish this young man had taken it seriously and had run for cover to the concrete shelters of the community.
The alert gives you 20 seconds of warning, that's all.
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Blue and white

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For SkyWatch Friday here you have yesterday's pleasant sky over Jerusalem.

Looking westward across the Old City ramparts to the new city.

Like the first photo, this is a shot from inside the Citadel or Tower of David Museum of the history of Jerusalem.

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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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Incitement

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For ABC Wednesday "I" Day, I find it incredible, the rumor that led to today's riots on the eastern side of Jerusalem.

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Incitement by the Islamic Movement in Israel and by Hamas urged Palestinians to make a "Day of Rage" and to defend al-Aksa mosque (on the Temple Mount) from a perceived approaching Jewish take-over.

They told the people that after last night's dedication of the Hurva (see previous post) Synagogue, which is in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, the Jews would enter the (Muslim-administered) Temple Mount and lay a cornerstone for the Third Temple.
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Believe me, this little play model of the Third Temple (with my reflection like cherub wings) displayed in the window of a gift shop in the Jewish Quarter is the closest thing to a real-life Temple that we will ever see in Jerusalem.
No one is going up to the Temple Mount to rebuild the Temple.
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This little note next to the model--I think it is very funny.

It is a joke!

Everybody chill.

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