Gaining an hour but losing the day

A big clock in the bell tower--I guess it tells the monks at St. Gerasimus monastery exactly when to ring the bells for prayer.

Tonight this and all our clocks will have to be turned back an hour.
Crazy, no?
It is only September;  it is still sunny, hot and dry, like summer.
So why does Israel have to go off sha'on kayits, the "summer clock" (Daylight Savings) and jump so soon into sha'on choref, "winter clock"?

Every year the politicians and the Knesset argue about when to go off D.S.T. but they can't get their act together.

All I know is that the dark of night will be coming way too soon.
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REMINDER: The Wikipedia photo competition is happening now! Contribute your cultural heritage pictures and you might even win a prize.
Details at my post about Wiki Loves Monuments. 
And today's Wiki blog post proves that heritage buildings should be photographed before they are lost.  (Something Israel, especially, should be thinking about, maybe.)
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Reflection in "The Scottie"

It looks a bit complicated but I think I was taking a picture,  through a glass door,  of the arched window that is  inside St. Andrews Scottish Guest House.
And of course aiming for the reflection of Mt. Zion across the valley.
The tables are on the outside patio that boasts a splendid view of old Jerusalem.
Visible in the photo are the Dormition Abbey, the former Bishop Gorbat School, and the Old City wall. 
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(For Weekend Reflections)

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Smoke rising?

I looked out across our valley in the Jerusalem Hills  and my heart sank!
It looked like smoke rising.
The last thing we want in our moshav on a hill surrounded by forest is a fire.

But there was also the noise of an  all-terrain vehicle going full speed.
I could not spot the ATV but I watched and finally saw that  clouds of dust (not smoke) were following the route of the twisting dirt road.
What a relief!
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(The late afternoon sky is for SkyWatch Friday.)

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Tashlich, year 5773 AM (anno mundi)

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 On  Rosh Hashana afternoon it is customary to do the Tashlich ceremony.
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In the biblical book of Micah (7:18-19) it says:
"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? . . . You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."

"You will cast" in Hebrew is the verb tashlich.

The Jerusalem region has no sea or lake or river.
I am lucky to live  a short walk  from a spring-fed fish pond.

I read the prayer  and then took the symbolic bread crumbs from my pocket.
 I named a personal sin and threw a crumb in the water, named a national sin and threw another, a private sin of omission and tossed more bread.

The fish had a feeding frenzy!

Part of the symbolism is that a fish has no eyelids and cannot close its eyes, and so  too  may God always keep his eyes open watching over us.

You can see the nice Tashlich prayer here. 

Shava tova -- let the new year be a good one.
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UPDATE: The newspapers now have photos of where Israelis like to go for Tashlich .
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Jenny or jackass?

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J is for jenny, a female donkey.

"Ephraim . . . Ephraim!"
2000
Lidia Zavadsky
Earthenware, copper glaze,
soft lead stripes

At Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv
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(A post for ABC Wednesday.)
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Wiki Loves Monuments (historical landmarks) photo contest

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Photographers, bloggers, natives, tourists--get your cameras ready!
Or your archives.
Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 is in progress!

Wikipedia needs photos, old or new, of your local cultural heritage and the best entries in their big photo contest will get prizes.

I read through the list of moreshet/heritage places in Israel and realized that my archive is already full of such pictures.
Maybe I should upload a bunch and try for the shekel prizes of

• First place: ILS 5000 (about $1,250)
• Second place: ILS 3000 (about $750)
• Third place: ILS 2000 (about $500)

Worldwide, 142,511 images have already been uploaded; and in Israel, 353.

Check the website to see if your country is participating and what the final date is.
In Israel, the contest (like everything else here) starts and ends (Oct. 15) later than in non-Jewish countries because of the chagim, the holidays.

About the contest for Israel
FAQs in Hebrew
Help Desk in English
Wiki Loves Monuments blog
2011 contest jury report (judging criteria, etc.)

I am new to this; does anyone have any advice? It sounds like a good thing to do, this contributing to Wiki and freely sharing pictures of my beloved country . . . . Is it?
It means anyone in the world can use our photographs, for any purpose, including commercial.
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UPDATE: See added information in the comments section, e.g. re the Wiki contest in the USA.
UPDATE #2:  The Jerusalem Post writes about the competition in Israel.
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(This post can be good for Our World Tuesday.)
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Might God cast us off when we grow old?

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Welcome to a new year which just began tonight, Erev Rosh Hashana.
It is 5773 AM (anno mundi) on the Hebrew calendar.
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It is also Sunday, the day on which blogger Psalm illustrators come together at Robert's PsalmChallenge in Athens.
Today's psalm has the well-known and heartfelt verse 9 which, changed into plural, is part of the Yom Kippur liturgy.

Here is Psalm 71:

1. I take refuge in you, O LORD, may I never be disgraced.

2. In Your righteousness, save me and rescue me; incline Your ear to me and deliver me.

3. Be for me a sheltering boulder to which I may always come; You ordained my deliverance, for You are my rock and my fortress.

4. My God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked, from the grip of the unjust and the violent.

5. For You are my hope, O Lord; O LORD, my reliance from my youth.

6. In utero, I was dependent on You; it is You who brought me out from my mother’s womb; I sing Your praises always.

7. I have become, as it were, an exemplar for many, for You are my mighty refuge.

8. My mouth is full of Your praise; all the day, Your glorification.

9. Do not cast me off in time of old age; when my strength ends, do not forsake me!

10. For my enemies speak against me; those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together,

11. speaking: “God has forsaken him; pursue and catch him, for there is no one who saves!’’

12. O God, do not be far from me; my God, hasten to my aid!

13. Let those who despise my life end in disgrace; let them be clothed in reproach and shame, those who seek my harm!

14. As for me, I shall always hope and add to all Your praises.

15. My mouth recounts Your righteousness, Your deliverance all the day, though I know not how to count it.

16. I come with praise of Your mighty acts, O Lord; LORD, I make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.

17. You have taught me, God, from my youth, and until now I have proclaimed Your wondrous deeds,

18. and even until hoary old age, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim Your strength to the next generation, Your might, to all who are to come,

19. Your righteousness, O God, is as high as the heavens, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You!

20. Having shown me much harm and trouble, You will again revive me; from the depths of the earth, again raise me up.

21. You will grant me much greatness, You will turn to comfort me.

22. Then I will acclaim You―Your faithfulness―with the lyre, O my God; I will sing a hymn to You with a harp, O Holy One of Israel.

23. My lips shall be jubilant, as I sing a hymn to You, [with] my life, that You have redeemed.

24. My tongue as well shall recite Your righteousness all the day; how disgracefully abashed are those who seek my harm!

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Translation by Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal. See also the Hebrew original there and his analysis of the psalm.
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Photos:
4: A soulful friend sings to God.

1-3: Lad LaKashish / Lifeline for the Old center: workshops and giftshop.
"Yad LaKashish is a non-profit organization which provides hundreds of Jerusalem's needy elderly with creative work opportunities & crucial support services, helping them to feel part of Israeli society & boosting their sense of purpose & self worth."

See their inspiring videos at the website .
You can order lovely things made by the artisans online.
Check out Yad LaKashish also on Facebook.
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At times, when the pressure gets too great, stones meant for building and beauty break loose, fall into the wrong hands, and become projectiles instead.


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Would you like your hay bagged?

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Many favorite blogs here in the northern hemisphere are showing pastoral scenes of freshly-baled hay sitting in golden fields.
Over the years and the miles I've seen quite a few ways of protecting bales--but never saw hay in a zippered bag!
This one, encountered at the Polysack booth at last May's big Agritech exhibition, made me smile for some reason. :)
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Browse their website and be surprised by all the Israeli high-tech agricultural innovations, including amazing agrotextiles.
At a kibbutz in the Negev, 150 people work at Polysack to supply solutions for world agriculture.
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Eyes to the sky

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Eyes to the sky
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St. Etienne basilica and monastery of the Dominicans, home of the Ecole Biblique.

For SkyWatch Friday

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The Fire Next Time

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May the individual flames of prayer eventually overcome the mob's fires of destruction.
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A virtual memorial candle and a place to express condolences for the four Americans killed last night in Libya:
https://www.facebook.com/U.S.EmbassyTelAvivIsrael?ref=ts
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Archaeologist, beware!

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Now that you are fortified with yesterday's post's pomegranate juice, let us get back to a weightier subject for today's Taphophile Tragics.

"The Kidron Valley is the boundary between the living . . . and the dead . . ."
So begins the City of David's sign perched on the side of the valley.
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Kindly click on the photo to read about Jerusalem's cemetery from 2,000 years ago.

The photo above can be enlarged too, so you can see the ancient inscription found in the burial cave.
The inscription, discovered in 1874, may relate to the Prophet Isaiah's words (22:16).

It says

This is [the grave of ] [... iahu] who is over the house. There is no silver or gold here, but [his bones (i.e. the deceased's)] and the bones of his maid servant with him.
Cursed be the man who will open this.

The City of David interpretation suggests this may refer to the royal overseer at the court of King Hezekiah, Shebna, whom Isaiah castigated for carving himself an opulent tomb in Jerusalem.

In this zoom shot you can make out at least five of these tomb entrances in between the houses in the Arab village of Silwan.
With a click on the photo and then another click, you should see some kids tending their goats.

Just to the left of Silwan begins the huge Mt. of Olives cemetery.
Jews have been, and continue to be, buried there for thousands of years.
The rows of graves stretch from the Kidron all the way up to the top of the mountain.
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(Isaiah, inscription, interpretation, and interment are all "I" words for today's ABC Wednesday meme.)
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Fresh pomegranate juice

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This nice man at Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda open-air market was happy to press me some sweet pomegranate juice today.

See?! Here is comes!
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As our grandmothers always said, "Kos briut!" (a glass full of good health!).
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The shuk is full now with big red pomegrantes because it is a symbolic food for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year starting this Sunday evening.
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(This little look into the huge fresh produce market is for Our World Tuesday meme.)
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A desperate call for urgent help -- Ps. 70

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All day yesterday I was mulling what to do with Psalm 70 (for Robert's weekly PsalmChallenge).
I was getting no inspiration; I couldn't find a fitting photo (and still can't).
What to do with yet another psalm of calls for help and revenge?
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The answer came to me in a dramatic way:
I left the house for my usual evening walk; the minute I stepped onto the street a small dog came yapping and running toward me, got behind me and bit me on the lower leg.

I spun around and yelled "Stop it!", hoping it would make the dog's owners, a young couple and their baby, pay attention and come to my rescue.
They took their sweet time coming over and calling their dog, thinking he was just barking at me.
I looked at the two red scratch marks from its fangs and at its saliva on my skin and felt the pain inside and shouted to the people that it was indeed a bite.

"Oh, slicha, slicha" they said.
I retorted, "I don't want 'Sorry, sorry,' I just want not to be bitten when I walk on my own street! Train your dog! Get a leash! Take some responsibility!"
And I added that my step-daughter recently spent months in a wheelchair after a dog bit her on two different days in the stairwell of her apartment.
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Back home, cleaning my wound (which fortunately was not deep or bleeding), I felt the anger more than the physical pain.
I had shouted, I had been attacked, help was slow in coming--all such rare things in my current life--and the adrenaline was pumping.
I heard myself planning: "Next time I'll go out walking with a strong walking stick and if that damn dog comes at me again I'll break its teeth, I'll smash its head, I'll . . . ."
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Then it occurred to me: I was sounding like the biblical psalmists!
I could so identify with them, suddenly.
I could feel their righteous indignation!
And my murmured threats were nothing worse than an example of the Hebrew hyperbole so common in the Bible, the exaggeration for effect often used in Semitic languages.
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Then I wondered just how many folks in the Western world have ever been physically and unjustly attacked by man or beast, how many know the constant fear of an existential threat to them and their whole country?

The people who feel a need to "clean up" and tone down many of the Psalms, taking the "violent" and "terrible" verses out of some Psalms before inclusion in their prayer books--are they not missing the point and power of the Psalms?

Well, I was taught a lot yesterday; but next weekend I might think twice before praying for some PsalmChallenge inspiration.
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PSALM 70

1. For the leader. Of David. Lehazkir.

2. Hasten, O God, to save me; O LORD, to aid me.

3. May those who seek my life be disgraced and abashed; may those who wish me harm fall back in shame.

4. May those who say “Aha! Aha!’’ over me retreat in disgrace.

5. May all who seek You be glad and rejoice in You; may those who are eager for Your deliverance always say, “God be exalted!”

6. As for me, I am lowly and needy; O God, hasten to me. You are my aid and my rescuer; O LORD, do not hold back.
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Translation by Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.
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For a modern and initially shocking reworking of Psalm 70 by Rabbi Justin David, do see the new American book Psalms in Ordinary Voices.
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Archaeology evening, Part 2

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Here is one of the guides who explained the Givati Parking Lot excavations on Thursday, as part of the 13th annual City of David conference.
He is showing the buried treasure that was found there in recent years.
Like the hoard of 264 gold coins, never used, in mint condition, dated to 613 CE, worth over half a million dollars today!

A British woman volunteer found the money in the wall of this Byzantine building.
This dig in the Arab village of Silwan, right next to the Old City, is the biggest on-going excavation in Israel.

The other items in the guide's photo are a tile with the stamp of the Roman Tenth Legion and a 2,000 year old earring of gold, pearl, and emerald.
Got $180 (less a holiday discount)? --You, too, can buy a pair of earrings, replicas of this beautiful Roman Period find.
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Last night's demonstration in Jerusalem

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The young woman with the bullhorn led the slogan-chanting of the demonstrators.
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I came up behind them, as I was just exiting the big Givati Parking Lot Dig where guided tours of the excavation were going on.

I had to cross the street to get to the annual City of David Archaeology conference.
I needed to squeeze between the many Border Police to get this photo.
The policemen outnumbered the demonstrators, it looked like.

The narrow street leads from the Arab Silwan up to the southern wall of the Old City.
To the left is the Dung Gate into the Old City.
The dome you see is El Aksa mosque on the Temple Mount.
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I'll tell you more about the conference itself in the coming posts.

If you want to try to understand the reason for yesterday's demonstration, please see my earlier post http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2010/09/trouble-in-jerusalem.html.
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The writing on the door

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Everyone knows the verse of Psalms that tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but today this new graffiti in the Old City rings true as well.

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Hard times we live in

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A heavy post for this ABC Wednesday, but today H is for horrible hooliganism.
Hateful messages were spray-painted on these walls before the early-rising Trappists rose for morning prayer.
A burning tire then caused the door to catch fire.
The monks discovered and extinguished the fire before it could spread to the beautiful old French monastery of Latrun.

But the shock and anger to all of us, Christians and Jews and all decent Israelis, is much harder to extinguish.


I can only say SORRY! to the Brothers of Latrun.
I am sorry such cowardly acts can happen in my country.

To read about this spreading phenomenon of "price tag" attacks by right-wing extremists in retaliation for the government removing certain settlements in the West Bank, please see the articles in today's Jerusalem Post and Ynet.

The vandalism and even some outright attacks have been against Palestinian property, against our own army bases and police, and now increasingly against easy-target Christian places.
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Better than bulls

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After a summer break Psalm Challenge, led by Robert Geiss of daily athens photo, is starting up again!
This would be a good chance for new people to join in.
All you have to do is read one Psalm a week and think how you want to illustrate the part(s) that speak to you.
So far we have done the first 69 poems in the Book of Psalms.
Only 81 to go!
UPDATE: Don't miss Robert's own post, with a photo of the radiant beauty of "the mother of his son."
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PSALM 69

1. For the leader. On shoshanim. Of David.

2. Deliver me, O God, for the waters have reached my neck;

3. I am sinking into the slimy deep without a foothold; I have reached the waters' depths; the current sweeps me away.

4. I am exhausted from my calling out; my throat is parched; my eyes fail while waiting for God.

5. More numerous than the hairs of my head are those who hate me gratuitously; many are those who would destroy me, libelous enemies. What I have not stolen I have had to pay back.

6. God, You are aware of my folly; my guilty acts are not hidden from You.

7. May those who hope in You, O LORD, God of hosts, not be shamed by me; may those who seek You, O God of Israel, not be disgraced by me,

8. because I have been abused for Your sake, as disgrace covered my face.

9. A stranger have I become to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons,

10. because my zeal for Your house has devoured me; the abuse of those who abuse You has fallen upon me.

11. When I subjected my soul to tears and fasting, I was abused for it.

12. When I made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them.

13. Those who sit in the gate gossip about me, about me the tipplers' [mocking] songs!

14. As for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD; at a favorable moment, O God, in Your abundant steadfast love, answer me with Your sure deliverance.

15. Rescue me from the mire, and let me not drown; let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the waters' depths.

16. Let the current not sweep me away; let the deep not swallow me; let the Pit not close its mouth over me.

17. Answer me, O LORD, for Your steadfast love is good; in accordance with Your abundant mercy, turn Your face to me;

18. and hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly.

19. Draw near to my soul and redeem it; free me because of my enemies.

20. You are aware of my abuse, my shame, my disgrace; You are cognizant of all my foes.

21. Abuse breaks my heart, and I am in despair; I hope for consolation, but there is none, and for comforters, but find them not.

22. They give me poison in my food; for my thirst they have me drink vinegar.

23. May their table be a trap in their face; a snare for their allies.

24. May their eyes grow too dim to see; may their loins perpetually tremble.

25. Pour out Your wrath upon them; may Your blazing anger overtake them;

26. may their camp be desolate; may no one dwell in their tents.

27. For they persecute those whom You Yourself have struck; they recount the pain of Your victims.

28. Heap guilt on their guilt; let them not reach Your [reward for] righteousness;

29. may they be erased from the book of life, and not be recorded among the righteous.

30. But as for me, lowly and in pain―may Your deliverance, O God, keep me safe.

31. May I praise God’s name with song, and exalt Him with thanksgiving.

32. That will be better before the LORD than oxen, than bulls with their horns and hooves.

33. O you humble, see and rejoice; O seekers of God, let your heart live!

34. For the LORD hears the needy, and does not spurn His captives.

35. Heaven and Earth shall praise Him, the seas, and everything that moves therein.

36. For God will deliver Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; they shall dwell there and possess it;

37. the progeny of His servants shall inherit it; those who cherish His name shall settle there.
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Photos:
Israel Museum.
Ma'ale Adumim.
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Translation (see also his notes) by Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.
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Dancing on the water and people-watching

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City Daily Photo's theme today is "people-watching."
Oi, what to do? -- normally I am reluctant to point a camera at strangers' faces.
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But quite unexpectedly I found myself on a party boat plying the waters of the Sea of Galilee where mutual picture-taking became perfectly kosher.

Following the festive Mass atop Mt. Tabor for the Feast of the Transfiguration, the frocked group leader of our chartered bus surprised us by announcing that before returning to their parish in the Old City of Jerusalem we would head north to Tiberias for a boat ride.

It was a hot day down there, several hundred meters below sea level, but the friar told the captain to play Arab music full blast and the energy of the music coupled with the enthusiasm of the priest got many people up and dancing for hours.

Even I, the only Jew among the mostly local Arab Christians of the group, was tempted to come to the circle and try the happy Arab dances.
But I remained the perennial wallflower and enjoyed taking pictures for the blog instead.
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(See what other CDP bloggers are posting for people-watching
either at Julie's Theme Day site or on Facebook.)

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