But no picking!

Correction!
After posting just now about the anemones, I realized readers might think that we still pick wildflowers as described in the song. Please note:

"Picking wildflowers used to be such a popular pastime that by the beginning of the 1960s, many of the more attractive flowering plants were on the brink of extinction. Anemones and cyclamen, which bloomed in profusion and symbolized the beauty of Israel's landscape, had nearly vanished. To reverse this trend, the Society for the Protection of Nature and the newly-born Nature Reserves Authority launched a campaign which focused on both legislation and public education. In retrospect, this turned out to be the most successful public environmental re-education campaign ever launched in Israel. Today, thirty years later, Israelis scrupulously avoid picking wildflowers and the country abounds with their rich splendor."

(from Jewish Virtual Library)

OK, now you can read the MyWorld post below. Thanks.

Anemones live on

The anemones are growing everywhere. On and even in the ancient terrace walls,

on the hillside down in the woods,

and by the trail marker.

Kalaniot they are called in Hebrew. It is hard for an Israeli to see this flower without starting to hum or sing the song "Kalaniot." It has even been called Israel's unofficial national anthem.
It was born in our pre-State days and has remained a classic. The verses progress from a little girl gathering anemones to a young lady to a grandmother. You can read the lyrics here. The concluding verse (better-sounding in Hebrew) says:

Yes, generations come and pass without end
but each generation has an anemone in a tune.
Happy is the man if between storms and thunder
an anemone bloomed for him, if only just once.
 

"Kalaniot" was made famous by Shoshana Damari. You can hear her singing it here. She has been likened to Edith Piaf. Our "queen of Israeli song" died on February 14,  2006.
In Tel Aviv recently I wandered through the historic Trumpeldor cemetery in the middle of the metropolis. I noticed an unusual grave, went over to read it, and was moved to find that it was the final resting place of Shoshana Damari.
Beneath her name on the headstone is written, simply, "Anemones will always bloom."
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This day was made for you

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This post for International Women's Day is dedicated to the hard-working and welcoming women of the village of Dirijat (aka Darajat) and especially to the members of the hamula (clan) who housed and fed me for five days--Dahab, Amina, Zohara, Aisha, Nahed, and Wadina.

The village is in the Negev desert. Several times a year they offer a 5-day immersion course in spoken Arabic.
Our group last April had ten Jewish Israelis and one American lady pastor.
Each of us had a different host family. After class with our excellent teacher we went "home" to interact in our fledgling Arabic language.

One late afternoon some of the young people took us up the mountain on a hike to see the village from above. We saw the big quarry, a herd of camels, the area of the ancient Spice Route, and a desert sunset.

After breakfast of fresh pita, strong coffee, salads, and labaneh.

The matriarchs with the photo of the sheikh who started the village many years ago.

My dear hostess, in whose upstairs apartment I slept (on the floor).

Neighbor women watching the youngsters' Debka Troupe dancing for us.

Sheep milk is used to make labaneh. I asked to milk the sheep and clean the pen one morning and they let me! Kef!

All the women wanted to try out the mysterious camera of the American Pastor Suzanne (who is currently blogging about her time in Israel).

For several months a year the women are busy making big quantities of labaneh.

Scattered around the village are many ovens (taboon) that are kept warm all the time (burning dung). Two or three times a day the women come with their dough, flatten it like pizza, and put it directly on the hot rocks for a few minutes. Yum, hubez taboon flat bread!

Thank you from the heart to the good women of Dirijat who taught me so much.

Shukran ya niswan!
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Kindness in silence

This old house was new to me. I discovered it while roaming the old Jerusalem neighborhood called Nahlaot.

The sign over its door, the yin yang circle and SiLENCE, is not the kind of thing you would expect to see on a Jewish street.

The kind folks there have set up a whole feeding and watering station for passing animals.

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See more animal photos and stories at the weekly meme Camera-Critters.
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More women of Jerusalem

Getting into the mood for tomorrow's International Women's Day . . .
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Do yourself a favor: click to enlarge this photo and enjoy the braids of this Ethiopian beauty.
Her finger is pressing an earphone which I like to think is an iPod, judging by her slight swaying movements.
Several guards are always stationed at each of the four main entrances to the huge Shuk Machaneh Yehuda outdoor produce market. With big automatic rifles slung over their shoulder.

A Wikipedia article begins thus: "The Israel Border Police ( מִשְׁמַר הַגְּבוּל‎, Mishmar HaGvul) is the military branch (gendarmerie) of the Israeli Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav (Hebrew: מג"ב), meaning border guard, whilst its members are colloquially known as Magavnikim (Hebrew: מג"בניקים). Border Guard is often used as the official name of the Israel Border Police in English."

Like the young woman in the picture, most of the male and female magavnikim standing all day by the shuk look bored, and rightfully so. Let's hope the situation stays that way, nice and quiet with no terrorism.

The women of Jerusalem

I was sitting on a concrete wall near Jerusalem Central Bus Station, eating a sesame bar, waiting for the infrequent bus back to my village in the hills, when this woman came and set up shop beside me. Not to waste time, she whipped out her knitting needles and started making another beautiful pair of pantofalach. (I remember hearing that Yiddish word [probably from Polish and/or German] in the old days when there were still many Yiddish speakers in Israel.)
Times have changed. This grandma/babooshka spoke only Russian.
But she sure knows how to knit and do business, even without Hebrew, English, or Yiddish.
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International Women's Day this Sunday. Women of the world, unite!

A surprise result

The sun was setting behind the western skyline of Tel Aviv, about to sink into the Mediterranean Sea. I stretched my arm way out to the right over a friend's seventh floor balcony rail, pressed the button, and apparently captured about half of the sun.
Doesn't the photo look like someone took a bite out of the wall?!
Is this what photographers call lens flare?
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SkyWatch Friday is on again, with bloggers posting their favorite skies. You're invited.

Switching off, tuning in

Abstain from Internet, SMS texting, iPod, etc. for a few days during Lent??
That's the big world news today, that a few dioceses and bishops in Italy are recommending that Catholics give up one or all of such practices for the next month. Well, maybe only on Fridays.
(There is a report here and an interesting opinion piece here.)

A friar phoning
A monk checking messages

Why do I always need to surpress a giggle when I see a monk or nun multi-tasking with a cell phone in Jerusalem? Something about the monastic habit coupled with high-tech gadgets just looks incongruous to me. But it shouldn't. It isn't.

Well, if you happened to read my posts about the Pope as blogger and about the Vatican's new dedicated channel on YouTube, you know I have some kind of fascination with this.

What do you think about the Italians' idea of switching off? Could you do it?

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P.S. I don't even have a cell phone to turn off.

Another Gulf War story

The ubiquitous air raid siren tower

Thanks to all who read yesterday's post and to you who wrote heartfelt comments.

Here is another story from January or February 1991 about the Gulf War.

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I was working then as the Hebrew-English translator of a foreign embassy [which shall remain anonymous] in Ramat Gan. Very early one morning the First Secretary called me at home and said, "Ms. Dina, come quickly please! The embassy was partially destroyed by a Scud missile last night! We all have to work quickly to salvage the papers and equipment." (He meant quickly, before nightfall, when the next salvo would undoubtedly be unleashed on us.)

I came and found that a Scud had exploded in the street, damaging or destroying all the surrounding houses. Our roof had caved in, right onto the Ambassador's desk. What luck that no one lived in that house at night!

The three Embassy personnel and their wives and I started packing up whatever was not broken. Israel's Foreign Ministry would bring a shipping container to put the stuff in, to store until we could find a new place to rent.

His Excellency, in his suit and tie, fielded questions from a front yard full of reporters. He had been keeping a neutral stance toward Iraq till then. The foreign reports kept asking him, "So, Mr. Ambassador, how do you feel toward Iraq NOW?"

Even I was allowed to give one interview, because it was a TV crew from my hometown, Chicago. They were expecting and hoping I'd shout some expletives at Saddam Hussein or shake my fist at the Iraqis or break down and cry, or something dramatic. Sorry to disappoint them. I said something like . . . I was not about to let anger take over inside me, and that all we wanted was to get on with our lives.

My son was on leave from the army that weekend and he came to help too. He found some jagged, twisted pieces of metal from the Scud. Souvenirs from a crazy dictator.

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We had been awake and working a long time. No one thought about food or drink. I was so deeply touched when the Ambassador of Japan came to convey his concern, carrying several boxes of hot pizza! Hawaiian pizza, with pineapple! God bless him. The kind of humility that makes a man great.

We ate, made an end to the packing, and each of us went home, each carrying his government-issued cardboard box with a shoulder strap that everyone had to carry with him during the war. It contained firstaid against chemical warfare--a syringe that you could poke in your thigh (right through your jeans), some kind of powder to put on affected skin, and the gas mask. Oh, and a rubber tube which could be inserted through the mask if you needed to drink water.

Household hint: to stop the gas mask glass from steaming up and obstructing your vision, rub the inside with a raw potato.
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Good-for-nothing gas masks

"Good-for-nothing gas masks"?! Surely you were hoping for a happier topic for my "G" contribution to ABC Wednesday. But after reading a disturbing article in today's Jerusalem Post, I really must vent (pardon the pun).

In his report, handed to the acting Speaker of the Knesset yesterday, State Comptroller Lindenstrauss warned that
1. Gas masks soon to be distributed by the IDF to civilians across the country are not fit for use.
2. The state has not been able to find masks for purchase in overseas markets that would protect infants and children from chemical attack.
3. New masks have not been purchased due to years of bickering between the Defense Ministry and the Treasury over where the budget will come from.
4. Masks currently under development have been found to constitute a mortal danger to their users.
5. The IDF (the army) has no real plan how to distribute masks to us.
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Do you remember the first Gulf War in 1991, when Iraq invaded Kuwait? Well, Saddam Hussein also fired 39 Scud missiles on Israel and he threatened that the warheads would carry nerve gas, anthrax, etc. It was the worst month and a half of my life, mostly from worrying where my kids would be if and when the worst happened. Usually the air raid sirens came at night and gave us a few seconds to run to our "sealed room," take cover under a table, put on the awful gas masks, and wait to hear our windows rattle and the 4-storey apartment building shake as the missiles exploded around us. (Our family lived near Tel Aviv then.) Imagine, sealing the doors with masking tape, as if that would save us. ha!
Sometimes we had to wait an hour until the army checked the Scuds that had fallen and then sounded the all-clear siren, meaning no chemical warheads.
Did you ever try breathing through a gas mask during tense moments? Maybe leaders of every country should try it for an hour.
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So maybe today's State Comptroller report is a blessing in disguise. I, for one, do not really want my old refurbished gas mask returned to me.

"Standing naked before the world"

Y'all's love of maps and globes was fun to read about in your comments to an earlier post. So I give you this picture from a Tel Aviv store window. If you get past the awful reflections and the neon lights, you can just make out Africa, the Americas, and Australia.
Can you believe?! It's a shower curtain!
Years ago National Geographic inserts and other kinds of maps covered the walls of our little WC. Consequently my kids grew up knowing and loving geography.
Now I'm thinking that contemplating the world map could be even more fun while showering or bathing!
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Lots of bloggers will be posting about their world tonight over at That's My World. Have a peek.

Gruetzi ! Raise a glass!

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March Theme Day for the friends over at City Daily Photo is Glass. So let me join their fun, albeit unofficially, by jumping back to a former life outside of Israel, just for today.

After a strenuous hike up the Alps on a hot summer day, the reward was one bottle of cold local beer at the upper station of the cablecar. Curious why a beer label would show a pilgrim with a halo, I shlepped the empty back to the chalet and found in the owners' bookcase a history book of the place.

Sure enough, there he was! Fridolin was a missionary who, it is said, converted the people of Glarus to Christianity in the 6th century.
Real or fictitious, Fridolin remains the patron saint of Glarus. Since 1388 (the battle of Nafels) he has appeared on their flag.

St. Fridolin is the only saint to be depicted on a Swiss canton banner, and I'm pretty sure the only saint to appear on a beer bottle.

Let's raise a GLASS to him and to my good years in Switzerland!
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Doggie coats

True, it is down to 2-7 degrees C in Jerusalem (36-45 F). But is that cold enough for dogs to need jackets?
This is something I've never seen before. The pet shop across the street from Denmark Square brought out their entire "Winter Collection 2008-9" to display on the sidewalk.
Pretty snazzy coats, eh? But I have never once seen a Jerusalem dog dressed in one.
In Tel Aviv, yes, many. And Tel Aviv is always warmer than Jerusalem. I guess our dogs are just tougher and braver and they grow natural fur coats for our chilly winter.
BTW, snow is predicted here in the central hills tonight. It has been 13 months since the last snowfall. Let's hope and pray you have some white photos to see tomorrow!
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Animal pictures from all over are assembled today over at Camera-Critters.

Cholent weather

A wintry weekend--thunderstorms and temperatures of 2-6 degrees C (or 36-43 F) in Jerusalem and even colder up here on our little mountain just outside the city.
It's the perfect time and weather for that old Jewish classic, CHOLENT!
First defrost your frozen kishke. Kishke used to be made from a cow intestine but today edible synthetic casing is used. It is stuffed with flour or matsa meal, schmaltz or oil, spices, and I don't know what else.

Take a heavy pot and put in beef chunks, potatoes, white beans, barley, onion, the kishke, and an egg. If there is room throw in a ganef knaidle (dumpling). Cover everything with water, put a lid on, and bring it to a boil.

Just before the Sabbath starts (i.e. before sunset on Friday) put the pan in the oven.

Enjoy the good smell and the warmth all night.

Next day, Yom Shabbat, around noon it will be ready to eat.

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Jews are not supposed to light a fire or cook during Shabbat. In the old days in Europe and in Israel, the pots of cholent from the village would be put in the baker's big oven overnight. On their way home from morning prayers at the synagogue, the families would pick up their pan and go home for a heavenly midday meal.

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Caveat: Like the American Thanksgiving Day turkey, cholent is said to contain a sleep-inducing agent. Be prepared to feel a nap coming on.

Shabbat shalom!

Where the sun stood still

Once you go down from Jerusalem and the surrounding Jerusalem Hills, the lowland of the Shefelah opens up with vistas like this. I snapped this shot from the Jerusalem-to-Tel Aviv bus last Friday.
This bridge goes over the Valley of Ayalon, famous from the book of Joshua 10:12-14 where Joshua needed victory over the Amorites and said, "Sun, stand thou still at Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ayalon." And they did, the Bible says, for about a whole day.
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Bridges and tunnels are being built for a new railway from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It will be Israel's first high-speed rail and also our first electrified heavy railway line. If the line is ever finished, the trip should take only 28 minutes.
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SkyWatch Friday is in full swing. Have a look.

The Fellowship

In a festive ceremony yesterday the 18th Knesset was sworn in. After President Peres' speech the acting Speaker read the oath: "I pledge to remain loyal to the State of Israel and to fulfill my duty in the Knesset faithfully." As his or her name was called, each MK stood and declared: "Mitchayev ani," pledge I do.
Of the 120 Members of Knesset, 31 are new.
The average age is 53.
A record number of women, 21.
Haneen Zuabi is the first female Arab MK to enter the Knesset on an Arab list, Balad.
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Now all we need is a government! After the recent elections, things are quite a mess. Bibi Netanyahu, who did NOT get the most votes, was asked by the President to try to form a government. It is hard to form a coalition out of the 12 very different parties that won seats in the Knesset.
This graffito in the center of Jerusalem says VOTE FOR ARAGORN.
If only he had been running for office! He would have won my vote. If only Israel had an Aragron to lead the country . . .
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From his biography:
"Aragorn was known as Strider, a Ranger who lived in the Wild protecting the peoples of Middle-earth. But he was descended from the ancient line of kings, and when he joined the quest of the Ring-bearer, the time came for him to fulfill his destiny. As Frodo Baggins struggled to reach Mount Doom, Aragorn fought the servants of the Enemy and revealed himself to Sauron as Isildur's Heir. After Sauron's downfall the Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor were reunited under Aragorn's reign and peace and prosperity returned to Middle-earth."

Frocks for friars

Frocks for friars.
Ordo Praedicatorum, the Order of Preachers . . . Dominicans.
Forty days of fasting, beginning tomorrow, Ash Wednesday.
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F is the letter of the day for ABC Wednesday bloggers.

A young city by the sea

Tel Aviv is 100 years old [the Jerusalemite snickers] .
I just came home from a weekend in Tel Aviv. The weather was the wildest this country has had all winter. Notice the palms all bending eastward in the 50mph wind.
In the photo above we are looking down Hayarkon Street, which runs along the seashore. Most of the big hotels and embassies are located there.

Nearer to the water, the Tayelet promenade parallels the sea for several kilometers, all the way to Jaffa (which you can see at the top of this photo, jutting into the sea). Because of the cold wind and rain, almost no one was strolling; quite rare for this popular place.

The old salt-water Gordon swimming pool is being rebuilt. Behind it is the marina.

When peace activist Abie Nathan died last year I posted a tribute to him. I was SO happy to find that the Tel Aviv Municipality had erected this plaque about him. Please click on the photo and read it. You press the button in the rocks and it broadcasts the words from the pirate peace ship radio station that we listened to 1973-1993: "This is the Voice of Peace broadcasting from somewhere in the Mediterranean." So cool!!

And look at this playground only for those over age 14. All the exercise equipment you would find in an expensive gym!

The best part of the city of Tel Aviv is the sea.

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With thanks to friend and relative Niva, who adores Tel Aviv, for her home hospitality and guided walking tours last weekend.

Blogger-guided tours around the world will be posted tonight at That's My World Tuesday.

Tel Aviv weekend

Jerusalem? No way! Welcome to Tel Aviv.
Friday I took the bus westward, toward the Mediterranean coast, clear across the country, a drive of all of 45 minutes.
Rain was starting to coat the window as we entered the big, modern metropolis. Water was flowing in the drainage canal between the highway and the railroad.
The weekend was fun despite the cold, thunderstorms, and strong winds. The sea was wild, with huge waves breaking near the shore.
But it's great to come back home today. There is no place like the Jerusalem Hills, my natural choice.

Achoo! Gesundheit!

I looked out the window this afternoon to find that Jerusalem had disappeared from the horizon. The hills across our valley had also been swallowed up.
The sun looked weird and ominous.
I clicked on the local newspapers. Sure enough, a huge cloud of dust had suddenly blown in from Egypt and was covering Israel.
Sde Dov, Tel Aviv's small airport, did not let planes land. And the Environmental Protection Ministry issued a warning of severe air pollution all over the country and urged the elderly, people with heart or lung conditions, pregnant women, and children to stay indoors.

Well, I hoped I didn't fit any of those categories and went out to take a picture.

We are hoping for rain tonight to make the air easier on the nose and eyes. Achoo!

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SkyWatch Friday participants are showing their (hopefully brighter and clearer) skies starting tonight. Have a look.