The beauty of wood

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It's hard to believe that just a week ago today I was anxiously waiting for the movers to come to my place in the Jerusalem Hills and to move me to the southern Hebron Hills in the northern Negev.
I really like Meitar!

 Here is something pretty I discovered while walking to the town's supermarket.
The structure is in the yard of Meitarim Junior High School.
The logo says KKL so it was built by the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael (Jewish National Fund), the people who care for Israel's trees and forests. 

Look what beauty can come from simple pieces of wood.

I grew up in Chicago playing with Lincoln Logs,

but they were never cut quite as nicely as these real ones.
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday and Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
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A spiky tree with soft flowers

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In between cleaning my new place and unpacking boxes I ventured out in search of food.
Right in the supermarket parking lot is this strange tree with fearsome sharp shpitzim all over its  trunk. 

Its flowers are beautiful.
You can enlarge the photos 2x.
Anybody know what kind of tree it is?
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In the back you see Meitar's only supermarket and little commercial center.
The food store has a monopoly and oi-- its prices are much higher than what I was used to in Jerusalem.
Maybe I'll start to shop in our nearest big city, Beersheba, instead;  it is about 30 or 40 minutes by bus from Meitar.
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First Erev Shabbat in Meitar

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Shabbat shalom!
This was my first Sabbath eve in my new place in Meitar.
So quiet and peaceful.

Trying to get some pictures for James and his Weekend Reflections meme.
First the Shabbat candles reflected in the oven door. 

And look here!
When the candles had burned all the way down, the little flames were reflected in the hot liquid wax that remained for a long time.
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"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

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As you  know from my previous post, I moved away from the Jerusalem Hills region on Monday.

This evening, after the sun and the 37 C / 99 F degree heat left,  I took a break from  cleaning and unpacking and went for my first evening walk in my new neighborhood.
After only two short blocks I reached the edge of the community; and as you can faintly see, Meitar really does seem to be in the middle of nowhere.
(Enlarge the photo 2x and you'll see what I mean.)

Welcome to the northern Negev desert and the southern Hebron Hills.
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Moving day

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In case you noticed that my blogging has been sporadic for several weeks, here below is proof that I had a good excuse.
I was working hard cleaning and packing and getting ready to move.

And today I moved!!

 The three movers were just amazing.

Mohammad used the tumpline technique to full advantage.

 Michael handled the heavy things as if they were toys.

He was often singing and full of humor and good humor.

The early morning moshav bus had a tight squeeze but he made it.

The most fun was getting to ride in the cabin of the truck with the guys (since I have no car, they had no choice but to take me along with the boxes).

Good work, HaMovil HaArtsi team!
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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Shine on

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A hat tip (or hardhat tip) to the brave linemen who keep our street lamps working. 

Note the yellow sign (they are on all the lamp posts in my village) which warns "HIGH TENSION. DANGER OF DEATH!"
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A post for City Daily Photo Theme Day--Street Lamps.
And also for SkyWatch Friday. 
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Get yer Holy Sepulchre placemats

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For ABC Wednesday,  C is for CIC,  the Christian Information Center at Jaffa Gate, just inside the Old City.
I like to drop in and see what new exhibit they have, or what activities are publicized, or what is on their bulletin boards.

A year ago, in May, I was somehow taken aback to find table mats for sale.
Imagine eating breakfast on a placemat of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Only $5 each.
Really.  Click on the photo twice and take a close look.

The big poster with the Stations of the Cross is pretty nice, though.
Only 4 Euros.
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Coffee and cake and books at Yad Vashem

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Today I had to meet a friend who works at Yad Vashem, our Holocaust memorial.
Here is the Visitor's Center where we had coffee and cake (one floor below).

Right behind the impressive building is an impressive gift shop; well, actually it is called The Book and Resource Center.
It  is managed by Steimatzky Group Ltd.
The center provides a wide range of current reference books, multi-media, memoirs and Holocaust literature for visitor purchase and fills book orders and visitor requests related to the Holocaust and WWII in various languages.
You can see samples of what's available at the Yad Vashem Online Store website.

Wish I had taken a photo of the book store for blog-friend Petrea Burchard in Pasadena because she just now informed us via Facebook  of a marvelous new ad campaign by this same  Israeli book chain,  Steimatzky's.
Follow the link, you will love the photos about the magic of reading!
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(This post links to Our World Tuesday and to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
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Jerusalem of gold and blue

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For SkyWatch Friday here is our clear blue sky, typical for Israel's long hot dry season.

We are looking up at the Temple Mount from the foot of the Mount of Olives.
The top of the Dome of the Rock is visible.
In the Old City wall is the Mercy Gate.
Outside the blocked gate is a Muslim cemetery and below that is a Franciscan cemetery.

You can enlarge the photo twice and see the graves among the olive trees.

Shabbat shalom to Jerusalem and to you all.
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The "born for love" bench

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B is for bench in Botanical Gardens of Jerusalem.
You can enlarge the photo once or twice to read to whom it is dedicated.

The bench proclaims

"We are all born for love.  It is the principle of existence, and its only end."

--Benjamin Disraeli

(A post for ABC Wednesday  and Signs, Signs.)

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The Day of the Breaking of the Ax, Tu B'Av

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Today was Tu B'Av.  As you can see from the Google doodle, in modern Israel this ancient holiday has evolved into a day of love, with many of the trappings of Valentine's Day that we learned from  other countries.
But reading a good Chabad article today, I learned that the Talmud lists six joyous events which occurred on this 15th of Av.

Just recently we found an X word for ABC Wednesday:
 Josephus (Bellum Judaisum 2:17)   refers to Tu B'Av as the Feast of Xylophory ("Wood-bearing") because on that day the cutting of the wood for the main altar in the Temple was completed for the year.

Today I learned this from Chabad:

 When the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the annual cutting of firewood for the altar was concluded on the 15th of Av. The event was celebrated with feasting and rejoicing (as is the custom upon the conclusion of a holy endeavor), and included a ceremonial breaking of the axes, which gave the day its name, the Day of the Breaking of the Ax.
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Why break the axes? Why not store them for next year’s cutting? Because the ax represents the very antithesis of what the altar, and the Temple as a whole, stood for.
Regarding the making of the altar, G‑d had instructed: “When you build a stone altar for Me, do not build it of cut stone; for if your sword has been lifted upon it, you have profaned it” (Exodus 20:22). “Do not lift iron upon it . . . The altar of G‑d shall be built of whole stones” (Deuteronomy 27:5–6). If any metal implement so much as touched a stone, that stone was rendered unfit for use in the making of the altar.
Our sages explain: “Iron was created to shorten the life of man, and the altar was created to lengthen the life of man; so it is not fitting that that which shortens should be lifted upon that which lengthens” (Talmud, Middot 3:4). Iron, the instrument of war and destruction, has no place in the making of the instrument whose function is to bring eternal peace and harmony to the world.

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 From the Chabad website.  Based on the teachings of the

 Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson; adapted by Yanki Tauber.

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See also http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2009/08/dancing-in-vineyards-in-moonlight.html
and for fun look at  http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2008/06/woodpile.html

Happy Tu B'Av!

(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)

Go in peace, to peace, Lara

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 By now all you faithful readers know  Lara, my best feline friend.

Lara kept the neighboring monastery free of mice, snakes, and rodents.
Last week we think a snake bit her.
Now beloved Lara is dead. 

 For at least 8 (some say 11) years she did her job well, living free outdoors, bearing the snows of winter and the heat of summer.

 She had one litter.  One kitten survived.
Here on the stairs she had a brief hissy fit with daughter Shachar.

But mostly they were kind to one another, like here, sharing a plate of leftovers in the February wetness.

She was beautiful and intelligent  and affectionate to the few humans that she knew and trusted.

She enjoyed having me swing her back and forth, side to side, around and around.
"Hoy-dash, hoy-dash ..."

And now dear Lara is on the shining path to Cat Heaven, if there really is one.
Thank you for your friendship and love, my friend, and for your long service.
"Well done, good and faithful servant."

In her final days she was tended by a gentle hermit priest monk, and he buried Lara in his garden.
Rest in peace, old girl. 
We will miss you. 
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(Linking to Camera Critters)
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Sun for the garden

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A monastery  garden, tended by the Sisters of Sion, Ein Kerem.

Clouds over the Jerusalem Hills for Sky Watch Friday.

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Tisha B'Av

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We are in the Hebrew month of Av, and today is the 9th of Av,  Tisha B'Av.

It is a sad day of fasting and remembering the destruction of the First and the Second Temples and other calamities that befell the Jewish people throughout history on this day.

When the Roman legions attacked,  Josephus writes that it was the rivers of blood flowing down the city's streets that extinguished the fires burning Jerusalem. 

To celebrate their triumph over the Jews in 70 CE, the Romans erected a monumental arch at the Forum in Rome.
One of its reliefs depicts soldiers carrying off sacred objects from the Temple. 
. . . Where is the gold menorah now?
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See about the religious observance of Tisha B'Av in my earlier posts.
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The two photos above are from the Tower of David Museum.
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May we know no more destruction.
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)

Like a tropical island in a sea of construction

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I wandered around a neighborhood in Jerusalem that was new to me, in the Talpiot area.
I even wandered into a construction zone,  since there was no one  guarding the entrance.
The abyss was deep and abrupt; hope they get a fence and gate or a guard soon!

But I couldn't tear myself away from the exciting scene.
Look at the island they left, complete with three trees! 

The big backhoe went on chomping away at the rocky earth.

You can enlarge both pictures, click two times, to see what not long ago was underground. 

Wondering why that island has been spared  . . .
And what will be built around it . . . 
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)

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Paris Square by day and by night

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 Happy 14 July to all the French citizens! 

 For Bastille Day, here is Jerusalem's own  Paris Square.

The square is also known as  "Kikar Tsarfat" in Hebrew and "Place de France" in French.
 More about it here  in my earlier post.

See other French places  in Jerusalem here:
the French Consulate
and
the fascinating old  French Hospital St. Louis
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Many City Daily Blog bloggers around the world are posting today about the holiday.

See Google's 14 July doodle too.

Bonne fête!
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Woe to you, Bethsaida ...*

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I leaned over to take the "street" sign at eye level and out popped a reflection!
For  James' Weekend Reflections, of course.

Here is another shiny sign, this one reflecting rocks and August (2012) dryness.

The site is Bethsaida, of New Testament fame, located on the northern tip of the Sea of Galileee.
You can enlarge the photo twice and read about its history. 

Look, they even found the city gate at the end of the street!

I worked two seasons digging there in the early 90s.
Even my then-teenage daughter took part in one  of those expeditions.
We volunteers slept in straw huts ("bungalows") in nearby Katzrin, together with bugs and scorpions.  (Ugh, better to forget that part.)

I had not been back up to Bethsaida since then, and I was so impressed at the archaeological progress (on-going) and the unique signage and visitor paths.

I remember having to swing a pickaxe  to break up the concrete floor of a Syrian bunker so we could dig down to lower strata.
In the photo above I see that long-time director Dr. Rami Arav chose to leave one bunker in situ.
Syrian troops were up there on the Golan Heights, shooting down on Israel, until the 1967 Six Day War.

Not much shade at the site, but this tree offered some, complete with a bench.
The sign says "To a shaded meditation place."

Meditate on all what Bethsaida has seen over the millennia . . .
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* My post title comes from Matthew 11:21 .
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Ramadan mubarak

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Ramadan karim

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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)

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A loner

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Getting some zzzz's at the zoo.
Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo.
Enlarge the picture to see her pretty face. 

For ABC Wednesday.
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Devouring Nature

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While on a bus trip from Jerusalem to Beersheba today  I saw  the massive Highway One upgrade underway.
It was my first time to see it and I was shocked.

The 2.5 billion shekel project is supposed to improve safety and journey time between Sha'ar Hagai (Bab el Wad) and the entrance to Jerusalem.
But meanwhile  huge machines are destroying the forest and tearing apart the mountain on the south side and are destroying  nature in the valley on the north side.

To learn about the grandiose plans read this article.
This will go on for YEARS. 

Drivers are asked to use alternate routes, but the people  who live along the way and have no choice but to exit onto Highway One are suffering from the disruption and congestion.
It is our major Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway (and to points beyond as well). 
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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