Holidays

If you want to know all about Jewish holidays, check out Wikipedia. It has more than you'll ever want to know. There are all sorts of prescribed readings and rules and varying traditions. What I write here is a brief observation of what I see in my own neighborhood.
Rosh Hashana is New Year's Day, and that's when they go off daylight savings time. People eat traditional foods, such as apples dipped in honey, which is the only one I remember because it sounds really good.
The evening before Yom Kippur I was sitting at a playground and there were hardly any children there. Finally one little girl came running at top speed to the swing set, and she was dressed in a white skirt and blouse and white shoes and socks. After that many of the people I saw were wearing white shirts and a few wore white kippas. The next day all stores were closed and no cars were on the street. The traffic lights were all set to blink yellow. I took a walk down the hill and sat down for a rest. While I sat there a group of eight boys, all about eight years old, came racing by on their bikes down the hill (a three-block-long hill) and around the turn.

I remember when I was about 8 years old our family being in New York State while my father went to school. We rented a house owned by a Jewish lady who was wearing white for Yom Kippur. That would have been in the middle of September when I should have been in school. But knowing how the calendar changes from year to year, maybe Yom Kippur was in early September and school started a couple weeks later.

In late September is Succoth, which lasts a week. The evening before Succoth I was at a shopping center when a truck unloaded a pile of about 60 Succa kits. They have a metal or wood frame, sides made of plastic, sheets, blankets or whatever, reeds and palm leaves on the tops, and may be decorated inside. People put them on their balconies or in an empty lot and eat their meals there. (Light provided by extension cord.) A family whose balcony is opposite our bedroom sang every night. It was a nice sound. Maybe I'll eventually learn to sing some of those songs. I looked on you-tube and found nothing like it. Once you start adding musical instruments it isn't the same (really spoils it).


Last night was another special event of some kind. I took a walk around the block and passed 5 synagogues. (They're average looking buildings that you don't notice during the day.) In one of them they were really getting excited and jumping up and down, and the music suffered. Today is still a holiday. This is the day the Torah readings for the year are finished. I don't know to what extent the rest of the Bible is read, or whether the Writings and Prophets hold as high a place as the Torah.
On my calendar I counted 83 holidays (including 52 Sabbaths) when stores are closed, plus 5 fast days and 2 other national holidays. It is quite nice to be outside and see groups of people walking to or from synagogue services on many of these days. Many of the women wear dresses and hats, and the men wear white shirts with the sleeves pushed up. (It's hot, you know.) Through the open windows you can hear the sounds of families gathering together for meals.

One man's trash, another man's treasure

I think this ironwork is a treasure. Do you see the goats on it? And as usual, treasure in Jerusalem is found amidst ugly electrical wires and cars parked on the sidewalks. This was in En Kerem.

Tour

Some pictures from our class tour a few months ago.

Two Verses

Romans 11:30-31

I find these two verses fascinating.

There are two groups of people that didn't believe:
vs 30 "Ye in times past have not believed God"
vs 31 "Even so have these also now not believed"

There is one result:
Both groups obtain mercy. "But God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all."

There are two means to the result:
Group one obtained mercy "through their unbelief"
Group two obtained mercy "through your mercy"

"Your mercy" here means the mercy that we received, but if you jump to Matthew 18:23-35, you can see that those who receive mercy should also show mercy.

23 "Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."

Romans 11:22 "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."

Nothing Ever Happens...

from a children's book entitled "Hill of Fire." But then something did happen, a little more than most people would ask for. I mean, a volcano in your back yard? No thanks.

So I won't complain. There's no more Ulpan to go to. Not much to do but keep trudging ahead with my notes and Al's discarded workbooks and my dictionary. And break that up with taking a few photos from around the neighborhood. I get lots of good pictures of small things, but I can hardly ever get a good landscape-type picture. It isn't very green or very neat or very relaxing. No lake, not even a little pond of any kind anywhere. I'd almost like to get one of those little waterfalls that pump the water around over and over again, just to listen to the sound of water. A trickling brook... a clear, cool creek... a frog plopping into the water... far away in my memory I know there are such wonders, but not here.

So I'll put up a few more pictures, as soon as I charge the batteries. Last time I put all the batteries in the charger backwards, so needless to say, they didn't work very long.

But wait, here's a couple pictures I took just yesterday.

Looking down into a bit of land that must belong to the gas company...someone has planted a bougainvillea. They're usually red or magenta, but here's an unusual pinky-yellowy one. Several other plants died (you can see how cracked the soil is), but bougainvillea is hard to kill.




















Morning glories.

Playground

A cat on the way to a playground.













Caught in the middle of a jump.

















Another evening I visited this playground, which was donated to Jerusalem by a Lutheran church.

















This most agreeable dog was just getting up from a roll. A baby was watching, fascinated.














The baby decides to pull up by the dog's tail.

Construction

Another side of Jerusalem--construction. I could get a zillion pictures like this.

Romans

Romans 3
1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

Romans 9
4 ... to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Romans 11
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.