An Ancient Pawprint Among Roman Bath Finds in Jerusalem
Dating back to the second century CE, archeologists uncover Roman-era paw print this week.
It’s not just ancient Roman baths being uncovered in Jerusalem this week. The Israel Antiquities Authorities are reporting a Roman-era dog’s paw print among its finds. Says Dr. Ofer Sion, excavation director in the Old City of Jerusalem: “Another interesting discovery that caused excitement during the excavation is the paw print of a dog that probably belonged to one of the soldiers. The paw print was impressed on the symbol of the legion on one of the roof tiles and it could have happened accidentally or have been intended as a joke.”
Excavations started before the construction of a Jewish mikveh, ritual bath, began. The Roman ruins have been dated to 1,800 years ago and it is believed to be a bath used by the Tenth Legion. These were the Roman soldiers who destroyed the Jewish Temple.
The discovery of the ancient bath, and paw prints!, puts new light on the Aelia Capitolina, the Roman city founded on the Second Temple period ruins of Jerusalem. It is Aelia Capitolina that defines the character of the Old City of Jerusalem as we know it today. Even though dogs aren’t really tolerated in the Old City (I tried walking mine around the city to the fright of Arabs and Jews alike), it just shows you how man’s best friend has been around for some time.
Israeli Farmers Go On “Food” Strike
Filed under: Environment, Immigrant Moments, Social Justice
Before the trend of Thai workers to Israel, the country counted on cheap Palestinian labor as farmhands. Since the recent Intifada about 10 years ago, and its associated security concerns, there has been a shortage of Palestinian workers, causing an influx of the more-than-willing Thai worker to do what Israeli hands will not. A lower wage and back-breaking work, the average Israeli, even those desperate for work, a recent TV show in Israel showed, is not happy working on the farm. Thai workers after all will work harder and do it for well below the minimum wage.
Despite offering those out of work Israelis a go at working on the farm, it turns out that they don’t have the will and stamina that Thai workers offer, causing a serious demand for migrant workers into the country.
The Israeli government wants to limit migrant workers to Israel. Migrant workers make their cash in Israel – a pretty closed economy – and then wire it back home. In Thailand farm workers might make $50 a month, and in Israel about $750 to $1,000. When in need they don’t have the luxury of taking out loans through the Internet like an online cash advance, or by going in “minus” in their bank (about half of all Israelis are in the red). Read more
Circling Jerusalem
Filed under: Business, General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, News, Travel
'Natbag' runways
It wasn’t so long ago that you rarely heard or saw airplanes in the Jerusalem sky. If you did, your first thought was, “Is there a war starting up?” Because that’s what airplanes signified. But now there are many planes flying overhead every day, and it’s hard to ignore them.
I grew up in Long Island, near JFK and the school I attended was in a traffic pattern, so much so that teachers would have to stop talking a few times a day and wait for the plane to fly by. In fact, when our senior class lobbied to hold our graduation on the lawn in front of our school — rather than another school’s auditorium — we had to call up JFK and ask them to not use that particular traffic route for several hours on our graduation day. They complied.
Anyway, what with my noticing the increase in air traffic, and the constant updates from my two-year-old companions, “Mommy! Airplane!” and “Mommy! Airplane!”, I asked my air traffic expert, nephew Benjy Goldberg who is currently working for El Al as a flight attendant.
And the answer was mine in just a few short days. It seems that ‘Natbag’, the acronymal nickname for Ben Gurion Int’l Airport, is undergoing a major runway expansion that will create a new approach pattern, more simultaneous takeoffs and landings and more than doubling the number of aircrafts that can handled at peak times. The $1 billion project is scheduled to be completed in 2014, and has necessitated several runway machinations in the meantime, including having planes circle above Israel while waiting to land, and that circling encompasses Jerusalem.
Benjy assured me that it’ll be about a year of serious air traffic noise, but should be over some time in 2011. It pays to have friends in high places. Guffaw.
Fake crab, great deal
Great deal, but looks better than it tastes
As Israelity’s David Brinn wrote last week, the new Jerusalem-based group-buying site, appropriately called GroopBuy, is taking the Anglo community by storm. My wife and I signed up for the service nearly as soon as it launched three weeks ago.
Since then, we’ve been receiving an email every day with another “outrageous offer.” We’ve already bought two – a haircut for our daughter at 60% off and NIS 75 ($20) of sushi at the Tsunami restaurant for only NIS 20 ($5.50). For that one, we bought two coupons.
We got a chance to try out the GroopBuy system for a date night dinner last week. I was worried there might be some hidden catch (such as, you have to order from the “special menu”) but there wasn’t. The only fine print was that we had to use our coupon within one month of purchasing – no hording coupons like frequent flyer miles.
We pigged out (pardon the non-kosher expression – the restaurant most definitely is, though the imitation crab meat was nothing like what I remember from sushi back home), and at the end of the meal received a bill for “minus 3 shekels” – that is, we hadn’t reached our NIS 150 limit.
Unfortunately, the food itself wasn’t as spectacular as the savings. I’m a big sushi connoisseur and, other than a few tempura coated maki, Tsunami didn’t come close to our Jerusalem favorite: Sushi Rehavia. That wasn’t GroopBuy’s fault of course.
On the way out, I ran into a work colleague who was celebrating her daughter’s birthday. There were six at her table – and each one had bought the GroopBuy coupon. That meant for NIS 120, they received NIS 450 worth of sushi!
Even I’d put up with the fake crab for a deal like that.
War criminal arrives in London
Filed under: A New Reality, Crime, General, Israeliness, Life, News, Politics, Travel
Usually, when you pack for a trip, you need to worry about the usual things – did I remember my passport, do I have enough cash, is the in-flight movie going to be any good?
It seems like only Israelis, however, need to worry about whether they’re going to be arrested upon landing – at least if they’re headed to London.
According to existing laws of universal jurisdiction, some Israelis are left exposed upon arrival in England to be arrested for war crimes. Several Israeli officials and ministers have been threatened with legal action in Britain under the contested legal principle of “universal jurisdiction,” which states that some crimes are so serious they can be prosecuted locally, even if they are alleged to have been committed elsewhere.
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor last week became the latest official to cancel a visit to Britain for fear of arrest, The Jerusalem Post reported. Meridor was due to give a speech organized by the Britain and Israel Communications and Research Center, a pro-Israel group. It was feared, however, that Meridor, who is also the intelligence and atomic energy minister, could face potential legal action over the IDF raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in May, in which nine Turkish activists were killed.
When the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Israel earlier this month, Israeli officials made it clear – Israel wouldn’t resume a special strategic dialogue with London as long as officials visiting Britain face possible arrest for suspected war crimes.
I hope the issue is resolved soon – like this week! I’m flying to London tomorrow. And while I’m no high falutin’ Israeli official, I did serve in the IDF for many years, had extensive contact with Palestinians, and according to their definition, am probably also considered a war criminal. While I doubt they’ll be looking for me, I’ll still breathe a sigh of relief when I exit Heathrow Airport and make my way into London.
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