Mikveh water

June 21, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: design, Environment, General, Israeliness, Life, Religion 

These days, it’s all about recycling, whatever the material and wherever the venue. Even at the Pisgat Ze’ev mikveh, that’s a ritual bath, folks, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, water will soon be recycled, saving more than a million gallons of water each year.

It’s an experimental filtering and purification program that was recently approved by the Israeli Health Ministry, and will include the required changing of water at least once a day, as well as facilitating online checks of the water quality. The plan is for health ministry officials in Pisgat Ze’ev to supervise the purification process for six months before they introduce the system in other mikvehs.

If they actually succeed, 35 other mikvehs around Jerusalem will be recycling their water, saving more than 26 million gallons of water each year, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars. Which would be ecologically meaningful, for the many women who use the mikvehs regularly to ritually bathe themselves. But it doesn’t really deal with the amount of water used by the women who have to bathe or shower before entering said mikveh. Or the mikvehs that are clean vs. those that are less so. For that, check out this link that tells travelers where to find the best mikvehs in Jerusalem, including more ancient ones.

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Foto Friday – Israel’s on fire… in a good way

May 20, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Religion, Travel 

Lag BaOmer, the 33rd day of the Omer, the seven week period enumerated between the Passover and Shavuot holidays, is one of those holidays that Israelis love to celebrate, even if they’re not clear on exactly why.

That is because on Lag BaOmer we have bonfires and that can mean only one thing: another excuse to barbecue! (Brian has written more about that aspect including some historical background).

This is also the holiday where kids and adults alike can indulge their inner pyromaniac. And before that, their inner kleptomaniac or at least their inner disposophobe. For weeks now, any stray board or log has been fair game, collected and hoarded with care in preparation for Lag BaOmer eve.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Omer is treated like a period of mourning. But on Lag BaOmer, the restrictions of mourning are lifted for a day; weddings can take place, people can listen to music, have parties, and get haircuts. Among Orthodox Jews, there is a tradition of a first haircut for long-locked three year-old boys at Mount Meron in northern Israel.

Meron is the burial place of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, student of Rabbi Akiva who went on to become the greatest scholar of his time and authored the Zohar compendium of Jewish mysticism. On Lag BaOmer, the anniversary of his death, thousands gather at Meron to celebrate his life.

Photo by Jonathan Stein, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

No less of a party will be held this weekend at Tel Aviv’s HaOman 17, sister club to the legendary HaOman 17 in Jerusalem which was at the peak of its popularity during the second Intifada in the Nineties. (That Israeli characteristic of insisting on having a good time in the face of danger was profiled in the book Dancing With Tears in Their Eyes).

Photo by Pini Siluk

The Tel Aviv branch was just named Israel’s best dance club in a new poll taken by energy drink company XL. And that is how we Israelis are entering into the summer season: fire-dancing, barbecue and drink in hand, and with a fresh new haircut.

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The Jerusalem bread rush of 2011

April 26, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Food, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Religion 

The accompanying photo isn’t of Jerusalemites jostling for position to get into a Torah lesson, a performance by Matisyhahu or a sale on diapers.

It’s taken outside the Angel bakery in the capital’s Kiryat Moshe neighborhood at 1 am. on Monday night, a few hours after the Pessah holiday ended. Probably, a minute after three stars were sighted, the bakers lit up their giant stoves and began cranking out pita, rolls, rogelach, cakes and burekas – all the flour-filled delicacies most Israelis have lived without for the seven days of Pessah.

While the lines spilled out down the steps and onto the street, it moved swiftly, as the Angel family has plenty of experience with the post-Pessah rush. Like entering Fort Knox, a guard lets in ten people at a time into the house of treasures, where they’re free to roam around choosing the still-warm baked goods with its tantalizing aromas and being herded into the cashier’s checkout line.

The whole process took less than 20 minutes from waiting outside to paying and walking out the separate exit. While most tried, hardly any of the customers were able to get down the steps without breaking into their stash for a taste of the once verboten booty. It’s goodbye matza, hello bread once again.

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Nostalgia Sunday – Everyday Roman-era Artifacts

April 24, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: education, Entertainment, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Nostalgia Sunday, Religion 

This weekend sees the end of Passover as well as the Easter holiday. Consequently, both the History Channel and National Geographic have been running shows about the Jewish origins of Christianity — a topic that, when growing up, was everyday dinner conversation at our house. And, subsequent to watching a bunch of these shows back to back, my brain is filled with images of reenactments by dusty-bearded actors and computer-generated animations illustrating theories ranging from the reasonable to the outlandish — backed by bombastic music playing over and over in my head — of things that are true… dah-dah… or are they?

At such times, it’s best to clear one’s head with a quick visit to the Israel Antiquities Authority site, which has an excellent online gallery of the archeological artifacts from our region. Viewing items from the Roman Era makes that period relatable; we can’t necessarily understand the Ancients’ world view but we all know what a sewing needle was for…

And we can understand a child’s delight in a chickie pull-toy…

Or the need of a good fine-toothed comb for one’s hair, particularly in those dark days before lice shampoo…

After which you might use a hair net to wrap it up in a snood…

And while many reenactments tend to dress Roman-era folk in dull browns, tans and grays, in fact, fabrics imported from Egypt could be bold and flowery…

All photographs are by photographer Clara Amit and come courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority website.

And, to give you an idea of our family dinner conversations, here’s a video of Dr. David Neiman of blessed memory, doing what he loved best: explaining the historical relationship between the Church and the Jews. Enjoy.

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Sniffing for chametz in India

April 24, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Religion, Travel 

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted – that’s because we just got back from our long-planned family trek to Nepal and India. We all arrived home safe and sound on Friday. Our luggage was less fortunate. As I write, it’s still sitting in the Mumbai airport.

Normally this wouldn’t be so unusual – bags get lost all the time. “Maybe there wasn’t enough time for your suitcases to clear customs,” the harried but surprisingly polite El Al representative at Ben Gurion Airport offered. That hardly seemed likely – we had an 8-hour layover in Mumbai.

Moreover, as transit passengers coming from another airline, I had to personally identify our luggage. I saw it tagged and put on the carousel belt. We answered questions from the El Al security guy and sat with the airline personnel who hand wrote our boarding passes. So, Indian bureaucracy notwithstanding, where could the bags have gone?

Here’s a thought, which I can’t substantiate but seems plausible nonetheless, especially since we flew during hol ha moed, the intermediary days of the Passover holiday: our bags were flagged for containing chametz.

Chametz, of course, is any kind of wheat product that has risen, forbidden during the festival of unleavened bread. While normally one’s bags are checked for contraband like explosives or weapons, perhaps in our case the dogs sniffed out our various candy, Cliff and granola bars. Or was it religious El Al workers waiting for nightfall, then poking around with a candle and feather as one does during the last minute check for chametz before the holiday? That would surely have made our bags miss the loading deadline.

There was more evidence. As we boarded the plane, a printed sign informed us that El Al had kindly cleaned the plane of any chametz and that all food would be strictly kosher for Pesach. We were served matza instead of the usual hot El Al pita and bagels (my favorite part of flying with Israel’s national carrier). Indeed, our bags could easily have caused a Knesset coalition crisis had they been hoisted into the hold.

UPDATE: My religious conspiracy theory, unfortunately, turned out for naught. Our bags arrived earlier this morning, in plenty of time for the final day of the holiday. However, in deference to our doughy cargo, we decided to unpack only on Monday night, when it’s officially OK to eat as many chocolate waffelim as you desire.

Happy Pesach…I’ll have more to report from our trip (and some surprising Israeli connections) after the holiday.

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