Foto Friday – 360 degree Holy Land

December 23, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, coexistence, education, Entertainment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Movies, Picture of the Week, Politics, Pop Culture, Religion, Technology, Travel, tv 

The Internet offers us endless ways to view the sites and sounds of the Holy Land. This week, we present some of the many panoramic photo and video images that are available online.

Panoramic photography, states Wikipedia, “is a technique of photography, using specialized equipment or software, that captures images with elongated fields of view. It is sometimes known as wide format photography.” (Click here for more about the methods used to create 360 images). Panoramic photo images have been around since the mid 1800s; this one of Jerusalem was taken in the early 20th century.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

As with everything else photographic, clearly, the technology has evolved. Take, for example, this amazing 360 degree panoramic photo of the Galilee.


Tel Yodfat, Galilee, Israel in Israel

The Church of All Nations is located on Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, next to the Garden of Gethsemane. Click on this photo — the link will take you to a panoramic view of the Church, the Garden and the walls of the Old City, courtesy of 3D Israel.

Israeli company Simply Live has developed a highly technologically advanced 360 degree video camera (only last week presented at the Bezeq Expo innovation showcase). Click on this photo of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — the link takes you to their site where you can view an interactive video that allows you to enter and move through the Church interior.

A fascinating if politically charged panoramic view of Israel’s coastline as viewed from the West Bank is available at MyIsrael.com. The site owners are very blunt about the purpose of the wide-angle shot: they wish to show how vulnerable Israel would be to an attack were pre-1967 borders to be reinstated. It takes only one look to see why the situation here is complicated.

Even on its own, the image is complex: a very wide-angle view (MyIsrael.com say it is the largest publicly available) with interactive controls so that viewers can zoom in on highly detailed close ups. Photographer Yaal Herman provides several pages of explanation on how the photo (really hundreds of photos stitched together) was accomplished. Click on this thumbnail to see the full version.

Whatever the political future holds, we can still hope for stability, quiet and — dare I say it? — peace. A few weeks ago, I was in Bethlehem once again for the annual Papal Peace Run. Instead of a highly secured, quick in-and-out, I would like to be able to return one day at my leisure to visit the Church of the Nativity. Till then, I will visit this way — and invite you to do so, too. Happy holidays to all.


Church Nativity Bethlehem in Israel


Grotto of the Nativity – Church of the Nativity, Betlehem in Israel

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Spreading some Hanukka light

December 21, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Religion, Social Justice 

History was made Wednesday night – the second night of Hanukka – in Ma’aleh Adumim.

The members of Havura Ma’aleh Adumim, the first and only egalitarian, pluralistic congregation in the city outside Jerusalem welcomed its first Torah with a touching service including dancing and singing outdoors, a candle-lighting for Hanukka and the ceremonial eating of some gourmet sufganiyot (donuts) from the local Neeman bakery.

I’m one of those members, and along with my wife, helped to found the havura more than 15 years ago. Cutting against the grain of the city’s religious establishment, and a chief rabbi who doesn’t recognize any stream of Judaism except Orthodoxy, we’ve kept a low profile over the years, meeting on Friday nights, as well as holding shiurim, special events for holidays and community activities. But until this year, we never held Shabbat morning services requiring a Torah.

After launching morning services earlier this year, with a borrowed Torah, we’ve finally built our numbers up to the level where the Masorti Movement in Israel has given us a sefer Torah on permanent loan.

Speaking to the congregants at the ceremony, havura co-founder Shelley Brinn tied in the holiday of ‘lights’ with the concept that our egalitarian congregation is helping to shed its own light in the midst of ever-increasing darkness around the world – from the countries threatening our existence to the forces that would separate men and women on buses.

May the light of Hanukka continue to shine on all of us.

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Meet Israel’s ‘Rosa Parks’

December 19, 2011 by · 3 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Israeliness, Life, Politics, Religion, Social Justice 

Tania Rosenblit meeting with Transportation Minister Yaakov Katz on Sunday.

She’s being dubbed the ‘Israeli Rosa Parks’ but Tanya Rosenblit insists she wasn’t looking to be a role model when she refused demands last week by ultra-Orthodox passengers to move to the back of the Egged bus she was travelling on between Ashdod and Jerusalem. She just wanted to get to work.

But her bravery in the face of angry haredim on the bus line – which has traditionally placed men in the front and women in the back in deference to the high percentage of religious men who patronize the line – has made the 28-year-old a symbol of defiance against religious coercion.

She posted about her experience on Facebook, and soon the Israeli media was all over the story.

“I could tell that the other passengers were looking at me with disdain. One of them yelled ‘shiksa’ at me and demanded I move to the back of the bus, because Jewish men can’t sit behind a woman,” Rosenblit told The Irish Times. “I wasn’t causing any provocation. It’s a normal bus and anyone can ride it. I bought my ticket, just like they did and they have no right to tell me where to sit.”

While the phenomenon of gender-segregated buses has become more prevalent in recent years, the Supreme Court ruling states that voluntary segregation on buses is permitted, but bus drivers must intervene to prevent forced separation. When the Egged driver did just that, the haredim held up the bus for 30 minutes until police intervened and allowed Rosenblit to stay in her seat up front.

Rosenblit turned into an instant celebrity, with Opposition leader Tzipi Livni praising her actions on her Facebook page, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger condemning the incident and the latter suggesting that the haredi community establish its own transportation company, Transportation Minister Yaakov Katz meeting with her, and Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat inviting her to testify before a government committee examining women’s public exclusion.

The gender-seperation phenomenon in Israel is still marginal, (and not worthy of comment by the likes of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton), but the Rosenblit incident serves to show that it can affect any woman at any place. Maybe her act of drawing the line on the Ashdod-Jerusalem bus will be the tipping point that will raise public awareness and send religiously imposed gender segregation back to the dark ages.

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Nostalgia Sunday – Chanukah menorahs of Italy

December 18, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, design, education, Entertainment, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Nostalgia Sunday, Religion, Travel 

Jerusalem’s U. Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art is a small gem of a museum whose collection pertains to Jewish life in Italy from the Middle Ages through the present. House in the same building as the Conegliano Italian-Jewish Synagogue, the Museum is well worth a visit, particularly during this month’s Hamshushalaim 2011 celebrations, when it is open to the public free of charge every Thursday night through to the end of December.

The permanent collection includes Renaissance and Baroque arks of the Torah and religious objects. According to the museum website, “The period during which Jewish art in Italy expanded and flourished extends from the end of 15th century till the end of the 19th century, with the most remarkable handicrafts dating from the Renaissance and Baroque period.”

“These were brought from Italy to Israel in the 1960s by Dr. Umberto Nahon… These rare items were found in deserted synagogues that belonged to communities which had completely lost their members. They were kept in spaces adjacent to the synagogue until 1982, when the Museum was officially recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Science and Sport and was opened to the public. through a joint initiative in collaboration with the Jewish communities of Italy and Israel.”

Among the ritual objects are antique and rare Chanukah menorahs. “The lamps are made of silver or brass; they are richly decorated with images of animals, Jewish symbols or motifs inspired by Italian architecture. One the lamps lamp’s design, for instance, clearly recalls the characteristic shape of Firenze’s [Florence's] Palazzo Vecchio and of Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico (both built in the 14th century). The 17th century Italian Jew that created this lamp, could not certainly even imagine that his creation will be eventually exposed in Jerusalem…”

A typical feature of Italian Jewish art is the fusion of ancient and traditional motifs… with the prevailing style of the period…” Because Jews were prevented from working as artisans, “most of the objects were commissioned to non-Jewish artisans that were influenced by their personal taste and skills.”

“Helmets of Austrian soldiers were turned into beautiful Chanukah lamps after the battles of the 18th century. The helmets were made from brass, which was perfectly suited for the lamps, as candlelight reflects beautifully from them.

“The most important metal utilized in the fabrication of the different handicrafts is silver. During the 18th century this was due mainly to the decrease in the price of this metal, but also because it was the favorite material of the European bourgeois in the same period.”

The Museum also operates a Center for the Restoration of Wood and Textiles which specializes in detailed restoration of objects dating from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The specialists, trained in Italy and around the world, use the same techniques as those used during the Renaissance period.

This past year, the center invited to public to observe a wood restoration project of a rare gilded 16th century Italian Holy Ark and a textile restoration project of an embroidered silk, velvet and gold Torah binder from the late 17th century — hopefully, the “live viewing” project will be continued in 2012.

Hamshushalaim 2011 runs for the next two weeks. In addition to free museum entry every Thursday night, there are live musical performances at little or no cost at various locations around the city — including concerts in the Italian Museum newly restored Fresco Room.

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Tel Aviv faces 2012 threat with kabbalah

December 14, 2011 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, Religion, Science 

People enter the Kabbalah Center in Tel Aviv this week adorned with blue and white baloons spelling out '2012'

The hundreds of people making their way into well-kept, handsome building just off of Dizengoff Circle this week looked like they could have heading to the theater or opera. They were also handsome, well-dressed and coiffed.

But the theater they’re attending has nothing to do with entertainment and everything to do with enlightenment Rabbi Eitan Yardeni, the kabbalah teacher to the stars like Madonna, was about to give a free, public lecture at the Kabbalah Center.

The ancient Jewish texts are defined by the Israeli-born, Los Angeles-based Yardeni as “the ancient universal teaching that helps us to understand the purpose and the meaning of life, and gives up practical tools for pure and lasting fulfillment.”

They were codified in Safed in the 1500s by Rabbi Isaac Luria, and poularized by the hassidim of the 1800s, have long been restricted to learning by devout married men over the age of 40. But in recent decades, at places like The Kabbalah Center in Tel Aviv, where over 1,000 people learn Kabbalah in weekly classes, and in its over 50 other locations around the world which were founded by Rabbi Philip Berg and his wife Karen, kabbalah study has trickled down to the masses – religious or not, Jewish or not. And the influx of celebrity devotees, like the Material Girl, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have done little to help convince detractors that the Berg’s version of kabbalah is nothing more than a facile, self-help fad.

Perhaps, it’s that new age essence that has raised the hackles of members of the Jewish establishment who over the years have criticized the Bergs and the Kabbalah Center, and who call their empire a ‘cult’ which fuels their lavish lifestyle. Even the IRS is currently conducting an investigation into their finances.
But none of that was important on this night, as over 500 Israelis – some already students of kabbalah and some here out of curiosity – jammed the Kabbalah Center auditorium to hear Yardeni lecture on the topic “2012 – Certainty in a World of Uncertainty.” We all know the Mayan theories about the world coming to an end next year, and apparently, kabbalah has some insight into it.

“What tonight is about is opening our eyes to realize a certain direction and place to where the universe is pushing us. As 2012 approaches, the choices are becoming even more extreme. We’ve seen political revolution and social revolution, the pace that things are happening is so fast” he said with a backdrop of Dafna Leek speaking at one of last summer’s social protests.”

“What I want to tell you is that we have a choice – we don’t have to wait for bad things to happen in 2012. We’re at a junction where we can create change and avoid much chaos, pain and suffering. In business, when markets or real estate fluctuates, there’s some corrections or adjustments that need to be made. In life too, when there’s too much imbalance, selfishness and chaos, some corrections will need to take place. Do we have to wait for the chaos to take place to correct ourselves, or is there something we can do practically to change the situation?”

The crowd was rapt, and applauded throughout the speech. Near the end, the speaker plugged the center’s introductory kabbalah courses. Outside the building, one middle-aged down-on-his-luck-looking man riding a bicycle reads the flyer, and asks a passerby, “Is something bad supposed to happen in 2012?”
When he’s told about the Mayan civilization legend that allegedly predicts a cataclysmic event during the year that will bring about the world’s destruction, he laughs, and misinterpreting the explanation to mean the destruction of Israel, responds, “People have been trying to kill us ever since we’ve been here. Don’t worry, we’re going to be fine.”

He rode away chuckling to himself.

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