Foto Friday – Reli Avrahami’s “Diary”
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, Israeliness, Profiles, Travel
Beer Sheva-born Reli Avrahami is one of Israel’s premiere magazine photographers. A new exhibition of her work, “Diary”, will open next week at the Hadassah College in Jerusalem, where she once studied and is now a lecturer.
Avrahami has worked as a freelance portrait photographer since 1986, shooting celebrities, artists and politicians for Israel’s main newspapers and weekend supplements including “Maariv”, “Yediot Aharonot” and “Haaretz” where she is best known for her long-running series of Israeli family portraits.
In “Diary”, Avrahami invites viewers to look in on three generations of her own family: celebrations and tragedies, weddings and funerals, everyday life and unique occasions.
Her daughter – Botticelli curls cascading down her shoulders – en route to a Scout trip…
…the morning of her son’s induction into the IDF…
…her mother, fast asleep in a Netherlands zimmer motel…
or a “Girls Night In” with her sisters and mother.
“Diary” opens at 6:00pm, November 5, 2009 at the Hadassah College, 37 HaNeviim Street, Jerusalem.
A Night in the Desert
It’s been a couple of years since we last visited Succa Bamidbar, but as fall inches slowly towards winter, a visit to the magical “Succa in the Desert” would be warmly welcomed.
Succa Bamidbar is so far off the beaten track, there’s barely a road to get there. Located 5 km from Mitzpe Ramon, the establishment, founded in 1990 and run by the amiable Avi Dror and Chen Hadar, consists of 8 small succot – cabins made of wood and fabric – scattered across a barren rocky hillside. Don’t worry – they’re enclosed on all sides to keep the cold out.
Each succa is set no less than 150 meters from the next. There is no running water and many of the succot have no electricity either. You sleep on mattresses or low beds. Two eco-friendly outhouses are located at the center of the site.
The most striking element of Succa Bamidbar is the solitude. With no lights at night, you walk the narrow paths between the guest succot and the central “Succa of Abraham,” where two meals a day are served, with just a lantern.
Silence is also a major player in the uniqueness of the place. That is until 6:30 PM, when Avi and Chen ring an enormous gong, which sounds over the entire valley – the call for dinner. On our last visit, we had a delicious lentil soup with home-made croutons, macaroni and assorted vegetables. Our second night included freshly baked bread and home made sweet wine with a ginger cinnamon kick. The sweet potato soup and zucchini goat cheese casserole were both to die for.
Breakfast is also served: a panoply of home made jams, yogurts and cheeses, hard boiled eggs and a fabulous chunky humus (with an accompanying schug to warm up even the toughest desert denizen).
Succa Bamidbar is a 45-minute drive from hiking in the Machtesh Ramon; there is also a pleasant 25-minute hike from the Succa Bamidbar campsite to the edge of the crater with its breathtaking view.
Prices are not cheap but it’s worth it. You can find details on their website. But don’t look for an email – they don’t have a computer – or for that matter a cell phone. Now that’s roughing it!
Foto Friday – Robert Gorsoun sees Israel’s beauty
Robert Gorsoun is a photographer who takes pictures for the love of it. Wherever he travels, he snaps pictures and Israel is beautiful through his lens…
…the Banias in Israel’s north…
…a rainbow, captured in mid-storm over the Herzliya beach…
…a field of flowers by the roadside, stretching on forever…
…a water lily…
…or flowering cacti at the Utopia Orchid Park…
…and on through to the crater at Mizpe Ramon.
More photos by Gorsoun — including some spectacular panoramas that don’t fit on an Israelity page but should be seen — are posted on Panoramio.
Nostalgia Sunday – Lod Mosaic
Filed under: Art, General, History and Culture, Nostalgia Sunday, Travel
It may be more historic than nostalgic, but the big news in archeology last week here was that the Israel Antiquities Authority made an interesting discovery while detaching a magnificent floor mosaic for transfer to the IAA conservation laboratories in Jerusalem. They found ancient footprints! Apparently, while working on the plaster bedding (done before laying down the mosaic) the artisans trod on it in sandals and in bare feet.
The floor is a story in itself. According to the IAA: “The 1,700 year old mosaic, which is one of the largest and most magnificent ever seen in Israel, was exposed in the city of Lod in 1996 and was covered again when no resources could be found for its conservation. Thirteen years after efforts were made to raise the large amount required to treat the unique artifact, the IAA received a contribution from the Leon Levy Foundation that is specifically earmarked for the purpose of conserving and developing the site, in cooperation with the Municipality of Lod. The mosaic was re-excavated, exhibited to the public and is now being removed from the area for treatment in the IAA conservation laboratories.”
“The mosaic, which constitutes a real archaeological gem that is extraordinarily well-preserved, is c. 180 sq m in size. It is composed of colorful carpets that depict in great detail mammals, birds, fish, floral species, and sailing and merchant vessels that were in use at the time. It is believed the mosaic floor was part of a villa that belonged to a wealthy man in the Roman period.”
Hopefully, the floor’s restoration holds the key — along with other innovative social welfare efforts reported on by ISRAEL21c — to turning Lod around from the center of drug-related crime to the tourist haven it ought to be. The IAA stated that, “The municipality, in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority, plans to integrate it into a tourism circuit that will include a number of historic sites in the city.” Given the magnificence of the artifact, there is every chance that the plan could work.
Foto Friday – The Israel Photography Exhibition 2
POV, the Israeli Photography Exhibition at Hatachana, the Old Train Station in Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek, came out swinging earlier this month with individual retrospectives of works by well-known Israeli photographers. Additionally, there were also collective exhibitions on view at Hatachana — well worth visiting — and on YouTube. These include works by leading photographers, yet-unknowns and news agencies, the unsung heroes of photography in the field.
Last Summer
Israel Sun photo agency
Tomorrow’s Photographers
When’s the right time for a rite of passage?
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Religion, Travel, health
It’s generally accepted that the Israeli perspective on the bar/bat mitzvah ceremony is different from its counterpart in the US.
I remember when Susie and three of her closest friends decided to celebrate their bat mitzvahs together – they were all around 40-years-old at the time.
They had been studying Torah as a group in Jerusalem for a year and a half. It all started when Boston-born Susie, who had already been in Israel for more than 20 years, started to feel that while her Jewish identity was her primary identity, which is why she had moved here, it was time for her to confront her “awe of the Torah.”
Sally, Ruti and Janet had also been in Israel for a couple of decades and for various reasons, none of the four had had a bat mitzvah back in the States. In fact, the first bat mitzvah was held by American rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, a major figure in Jewish thought and the founder of the Reconstructionist movement, for his daughter Judith in 1922.
So the culmination of 18 months of study and learning to read from the holy book was a ceremony at Jerusalem’s Kol Haneshama .
Now the idea didn’t resonate with everybody, but at that June ceremony 12 years ago no one could fail to be moved by the four women’s obvious quiet joy and pride in their achievements.
The bat mitzvahs of those forty-somethings inevitably came to mind when I received an e-mail recently, telling me about another group of delayed bar/bat mitzvah celebrants, en route to Israel.
Some of the participants at the upcoming celebration will be using walkers. Oxygen and wheelchairs will be available for emergencies. Five nurses will be traveling with the group. The average age of the participants in this particular version of the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony? Eighty-five.
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Kfar Blum’s Pastoral Pastures
Filed under: Environment, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Travel
I’ve always had a thing for the kibbutz, that is, the kibbutz lifestyle, where you live in a tight-knit community of people whom you hopefully like, can avail yourself of the kibbutz pool and have the opportunity to eat freshly fried schnitzel at almost any given time. I mean, hey, that’s living, right?
So you can imagine how pleased I was to be spending part of our Sukkot vacation at Kibbutz Kfar Blum’s hotel, now known as Pastoral Kfar Blum. What was once just a run-of-the-mill kibbutz hotel has become a higher-end version of this Israeli standard, with lush grounds, a truly stupendous breakfast and dinner spread and great access to all the local attractions.
As a New York Times article quoted back in 1990,
“When I asked the manager of Mitzpeh Rachel, whom everybody calls Juhah, to explain the difference between his hostelry and ordinary hotels, he answered: ”At the kibbutzim the staff owns the hotels, so everybody cares. It isn’t just a job. And where else will you see a guest and a waiter – a kibbutz member – sitting after dinner and chatting over a cup of coffee?” A guest there put it this way: ”A hotel is a place where you sleep. Here, I am at home.”
19 years later, much of what Nitza Rosovsky wrote in her review of Israel’s best kibbutz guesthouses still rings true, and many of the kibbutzim have taken it a step beyond, with renovated guestrooms, sumptuous spreads, spas — yes, spas — and a very casual, easy atmosphere that makes it comfortable for all sorts. There’s even a Kibbutz Hotels Chain, with a website, although it seems to be closed until October 19, strange.
In any case, as the website points out, kibbutz hotels are everywhere — well, anywhere where there are kibbutzim — from Eilat’s Red Sea to the snowy slopes of Mount Hermon.
Kfar Blum, which is an easy ride to Mount Hermon and other northern destinations, was founded in November 1943 by the Labor Zionist Habonim (now Habonim Dror) youth movement, according to Wikipedia. The founding members of the kibbutz were primarily from the United Kingdom, South Africa, the United States and the Baltic countries, and the kibbutz was named in honor of Léon Blum, the Jewish socialist former Prime Minister of France who was the focus of a widely-publicized, and ultimately unsuccessful, show trial in 1942 mounted by the collaborationist Vichy regime.
Besides working with agriculture, light industry and tourism — including the hotel and the kibbutz kayaking/rafting company, the kibbutz was once home to Hapoel Galil Elyon, a top division basketball team, which in 1993 became the only club from outside Tel Aviv to win the championship. I’ve also heard that its Olympic size pool was once the only one around for miles, and was used for Olympian trainees, but couldn’t confirm that particular fact.
Prices are not cheap, particularly during the high season of the holidays. But if you’re looking for an easy getaway, and for a guestroom that doesn’t have a Jacuzzi next to your bed — a common feature in many Israeli tzimmers — I’m voting for Kfar Blum.
Cleaning up after desert
Yesterday we joined a group of 30 friends for an inspiring hike in the Judean Desert. We started at the Dragot Cliffs just south of the checkpoint on the Dead Sea highway, and ended some 7 hours later at the Mitzpeh Shalem kibbutz.
The hike itself was stunning, with plenty of steep climbs up, down and around the gorgeous moonscape canyons below. We took a break at the Muraba’at Caves which our tour leader Asher explained had been used in both the Great Revolt against the Romans and the Bar Kochba uprising 60 years later (written fragments and coins from both eras were found).
As we ate our pesto and salmon sandwiches, it was hard to act blasé about this amazing country, with its huge variety of ecosystems, from lush forest in the north to harsh desert further south, all within several hundred kilometers of each other.
That was until we came upon the trash. We had just started our final descent back towards the Dead Sea. There, strewn along the rocks, was a scattered pile of rubbish that accompanied us for a good 10 minutes of our hike down. Dirty plates that once held meat or hummus, bottles of cola, plastic cups.
How could people be so thoughtless to ruin such a pristine landscape, we remarked with little of our former glee? We thought back to our trip last summer to Africa where the strictly enforced rule on safari was GIGO – “garbage in/garbage out” (otherwise the animals would surely devour any trash bin in the game park).
Just as we were feeling down on our adopted country, something remarkable happened. Members of our group began cleaning up – picking up the trash, placing it into bags and carrying the result down the cliffs where it could be disposed of properly.
Mind you, carrying an extra load where you need both hands to safely navigate was a mitzvah in itself. And this part of the hike wasn’t short – it took us an hour and a half to reach flat ground again. But no one complained – it was clear to all that this was the right thing to do.
Yes, we have a beautiful country. And a (mostly) beautiful people too.
Foto Friday – Sukkot in Jerusalem
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, Holidays, Religion, Travel, coexistence
The awe-ful part of the Days of Awe are behind us and now it’s time to party! Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is the holiday when Jerusalem gets itself all decked out…
© RomKri
…and small wooden sukkot, or tabernacles, spring up overnight…
© monti_clif
…dotting the urban landscape.
© Pes & Lev
The Municipality of Jerusalem gets into the act too, with a large public sukka – the perfect opener to this month’s Autumn Nights Festival…
© RomKri
…as well as the annual Jerusalem March, attended by walkers from all over the country…
© monti_clif
…and from all over the world!
© monti_clif
Another event taking place at this time: the International Christian Embassy’s Feast of Tabernacles festival, this year celebrating its 30th anniversary. The festivities begin today with a worship concert at Ein Gedi, continue with a week of prayer and Bible teachings, and conclude with the Jerusalem March on October 6th.
Below is a montage of photos from last year’s Feast of Tabernacles. The photos above are courtesy of the wonderful Jerusalem Shots website – always worth a visit. And here’s wishing a Chag Sameach (happy holiday) to us all!
Feast of Tabernacles 2008 Photo Montage from ICEJ on Vimeo.
Foto Friday – Viviana Tagar views Tel Aviv
“Tel Aviv is the city of light and shadows,” says photographer Viviana Tagar. “I decided to focus on the light.” Tagar, whose new book “Tel Aviv One” was recently published, wanted to redress the imbalance in how Tel Aviv is perceived abroad. “People see Tel Aviv as a city of war and despair… it was important to me to portray and present another Tel Aviv for them.” Tagar, a psychotherapist by trade, says that in her daily work she’s encountered many of the painful sides of life in Israel’s major city. “Tel Aviv has many dark aspects. It could be that because I worked with terror attack survivors and other people who lived in shadow, it was important for me to show the sides that are illuminated.”
Tagar’s book, Tel Aviv One, is available at Steimatzky and Tzomet Sfarim bookstores.
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