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.
Pope fever grabs Israel
The pope arrives in Israel tomorrow, and to put it bluntly, the whole country’s gone pope crazy. Or to be more accurate, all the authorities have gone pope crazy.
Pope Benedict XIV on route to Israel
We’ve got conferences, briefings and meetings; press trips to see the places the pope will visit, media tours to explore the Christian holy sites, even an expedition to examine Jerusalem’s ancient olive groves in the Garden of Gethsemane. Well, they do date back centuries.
There’s pope stamps, a new pope website (translated into nine languages and including live footage of his pilgrimage), and pope memorabilia. The Technion is even presenting him with a bible the size of a pinhead, as a welcome present.
The country’s leaders are laying out their welcome mats, from the president of Israel, Shimon Peres, to Stas Misezhnikov, the Tourism Minister, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, the Mayor of Jerusalem, and the Mayor of Nazareth. Everyone is getting in on the action.
At Ben Gurion airport they’re taking the welcome mat seriously, and doing a trial run today of rolling out the red carpet in preparation for Pope Benedict XVI ’s landing there tomorrow. He’s expected in at 11.15am, with an entourage of 40 and a press corps of 70.
Pope Benedict’s schedule is exhausting. He’ll visit 23 sites across the country in just five days. Every minute appears to be accounted for as Israel’s leaders scramble for photo opportunities in what – apart from this visit – has admittedly been a pretty bad year PR wise.
While all this fuss may be passing the average Israeli by – most people here seem more interested in tonight’s Depeche Mode concert, while kids are piling up their bonfires for Lag Ba’Omer – Jerusalemites at least will be only too aware of the visit, as major congestion is expected there on Monday and Tuesday with all the main roads closed in the capital.
I won’t be rushing out to join the cheering crowds, but I’d still like to say welcome from Israelity, and wish the pope a pleasant stay.
If you get tired of the crowds, give us a call.
Ward Off Evil Eyes With Handmade Israeli Jewelry and Jewish Gifts From Israel
‘Tis the season to be jolly, if you are a Christian. But a number of holidays for people of all faiths intersect around this time. It’s more noticeable if you live in the Middle East. Over here in Jaffa a couple of weeks ago, Muslims everywhere were celebrating Eid al-Adha; and Jewish people start lighting candles and gorging on jelly-filled doughnuts for Hanukah starting next week.
But whatever the season, or holiday, unique gift-giving is always something on our minds. When it comes to choosing gifts that are “green” the options are limited even more. One nice way to “say I love you” to someone in a way that is soft on the environment, is to give something handmade. Trendy, with no official religious affiliation is the good old hamsa, one of our faves, which means “five” in Arabic.
According to Wikipedia, an alternative Islamic name for this charm is the Hand of Fatima or Eye of Fatima, in reference to Fatima Zahra, the daughter of Muhammad. An alternative Jewish name is the Hand of Miriam, in reference to Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. It is a kind of “protecting hand” or “hand of God.”
Some associate the significance of the five fingers to the five books of the Torah for Jews, the Five Pillars of Islam for Sunnis, or the five People of the Cloak for Shi’ites.
In recent years some activists for Middle East peace have chosen to wear the hamsa as a symbol of the similarities of origins and tradition between the Islamic and Jewish faiths. The fingers can point up or down.
Among Jews in Israel, it’s considered a Jewish gift, but one appropriate for Muslims, Christians, pagans and the unaffiliated. When I went to see my Catholic cousins in Scotland last year, it was hamsas for everyone.
While the gifts might not be certified green, there are some wonderful gift items in stock on MostOriginal.com, an online jewelry and gifts store that sells handmade artwork by Israeli artists.
Selling Israeli jewelry and Jewish gifts, their hamsas (like Laly Cohen’s Hamsa Hands pictured above), or Kabbalah bracelets, would satisfy even the choosiest friend.
Oktober knows no borders
Filed under: Business, Food, History and Culture, coexistence
Modeled after Bavaria, Germany’s famous brew festival of the same name, which draws millions of participants each fall, the Taybeh Brewery held its own two-day version of Oktoberfest earlier this week. This is the fourth incarnation of the Palestinian village’s festival, sponsored by the industry named after it (the brewery’s founding Khoury family currently, er, occupies city hall over there).
The Taybeh Brewery, which offers Golden, Light, Amber and Dark beers, has a decidedly coexistence-themed flavor: It was founded thanks to peace momentum following the 1993 Oslo accords, it is marketed and bottled internationally, and a portion of the Oktoberfest profits is donated every year to peace-loving Palestinians and Israelis.
Although Taybeh is mostly a Christian village, the brewery premiered a non-alcoholic version at the festival, which should boost sales amongst the Palestinian nationalist crowd, traditionally forbidden to drink fermented liquids by the tenets of Islam. The festival also featured folk arts, musical and dance performances, as well as a tag rugby match between the Ramallah Blue Snakes and Beit Jala Lions.
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