Foto Friday – Running Around the Holyland
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, Pop Culture, Sports, Travel
The sixth annual Pope John Paul II Pilgrimage Peace Marathon took place on Thursday. Although not truly a marathon — it is best described as a non-competitive 10k walk-run from Manger Square in Bethlehem to Notre Dame outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls — it is nonetheless a unique and truly moving event.
Italian and Palestinian participants did the first 2k within the Palestinian Authority, then met up with their Israeli counterparts — myself included — at the Rachel Crossing checkpoint, and ran the remaining distance together. The photo is of the festive ceremony at Notre Dame where everyone got a medal…
…including my pal Yaron Rochin, of Jerusalem’s Beit HaLohem, who organized the Israeli group.
Yaron is quite a story in an of himself. An IDF veteran with legs wounded by shrapnel, he is nonetheless a fixture at all Israeli running events where he always picks up the rear — which is where you can find me — with his infectious energy.
Yaron led the Papal Peace Pilgrimage pack with cries of “Yalla, hevre!” and the next day, did the Tel Aviv Marathon — a true 42.2k — in a hand-powered bicycle.
More about this unique event can be found in a previous post and on this YouTube video, courtesy of Italian news service Rome Reports:
As for the Tel Aviv Marathon, the energy and spirit among participants was great and, hopefully, the city’s residents won’t be too hateful and the event will be allowed to continue and grow. Here’s the starting line. I’m the one in the orange shirt.
Yaron crossing the finish line.
And the winner, Daniel Kones of Kenya, who finished in 2:38:06.
More information about running in Israel, as well as registration for events, can be found at Shvoong. The site is, unfortunately, only in Hebrew. Another event organizer is ProSport – and they do have an English site. On-on and happy trails!
Foto Friday – Down at the Dead Sea with Shmuel Browns
Filed under: Art, Environment, Foto Friday, General, Travel
Canadian-Israeli Shmuel Browns is a licensed tour-guide and artist who uses photography to share his love of nature. A recent exhibit, From the Lowest Place on Earth presented images of the Dead Sea, a miraculous body of salt water whose name belies its true nature.
The region – 420 meters below sea level – possesses unique geographical, biological and historical characteristics, and the sea itself is rich in minerals that, coupled with its stark beauty, have made it a center for spa tourism.
So much for the good news. The bad news is that the Dead Sea is dying or, more accurately put, being killed off. It is shrinking at a rate of 1 meter per year as both Israel and Jordan divert the waters flowing into it, leaving huge mud flats with hundreds of sinkholes that lie in the sun like open wounds crusted with salt.
In his artist’s statement, Browns writes: “Even as the world is rapidly changing, as humanity encroaches, these photographs capture nature in a serene moment. The exhibit explores contrast–between wet and dry, water and desert; the contrast between rock and vegetation, and between the broad horizontal expanse of the Dead Sea and the cliffs and mountains that rise vertically above it; the contrast between nature and human industry.”
This surreal moonscape is Dead Sea Works, a subsidiary of Israel Chemicals, a multibillion dollar industry and part of the lifeblood of Israel’s economy. Shutting it down isn’t an option for the immediate future but a comprehensive integrated development plan for the entire region has been proposed by Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME).
Last summer, Browns had the opportunity to show these images of the lowest place on earth in a Katmandu gallery, in the shadow of the highest mountains on earth. The exhibit can be found online on his Facebook page.
Foto Friday – A Zalul Look at Water
Filed under: Art, Environment, Foto Friday, General, Life
Israeli NGO Zalul Environmental Association is a nonprofit committed to protecting and maintaining clean, clear water along Israel’s rivers and shorelines.
Shay Tal – “Goin’ in” – Dolphinarium Beach, Tel Aviv
In time for Tu b’Shvat, the Jewish holiday that celebrates the coming of spring, Zalul has launched a photo competition. The results are nothing short of impressive:
Orit Zisman – “Jellyfish” – Tel Aviv
The theme of the contest is “Mayim Chaim” (”Water of Life”), celebrating that most precious natural resource, water, which Zalul points out is the source of life not just for trees, but for all living things.
Ben Hadar – “Holy Water” – Greek Orthodox Church, Nazareth
As Zalul sees it, “Tu B’Shvat is the “New Year of the Trees” in the Jewish tradition. However, in modern times it has been reinterpreted as the Jewish Earth Day. Each year, Jews around the world come together to celebrate the holiday by planting trees, cleaning beaches, and participating in other acts of “Tikkun Olam” (repairing the world).”
Asaf Shal – “Water love”
And there are prizes for the top three photos! The first place winner will receive a jacket from Columbia Sportswear; a Billabong beach kit including a backpack, inflatable pillow, beach mat, and a drink cozy as well as a hat and t-shirt from Zalul. What are you waiting for, shutterbugs? Take a look at their Flickr page, go out this weekend and start snapping!
Amir Levon – “Raft” – Green Beach, Eilat
The competition closes on on February 8, 2009 (until 23:00) and full details are available at the Zalul website.
Foto Friday – Yuval Nadel
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Religion
The world of haredi observant Jews is one that most secular Israelis never get a chance to see – and if they do, they find it alien, even threatening. Photographer Yuval Nadel, an Israeli-born Jew with a secular up-bringing, became familiar with and learned to appreciate and respect the people who lead a religious lifestyle.
In a collection of photographs called “Custom, Prayer and Ceremony – The Jews of the Land of Israel”, he documents that meeting between secular and religious without trying to explain the lifestyle or Jewish customs. “As a photographer, it was important for me to show the religious experiences of Israeli Jews from my personal point of view,” he says.
The photographs presented in Nadel’s book were taken over four cycles of holidays and intermittent days between 2004 and 2008. Nadel writes that his journey began at the annual festive Lag B’Omer commemoration at Mount Meron. “I was captivated. Over the next four years, I traveled around the country to the various outposts and locations where Jews perform their mitzvot (commandments), ceremonies and prayers… I arrived to these places as a photographer, as a bystander observer and yet as someone participating in the experience. It was so, because that’s how I was received…”
While most such books “fall prey to the sin of anthropology… based, at worst, on patronizing voyeurism and at best, on intellectual curiosity,” writes Israeli journalist Kobi Arieli, an observant Jew, “Yuval Nadel’s approach arises out of a positive attitude that is nurtured and grows with each image… This book is a story about love and light, which is why it is both good and enjoyable.”
For his part, Nadel says, “If these photographs can contribute even slightly to help unite Jews through exposing a beautiful side of the world of observant Jews in Israel, I will have reaped my reward.”
Subscribe
Subscribe to Israelity via email:
Social Media
Categories
- A New Reality
- Art
- Blogging
- Business
- coexistence
- Crime
- design
- education
- Entertainment
- Environment
- Food
- Foto Friday
- General
- health
- History and Culture
- Holidays
- Immigrant Moments
- Israeliness
- Life
- Medical Breakthroughs
- Movies
- Music
- News
- Nostalgia Sunday
- Picture of the Week
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- Profiles
- Religion
- Science
- Social Justice
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel
- tv
- War
The Face of Israel Today
-
About Israelity
Free newsletter
Stories from ISRAEL21c.orgPopular Posts