ABC Wednesday, I for Issachar

 As I am still with my thoughts in Hadassah synagogue and the 12 beautiful stained glass windows, I dedicate this post to Issachar, a son of Jacob whom we don't know very well.
Wikipedia says:"In classical rabbinical literature, it is stated that Issachar was born on the fourth of Av, and lived 122 years.  Torah states that Issachar had four sons, who were born in Canaan and migrated with him to Egypt with their descendants remaining there until the Exodus".


This Chagall window represents the blessing of Jacob for Issachar: " Issachar is a strong ass lying down between the sheepfolds: and he saw that settled life was good, and the land was pleasant; he put his shoulder to the burden, and became a slave under forced labour".
Issachar/Yissachar was, according to the Book of Genesis, a son of Jacob and Leah (the fifth son of Leah, and ninth son of Jacob).

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and thanks to Roger. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with I.


For more details click on photo!

ABC Wednesday, H for Hadassa Medical Centre

One of the last days of my visit in Israel, Dina took me to the Hadassah Medical Centre.
The Hadassah Medical Centre, outside Jerusalem, consists of a modern hospital, which has recently be extended, a couple of buildings for the various medical professions, belonging to the university, and a synagogue containting the famous Chagall windows. The students of this university are from different backgrounds and origins like Jewish, Arabic and others.
The garden and park around Hadassah Medical Centre are beautiful and show many modern objects of art.
The name Hadassah means Esther.

Wikipedia says:"The hospital was founded by Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, which continues to underwrite a large part of its budget today. The Medical Center ranks as the sixth-largest hospital complex in Israel.

In 2005, Hadassah was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in acknowledgment of its equal treatment of all patients, regardless of ethnic and religious differences, and efforts to build bridges to peace".

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and to Roger our new Captain..For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with H.

ABC Wednesday, F for Franciscan Friary and Chapel.

One sabbath we walked to this friary, which was built in 1922. There is a warm water spring, a chapel and a fish pond. The building lays in wonderful hilly surroundings. On our way to the friary we saw some stunning views.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and to Roger our new Captain.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar. This week we are looking for words beginning with F.

By clicking on the photos you see more details.

Elisabeth and her son John the Baptist

ABC Wednesday, E for Elijah's Chair.

 Elijah is a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, during the reign of Ahab and his Sidonian wife Jezebel (1 Kings 16 :29-34).At that time Israel was divided in two kingdoms, which happened after king Solomon died.



Wikipedia says:

ELIJAH'S CHAIR:

"At every circumcision Elijah, "the angel of the covenant," as he is called in Malachi (iii. 1), is supposed to be seated at the right hand of the sandek, upon a chair richly carved and ornamented with embroideries . Even in the salutation to the child to be circumcised  is read the invitation to Elijah .

When, under the influence of Jezebel, circumcision in the northern kingdom was about to be abolished, Elijah is said to have retired to a cave. There he prayed to God (I Kings xix. 10), and complained that Israel had forsaken the covenant of the Lord; whereupon God ordained that no circumcision should take place except in the presence of Elijah."

 Therefore there is a chair for Elijah in every synagogue. The one you see here is found in the Jerusalem Great Synagogue.

A lot of thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and Roger, the new captain of the team.Click on the logo in the sidebar if you want to see the other posts. This week we are looking for words beginning with E.

ABC Wednesday, D for Dona Gracia.

Gracia Mendes Nasi ( 1510–1569) was one of the wealthiest Jewish women of Renaissance Europe.
Dona Gracia  was born in Lisbon, Portugal. The family was from Aragon Spain and was forcibly converted Jews . While still Jewish, they had fled to Portugal when the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, expelled the Jews in 1492. Five years later, in 1497, they were forcibly converted to Catholicism along with all the other Jews in Portugal at that time.

In 1528, Dona Gracia married the very rich black pepper trader Francisco Mendes  who belonged to a very prominant Jewish family . Francisco Mendes directed, along with his brother Diogo, a powerful trading company and bank of world repute with agents across Europe and around the Mediterranean. The House of Mendes/Benveniste became particularly important spice traders. They also traded in silver - the silver was needed to pay the Asians for those spices.

When her husband died Dona Gracia took over the trading company and bank. She developed a net work to help Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity , escape the inquisition. She lived in various countries in Europe, but finally came to Tiberias, where she bought  a piece of land. She wanted to attract Jewish families to populate this area, and so found the state of Israel. But this was not to be. The male dominated world didn't trust a woman to be clever and skillful enough to do this.
 In this hotel in Tiberias we could see how rich Dona Gracia was and how people  at the time were dressed.

 With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC and to Roger the new Captain of our team.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with D.

ABC Wednesday, C for Circassians

Background and history

The Circassians arrived in the Middle East after they were expelled from their homeland in the northern Caucasus. The Circassians, who fought during the long period (see the Russian-Circassian War) wherein the Russians captured the northern Caucasus, were massacred and expelled by Czarist Russia from the Caucasus. The Ottoman Empire, which saw the Circassians as experienced fighters, absorbed them in their territory and settled them in sparsely populated areas, including the Galilee.

The Circassians exiles established the village Rehaniya in 1873, and the village of Kfar Kama in 1876.

The Israeli Circassians, who are muslims, have had good relations with the Jewish community in Israel since the beginning of the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel, thanks to the common language they had with the First Aliyah immigrants from Russia who settled in the Galilee. The Circassian community in Israel helped the illegal immigration (Ha'apala) of Jews from Lebanon into Mandate Palestine and fought on the Israeli side of the War of Independence.

Nowadays, the Circassian community in Israel is well integrated into Israeli society, speak Adyghe and Russian (in addition to learning Hebrew, Arabic and English in elementary school), while cultivating their unique heritage and culture.

Our guide told us for instance that babies learned to walk with the means of a wooden  walking frame. As soon as they could walk by themselves, the older brothers and sisters were spreading the news in the village and treating every body to a sweet. The whole village was celebrating!

 Another thing, which I find even more important, is that men and women are considered to be equal!  Young women and men were free to choose their own partners. The parents do not arrange marriages. If parents did not agree with their child's choice, the man just abducted his bride-to-be and they married  anyway with or without their parents'consent.

Another tradition was that guests could always stay with a family, and that it was shown in a device which hung next to the door. It was a long double cord . The left side was (in this museum) solid pink, while the right side was striped. When the guest had stayed long enough according to the host, the latter turned the cord so that the striped side hung on the left side. This was a sign that  the guest had to leave.

A lot of thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and Roger ,who took over the  management from her .Click on the logo in the sidebar if you want to see the other posts. This week we are looking for words beginning with C.

ABC Wednesday, B for Benjamin

There are two Benjamins  among my relatives. One of them is my one but youngest grandchild in Australia.
The meaning of Benjamin is Son of my Righthand or Son of my Happiness.


Benjamin was the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel. His mother died in childbirth. He was her second child and brother of Joseph. When Jacob was dying, he blessed all his sons, and said this about Benjamin: “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
   in the morning he devours the prey,
   in the evening he divides the plunder.”

Marc Chagall has succeeded in picturing these words in the window dedicated to Benjamin. 

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with B.

ABC Wednesday, Z for Zodiac

On our trip to the north of Israel we saw this mosaic floor of an ancient synagogue, which existed already in the third or fourth century. It was destroyed at the beginning of the fifth century probably by an earthquake. In the zodiak we can see elements which are not typically  Jewish, like the figure in the middle of the circle. Our guide was not quite sure who this was.

Click to see  more details!

According to Wikipedia does the  division of the ecliptic into the zodiacal signs originate in Babylonian  astronomy during the first half of the 1st millennium BC, likely during Median/"Neo-Babylonian" times (7th century BC).
In both astrology and historical astronomy, the zodiac  is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude that are centered upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year .

Now we know the zodiak mainly for the use of creating horoscopes. Who among us doesn't have been looking for his or her horoscope for that particular week? Once in a while I did! But it was always amusing. Sometimes it said something like:"Don't wear red this week. It might be dangerous". I still don't know why ...Red becomes me and there were no bulls around...Oh, and my sign is Sagitarius.

Here are a few questions:
1 What are the typical characteristics of people of your sign?
2 Do you believe your life is influenced  in any way by your star sign ?
3 Do you regularly read your horoscope? If not, why not?

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with Z.

ABC Wednesday, Y of Yad Vashem

Before I came to Israel Dina asked me what I wanted to see in Jerusalem. I wanted to see a lot of sights,  but please not  Yad Vashem, because I know what happened because of all the documentaries and movies I had seen on TV, and I had been in a concentration camp myself.( A Japanese camp in Java in WWII.) It doesn't mean that I don't think Yad Vashem is not important. On the contrary: every body who can face the horrors of the German camps should go and visit it.
 “And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (a “yad vashem”)... that shall not be cut off.”
(Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 5)

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, was established in 1953 by an act of the Israeli Knesset. Since its inception, Yad Vashem has been entrusted with documenting the history of the Jewish people during the Holocaust period, preserving the memory and story of each of the six million victims, and imparting the legacy of the Holocaust for generations to come through its archives, library, school, museums and recognition of the Righteous Among the Nations. Located on Har Hazikaron, the Mount of Remembrance, in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem is a vast, sprawling complex of tree-studded walkways leading to museums, exhibits, archives, monuments, sculptures, and memorials.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.We started round 10 of the fascinating meme of ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with Y.

Cloudia from Comfort Spiral wrote about General Eisenhower's feelings when he saw the work of the Nazis in the concentration camps. See http://comfortspiral.blogspot.com  of June 19th.

" On April 4, 1945, elements of
 the United States Army
captured the Ohrdruf concentration camp 


. . . .. Bodies were piled 
throughout the camp. 
 There was evidence everywhere 
of systematic butchery. 

Many of the mounds of
 dead bodies were still smoldering
 from failed attempts
 by the departing SS guards 
to burn them. 


By that time, Buchenwald itself
 had been captured.

Eisenhower ordered 
every American soldier in the area 
who was not on the front lines 
to visit Ohrdruf and Buchenwald.

ABC Wednesday, W for windows

“This is my modest gift to the Jewish people who have always dreamt of biblical love, friendship and of peace among all peoples. This is my gift to that people which lived here thousands of years ago among the other Semitic people.” ( Marc Chagall)

When Dina asked me:"What would you like to see?" I answered that I should love to see the Chagall windows in the synagogue of the hospital near Jerusalem.It is the Hadassah hospital, where all medical faculties are situated. Recently a new wing has been opened.The Chagall windows represent the 12 tribes of Israel.

Hadassah is blessed with many works of art that enhance the hallways and halls, passages and public spaces; the countless paintings, sculptures and drawings grace both  campuses.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar. This week we are looking for words beginning withW.

Click to see more details.They are worth seeing.

ABC Wednesday, V for Via Dolorosa

We were walking through the old town again to follow the Via Dolorosa, which is unlikely to be the precise path that Jesus walked. The original way is probably hidden under 2000 years of ruins of buildings. However large slabs of stone from the times of the Roman occupation were found along the way. The route begins in the Arab Quarter. There are fourteen stations, the last five are situated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Each station shows one of the events that happened to Jesus when he was carrying his cross to the place of execution, which was Golgotha.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with V.

ABC Wednesday, U for Uriah

Uriah or Urijah (Hebrew: אוּרִיָּה, Modern Uriyya Tiberian ʼÛriyyā ; "my light is Yahweh") was the name of several men in the Hebrew Bible. It may refer to:

 People From the Bible

    * Uriah the Hittite, a soldier in King David's army in the Books of Samuel. He was the husband of Bathseba and a soldier who was set to die in battle so that king David could marry his wife, whom he fell in love with when he saw her taking a bath.

The story of David's seduction of Bathsheba, told in 2 Samuel 11, is omitted in Chronicles. The story is told that David, while walking on the roof of his palace, saw Bathsheba, who was then the wife of Uriah, bathing. He immediately desired her and later made her pregnant.

Wikipedia says: "In an effort to conceal his sin, David summoned Uriah from the army (with whom he was on campaign) in the hope that Uriah would re-consummate his marriage and think that the child was his. Uriah was unwilling to violate the ancient kingdom rule applying to warriors in active service. Rather than go home to his own bed, he preferred to remain with the palace troops.

After repeated efforts to convince Uriah to have sex with Bathsheba, the king gave the order to his general, Joab, that Uriah should be placed in the front lines of the battle, where it was the most dangerous, and left to the hands of the enemy. Ironically, David had Uriah himself carry the message that ordered his death. After Uriah was dead, David made the now widowed Bathsheba his wife."

In this story King David is not exactly the noble monarch we always honour. Uriah is the noble and loyal character!
  

    * Uriah, a priest under Ahaz in the Books of Kings
    * Urijah, a prophet murdered by Jehoiakim in the Book of Jeremiah
    * Uriah, a priest and the father of Meremoth in the Book of Ezra and Book of Nehemiah
    * Uriah, a priest whom God offers to call as a witness in the Book of Isaiah

Uriah was and is still a common name although not often used. I remember that Dickens named one of his characters in David Copperfield, Uriah Heep, who was a despicable creep.( this rhymes!) I've heard just now that there is also a band called Uriah Heep. I didn't know that. As I have been dedicating my entries for the last three months to Israel, I was looking for a biblical name starting with U , I found this man who was a loyal soldier of king David of Israel. I shall continue to write about Israel til October.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar. This week we are looking for words beginning with U. 

ABC Wednesday, T for Tiberias

In March this year I met Dina and she showed me a lot of Israel. We booked a tour with a group of Israeli people in the north of Israel. This week's entry is about one of the ancient cities in the north of Israel. Please click on Read More! Sorry for the inconvenience! I am still not used to this new system of sending entries.

ABC Wednesday, S for Sepulchre

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with  S. Please click also on "Read More".

This was a service of the Greek Orthodox Chu

Psalms Challenge, Psalm 63

Cumran, the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered

ABC Wednesday, R of Rescue, Resistance to Repression

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.We started round 10 of the fascinating meme of ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with R.

One of the most remarkable stories I heard in Jerusalem, was the rescue of a great part of the Jewish population in Denmark during World War II.

 On October 1st 1943 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ordered Danish Jews to be arrested and deported. The Danish resistance movement with the assistance of many ordinary Danish citizens  evacuated about 8,000 Danish Jews in fishing boats  and other small craft to nearby neutral Sweden during ten nights. You can read this on the memorial stone.
The Danish King was very brave. When the Jewish Danes were forced to wear the yellow star of David, he also wore a yellow star and many others did so. This confused the Nazis.

 Wikipedia says:
"The rescue allowed the vast majority of Denmark's Jewish population to avoid capture by the Nazis and is considered to be one of the largest actions of collective resistance to repression in the countries occupied by Nazi Germany. As a result of the rescue and Danish intercession on behalf of the 5% of Danish Jews who were deported to Theresienstadt transit camp in Bohemia, over 99% of Denmark's Jewish population survived the Holocaust."
The top photo shows a statue representing a Danish ship. 

Click on photos if you want to see and read what it says on the memorial  stone.

ABC Wednesday, Q for Quarter in the Old City

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.We started round 10 of the fascinating meme of ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with Q.

The Q is an extremely difficult letter, especially for somebody who wants to dedicate her posts to Israel for the next few weeks, but I found the word Quarter. The Old City of Jerusalem is divided into four quarters: The Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter,the Christian Quarter and the Muslim Quarter. Dina and I went mostly to the Christian Quarter, as there was no time to visit the others. We entered the Christian Quarter through the New Gate and saw many churches , the largest of them is the Holy Sepulchre, the smallest a Greek chapel, where Dina and I were welcomed by a Greek nun.(See my post of 24th April)
I'll show three of the seven gates used to enter the Old City. There is an eighth gate, which is sealed. This is the Golden Gate and will be opened when, according to the Christians, the Messiah will enter the city.

ABC Wednesday, P for Prayer Shawl

  This Prayer Shawl of David Ben David survived the fire caused by the Nazis, burning all synagogues in Czechoslovakia, and the sea after the ship which took David Ben David to Israel, was bombed. Later, when David was defending the kibbutz Gush Etzion against the Arabs, it survived the sword.
This Prayer Shawl is a sign of hope and revival.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with P.

Monday Doorways, Israel, Old City

In one of the narrow alleys we saw that this door was open. A sign told us, however, that there was no entry on top of the stairs, because it was private. What does an open door mean to you? For me it is like an invitation to come in and have a chat, or even better to have a cup of coffee.


Inspired by a post by Eric Tenin of a Parisian doorway, «Louis» began posting on Mondays photos he had taken of doorways in Paris.To participate click on
Monday Doorways.

ABC Wednesday, O for Old City in Jerusalem

There are eight gates giving access to the Old City. Seven of them are open to people and even cars. The eighth is called the Golden Gate and is sealed. It will only open on Judgement Day.
It was wonderful to walk in those narrow winding streets and seeing them full of life like 2000 years ago.

The Old City is probably the most interesting part of Jerusalem and the most important site in Israel.
The walls around the Old City are over 400 years old.The Turkish ruler Suleiman The Magnificent was responsible for most of what remains today of the walls, which were constructed during 1538 and 1541. Other parts date back to the Crusaders and even further back to King Herod. The walls represent layer upon layer of history.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with O.