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.

Religion, Whit Sunday

This Sunday and Monday we celebrate Whit Sunday and Whit Monday( or Whitsuntide)

It's the birth of the Christian Church for anybody who believes in Jesus Christ.

Whit weekend is usually the first holiday weekend of the year with any hope of decent weather, and a fine Whit Monday, which is now called " Late Spring Bank Holiday!" in England,will see families flocking to the coast or countryside.

THE ORIGINS OF THE FESTIVAL
Pentecost or Whitsun is observed on the seventh Sunday after Easter. The word Pentecost has its roots in the Greek "pentekoste" meaning the fiftieth day after Easter. Whit Sunday commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit in the form of flames to the Apostles, as recorded in the New Testament. The recent adoption of a Late Spring Bank Holiday on the last Monday in May is an attempt to deal with the fact that Whitsuntide is a moveable feast dependent on the date of Easter. Although it is no longer necessarily at the church's Whitsuntide, the general public still refers to this holiday as "Whit Monday." This is an old post, but I thought I could use it again. Happy Whitsunday!

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.

Traditions, Thought for the day

 HAPPY MOTHER''S DAY to all mothers who read my blog!

 Tomorrow we celebrate Mother's Day. Like in the UK we celebrate it on the second Sunday in May.
My daughter in Australia sent me a card from Oxfam saying that my present was a gift to the midwives in Laos. This is part of a world-changing program called Oxfam Unwrapped. I am very happy with this gift!! The fact that my children became good mothers, who also care for the rest of the world and think of such a gift, makes me proud of them and happy.
 She wrote on it:"From one mother to another mother for many other mothers."

 Wikipedia says:"UK holds the prestige of being the first country in the world to dedicate a special day for mothers It started when the Roman and British Empire converted to Christianity."

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.

Sky Watch, Commemoration of the Dead

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them".

The National Monument is a 1956 World War II monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam. A ceremony is held at the monument every year on 4 May to commemorate the casualties of World War II and subsequent armed conflicts.

A semicircular wall surrounds the back side of the monument. The wall contains eleven urns with soil from World War II execution grounds and war cemeteries in each of the Dutch provinces. Three years later, a twelfth urn was added with soil from the Dutch East Indies, present-day Indonesia.

Sky Watch is hosted each week by the Sky Watch team of Sandy,and Sylvia. And this week as every week, we remember Klaus and know that he joins us in spirit! .
It's always a pleasure to participate, and see all the other skies around the world. If you want to see other skies please click on the logo in the side bar.

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.

Our World Tuesday, Dutch Traditions, Queen's Day

Today the Queen celebrates her birthday, although her real birthday is on 31st January. She had chosen this day, because it was her mother's birthday and 31st January is not a day fit for outdoor activities. Queen Beatrix always visits two towns on Queen's Day. Today was a very special day, as the Royal Family was not complete. The Queen's second son is in a hospital in London due to the serious ski accident he was involved in at the beginning of this year.
She is an admirable lady, for she joined the festivities as ever and spoke with many people. In the end she thanked everybody saying that she was grateful for the day, but that it was sad that some members of her family couldn't be here.
Here in my village we had a market, but I stayed at home watching the TV. I had a friend visiting. She brought delicious cakes with orange coloured icing on top, so we had a nice cup of coffee.

Welcome to Our World Tuesday! This meme continues in memory of the work of Klaus Peter, whose "that's My World" brought people together from around the world every Monday to share the wonders therein--big and small.Please click on our new logo for "Our World Tuesday" in the sidebar.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos