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.
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.
On my way to Australia I stayed in this hotel for a couple of hours. There was a great deal of reflection!
On my way back to the Netherlands I was stranded in Hong Kong Airport due to a typhoon.
We had to wait 28 hours before we could take off. We supported each other and became almost friends.
We tried to sleep on the floor or on the seats, but both options were uncomfortable.
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. Weekend
Reflections was started on 27 September 2009, by James. You can join
this meme at some time during the weekend. Just post your photo and go
to James to tell him that you are on, or click on the logo in the
sidebar.This meme is created for any type of reflection.
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.
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.
The last day of my holiday in Australia my family and I stayed in this holiday resort. Our apartment was on the groundfloor. When we opened the backdoor we could go into the swimming pool. My daughter and granddaughter have the same height, and the same size of clothes. In one of the photos you can see them both in the swimming pool standing side by side. The baby on her father's lap was enjoying the sight of the pool. The weather was fine.
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.
Weekend
Reflections was started on 27 September 2009, by James. You can join
this meme at some time during the weekend. Just post your photo and go
to James to tell him that you are on, or click on the logo in the
sidebar.This meme is created for any type of reflection.
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.
As I am now in Australia, I dedicate this post to this fabulous continent and its people!
This song was sung in 2000 at the opening of the Olympic Games in Sydney. It was so impressive to see the original inhabitants of Australia singing this together with the descendants of Europeans who came here after 1770 when James Cook arrived.
I came from the dream-time, from the dusty red soil plains
I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame.
I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come.
For forty thousand years I’ve been the first Australian.
We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian
I came upon the prison ship, bowed down by iron chains.
I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.
I’m a settler, I’m a farmer’s wife on a dry and barren run
A convict then a free man, I became Australian.
We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian
I’m the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode
The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road
I’m a child of the depression, I saw the good times come
I’m a bushy, I’m a battler, I am Australian
We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian
I’m a teller of stories, I’m a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira, I paint the ghostly gums
I am Clancy on his horse, I’m Ned Kelly on the run
I’m the one who waltzed Matilda, I am Australian
We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian
I’m the hot wind from the desert, I’m the black soil of the plains
I’m the mountains and the valleys, I’m the drought and flooding rains
I am the rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land, I am Australian
We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian
I am, you are, we are Australian.
We are one .. We are many .. We are Australian!
With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC and to Roger who took over from Denise. For more interesting
ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking
for words beginning with A.
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.
Before I came to Israel Dina asked mewhat 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.
