More Pictures Less Talk

Abu Ghosh Village- known in Old Testament as Kiriath-Jearim and Emmaus in New Testament

Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant - traditional site of where the Ark was kept before David moved it to Jerusalem. 1 Samuel 7:1 and 1 Chron 13:5-8

Statue on top of Ark of the Covenant Church

Crusader Church in Abu Ghosh

Outside of Crusader church

Mount Herzl and Military Cemetary Grave of Yitzhak Rabin

Many of the graves have the picture of the fallen soldier

All graves after 1948 have the Star of David on them

The Judean Desert south of Jerusalem Camel from a group of eleven belonging to local Bedouin Flowers in the desert

Safari in a Land Rover

Desert with Dead Sea and Moab Mts. (in Jordan) in the background

From Bagels to Shakshuka

Each Wednesday afternoon at our weekly CFI staff meeting, we have a speaker who comes to talk about an aspect of Israeli life. Just in our short time here, we have had some very interesting people speak including an orthodox rabbi but this week was very special as we had a soldier (a tank commander) who participated in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. The room sat spell bound for an hour and a half while he relayed his experiences of being told the country was at war and that he was "going in." He seemed so young - only 21 - to be in charge of other soldiers but displayed such maturity and was obviously very dedicated to his men and what they were doing in protecting their country. He felt they were forced by world opinion (especially the US) to stop the mission and knows that he will have to return another time. He starts Officer Training for the next 8 months and will stay in the Defense Force although his mother wants him to become a doctor. He had a wonderful sense of humor and had us laughing followed by very serious moments when he described the Friendly Fire that killed several soldiers. Although military service is mandatory, it seems many if not most are proud to serve in what they consider the toughest defense force in the world. For your information, CFI has a ministry to the Israeli soldiers providing fleece jackets and bathrobes. The woman who runs the program has been doing it for 14 years and has a wonderful reputation with the soldiers and officers; they can't believe that Christians through out the world care about them and are providing these items as well as other care packages. It has made a major difference in their lives and the way they think about Christians.

Next Wednesday is Independence Day (61 years) and we are celebrating at

Anita wrapped in the Star of David

the Distribution Center by hanging flags and having Israeli food for lunch (that's where I come in.) When Ranil suggested we do the holiday food, I thought, Ok, how hard can it be to buy some bagels and cream cheese and I even know how to make kugel. Little did I know another learning curve was on the way. We really got into the festive mood and decided we should have Israeli food all four days we are working. I got suggestions from everyone (my first mistake) and spent time on the internet looking up recipes and came up with the menu for the week. Forget the bagels and kugel - we are going for shakshuka - I can barely say it but I'm going to cook it. It sounds just awful but I've been assured it tastes wonderful (?) One day we will have falafel with tahini sauce - I was told to buy ready made frozen falafel because the texture has to be just right or people can choke (?)(?) I'll do that as I certainly don't want to kill anyone. One recipe that really sounds good is chicken marinaded in date honey and grilled along with Mediterranean zucchini. Ranil is making shwarma using red turkey meat (?) served with various salads (piled in the pita bread.) I've already checked with the butcher who tells me he sells red turkey and will have it for me on Monday. (I have found a new butcher located next to my laundry who has become my new best friend - he speaks English very well and is so nice and helpful - unusual.) The only thing I'm actually sure about cooking next week is the cake for Tuesday. When we come home, anyone reading this blog is invited to come to the house for shakshuka and red turkey. Can you tell my life is about food these days.

Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Day of Remembrance

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day when Israel commemorates the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. At 10 a.m. this morning, sirens sounded throughout the entire country for a period of two minutes. Everyone stopped what they were doing and the country came to a complete standstill including all cars and buses, even those on the highways. We at CFI went into the street and stood with everyone else - it was very moving - nobody said a word but just stood with bowed heads. Last night the television had no entertainment but had documentaries and actually some movies on the Holocaust or related talk shows. Some stations had 6 burning candles up on the screen with solemn music playing and flags are at 1/2 staff today. Each day brings the realization of what this country has endured from biblical times forward.

Paul, The Crusaders and Lebanon

Yesterday we had our first opportunity to venture outside of Jerusalem and took an all-day tour north along the Mediterranean. Our first stop was at Caesarea built by Herod in 22 BC and the seat of the Roman government in Palestine for over 500 years. Peter came to Caesarea and preached the Gospel in the home of Cornelius following his vision. (Acts 10)
Remains of a palace from Roman times
The U-shaped hippodrome for chariot racing
Ruins of the bathhouse
The port of Caesarea where Paul was sent off for Rome
Paul spent two years in prison in Caesarea. He made his defense before Felix, Festus, and King Herod Agrippa II before being sent off at his request to Rome (Acts 23-27)

The next stop was at the Crusader City of Acre (or Akko) - another amazing city with a well restored Subterranean Crusader City with a Knight's Hall, courtyard, dining hall and a Templar's tunnel which connected the port with a Crusader palace. Your imagination can really conjure up all sorts of fantasy in this place.
This is where the knights resided

The final stop with at Rosh Hanikra on the border with Lebanon
The grottos of Rosh Hanikra
The border gate with Lebanon (reminded us of North and South Korea)
Beirut was closer than Jerusalem

Note on today's shopping - I got all the receipts I needed this week and in good time as well. I did, however, end up by mistake in the express lane at the supermarket with a huge amount of food for check out while the people behind me had one or two items. I know what they were thinking as I've thought the same thing myself when I get behind "one of those people."

Orthodox Easter

Thinking that many visitors and pilgrims had left the city following Easter, we thought today would be good for going into the Old City and visiting some of the smaller, less visited churches and perhaps even be fortunate enough to go into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre without all the crowds. As we neared the Jaffa Gate, we saw a huge crowd of people just standing around waiting for something to happen - that something to happen was the opening of the Gate. No one could go in because of the Orthodox Easter celebration and processions. Not to be detered, we went around to the Damascus Gate and entered that way. We though last weekend was crowded but it paled in comparison to this weekend. Many Russian, Greek, Syrian and Armenian Orthodox were represented with the groups having their own drum and bagpipe "band" (for lack of a better word) which paraded all over town. We were surprised that Syrians were permitted into the country but we talked to a Syrian woman who was in the city visiting her sister for the holiday. There was once again a very large police/military presence and everyone was stopped at check points. Once you were in the city, it was hard to get back out because of all the people lined up at the various check points or the processions and bands blocking the narrow alleyways. We once again got caught up in the whole mixture. So on our church-seeing day, we saw only one church, Christ Church, and then just went with the flow - literally - for the rest of the day. It turned into another 8 hours of walking and gawking but we went to our favorite Italian restaurant near the Jaffa Gate and had a great lunch plus a very interesting conversation with two Christian Arab men. Obviously there are two sides to any story and they wanted to tell theirs. The following are some miscellaneous pictures inside the Old City and outside as well. Orthodox pilgrims celebrating Easter

The old Arab village of Silwan, climbing the slopes

of Mount of Olives and across from the City of David

Replica of Liberty Bell in Liberty Bell Garden
US Liberty Bell has inscribed on it the words written by Isaiah:

"Proclaim liberty throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof."

The same words were used to announce Israel's independence in 1948

The famous King David Hotel bombed

during the British Mandate Period

Christ Church, the Holy Land's first

Protestant Church built in 1849

Toy shop

Ready-made bridal bouquets

Spice mountain with Dome of the Rock on top

Street vendor

Jerusalem sized bagel

Some colorful fashions with matching scarf

The lively Damascus Gate which is

the entrance to the Muslim Quarter

Prayer shawl covering

Haredi jew and sons going to Wall

A rare close up of a Haredi jew

The Dome of the Rock built in 688-91
with Western Wall in front - a retaining

wall from time of the Second Temple

Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Matzoh but Were Afraid To Ask

Some of the vendor's stalls from my Monday quest

All I needed were a few eggs

and a couple of fish

What's matzoh without a little cream cheese

This looks like bread but somehow it's not

When we made the commitment to come to Israel, Jay and Bonita started giving us survival tips and this week they came in handy. One of the first things they told us was to expect a "baligone" (chaotic situation) every now and then. I have no idea how to spell this word but I certainly learned first hand what they meant. Monday morning I went to the shuk as usual to do the weekly food shopping for the the Distribution Center. As we need a receipt (ka-baa-la) - no idea of the spelling of this word either - for everything we buy, I always go to one specific man who gives a kabaala with no difficulty. Unfortunately (for me) he was not on duty that morning probably due the Passover holiday and the person filling in for him wouldn't give me a receipt. I had of course chosen the produce, he had weighed it and I was getting ready to pay when I asked for the kabaala. "No kabaala." "Yes, need kabaala. Always get a kabaala here." "No kabaala!" So I had to leave everything there - all 15 bags of various fruits and vegetables and start off for another stall that would give me what I needed - a receipt. Sounds pretty simple - not. What should have taken about 30 minutes max ended up taking over 2 1/2 hours. I had to go from stall to stall asking for the "K" word - sometimes I could get it but it might be for 5 apples, then I'd find a stall that would give me one for 2 heads of broccoli - are you getting the picture - some sell just fruit, some just vegetables or maybe just one product as nuts, meat or bread. I was lucky to find one where I got 4 items. I left there with 9 kabaala and headed for the supermarket - Monday was right in the middle of Pesah (Passover) and the shelves were pretty sparse ...no eggs, no bread of course and even things like peanut butter were covered up and couldn't be bought. What do I know? I got what I could at the first supermarket and headed to another - that was another two, (you know, "K's") for a total of 11. I had not found everything on my list but just decided "enough." My fascination/love affair of the shuk has now officially ended. Now the one thing that we had plenty of this week was matzoh.

Pizza matzoh Regular matzoh

Chocolate matzoh

Did you know that you can take regular matzoh, soak it in a little water, put it in a skillet with some oil, add an egg and - you have an omelet! You can take regular matzoh, soak it in a little water, put it in a skillet with oil, add some apples and bananas and - you have some kind of a dessert! Take regular matzoh, soak it in a little water, put it in a skillet with oil, put on a layer of tomato sauce, some olives, cheese or what ever you might like and - you have a pizza! I'm just happy that we can start to eat bread again on Thursday. We have some people at the DC who feel they have to be especially careful of what they eat during Passover (bread, pasta, etc.) - they are Jewish believers so as the cook I try to be sensitive to every one's wishes. I froze the bread and covered the pasta but I still did a no-no. I thought as long as the meat and milk weren't mixed in the same recipe, it was okay but it's what is mixed in your stomach that counts so that means no meat and dairy at the same meal. Today I made my "old standbys'' Country Chicken Kiev and Nebraska green beans -the beans have sour cream - first mistake - and the chocolate pudding I mixed with whipped cream - second mistake - the chicken and potatoes were okay. Those following the kosher path have to wait as long as 6 hours to eat dairy if they have eaten meat or vice versa. Others at the DC feel they are free to eat what they want as they are not under the Law. That has made for some interesting conversations this week between the two groups. Barbara (from Australia) and I were rather pleased about the chocolate pudding thing - lots more for us. Pesah has presented a very interesting week - I'm rather glad we won't be here for Yom Kippur. I can only imagine.

WOW! This is how to do Easter

Happy Easter to one and all. Jesus has risen! (John 20:1-18)

The empty Garden Tomb

Easter started with a sunrise service at the Garden Tomb at 6:30 . A second one followed at 9:30 and we learned this evening that over 2,500 people had attended. The music was presented by the worship team from King of Kings congregation where we attend and the Anglican clergy gave the message. It was incredible to be there in this wonderful garden - of course there is no consensus on whether this is Jesus's actual burial site but I like to think that it was as it is the most perfect place.