My friends Randy and Joy in Hezekiah's Tunnel

My Alaska friends Randy and Joy Thompson in Hezekiah's Tunnel.  One last trip through before I return home on Tuesday.

Walk to Bethlehem

Got up early one morning this week and decided to walk to Bethlehem.  It's not all that far, about 10-12K from where I'm staying. I didn't go through the checkpoint, just turned around at the Wall. I was back at the Mamilla Mall having coffee and danish by 9:45.

Sukkot in Jerusalem

The festival of Sukkot commemorates the time when the Exodus generation lived in the desert; a time when they had no permanent homes to live in. The Bible calls it the Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of the Ingathering, the Feast at the Turn of the Year, or just "The Feast." This festival lasts seven days and immediately follows Yom Kippur, a day of repentance and reflection. Later, this feast became associated with the giving of the Law to Moses and even with Solomon's consecration of the temple.

One of the customs is to build a sukkah (booth) on your roof, balcony, or porch. Basically a sukkah has to have at least three sides made of nearly anything. The roof, I surmise, has to be made of something organic. There has to be more shade than space open to the sun, but the roof has to be open to the sky. This sukkah is to be decorated. It's customary to eat and sleep in the sukkah during the festival.  If it is cold and rainy, you can go indoors. The point is not to make life miserable but to remember one's roots.

I took a walk through a nearby neighborhood of Jerusalem to get a few photos of Sukkah's.  I saw sukkas made of plywood, shower doors, tarps...you name it.

The last day of the feast is Simchat Torah, which celebrates Moses' receiving of the Law. It also ends the prior year's cycle of Torah reading and begins a new one. The photo above is a pile of lulavs that are waved toward the east, south, west, and north, above and below.  I went to the western wall plaza to see what was going on and saw lots of people carrying mattresses around for their first night's sleep. Virtually no one was at the Western Wall as you can see. I tried to be considerate, as you are not supposed to take pics on the plaza during high holy days.

One last picture of an apartment building with various kinds of sukkas on the porches.

Who Would have Known?

Full page ad in the paper. Who would have known that the Messiah is in Tel Aviv?

Early morning Anderson hike

Went on an early morning Anderson hike today. For some reason no one would go with me. I found a few friends that followed me up the wadi.  If you squint you can see the Old City and the Dome of the Rock in the background. This is a sight you can only get in East Jerusalem. Nice contrasts.

Sunrise and Moon sets

The days are getting shorter here, but not much cooler. Here is a pic of the sunrise over the Mt. of Olives and the moon ducking behind the Eastern Wall of the Old City.

Religious Demographic Changes in Jerusalem

When I first came to Israel in 1997 my impression was that the country was predominantly secular. At that time four out of every five immigrants were from Russia and these immigrants had little interest in religion. So in my classes, I've given the impression that things haven't changed all that much.  I was wrong. I realize Jerusalem is its own unique case, but I've been reading a lot here about the profound changes in religious demographics.  There are about 800,000 people in Jerusalem. About 35% are Muslim Palestinians, 31% secular Jews, 31% ultra-orthodox Jews, and 3% Christians and other affiliations. But the fastest-growing segment of the population is the ultra-orthodox Jews. About 65% of the school kids in Jerusalem now are from ultra orthodox families. You know the 18th century Eastern European black suits with the big black hats,  hair side locks for the men and the scarves/wigs for the women . . . and lots of 21st century double-wide baby strollers! This is creating some tensions as secular Israelis are leaving Jerusalem, to the tune of about 20,000 in the last seven years, to go to other parts of the country.  I've been following the politics a little in Haaretz and Time Magazine where the recent government coalition fell apart over the draft. In Israel today, all men serve 3 years and women serve 2 years in the military. The ultra-orthodox are exempt from having to serve and are even subsidized by the state to study Torah. That was my biggest surprise. Unemployment among orthodox men is well over 50% as they receive financial incentives from  the state to study at the Yeshivas. So this summer, there were several proposals requiring some kind of government service, but all of them blew apart. There's also pressure on businesses to close on the Sabbath, to take women's pictures off public billboards, and even to have separate seats in the back of the bus for women, as well as separate rail cars in the above ground rail. Some secular Jews are up in arms over the issue, so much so that some of the tensions between the Jews and Arabs have been moved to the back burner. So to my students, when I said that Israel was much more secular than they typically imagine, at least for Jerusalem, that is no longer the case.