Went to Visit a Mama and Baby

Josh and I went to see our friend Neora the other day. Neora had a baby (baby boy named Shalev) five months back, so we went to say hello and to cuddle them both. We ate in a fig grove, walked around Neora's kibbutz (Kibbutz Barkai) and played with Shalev. It was a sweet day!

Kitten Rescue

Israel is overrun with cats. Most are homeless, but some are pets who are allowed to wander the streets. Josh and I are obviously opposed to this pet ownership style in a city full of busy roads and crazy drivers.  But back to the homeless cats. This is truly a sad situation. We've seen some seriously ill cats during our time here and it has been very hard to walk away from these little guys.  And now an ever more difficult situation -- it's spring, and that means KITTENS! Kittens in the bushes, in courtyards, playing under parked cars, arggggg, I just want to take them all home.

One night a few weeks back Josh called and said that he was bringing home one of these kittens. Now, usually we do walk by and say a little prayer for these animals as we cannot do much to help. We can't adopt another cat and we can bring one home because this is not our apartment. But on this particular night there was hot sand storm going on, hamseen in Hebrew, and Josh heard the yelps of a little kitten on his way home from school. This was a tiny kitten. It was not a cat, or even a kitten, it was really a kittenlet. It was tiny, dirty, and very hungry. Sometimes it is just not possible to walk by and not do anything......

So, we bathed her, fed her a tiny morsel of tuna, and brought her to one of the few no-kill shelters in Jerusalem. They were not going to take her, but then relented. She was just that cute! Also, our 100 nis
donation helped. I hope she's doing well. We still miss her dirty little face.

                                          
                                            
 She tried to woo me with her sad little eyes.

Feed me or I'll kill you.

Picnic!

[THIS POST IS BY JOSHY]

Went to a picnic a few weeks ago. Ate cotton candy, grilled meat, and corn. Some fighter jets flew over.

Wonderful fighters, that--despite how sad we are about this region being a place of interminable war--can make you feel proud. I don't know...maybe it's just the tremendous blasts of sound and speed.

We were celebrating Yom HaAtzma'ut, Israeli Independence day...that remarkable day in 1948 that Ben Gurion and other decided to declare the Jewish State. (It's called, appropriately, the Nakba, the catastrophe, by Palestinians.)

Anyway, the day has developed a tradition of public bbqing that puts the 4th of July to shame. Israelis haul out basically their entire apartments into the parks, and live there for the holiday. We set up our own tent...and made a day of it.

Here are some photos of pre-party gathering...and some cooked corn. Art photography.

'

Free Beer

First Beer

Candy

Nice Corn

Surrealist Instructions

Grill

Everything is possible / It is not too late

This weekend Josh and I are going on a RRC shabbaton (a sabbath getaway). This is one of several trips arragned for us by RRC, but the theme is the same: education and coexistence. 

RRC is concerned with educating rabbis about many things, and perhaps one of the most important is social justice. There is no better place to learn about social justice than in Israel -- a place where some would argue there is actually very little of it. BUT, having spent the better part of the year here I have a lot of hope that one day Israel will be known as a place of coexistence, and I think the destination of our shabbaton is a place where that can begin: The Ein - Shemer Environmental Greenhouse, a place where Israeli and Palestinian teens come together to work on environmental and arts projects. 

The video below explains the founding and goals of this unique place.

Ginge, a love story

Many months back Josh and I found a dirty and tiny kitten in our building's courtyard. Being somewhat rational we realized we could not keep him. We gave him some roasted chicken and put him back outside, feeling quite poorly about our inability to do anything else. Very luckily, our neighbor adopted the kitten that is now an awkward looking bigger kitten. We get to see Ginge often, which is awesome. It's also awesome to see people actually caring about the cats in Jerusalem. Here are two photos of Ginge having a "moment" with his friend Josh.

Orthodox Gaga!

Just a bit more proof that Lady Gaga is penetrating into cultural nooks and crannies.

A video from an Orthodox Jewish wedding. I'm willing to bet most of the guests do now know who Lady Gaga is. But the band and the groom and bride know, which is surprising and a bit strange! 

scenes from a (sibling) visit (pt 2)

After running around Jerusalem we needed a more relaxing pace of things. Along with Josh and Noah's cousin Noam, we headed out to the Dead Sea. Staying at the Ein Gedi Hostel, we enjoyed cozy quarters. It was like a slumber party, but with no one crying at the end of the night.

Josh and Noah reverted back to their childhood :)

We visited the Eing Gedi Spa and enjoyed the traditional spoils of mud. The skin will never feel as nice as it did after our muddy frolic!

Noah, Josh, and Noam

Closer.

Josh, in real life.

                                                                                        Dirty happy people.

scenes from a (sibling) visit (pt 1)

On March 7th Samantha and Noah showed up at our doorstep. It was a looong-awaited visit, and we hugged them extra hard to say "hey, we really really really missed you!" Their time here was a bit on the short side, but we still did and ate many great things. I was hoping Noah would have time to cook up a feast at some point, but alas, that did not happen. I expect he will satisfy my fandom for his food this summer with some nice bbq artistry. 

This man knows how to grill. 

At the beginning of our trip we took S & N to the shuk for food exploration/consumption. 

We usually like listening to one another.....but Noah or I must have been boring at this point.

We bought some loose-leaf teas, including one of the apple variety that S & I found particularly tasty. I will come home with a large bag of this brew.

 We continued our festivities at The Blue Hole, Josh's bar of choice. 

We made it over to the Old City where Josh took us around. He's an Old City expert, that one.


One of our favorite Old City finds was the Austrian Hospice, from which one can get a real view of the old city. We stayed up here for a long time, and could have stayed for an entire day. Truly great.

These dudes enjoyed the view as well. Dome of the Rock on your left.

Candles lit on the side of the cave of ascension, inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Josh's favorite Jesus painting from Holy Sepulchre.

Two shots of Noah taking shots.

At an Ethiopian Church, which is located on top of The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

A group recreation of Jesus' walk with the cross on the Via Dolorosa. 

Mirinda!

Flowers, Birds, a Tiger Mask, Bejeweled Hands, and Weird Beards

Another lovely trip up north. This time we got some a bird and wildflower guides & set about
identifying things. Only the flowers showed up as the birds were more elusive.

Aformentioned identifications on Mnt. Gilboa:

 

 Mnt. Gilboa mud:

And last night was Purim, a Carnival-type holiday that celebrates the wit and triumph of Queen Esther
over the the villainous Haman. Scenes from Purim offered w/out comment: