Ruminations from the Temple

There are three forms of visual art:  Painting is art to look at,  sculpture is art you can walk around,  and architecture is art you can walk through. ~Dan Rice 3: From An Ant’s Perspective 4: The experiment 5: Power 6: Tragedy 7: Mirror 8: A stranger 9: Hate 10: Waiting 11: Wheels 12: Fear 13: Pleasure 14: Forty-two 15: Wood 16: Ordinary matters 17: Time 18: Fire 19: White 20: Bird 21: Moon 22: Portrait 23: Fish tales 24: Crowd 25: The future 26: My toothbrush 27: Nude 28: Outlier 29: Lines 30: The Devil

I remember a time when my people were publicly mocked and slandered. I remember a time when my people were confused, frightened and humiliated by their neighbors. I remember a time when my people were separated from their homes, their lives...their families. I remember a time when my people were loaded into cattle train cars against their will. I remember a time when my people were herded into filthy camps and forced into slave labor. I remember a time when my people were beaten, starved and killed brutally. I remember a time when no one stopped it. I remember a time when six million of my people were killed needlessly. I remember the time I first heard the truth. I remember. Every day. Abba, Please be with with all those remembering the atrocities of the Holocaust today, this Yom HaShoah . I thank you for the opportunity to honor the memories of my people and I beg You, the Almighty One, that it never happen again. b'Shem Yeshua, Amein March of Remembra...

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion in the far north, The city of the great King. God, in her palaces, Has made Himself known as a stronghold. For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, They passed by together. They saw it, then they were amazed; They were terrified, they fled in alarm. Panic seized them there, Anguish, as of a woman in childbirth. With the east wind You break the ships of Tarshish. As we have heard, so have we seen In the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God; God will establish her forever. Selah. We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God, In the midst of Your temple. As is Your name, O God, So is Your praise to the ends of the earth ; Your right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad, Let the daughters of Judah rejoice Because of Your judgments. Walk about Zion and go around her; Count her ...

Haven't posted for a week - I think that's a new record! I have been very busy, not only with getting ready for company and taking Rose to appointments, but with my newest task. Choreography has not really ever been my thing, but I was asked to assist with a local production incorporating more of a 'Jewish' feel into their dances. Hmmmm ....what an undertaking for me! Choreography seems to have always been an issue for me. I have great ideas, but somehow piecing them together in a cohesive unit seems overwhelming. I really am just a dancer. *sigh* You would think that with dancing Hebrew and Israeli folk dances for the last (almost) eight years, not to mention dancing all my life, it would just flow. Not so. Stretching our limits is a good thing, right? My good friend, Gary, who was gracious enough to teach me all that I know of Hebrew dancing has been helping to get the creative juices flowing by getting the dancing going again on Shabbat afternoons. It is wo...

view from Mt. Carmel My heart lives in Israel, especially on Thanksgiving. I pray that one day I will be able to return to my beloved Land. Happy Thanksgiving to all my loyal readers - I hope you have a wonderful holiday filled with family and food!

The Kotel, Western Wall in Jerusalem I took this photo on my first pilgrimage to Israel Today is Tisha b'Av, the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av, the saddest day in Jewish history. It is on this date that both the first and second Temples were destroyed, as well as other horrific moments in history. Another photo I took of The Kotel from the walkway you see on the right side of the first photo Five misfortunes befell our fathers ... on the ninth of Av. ...On the ninth of Av it was decreed that our fathers should not enter the [Promised] Land, the Temple was destroyed the first and second time, Bethar was captured and the city [Jerusalem] was ploughed up. -Mishnah Ta'anit 4:6 ...Should I weep in the fifth month [Av], separating myself, as I have done these so many years? -Zechariah 7:3 In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month ...came Nebuzaradan ... and he burnt the house of the L-RD... -II Kings 25:8-9 In...

Yom Ha’atzmaut is the celebration of Israel’s independence on the 5th day of the month of Iyar. It commemorates the declaration of statehood (May 14th 1948). The rebirth of the Land of Israel marked the first time in 1900 years that the Jewish people had a free and independent homeland. On the 5th of Iyar, Israel celebrates her independence with joyous festivities. Jewish people around the world join in the anniversary celebrations with their own community celebrations. In Israel Yom Ha'atzmaut is a national holiday. Government offices, banks, educational institutions, and most commercial establishments are closed for the day. In the synagogues Yom Ha'atzmaut is marked with the recital of the Hallel prayer (Palms of Praise), and around the country the Israeli government and local municipalities conduct official ceremonies. Yom Ha'atzmaut is concluded with the ceremony of granting the "Israel Prize" recognizing individual Israelis for their unique contribution...

train car displayed at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel. Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 21, 2009 The Holocaust was the systematic annihilation of six million Jews by the Nazi regime during World War 2. In 1933 approximately nine million Jews lived in the 21 countries of Europe that would be occupied by Germany during the war. By 1945 two out of every three European Jews had been killed. The European Jews were the primary victims of the Holocaust. But Jews were not the only group singled out for persecution by Hitler’s Nazi regime. As many as one-half million Gypsies, at least 250,000 mentally or physically disabled persons, and more than three million Soviet prisoners-of-war also fell victim to Nazi genocide. Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Social Democrats, Communists, partisans, trade unionists, Polish intelligentsia and other undesirables were also victims of the hate and aggression carried out by the Nazis. The train car above is so symbolic to me. When I t...

I have had the distinct pleasure of visiting Masada twice now; it is, without a doubt, one of the most touching places I have ever visited in my life. The first time was really the first time that the story of Masada truly hit home. This is the view from the top of Masada looking over the Dead Sea... According to Josephus, a first-century Jewish Roman historian, Herod the Great fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE as a refuge for himself in the event of a revolt. In 66 CE, at the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War against the Roman Empire, a group of Jewish extremists called the Sicarii overcame the Roman garrison of Masada. After the destruction of the Temple, the Jewish rebels and their families fled Jerusalem and settled on the mountain top, using it as a base for raiding Roman settlements. The current access to the top of the mountain is called 'the Snake Path', which is one of three trails leading to the top. My friend Beverly and I decided, on my second visit, to c...

Some of the finest soldiers in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) pose for me on my way up Mount Carmel in 2005. Yeah, it was a few years ago, but I'll never forget that day...or Israel. Am Israel Chai!

In honor of Tu B'Shvat, I'd like to remember the Land today. Baruch HaShem

In preparation for the celebration of Tu B'Shvat tomorrow, a pic of last year's goodies. The new year marking for the trees, we gather to enjoy the fruits and nuts of the Land and each other's company. Almonds, figs, dates, pecans, carob, olives and of course, wine....mmmm! Am Israel chai!