Justice for a Jewish Woman

Justice for a Jewish Woman

Reporter Michele Chabin of The Jewish Week has written about author Naomi Ragen’s efforts to help Rachel S., a religiously-observant mother from Jerusalem, who for the past ten years has been denied the right to see her children.

Ragen said she has championed Rachel’s battle “because I felt that as a woman living in the Land of Israel, I didn't want to live in a society where something like this can happen. In a country where a philandering husband and a wife abuser and a sexual pervert could manage to steal [number suppressed by court order] children away from their mother because she dared to leave him.”

Naomi Ragen comments in a message to her mailing list:

The husband’s lawyer, Mr. Schechter, always likes to say that the children are all grown up now. That the mother abandoned them. He forgets to mention the three-month-old and the three-year-old twins that haven’t seen their mother in ten years because of the brutality of the father and his “holy” allies who physically threatened the mother each time she attempted to contact her kids. That the children all claim no interest now in being together with their mother shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Rachel’s health has been deteriorating over the past several years due to stress and to her unhealthy living conditions. Naomi Ragen is raising money to help Rachel find a decent place to live and get on with her life. On-line donations can be made at All4Israel’s secure donations page. (Please be sure to write “For Rachel S. of Me’ah She’arim” in the comment box.)

The Blessed Railway Line

The Blessed Railway Line

Neat news for local railway buffs: two historians have found a rare section of Ottoman-era railroad tracks engraved with the Sultan’s blessing.

For the past two years, historians Yehuda Levanoni and Yaakov Shorer have been researching the Valley Railway. During the course of their work, they have witnessed how thieves have steadily depleted what is left of the antique tracks.

Levanoni and Shorer dreamed of finding an example of decorative railroad tracks, with the Ottoman Sultan's blessing molded onto them—very few of which were ever made.

Several months ago, while in the Negev, Levanoni came across railway tracks close to Kibbutz Mishmar ha-Negev, onto which a concrete structure had been erected. A closer inspection revealed that he had finally found what he had been looking for. [...]

While the exact reason for the decorative tracks is not known, Levanoni and other researchers believe that they were laid to mark the end of a section of the track, ahead of the inauguration ceremony. The blessing is in the name of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who initiated the ambitious Hijaz Railway project. The blessing reads, “Be strong with the blessing of our master, the Amir of faithful, Sultan Abdul Hamid II! And (Allah will) support him!” The inscription was translated by Yitzhak Abadi.

And In This Corner ...

And In This Corner ...

Her Ladyship, peeved and aggrieved over the incursion into her territory ...

The imperturbable Mr. Neighborcat ...

Here they are together (well, not exactly):

It reminds me of the parody version of the folk classic, “This Land Is Your Land.” Only Her Ladyship’s outraged howls don’t sound nearly as good.

Check out the Friday Ark at The Modulator and, on Sunday, the Carnival of the Cats, which will be at Scribblings.

Signs

Signs

Here are two signs I saw downtown recently.

I photographed this one from the bus, praying all the while that the light would stay red for just a few seconds more. Luckily for me, it did.

Translation: “The sign for Harat [the name of the establishment] used to be here. The municipality, out of the goodness of its heart, imposed a ‘modest’ tax on the sign, so we simply took it down.”

Now for this one, which I saw on a sidestreet near the open-air market:

Translation: “British out! Down with the White Paper!”

(Pretty retro, I’d say. This is the same type of sign as the ones that tell us that on Passover we should buy elephants, and that in February we should carve soap. Well, it did make an ordinary shopping trip more interesting.)

Introducing: Missy

Introducing: Missy

This is my neighbor’s new kitten, Her Ladyship’s housemate. On this blog, I’ll call her Missy.

Here she is making my acquaintance. I wonder whether she thinks I’m tasty enough.

“Hey! Who are you looking at?”

Meanwhile, Her Ladyship studiously ignores us and takes a snooze on my coat.

May I have my coat back, please, Your Ladyship?

When I’m good and ready. Maybe.

I took some movies of Missy tonight. All of them have her strong purr as the soundtrack. Here they are:

Missy and Me I

Missy and Me II

Missy and Me III

Missy and Me IV

(Check out this week’s Friday Ark at The Modulator, and the upcoming Carnival of the Cats at Curiouser and Curiouser.)

Art from Another Time

Art from Another Time

These painted windows are located in downtown Jerusalem on Jaffa Street, across from Zion Square. Does anyone out there know who painted them, when and why?

(I apologize for the shadow cutting off the top of the pictures.)

Good Things Come in Threes

Good Things Come in Threes

This week’s Carnival of the Cats is up at Pages Turned—in three parts!

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

All that warm, furry kitty goodness ... just the thing for a chilly, rainy November day (in the Northern Hemisphere, that is).

Kitten at the Feeding Station

Kitten at the Feeding Station

A kitten lounges calmly at our feeding station at work:

Catch the Friday Ark tomorrow at The Modulator and Sunday’s Carnival of the Cats at Pages Turned.

Bees on Basil Bush

Bees on Basil Bush

There is a lovely little garden at the entrance to the Binyamina railway station. One of the basil plants there has really taken off. I caught some photos of local bees working the blossoms:

Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect

Lately I’ve noticed something new on city buses and taxi vans: flat-screen monitors with rotating news updates. I guess that just proves the old saying that we Israelis can’t go too long without our news fix.

Recently I rode in a taxi van in the south. The van had a news screen, and I decided to see whether I would be able to photograph it. Turns out I was successful, but the really interesting item I discovered was the proximity between the following two headlines.

The screen below reads: “Palestinian Minister of the Interior: Organizations agreed to stop Kassam rocket fire”

(The word “organizations” in the headline refers to terrorist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.)

Here is the next screen in the rotation: “Anti-anxiety workshops in bomb shelters: [Moshav] Netiv ha-Asara tries to cope with Kassam rockets and sonic booms by holding workshops in bomb shelters”

I can’t help asking: if there really is an agreement to stop the Kassam rocket fire, then why should the residents of Netiv ha-Asara need these workshops?

(Just in case you were wondering, that’s a rhetorical question.)

A Play of Light and Shadow

A Play of Light and Shadow

I took these photos while traveling on the train on a cloudy, rainy day earlier this week. Here, the train leaves the Jerusalem hills under overcast skies:

The entrance to Bet Shemesh under heavy clouds. I particularly like the railway traffic light that “jumped into” my photograph as I took it from the moving train.

Later in the journey, the coastal plain under the clouds as they start to dissipate:

Meryl Yourish Needs a Job

Meryl Yourish Needs a Job

... and fast. Spread the word and let’s help her find one.

Yeah, What He Said

Yeah, What He Said

Lair Simon pegs it:

Folks, I have one word of advice: be yourself. If you look in the mirror and don’t see yourself, fix that.

If enough people are themselves, maybe those who are most uncomfortable with you as yourself will finally have the courage to stop displacing their discomfort with who they really are upon you.

Wise words in any context.

They bring back a memory from a long time ago, too. I grew up in a town where being yourself beyond a certain age (like, say, twelve) was regarded as quite the silly thing to do.

An illustration: during one class in middle school, we were supposed to introduce ourselves by telling our names and mentioning two things that we liked to do. One girl mentioned activities that seemed perfectly appropriate but that somehow earned her a storm of mocking remarks. At the end of the class, I heard one of the more popular girls lecture her: “How could you be so stupid as to say you like the activities you mentioned? I said I like to swim and ski, but do you think I actually enjoy them? I don’t—I only named them because I knew that would be a popular answer.”

I always wondered how she figured that out so young. I wonder whether she still thinks the same way today.

The Perfect Excuse: Backpack Attack

The Perfect Excuse: Backpack Attack

Ummm, Teacher ... I didn’t bring in my homework today because Pinocchio—she’s the picture framer’s cat at the local shopping center—attacked my backpack.

I know that sounds strange but here, Teacher, I’ll show you:

(See more kitty movies here, here and here.)

A tip of the Mediterranean sunhat to Avram of New Cat City, who turned me on to YouTube (pun intended). Go pay a visit to his beautiful orangeboys, Arthur and Beowulf, and give them some virtual skritches from me while you’re at it.

And be sure to check out today’s Friday Ark at the Modulator. This week’s Carnival of the Cats will be up at Watermark this coming Sunday.

Something New

Something New

Well, new to me, anyway: personal-size watermelons at the open-air vegetable market. The vendor was giving out free tastes, too, but I didn’t take one. Maybe tomorrow, after work.

A Visit to the Big Apple

A Visit to the Big Apple

One of my favorite pizza places in Jerusalem is Big Apple Pizza. It’s a franchise, and Jerusalem has three stores: two downtown and one in a new shopping center near where I work. Tel Aviv and Eilat have one franchise each, too, but I haven’t sampled them yet.

Each franchise in Jerusalem has memorabilia from New York City and from the rest of the US. One of the downtown stores even has a mural of the New York City skyline.

Of course, my favorite part of Big Apple Pizza is the pizza. It’s delicious, and I highly recommend it. While I’m at it, there’s something else about Big Apple that I like: the music.

Each franchise of Big Apple pizza plays the sort of music I grew up with. One branch even has tapes of radio broadcasts from popular rock-music radio stations in the greater New York area. (Imagine sitting in downtown Jerusalem and hearing what’s being played on Long Island—without benefit of laptop!) The branch I walked into yesterday was playing “Black Dog” from Led Zeppelin IV. And yes, nostalgia sells ... even for one who wasn’t much into rock as a teenager.

But besides the excellent pizza and the music from my youth, what really sold me on this new Big Apple Pizza franchise was its collection of license plates. The other Jerusalem franchises have collections, too, but this one takes the cake ... I mean, the pie. When I was a child traveling with my family, I used to enjoy looking out our car window and seeing license plates from different states, sometimes even from different countries. Now, you can get all the license plates you want from eBay. That’s what Roni, the franchise owner, did.

For anyone who is into license plates, here’s a bunch for your delectation. I’d include a slice of pizza, too, but I haven’t figured out how to upload one yet.

Want Some Passion in Your Life?

Want Some Passion in Your Life?

(Well, that title ought to get me some interesting traffic. Heh.)

In honor of the annual period in Israel known as aharei ha-hagim (after the holidays), here’s a passion flower ...

... and here’s the ripening fruit, next to a bud.

I would have preferred a passion flower with a bee on it, but I didn’t have time to wait for one to show up. Oh, well.

Israel produces a fine liqueur from the fruit, by the way. Just in case you have a ... well, passion for that sort of thing.

(Oh, all right. I’ll stop now.)

Bathing Beauty

Bathing Beauty

It’s said that cleanliness is next to godliness.

And Her Ladyship should know. After all, her ancestors were once worshipped as gods about a day’s drive from here, give or take a few hours.

(Check out The Modulator for this week’s Friday Ark, and Mind of Mog on Sunday for the upcoming Carnival of the Cats.)

On a Rainy Autumn Morning in Jerusalem ...

On a Rainy Autumn Morning in Jerusalem ...

I took my arba minim (four species) outside and waved ’em in the requisite directions as a light rain fell around me.

(Actually, Jewish tradition doesn’t consider rain on Sukkot particularly favorable, but as someone who has been inside sukkot in upstate New York amid freezing rain and falling snow, I’m not complaining.)

Mo’adim le-simha!

Trees at the Train Station

Trees at the Train Station

Israel Railways is busy beautifying the Tel Aviv Central Railway Station:

It’s not exactly the Jerusalem–Bet Shemesh line, but it’ll do. And oh, check out the pattern made by the tape.

(New stations are due to open in Dimona and Modi’in sometime in 2006. The Modi’in stations will eventually become part of the rapid Jerusalem–Tel Aviv line due to begin operation in 2008 or 2009. The stations are noted on the new railway map that I saw on the train last week, but the new map isn’t up on the website yet.)