A Study in Black and White

A Study in Black and White

Missy in the yard:

I really like black-and-white photography.

Today’s Friday Ark is up. Check out the Carnival of the Cats home page to find out where the next Carnival will be.

Camouflage

Camouflage

Her Ladyship blends in with the scenery:

Check out today’s Friday Ark. The Carnival of the Cats will be at The Catblogosphere on Sunday.

Urban Wheat

Urban Wheat

So I’m in one of Jerusalem’s industrial areas, about to cross a street. I look down and what do I see?

(Click to enlarge.)

What? Wheat!

This is pretty unusual. Wild barley and oats grow all over the city, but this is the first time I’ve actually seen wheat growing wild here (or anywhere else, for that matter).

Wheat. Wow.

Scaring the Birds Again, Eh?

Scaring the Birds Again, Eh?

When I went out to work one morning this past week, I heard the birds making a racket in the trees overhead. I didn’t know why until these two came sauntering out of the bushes to say hello.

Check out the 138th edition of the Friday Ark. And check out the Carnival of the Cats home page to see where the next CotC will be.

Interesting Bug

Interesting Bug

(Click to enlarge.)

I wonder what it is.

Kitty Muscles In

Kitty Muscles In

The lion is the symbol of Jerusalem. Recently, someone in my neighborhood decided to give the rampant Jerusalem lion a bit of competition:

I have no complaints!

An Honor from 6,000 Miles Away

An Honor from 6,000 Miles Away

Meryl Yourish has said on her blog that one of her jobs is teaching little Jews to be big Jews—in other words, teaching at her local religious school. I’ve been reading her descriptions of her classes for several years now, and more than once I’ve told her that I would love to be in her classroom.

Well, yesterday it happened.

I felt like saying hi to Meryl, so I sent her an IM. Turns out she was in class and online... and the next thing I knew, my living room in Jerusalem and her classroom in Richmond were linked through GoogleTalk!

Well, I’ve always said that the Internet is miraculous.

It was absolutely lovely. I heard her pupils’ voices and even got to sing one of my favorite songs with them: Uzi Hitman’s version of “Adon Olam.” By the time we said goodbye I was grinning from ear to ear and even a bit misty in the eyes.

Thank you, Meryl. What an honor.

(Can we do it again? I’ll go collect some more songs...)

Missy and Her Ladyship: Friends At Last?

Missy and Her Ladyship: Friends At Last?

Missy and Her Ladyship in a very rare pose, captured in pixels by my friend, their human companion:

Could it be friendship at last?

Check out the Friday Ark and the upcoming Carnival of the Cats, which will be at The Scratching Post on Sunday.

Close, Closer, Closest

Close, Closer, Closest

Seen on the way home from work:

(Click on any image to enlarge.)

Liviu Lebrescu, 1930–2007

Liviu Lebrescu, 1930–2007

A Holocaust survivor originally from Romania, Dr. Liviu Lebrescu gave his life to save his students during the massacre at Virginia Tech, blocking the door to his classroom with his own body to prevent the murderer from forcing his way in.

Both Meryl Yourish and Elisson have written must-read pieces about him and his final act of rescue.

May Dr. Lebrescu’s soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life, together with the souls of the other victims.

Becoming, Being

Becoming, Being

From this...

... to this.

My friend says that this plant, which festoons itself across fences and trees, is a parasitic weed. But it is beautiful and has a lovely fragrance.

(What is it? Anybody?)

UPDATE: It’s wisteria. Thank you, OldRoses and Jocelyn!

Stopping to Remember

Stopping to Remember

Traffic stops on a Jerusalem street during the siren sounded on the morning of Yom ha-Shoah, Holocaust Heroes’ and Remembrance Day.

Shimrit’s Garden

Shimrit’s Garden

My neighbor, Shimrit Ginott, got a well-deserved write-up in The Jerusalem Post’s local supplement, In Jerusalem, this week: The not-so-secret garden.

Once upon a time in the tranquil and otherwise leafy neighborhood of San Simon, there was a plot of land that nobody wanted. Occasionally blades of grass would poke through the broken concrete only to be flattened by rubble from a nearby building site or the odd municipal bulldozer sent to obliterate intrepid weeds.

Today, however, rosemary, irises, wild mint, periwinkle, geraniums, buddleias, lemon grass and olive trees now fill the space, and it's all thanks to the determination of one green-fingered resident.

For the past five years, Shimrit Ginott has spent up to an hour every day revamping this 3,000 square meter area, which lies just outside her apartment building.

Here are some pictures that I took in Shimrit’s garden a few weeks ago. (Click on any image to enlarge it.)

The entrance:

A young fig tree (with an interesting plant in the background):

Red and purple:

Down the garden path:

A riot of flowers:

An anemone:

Tire planter with sign:

The one thing that these pictures don’t capture is all the birdsong.

Cheers to Shimrit! How fortunate we are to have her for a neighbor.

Cats in Light and Dark

Cats in Light and Dark

A calico in the dark:

Her Ladyship in the light:

The Friday Ark is up.

The Carnival of the Cats is heading to Books4Israel on Sunday.

Hide ’n’ Seek

Hide ’n’ Seek

Two tabbies in downtown Jerusalem play the classic game.

Check out this week’s Friday Ark, and head over to the Carnival of the Cats home page to see where the next Carnival of the Cats will be.

Cheeto, Close Up

Cheeto, Close Up

My friends’ cat, the gorgeous Cheeto, is ready for his close-up.

Check out this week’s Friday Ark.

And check out this coming Sunday’s Carnival of the Cats.

Freight Train, Freight Train

Freight Train, Freight Train

As I was standing on the platform at the Binyamina train station a little while back, a pre-recorded announcement came over the loudspeaker asking people to move away from the track because a high-speed train was about to pass by.

Even though I was a good distance away from the track, I stepped back still further because I’m familiar with the powerful rush of air that these passing trains create. Still, I thought that the announcement was unusual. Since Binyamina is a train hub, to the best of my knowledge all northbound and southbound trains stop there.

So imagine my surprise when what passed us was not a train rushing southward to Tel Aviv, but rather a slow-moving freight train.

I guess they don’t have pre-recorded announcements that say, “You might want to stand away from the track, but it’s really no big deal. Low-speed freight train coming through!”

At the Tel Aviv Cinematheque

At the Tel Aviv Cinematheque

Here are two photos I took at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque last Friday. First, a bench with interesting legs:

Second, the house cat of the Tel Aviv Cinematheque drinks the water put out for him. (One of his ears is tipped; he has been neutered.)

There’s a look about his face that reminds me of his larger cousins.

Praying in Her Own Voice: Women of the Wall on Film

Praying in Her Own Voice: Women of the Wall on Film

This morning I went to the DocAviv International Documentary Film Festival in Tel Aviv with other members of Women of the Wall to see Praying in Her Own Voice (Hebrew title: Kol be-isha tefilla), a film about our group and its legal struggle that was made by history professor and filmmaker Yael Katzir. I came out extremely moved, and wonderful to relate, I wasn’t the only one by far. It seems that the entire audience—which filled the largest auditorium at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque almost to capacity—was, too.

Yael, who spent four years making this film, put her heart and soul into it. Most important, she understood us. She got us: who we are, what we’re about (and, just as important, what we’re not about), what we want and why it is important to Israeli society and to Judaism as a whole. Thanks to her film, Israelis now understand that for the first time... and if we can judge by the audience’s reaction—prolonged, loud applause at the end of the film and the heartfelt comments they made to us after we left the theater—they get it, too.

People have already asked me where they can buy Praying in Her Own Voice on DVD, and I hope that soon I will be able to tell them. I recommend it highly: not because I am involved in Women of the Wall or because I appear in the film (a little), but rather because in my opinion it shows who we are, truly and simply, and why our struggle for the equal right of Jewish women’s prayer groups to worship according to their custom at the Western Wall has implications that go far beyond ourselves.

I had an additional reason for wanting to see the film, however: I did the subtitles, and for the most part, they came out very well.

I can hear my half-dozen readers ask: What do you mean, they came out very well? If you did them yourself, shouldn’t you know how they came out?

As it turns out, not quite.

When Yael asked me to do the subtitles, I asked a good friend of mine who graduated from the Maale School of Film, Television and the Arts several years ago to meet with me and show me the ropes. She graciously agreed, and during our talk she warned me that errors often creep into the subtitles after they have left the translator’s hands. Someone changes something during the editing stage, or the person responsible for uploading the titles may make a mistake somewhere. She recommended that I be present for the uploading to make sure that didn’t happen, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out. And indeed, changes were made and some few errors were introduced into the text after it left my hands. At this point, it can’t be helped.

But that’s a secondary, technical point. Most important is the film’s message, which comes through loud and clear thanks to Yael’s perceptive and compassionate eye. So go see Praying in Her Own Voice if you have a chance, or buy the DVD when it becomes available. I’ll certainly post the relevant information here when it is.

The Skirt Sharer

The Skirt Sharer

This tortie I met downtown likes to share my skirt.

Today’s Friday Ark.

The Carnival of the Cats will be at Scribblings on Sunday.