Additional Pictures

The following picture shows the infamous “green line” fence that separates East Jerusalem from West Jerusalem. This picture was taken from an observation point near the Rothschild windmill. The fence is just below the top of the hill. Click on the picture for an enlarged view.




The Rothschild windmill was one of the first structures built outside of the walls of the old city and was used as an observation point during several of the wars that Israel has been involved with.





The next pictures are of an art gallery in Jerusalem and are included for a cousin --- she will know as soon as she sees them.





The last picture does NOT say IGIS, so don’t bother asking what that means. It actually says LOTO (pronounced low-tow) and is where people can buy scratch-off lottery tickets. I don’t know if they have weekly games as well, but these booths are prevalent throughout Jerusalem.

Erev Sukkoth

The festival of Sukkoth begins at sundown this evening. Since the end of Yom Kippur on Saturday night people here in Jerusalem have been busy building and decorating their sukkah in preparation for the holiday, and you can see all kinds of them all over the city. What a change from anywhere else I have ever been! It is wonderful to see.

The following pictures show just a few of the various sukkot that I saw on my walk today. As you can clearly see, even the restaurants and coffee shops put up a sukkah in celebration of the holiday. There are pictures of the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall also, which is filled with sukkot. You will also see a couple pictures from the neighborhood of G'ulah. This is a very religious area. As you will note, there are many people buying the accoutrements of Sukkoth, the Lulav and Etrog as well as numerous places where the Lulav is being assembled on the street for sale.















As this is one of the pilgrimage festivals, people from all over the world come here for Sukkoth. There are huge marches and parades, and I anticipate participating in the Jerusalem March. (Yes, I will post pictures if I do it.) I believe that on this coming Tuesday there is also the annual Bircat HaKohanim, the Priestly Blessing, when the descendents of the Biblical Priests will bless the congregation at the Kotel. I understand that this is an extremely crowded event, but I plan to be there for this as well.

On the cantorial side of things, lessons resumed early for me a couple weeks ago. I will not have another until after Sukkoth, but at that lesson I am expected to perform the entire Friday night service as well as a couple pieces that I have for Saturday morning. Since I have about a week and a half to perfect this I have been spending most of my time practicing. This will no doubt continue for quite some time as there is a lot of material for me still to learn.

Included in the cantorial curriculum are lessons on the keyboard. I am not sure how far that will go, but we have started covering the major scales and fingering. I am quite certain that the minor scales will follow. I am also being instructed in how to lead a choir. Both of these skills will, no doubt, come in quite handy.