Holiday Decorations and "Stuff"

Well, it’s that time of year. Holiday decorations are going up all over the place. There is ONE difference, though ------- The decorations are NOT trees, but menorahs.

I was walking back to the apartment last night after class and noticed that the decorations were going up. I took a couple of pictures with the camera in my phone so that you could see what this looks like at night, then went back out on the prowl this morning to snap a few pictures in the daytime.

The first three pictures were taken last night.





This next group of pictures are of more decorations, but taken during the day as I was walking to the Nahlaot area of town. This is only about 5 minutes from Ben Yehuda Street.






The next pictures are of “streets”, or what pass for them, in Nahlaot. There are also 2 pictures of a sitting area in the middle of the “street”.












And now for the truly revolutionary and ultra-modern plumbing system here and the associated water-meters ………



On the way back to the apartment I ran across a yoga studio and felt compelled to take this picture. Yes, the sign IS transliterated into Hebrew saying "studio yoga".



Israel recycles!!!!! Maybe not as much as some other places, but there are recycling “bins” all over. This picture shows one for plastic (the mesh fenced area) and one for newspapers and cardboard.



Not to be outdone by anyplace else for “odd” trees, I took this picture a few blocks from the apartment. I have no earthly idea what kind of tree this is, but the trunk just looked strange so I just HAD to share it with you. (It should be noted that there is a very wide variety of trees here, and I could not even begin to count them all.)

Unexpected Reunion and Shabbat

As I was walking out of my apartment on Friday for some last-minute Shabbat purchases someone on a bicycle went whizzing past me and did a sudden U-turn to pull up next to me. It turned out to be a gentleman that I know from my shul in the US. He lives in the US for 4 months a year and the rest of the time here in Jerusalem. It turns out that he lives only a few blocks from here. I spent some time with him before Shabbat and will undoubtedly see more of him during my visit.

I am trying to arrange to go out to the settlement with him the weekend after next. If we do that, it should prove to be a most interesting time as he is a Torah scholar and is also sensitive to the “energies” around people. My friend at the yeshuv (the settlement) and one of her friends there are also very sensitive to this. (I offer the following as an example (skeptics, just get over it and read on): My friend at the yeshuv said that she can often get a sense of who someone was in a previous life. She said that she doesn’t tell people and most people don’t want to know. I thought it would be interesting, so asked her. She said that her first impression, before she know that I was Jewish and well before she had any idea that I could sing, was that I was a Levite singing in the Temple. My friend here in town said he can also sense things. When I asked him, without revealing what I had already been told, he said exactly the same thing: I was a Levite singing in the Temple.)

For Shabbat I had a nice dinner with my flat mate, and then on Saturday went to the Conservative shul for services. I had a nice conversation with someone on the way back to the apartment, and was invited to go to his home for Shabbat lunch next time I see him there.

Sunday, as usual, was spent practicing. I will be doing the same today (Monday) and have a cantorial class late this afternoon.

I am looking forward to visiting my family in the US in a couple of weeks. I will have been away from them for almost exactly 6 months and am starting to get excited about going home, even if it is only for a few weeks. It promises to be a wonderful time and I will, at a minimum, get to see my wife and children.

More later, time to practice. Mi-mi-mi-mi-mi