12-10-05 Dispatch from Jerusalem: Ushpizin - Feast of Tabernacles story

A growing movement of individuals and families come to Jerusalem on Tabernacles, who fail to belong to any State-recognized denomination. Apparently, they are seen by the State as a threat, sufficient of instigation... Local fiestas and pilgrimages like Feasts of Tebernacles and Passover in Jerusalem, should be seen as the last bastions of Free Assembly that would remain. International visitors/partiers/astraunauts are at once observers and transforming agents, while enlightening themselves on life in a fast-changing world.
 

[pics] 

One of the distinctions of Tabernacles is in the requirement to "Be Happy".  One of the distinctive customs - entertaining guests in the Sukkah. a. USHPIZIN - in Jewish tradition, respectable guests in the Sukkah; b. YOTAM? (real name unknown) - provocative, "messianic", in outfit from a cheap Hollywood movie, at times carries an IDF gun - unexpected guest in our sukkah.

View Blog with pics: http://inproperinla.blogspot.co.il/2012/10/12-10-05-dispatch-from-jerusalem.html

Jerusalem, October 6 - many visitors to Jerusalem during the holidays are not rich, or even poorer, from all over the world, who fail to belong to any State of Israel-recognized denomination. They are independent Bible readers and believers, who never found their place in any organized religion.

Last night, as usual, guests were invited to a Wine and Bread (Kiddush) by the Hostel.  However, given that it is Shabbat in the middle of Tabernacle, we conducted it under our Sukkah on the roof, instead of the kitchen.

Around 5:30pm, when I went up to the roof, carrying the wine and bread, I found there an old familiar face - YOTAM? (real name unknown).  I immediately asked the on-site responsible person to have YOTAM removed from the property.

I was in a rush, since I was also invited to attend the Kiddush (and dinner) in the neighboring Avraham Hostel, where a crowd of possibly 100 guests were gathered in the hostel's large dining room.  They have a professional kitchen with a center preparation area with cutting board top.  The chef is an Arab from Jerusalem, who gives it a real local flavor, and the guests are encouraged to help.  The dinner was delicious, with lots of fresh salads, middle eastern rice, omelette with spicy sausages and vegetables and more. White Israeli wine was served.

The Kiddush ceremony was basically Jewish, English translations were circulated, and explanatory notes were provided by staff. Nit-picking - they forgot the correct modifications for the Sukkot Shabbat, and it was not performed in a Sukkah.

The guests may purchase a ticket for the dinner (probably inexpensive), I offered to pay, but was declined.  In lieu, I was asked to dance a bit after dinner, cheer up the place, and I did my best, may take another time to get it accomplished.

Avraham Hostel have a built-in bar in the large dining room - kitchen space, which occupies a whole floor.  The beautiful Brazilian barwoman has total control of the music (and I have nothing against a woman in control).  I know for a fact that she is a great samba dancer, but for some ulterior motive, she insisted on running the evening under music that would maximize quiet but consistent beer consumption at the bar, while I was repeatedly asking for dance music.

Recommended dance music for the Feast of Tabernacles:

[1] Ofra Haza - Im Nin'alu - dance remix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGwCsK0VgCs
[2] Amir Benayun - Omed BaSha'arhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ-cav8hEk4

By the time I came back to our Hostel, Yotam, our Sukkah guest was gone.e.


a.  b. 

a. Avraham Hostel, b. Jerusalem Hostel, in the center of the west-side of Jerusalem.

Avraham Hostel is highly recommended for world travelers, back-packers and holiday visitors, who are not space-cadets enough for the Jerusalem Hostel! The feasts of Tabernacles (fall), which coincides with the beginning of the rainy season and Passover (full moon of the Spring equinox), which ends the rainy season, are some of the best times to visit.  The weather is great, and the countryside is green.

________
1) Friday Night

... who is on the black list of all long term staff, for at least a year, for the following reasons:
1) Manager said he was not allowed in, since he was basically occupying
the kitchen all day, loudly and provocatively preaching his zany ideas.
2) I said he must never be let in, since in his most recent appearance,
while he was still wearing the Moses costume, and acting the same persona,
he was carrying an IDF gun.  He stormed into the lobby, not by permission
of anybody, and flew up the stairs somewhere.

Basically, a person, who lives in Israel for a few years, dresses out of a
cheap Hollywood movie, acts erratically and provocatively, and carries an
IDF gun.

I don't believe that it is good for business to have him ever enter the
door again.

____

Joseph Zernik, PhD

Human Rights Alert (NGO)

josephzernik@humanrightsalertngo.org;

Sent from "1984" - Iceland-based Internet Service Provider.

2) 12-10-05 EVENT: YOTAM is back at the hostel

Around 09:15am, I was at my computer.  "YOTAM" came to the front door with
bags full of produce, and appeared ready to squat in our kitchen.

I told him that he was not allowed in.

Then, he said he was a guest of someone, but when I checked, there was
nobody awake, who could be identified as his host.

Then he offered to pay as a guest.

I told him that he was not permitted even as a paid guest, and that to the
best of my recollection, Mariane told him that over a year ago.

We parted with blessings for the holiday, and he left.

____

Joseph Zernik, PhD

Human Rights Alert (NGO)

josephzernik@humanrightsalertngo.org;

Sent from "1984" - Iceland-based Internet Service Provider.

3) Saturday, ~10:30am: Proposed Rule: No Guns

PROPOSED RULE: NO VISIBLE OR CONCEALED GUNS IN THE JERUSLEMA HOSTEL

In relationship to the events with Yotam and others, I strongly suggest
that you establish a rule:
"No Guests, Visitors, Staff are permitted to keep guns of any type on
hostel grounds, visible or concealed."

If soldiers on vacation, etc, come in as guests, they should be required
to lock their guns with the reception. In the past, they often wanted to
go out at night, and often kept their guns locked in their rooms, which
obviously is insufficient security.
I suggest that we post a notice to about this rule near the door, near the
existing security rule:
"No Non Guests after 10:00pm."

As in other cases, I have no doubt that any of our international guests,
regardless of denomination, are not carrying concealed guns. It is the
Israelis that are the security risk, some operating under security forces
protection.
_________
Joseph Zernik, PhD
Human Rights Alert (NGO)
< josephzernik@humanrightsalertngo.org>
Sent from "1984" - Iceland-based Internet Service Provider.

12-10-01 Hello World!

Recent:

Friday, October 05 @ 01:36 : Chicago, Illinois, US

Friday, October 05 @ 00:55 : Peoria, Illinois, US

Friday, October 05 @ 00:44 : Los Angeles, California, US

Friday, October 05 @ 00:37 : Carson, California, US

Thursday, October 04 @ 22:34 : Les Lilas, FR

Thursday, October 04 @ 21:11 : Long Beach, California, US

Thursday, October 04 @ 21:02 : Concord, New Hampshire, US

Thursday, October 04 @ 20:34 : Pleasanton, California, US

Thursday, October 04 @ 19:49 : Dallas, Texas, US

12-10-05 Dispatch from Haifa: Bliss on the beach in the city of Mar Elias

Haifa, on Mount Carmel, is unique in its willingness and ability to conduct Convivencia in face of surrounding violence. Mount Carmel is most closely associated with the Prophet Elijah.  On Mount Carmel, he defied the corrupt rulers – King Ahab, Queen Jezeble, and the Priests of Baal. Naboth's Vineyard, is the case that documented the essence of the corruption. Naboth was subjected to a mock trial was staged, Naboth convicted for blasphemy and executed, in order to take his land.  Today, banks and judges are conducting mock trials to take People's possessions. It is a Naboth's Vineyard on a grade scale.

   
Dado Beach/Hof HaKarmel - one of the nicest beaches in Israel, 2 minute walk from the subarban terminal, perfect for families, parts suitable for free spirits. A beach a bit further south, Atlit, is good for surfers, and great for wind surfers, kiteboarders... all on the backdrop of the ruins of a Cruders' castle.  Bliss on the beach...

Haifa, October 4 – I spent the day on the 'Dado Beach', or 'Hof HaCarmel', 2 minute walk from suburban terminal bus station.  Lying on the beach I read the 'Most Wanted Man' by John Le Carre' for a couple of hours.  It is an excellent introduction of the "War on Terror", managed by the United States, as it is seen on the streets of Hamburg, Germany, in the post 9/11 years.  Le Carre' always manages to provide a vivid account of the nastier sides of government, while spinning a page-turner, which looks like it was written to promote the movie.

Sitting in a restaurant on the beach, I drank fresh squeezed lemonade (250 ml carafe for NIS 12).  Then read some more.  Later I had an 'Israeli Salad' for lunch, it was large and tasty, but showed some Russian influence (low on onion, no garlic, some carrot slivers added to the basic tomatoes, cucumber, red peppers).  While eating, a shriveled over 70 man, with his skin baked by the sun, and flowing white curls, was raving and flailing to the café music, dressed  in a fashionable Speedo brief and matching Speedo beach soft shoes.

After some more reading, and dipping my legs in the water (people were swimming, but I was a wimp), I went to another restaurant for a lemon-nana sorbet.  Lemon-nana juice and lemon-nana sorbet are definitive Israeli additions to the classic Mediterranean cuisine.

The restaurant owner is Maronite-Arab, and the teen-ager that works the ice-cream bar during the holiday vacation was Israeli-Russian.  He got the job through his high school teacher, who knows the owner.

I told the owner that the bliss of the Haifa beach was due to the blessings of Mar Elias – the Prophet Elijah.  He was flattered, since it turned out that his name was Elias, and his daughters call him Mar Elias (from the Aramaic).

Then a Jewish customer arrived, about 70, dressed in flip-flops, swimming brief, t-shirt and a kippah. He too agreed that Haifa is a beneficiary of the blessings of Elijah.

a.  b. c. 
On Mount Carmel, the Prophet Elijah defied the corrupt theocracy of King Ahab (ruled for 38 years over the northern Kingdom of Israel, ~800 bce), Queen Jezebel, and the Priests of Baal.  The case provided as reflecting the essence of the corruption, was Naboth's Vineyard. It involved conducting a mock trial for Naboth, finding him guity of belsphemy, and executing him, in order to take his land. a. Statue of Elijah and the prists of Baal near the Carmelite Monatery Muhrakah, on Mount Carmel; b. Marc Chagall, “Elijah on Mt. Carmel”, 1931-1939; c.  Valley of Jezreel from Mt. Carmel where Elijah fought the Priests of Baal.

The revelation on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18) was associated with defiance of the rulers – King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. The essence of the corruption of the rule of Ahab and Jezebel and the Priests of Baal is given in the case of the Naboth's Vineyard.

Wikipedia (not usually my favorite source) describe it as follows:

Naboth was the owner of a plot on the eastern slope of the hill of Jezreel.  The vineyard seems to have been all he possessed and lay close to the palace of Ahab, who wished to acquire to "have it for a garden of herbs". Naboth, however, had inherited his land from his father, and, according to Jewish law, could not alienate it. Accordingly, he refused to sell it to the king.

Ahab became deeply dejected, at not being able to procure the vineyard. Returning to his palace, he collapsed with depression, lying on his bed, his face to the wall, and refused to eat. His wife, Jezebel, after learning the reason for his depression, promised that she would obtain the vineyard for him. To do so, she plotted to kill Naboth by mock trial [for blasphemy – jz], and then told Ahab to take possession of the vineyard as the legal heir.

The current 'Foreclosure Crisis' is by numerous experts opinions in fact a legal/banking fraud pandemic, based on the conduct of mock trials to take the People's homes and properties. The pandemic is Naboth Vineyard redux on a grand scale.


1903 (Riga) - 1994 (Jerusalem) towering Israeli scholar, advocated separation of State and Synagogue: Failure to separate State and Synagogue corrupts both the State and the Synagogue.  Similarly, immediately following the 1967 war, he was vocal in calling for immediate, unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank, held by the Kingdom of Jordan prior to the war.  The reason: Subjegation of the Palestinian People by the Israeli People, would cause thorough corruption of the State of Israel.

In the 1970's Jezebel and the Priests of Baal were back in the headlines in Israel. A towering figure in modern Israeli history, the Jewish orthodox, Zionist scholar, Prof Yeshayahu Leibovich, graduate of the Universities of Berlin and Basel, one of the main editors of the Hebrew Encyclopedia in numerous fields, who was not into mincing words, referred to the Israeli government, then headed by Golda Meir and the Chief Rabbis of the State of Israel as Jezebel and her Priests of Baal.

More on Haifa:
http://inproperinla.blogspot.co.il/2012/10/12-10-04-dispatch-from-haifa-sleeping.html 

12-10-04 Dispatch from Haifa - the sleeping beauty

Haifa, October 4 - it is the 'in between days' of Tabernacles, which are known to be auspicious for hiking and touring in Israel, superseded only by the 'in between days' of Passover in the spring. The rainy season has just begun, and the temperatures, which combined with the humidity can get oppressive in Haifa in the summer, have dropped substantially. At the whim of the moment, I decided to go to Haifa. Even in Tel Aviv, on the way, the weather was pleasant.
The central bus station in Tel Aviv (bus fair NIS 20) is a well-known disgrace. Thousands of people pass there every day, and the holiday traffic was probably quite busier than usual. I got there around 9:00pm, and the whole building looked like an overflowing garbage can. Obviously, decision was made by administrators that such was the adequate level of maintenance on the holiday for the common person.
But other parts of the spectacle are obviously permanent - the electronic, digital displays are erratic. They can't even get the clocks right. They simultaneously show hours from 1-24. Schedule information regarding boarding docks, as displayed in the central board, at times conflicts with the sme information, displayed above the docks themselves.
This is from the hi-tech, "startup nation"...
Again, it is obvious that at some level of administration, decision was made that such services are not essential. I still remember in my childhood train terminals mechanical displays, with flipping boards for letters and digits. They worked fine half a century and a century ago in Europe, and were considered quintessential in any good-size terminal...

     
Ottoman train stations in Palestine:  Haifa West, Haifa East, Jaffa, Jerusalem. Haifa was the only city with TWO stations!


In general, the contribution of the Ottomans to the public transit system was probably the most remarkable. The Jaffa-Jerusalem train line was inaugurated in 1892. A second line was inaugurated in 1905, connecting through the Valleys of Jezreel and Bet-Shean (Scythopolis) to Damascus, and to the line going down south to Saudi Arabia and Medinah. 
The travel from Jerusalem through Tel Aviv to Haifa, both then and now, is a travel through three different worlds.


  . 
The Bahai temple and terranced gardens, as seen from the direction of the Mediteranean, Ahmadi mosque, Stella Maris Carmelite convent, Muhraka Carmelite Monatery 

Haifa is a shiny jewel in comparison to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Life is slower, allowing people sufficient time to appreciate the beauty of the city and relax. Haifa is known as the Israeli center of Barcelona-style "Convivencia". It holds today a Jewish majority, including a substantial segment of Israelis of Russian decent, has a good-size mainstream, Arab-Muslim community. In addition, there is an Ahmadi-Muslim community, and a Druze Community. Although the local Bahai community is minute (to a degree through government visa restrictions), Haifa is probably best-known as home of the Bahai temple and Bahai Gardens. It is the world-center of the Bahai faith.  In the pubs on Mount Carmel you hear Herbrew, Arabic, and Russian, side by side.


Pine Tree Mushroom - (Suillus granulatus) אורנייה מצויה

Mount Carmel is also a National Park (on a micro-scale, compared to the national parks of the United States) and it has its own micro-ecosystem. It is well-worth visiting, especially after the first rains, like now, for the plentiful harvest of edible brown mushrooms, which grow on the roots of the pine trees (recommended with omelette). The best place for that is a segment of the park called "Little Switzerland", just minutes by car from Haifa, Mount Carmel on the way to the Druze villages of Daliat alKarmil and U'sfiyah.
With my Parents, as a child I, I had the opportunity a couple of times to go mushroom picking with Dr Zvi (Hirsch) Zilberstein, who with Ze'ev (Wolff) Bernligner co-authored probably the first scientific survey of the flora of Mount Carmel. Dr Silberstein and his wife Margo, were part of the large Jewish-German community in Haifa and Jerusalem, to which my Father is a young member, coming to Palestine as a child. His mother was non-observant, to say the least, but on a personal basis with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. The German Jewish community in Palestine left a decisive, positive mark on culture and political structures.
My Mother, born in the old city of Jerusalem, eventually inherited Dr Silberstein's position as coordinator of biology for the high school. While Dr Silberstein was a botanist at heart, my Mother is a microbiologist, and her heart was with the fast-advancing field of genetics. Some of company were focused on the harvest, Dr Silbestein was always with an eye open to find a new species or variant, exclusive for the Carmel Mountain, and at the same time getting my mother more familiar with the local botany. Ideally, you had to find a specimen with a fruit, a flower or bud and leaves for definitive classification. They were both enthusiastic early members of the young Society for Preservation of Nature.
Conversations were simultaneously conducted in a Hebrew and German unmixed, each grammatically correct, part of a Tyrolean-Middle-Eastern Jewish experience.


The Mediteranean beach south of Haifa - bliss!

The beach south of Mount Carmel is fabulous, especially when you go a bit south, to the "undeveloped" part. I am partial, since I grew up on a hill, walking distance from the beach. The scenery is a bit reminiscent of La Jolla, California.
More to come…

12-10-03 Misc news of the abuse...

Periodic reality check... jz

Iraq: Ten Years, a Million Lives and Trillions of Dollars LaterBy Dennis Kucinich

We must learn from this dark period in American history to ensure that we do not repeat the same mistakes. And we must hold accountable those who misled the American public.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32628.htm

Report decries suicides, isolation cells in California prisons

An Amnesty International report says conditions in the state's security housing 'breach international standards.' State officials rebut the findings. Many of the suicides occurred in isolation units.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prison-suicide-20120927,0,4904891.story

USA: California authorities urged to end shocking conditions in prison isolation units

More than 3,000 prisoners in California endure inhuman conditions in solitary confinement.

© Rina Palta/KALW

“The conditions and length of imprisonment in California’s isolation units are simply shocking”
Angela Wright, US Researcher at Amnesty International who visited a number of prisons in the state
Thu, 27/09/2012

The US state of California must make substantial changes to their prison isolation units and halt the inhuman suffering of thousands of prisoners, Amnesty International said in a new report out today.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/usa-california-authorities-urged-end-shocking-conditions-prison-isolation-units-2012-09-27

Police Officer Brutally Attacks Man In Wheelchair

Video

Click to view
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32625.htm

Hunger in America: 2012 United States Hunger and Poverty Facts

World Hunger Education Service

Hunger in the United States

Three years after the onset of the financial and economic crisis, hunger remains high in the United States. The financial and economic crisis that erupted in 2008 caused a dramatic increase in hunger in the United States. This high level of hunger continues in 2010, according to the latest government report (with the most recent statistics) released in September 2011 (Coleman-Jensen 2011 ).

• In 2010, 17.2 million households, 14.5 percent of households (approximately one in seven), were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States ¹(Coleman-Jensen 2011, p. v.) 
• In 2010, about one-third of food-insecure households (6.7 million households, or 5.4 percent of all U.S. households) had very low food security (compared with 4.7 million households (4.1 percent) in 2007. In households with very low food security, the food intake of some household members was reduced, and their normal eating patterns were disrupted because of the household’s food insecurity (Coleman-Jensen 2011, p. v., Nord  2009 , p. iii.) . 
• In 2010, children were food insecure at times during the year in 9.8 percent of households with children (3.9 million households.) In one percent of households with children,one or more of the children experienced the most severe food-insecure condition measured by USDA, very low food security, in which meals were irregular and food intake was below levels considered adequate by caregivers (Coleman-Jensen 2011, p. vi).
• The median [a type of average] food-secure household spent 27 percent more on food than the median food-insecure household of the same size and household composition (Coleman-Jensen 2011, p. vi)..
• Background: The United States changed the name of its definitions in 2006 that eliminated references to hunger, keeping various categories of food insecurity.  This did not represent a change in what was measured.  Very low food insecurity (described as food insecurity with hunger prior to 2006) means that, at times during the year, the food intake of household members was reduced and their normal eating patterns were disrupted because the household lacked money and other resources for food. This means that people were hungry ( in the sense of "the uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food" [Oxford English Dictionary 1971] for days each year (Nord 2009 p. iii-iv.).

Poverty in the United States

The official poverty measure is published by the United States Census Bureau  and shows that:

• In 2010, 46.9 million people were in poverty, up from 37.3 million in 2007 -- the fourth consecutive annual increase in the number of people in poverty .  This is the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty rates have been published (DeNavas-Walt 2011 , p. 14).
• The 2010 poverty rate was 15.1 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 1997.  This is the highest poverty rate since 1993, but 7.3 percentage points lower than the poverty rate in 1959, the first year for poverty estimates.  (DeNavas-Walt 2011 , p. 14).
• The 2010 poverty rate for Hispanics was 26.6 percent, for Blacks 27.4 percent. 
• In 2010, the poverty rate increased for children under age 18 from 20.7 percent to 22.0 percent. (DeNavas-Walt 2010  p. 14).
• 20.5 million Americans live in extreme poverty. This means their family’s cash income is less than half of the poverty line, or about $10,000 a year for a family of four (DeNavas-Walt 2011 , p. 19).
• 49.9 million people or 16.3 percent of the American people, do not have medical insurance (DeNavas-Walt 2011 , p. 23).

http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm