Odds and ends and photos

I will definitely tell you about Yom Kippur in Jerusalem — I would be remiss not to. But in this post, I just want to catch up on sharing some odds and ends. And I will throw in a few photos that I haven’t yet posted that might be interesting.

I noticed this blooming cactus in someone’s yard on my way to school this morning. Each blossom was about the size of a teacup.

I’ve been in a little book group at “Night seder” on Monday. (Nighttime study is a tradition in Yeshivot — we have it optional one night, most have it required every night!) We’ve been reflecting on Alan Lew’s This is Real and You are Completely Unprepared, and also generally sharing about our lives, the process of teshuva (return or repentance), and how to be more present and purposeful in our lives. I shared with this group my experience years ago of keeping a joy journal, and so we started sharing by WhatsApp three joys a day. Today these are the joys I shared with the group: 1. I went to the mattress store last week to inquire after my mattress topper, which, when I ordered it five and half weeks ago was going to be delivered “in two to three weeks”. Oh, they said, we called and called — your American phone number doesn’t work — we called to say it isn’t ready. Come back next Thursday. So today I went and — it was ready! Of course, they had forgotten about delivering it, and they dumped it into my arms with the words, Zeh kal — it’s light. So joy 2. was that I managed to shlep it home, partly walking and partly on the bus. I’m very much looking forward to sleeping on it! And joy 3. While I was sitting at the bus stop, an old man struck up a conversation. He had only one or two words of English, and my Hebrew ain’t much, but I managed to learn that his daughter teaches on Long Island, that he has been to the United States twice, and that he was born in Jerusalem near Mahaneh Yehuda, his father was also Israeli, and his mother was from Iraq. I also learned that he doesn’t have a lot of patience with the Haredim (Ultra-Orthodox) — “Kol hazman lo lo lo — zeh lo tov!” “All the time no, no, no — it’s not good!” He learned from me that I am studying at a Yeshiva, that I am a Masorti Jew (Either “conservative” or “Traditional”), and that I live “Near Boston” because Vermont and New England didn’t ring a bell with him. It was a delightful conversation!

I have joined the Chesed Committee. Mostly, this committee makes soup to give to people who are sick, but we also try to do other nice things for people. We decided we wanted to take note of fellow students’ birthdays, so I assigned myself the job of drawing the birthday cards. Here are four examples I did one evening. I like the one at the bottom the best- -he was also celebrating the anniversary of his (adult) Bar Mitzvah.

I do a lot of walking. I walk twenty minutes each way to and from school. I walk to the super — either the one up the hill ten minutes, or the one near school that is bigger — and the do’ar (post office), and the organic food store, and the mall. I walk to various synagogues. I do occasionally take the bus, and what a blessing that is! But on my way to and fro, I see a lot of interesting things. I see new buildings going up — buildings that are going to be luxury apartments, but that look as though they are being built by cheap Arab labor in a very old-fashioned and possibly not up-to-code manner. I see all kinds of gardens — gardens in pots, gardens on roofs and balconies, vegetables, flowers, shrubs, cacti, weeds, gardens that are beautiful and gardens that have gone to hell and are full of trash. I see Jerusalemites going about their daily lives — walking, running, biking, scootering, driving, taking the bus. Walking their dogs, wheeling or carrying or holding the hands of their numerous children. Sitting on benches chatting or looking at their phones. I see posters for religious lectures, yoga and Pilates and Feldenkrais, arts events, political parties, and commercial ventures. Today, I saw a row of stands selling etrogim (citrons) for Sukkot, as well as place that is selling sukkah kits.

One plant I see in every garden, including next to my apartment, is this shrub. It’s about ten to twelve feet tall. This photo shows the blossoms about life size (if you are reading this on your computer). It’s a woody shrub, and yet I feel that it suggests the solanaceae. Anyone know what it is?

A week before Rosh HaShanah these trees burst into bloom along General Pierre Koenig Street (where Pardes is).

They are honey-smelling and full of pollinating insects.

They are gone by now — the street is covered with yellow blossoms….Again, I have no idea what these are.

One day when I was walking over the hill to meet Yochi and Golan, I saw this amazing sabra (prickly pear).

I don’t think these photos capture how large it was — taller than me, any way, and several times as wide!

So I’ll leave you with some photos of our tiyyul to the Southern Excavations. Its seems like ages ago! I do promise to write about Yom Kippur — it was a great experience, but I missed Brattleboro and leading my congregation. But that will ahve to wait…Tomorrow I set off up north to Tzfat for Sukkot, accompanied by my grandson Hagai. I’m looking forward to a fun, restful few days with family.