Shabbat shalom 17.04.09

Hi Everyone, Passover vacation is coming to a close. We had Mimouna yesterday (the Moroccan Jewish additional hoiday celebrating the freedom to eat real bread again.) I read that Mimouna began with Moslems in Morocco bringing fresh bread to their Jewish neighbors when the Passover ended, and the Jews making Passover sweets for their Moslem guests in return. It's a nicer custom than I thought. Today in Israel it is an occasion for everyone to go out an have a barbeque, and for all the Israeli politicians to kiss up to the powerful Moroccan Jewish community here. I'd rather see it continue here as it was in Morocco.... Not much chance of a barbeque yesterday or today, though. It's been RAINING. If you don't live in the Mediterranean, you don't know how weird that is. Our rains usually stop by April and don't bein again until late October at the earliest. In the months between, no rain at all, just blue skies. But our rains came late this winter, and seem to be making up for lost time. Can't really complain; we need the water, and it prolonged the glorious spring wildflower season. It's very pretty outside right now, even if it's cold and wet at the moment. Sunday was Western Easter (and Orthodox Palm Sunday). Since my congregation doesn't do Easter, I went to the Scottish Presbyterian church St. Andrews; they have a nice service and an even better Scots tea for visitors afterwards. Alas, even on a holiday like this the church had only a couple dozen attenders. It's a pity, because th Presbyterians are among the more sober and sane Protestants in Jerusalem, and I have always enjoyed them. Also it is a beautiful church. One hopes they gain some strength. After Easter service, I met my Catholic friend Breda at Pasha's in Sheikh Jarrah for a nice Arab lunch. My Jewish neighbor joined us; she had been trying to bring Dutch guests down to the Dead Sea but after two hours was barely out of Jerusalem due to the crowds, so she turned around. Quite an ecumenical lunch: one Catholic, one messianic Jew, two Calvanists and me all eating humous and grilled lamb..... Sunday was crowded for two reasons. First it ws the "Birkat HaKohanim" (the public Priestly Blessing, the Aarohnic Blessing) at the Western Wall, and zillions of people were zeroing on the Old City for that. Second, during the Intermediate Days of the Passover holiday, religious Jews are able to travel (not permitted on the Sabbath, their usual day off work, or during holy days). So all the Orthodox hit the road to picnic, visit parks, go to museums, and all the other stuff people do on a day off. I read that ONE MILLION Israelis visited national parks and nature reserves during Passover. Put this in the context that the country has only 7 million people. I think that is a record. I'm a conservation biologist in the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, so I am sure I am going to hear all about this when I get back to work on Sunday. (Yes, remember that is the first working day of the week here.) Since the most religious Jews, the haredi, have very little experience with the outdoors, I am sure we had our share of black coats getting lost, falling off cliffs, breaking bones, starting wildfires, and drownings or near-drownings, as happens when city people go out into nature.....Our game wardens must have been pretty busy this last week. As for me, I mostly kept to myself, rested, did much needed chores around the house, went shopping like another 1 million Israelis, and put my winter clothing away, got out my summer clothing (which no doubt explains why the weather reverted back to winter conditions....) The only excursion I made was yesterday, to the Bible Lands Museum, which is closed on Shabbat when I normally have my only free time. It is a little gem of a museum, with a focus on the archeology of the lands surrounding Israel. There were three special exhibits I wanted to see: "The Three Faces of Monotheism: Islam, Judaism and Christianity in Symbols", another on Egypt, and a third on classical Greece. The Greek exhibit was the best, with wonderful Minoan artifacts I never saw outside the museum in Heraklion. (I got myself a museum replica of a stunning Minoan gold necklace, my luxury this year.) The Egyptian one was okay. The Monothesism one was rather poor, given the wealth of material we have in Jerusalem. I did learn one thing from the Monotheism exhibit, however. I'm curious about religious symbols anyway, and the source of the Star of David always intrigued me. I knew there is a connecton with India (where the six pointed star is a Tantric symbol for Shiva, a power symbol) and that it was adopted by Shabbtai Zvi in the sixteenth century in his unfortunately but influential movement. Until then, the star had not been used as a Jewish symbol. However, the Moslems also considered it a power symbol, and attributed it to Solomon. It was supposed to be on the famous ring which Solomon used when he talke to the animals. So the Moslems were using it as an amulet until the Jews took it over as a symbol five centuries ago. Moslems had extensive trade with India, and no doubt picked this up from the Hindus as a magic symbol. It got widely use in the Moslem world and then Shabbtai Zvi picked it up as magic (or mystical) symbol too, and it then caught on among the Jews. The Moslems dropped it, but the Hindus and Jews continue to use it, with different meanings. Actually, in Hinduism the six pointed star is the joining of a god and a goddess; with the downward pointing triangle representing the female, and the upward pointing triangle reprsenting the male. So the star is a representation of having sex. Yep, the Hindus are right on that one - heap big powerful magic that one is.....Since then, it's a little embarrassing having it big and bold in the middle of our national flag, but it is a great example of how symbols get handed around..... shabbat shalom, Linda