Photos from my time at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and links to trip reports

[lethargic_man]

Here's my photos from my time at the Conservative Yeshiva. They're not all very good photos, and I might replace them with better photos from other people's collections as they become available; but for the time being, these are the ones I've got. Most of the photos can be clicked to open a higher resolution image in a new window.

There's also some other photos at my last trip report.

Quick summary of my trip reports, whilst I'm at it, for anyone interested who sees this but hasn't been reading my blog:

• Ein Gedi and the start of my time at the yeshiva
• Services in the Italian and Syrian shuls
• Some isolated thoughts
• Yemenite and other services
• Inside King Hezekiah's water tunnel
• Looking around the Ophel, at davening at the כּוֹתֵל מַסוֹרְתִּי

Ein Gedi

Clara Silver, at the oasis.

dhole, taking a rest on the ascent.

Looking back down over what we climbed.

The chalcolithic temple.

This ring of stones would once have encircled a sacred tree.

A hearth (can't remember any more detail...)

A Mameluke-period mill at Ein Gedi.

Clara.

Looking south along the Dead Sea from Ein Gedi.

Mosaic in the Byzantine synagogue at Ein Gedi. I was going to transcribe what it says, and talk about it, but it's difficult to read, even in the full-size version, and I can't remember what all the sections say. (dhole, care to help me out?)

The Conservative Yeshiva

Lunching in the garden at the Conservative Yeshiva.

(Photo by Olivia Hibel.)

The amphitheatre in the yeshiva grounds.

Leafy, isn't it?

?? and Doug.

Learning in the Beit Midrash. (Guess who's taking notes on the laptop...)

spin0za1.

Environmentalist dialogue in the coffee area in the Beit Midrash.

Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb addressing everyone in the Beit Midrash.

This amused me greatly.

The YMCA

It's got a dome and a tower; in this part of the world, that can only mean one thing. Yes, that's right: It's the YMCA (or ymca as it's called here).

At the top of the ymca.

Statue at the top of the YMCA.

Looking east and north out over Jerusalem (the Old City, Mt Scopus and the Mount of Olives visible in the background).

These...

...were found on the windows of the carillon room.

The ymca's interior design.

Around and about Jerusalem

The Syrian synagogue, "The Great Synagogue Ades of the glorious Aleppo community, est. 1901." A little full of themselves, aren't they?

This stencil, found several times near Ades, poses a bit of a problem for municipal street cleaners. (It begins with the Tetragrammaton, which cannot be erased or destroyed (note to self: don't print this photo out!), which is why the person who airbrushed the rest out left the first word. It read "God will <something> everyone" but I can't make out the second word.

Naḥlaot.

Jerusalem was full of cool stencilled graffiti.

Yemin Moshe (the artists' quarter), viewed from across גיא בן הינום—the valley from which derives Gehinnom (Gehenna), the mediaeval Jewish name of hell (and Jahannam, the Islamic name of hell). It was in this valley that the Canaanites would sacrifice their children to Molech, which gave the valley a bad name. It was probably also the Temple Mount, overlooking this valley, which was the Mt Moriah where G-d chose, in the episode of the Binding of Isaac, to forever reject child sacrifice in the religion that ultimately became Judaism.

Cool swirly Arabic on the top of the building at the foot of Agron Street.

Independence Park, across the road from my flat.

I had taken this shot, from by Montefiore's Windmill, and put my camera away before I realised I had just had my first view of the security fence. (You'll need to click through to (and possibly zoom in on) the high resolution version to see it, though.)

Now, I am absolutely in favour of the Israeli people's right to live their lives without fear of suicide bombers, and am therefore also in favour of them giving themselves a secure border. That this has been a successful tactic has been demonstrated not just by the fall in suicide bombing rates, but also by the fact would-be suicide bombers have been caught in cars which have turned around at the sight of the queue length to get through the checkpoints at the security fence—people who intend to be in Paradise by ten o'clock don't generally have the patience to wait forever to get through the checkpoints. I am, however, absolutely against any attempt by the Israeli government to use this as a land-grab, and support the Supreme Court's rerouting of the fence against the government's wishes; and am also absolutely of the opinion that the routing of this fence should not in any way, shape or form, delimit a final border.

Okay, I shut up now.

Montefiore's windmill.

Mount Zion viewed from across גיא בן הינום. (Though as I discovered recently, this wasn't the original Mt Zion at all; the name moved in the mediaeval period.)

Not your average graffito! (Learn what it is.)

I saw copies of this all over the Armenian Quarter. In the Armenian Museum there was a section dedicated to the genocide, including some quite harrowing photographs.

Model of seventeenth century Jerusalem in the Armenian museum. Note the houses standing right up to the Western Wall, and the Ḥurva synagogue—the large domed building at the centre right—in the Jewish quarter. The Ḥurva was vindictively blown up by Jordanian forces during their retreat during the War of Independence, leaving just a single arch standing of the four naves surrounding the central dome; and is currently in the process of being rebuilt.

Cloistered courtyard in the Armenian Musem.

Armenian writing—a cool alphabet, in a cool font.

Seen outside my flat.

Not your average zebra crossing—it's carpeted! (You may need to view the high-resolution image to see the patterning.)

Arab East Jerusalem

A church on the Mount of Olives shining in the late-afternoon sunlight.

Wandering through the Old City and looking at the street names—Chabad Street, and so forth—it occurred to me these certainly wouldn't have been the same pre-1967. And indeed, this street sign bears evidence, having different names in Hebrew and Arabic.

A lone sentry plant remains the right way up, when all else is crooked and leaning over.

Historical Jerusalem

Me in Hezekiah's water tunnel.

Herodian road at the Pool of Shiloach

These were growing all over the ruins at the Ophel.

At the Kotel Masorti.

The many layers of the Old City.

People

spin0za1, with and without the tip of her nose protruding into the sunlight. :o)

Benjamin Ricciardi

awful_dynne

Judy, wub and awful_dynne.

Agron 24 survivors photo: Doug, Dena, myself and Clara.

calliope_epic.

Comments

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

You had indeed lots of women.

I was amused about the carpeted zebra crossing. It seems to come off already. I guess they have to fix it quite often.

I liked the first shot of yourself. You look very nice and friendly.

Anyway, thanks for sharing all those great photos.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

You had indeed lots of women.

There were more women than men in the group. (Look at the group picture (http://www.michael-grant.me.uk/images/ljtrivia/2007-Summer/originals/goldfarb.jpeg)s.) I remember discussing with someone why this was so, but can't remember what the outcome of the discussion was.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Well, you wanted a hobby where you could meet lots of women, didn't you?

Sorry.

It looks as if you had a great time. The photos are interesting, but in the current political climate, I have to say i'll pass on travelling to Israel. Mind you, for the same reason I am not currently contemplating a visit to the US either.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Do you realise how frustrating it was to go somewhere where I met lots of women, all of whom were theologically compatible with me, and all of whom lived thousands of bloody miles away, on the wrong continent?

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Frutrating indeed, but it should put your mind at rest that the right person is out there - now all you need is the right person willing to move to London or living in a location you want to move to.

Not meeting anyone compatible is far more frustrating.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

I am replying to this somewhere a little more private (http://lethargic-man.livejournal.com/157597.html?thread=575645#t575645).

[snjstar.livejournal.com]

Nice pictures!