Yom Kippur / Eid Al Adha

Now I'm not just disturbed ... I'm angry. Justly angry. Four East Jerusalem arabs yesterday have been sentenced for ATTEMPTED burning of a synagogue and other jewish structures to jail terms ranging 2 to 5 years. Well .... how about jews who actually succeed to BURN our churches, or mosques or houses killing families inside?????? No one has been charged. No one has been sentenced. This blatant double standard of justice is not part of a democratic system. It is very upsetting.  http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.677047

Pomelos are in season

Military presence has been boosted in the Old City as we approach the start of the jewish Yom Kippur and the muslim Eid Al Adha. I just can't imagine what will happen tonight at Damascus Gate where adherents of both religions will enter the City through it. Last night almost 100,000 jews gathered at the Wailing Wall to offer the Selichot prayers - prayers for forgiveness. It was loud ... and kept me awake. The Wall is about 700 meters away from my room.

And Israel has begun to close the borders with Palestine for 24 hours for fear of arab terrorists entering Israel during Yom Kippur. Of course that also means that arab muslims from Palestine cannot come to Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque to pray during Eid Al Adha.

Next week will be the jewish feast of Sukkoth or Tents ... the autumn harvest feast. Locally chinese pomelos are cultivated and they're on sale in the markets. Both arabs and jews love the sour acidity of the pulp so they're a very welcome fruit.

We're expecting another heatwave tomorrow ... around 40 degrees. It'll be hard on the jews who are fasting for Yom Kippur. I could feel the rise in temp. these few days as my asthma has returned ... the heat causes the dust to accumulate in the air and many asthmatics are suffering like me. Awful. So while the jews mourn in repentance on Yom Kippur and muslims rejoice in the sacrifice of a ram instead of Ishmael (in judaism and christianity it's Isaac) ... I stuck with asthma and just praying for better health.