Sabbath

Jewish men pray
with the 4 species

The Sabbath has begun ... it is very quiet in the Jewish areas of the City. All the songs and dance at the Wailing Wall stopped during the night ... during these 8 days of Sukkoth it can go on till 4am. Men however continue to go back and forth from the Wailing Wall at all hours to pray. They carry the 4 species of palm, citron, willow and myrtle as part of the Sukkoth celebrations. 2000 years ago when a Hasmonean king (from the Maccabee dynasty) attempted to serve also as High Priest in the Jewish Temple during Sukkoth, disgruntled jews threw their citrons (called "etrog" which are much larger than lemons) at him. That's quite a weapon ... like throwing stones.

Ultra-orthodox jews harassed and attacked police when they arrived at a yeshiva to check a complaint of rowdy noises last Thursday. The ultra-orthodox pushed, shoved and yelled abuses, surrounding the police in a dangerous manner. The video has gone viral. When I saw the video, I thought: if it were just a couple of arabs who had harassed and surrounded the police, they would have been shot immediately. But not when they are jews, not even one was arrested. There seems to be 2 systems of justice here. http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/in-israel/local/ultra-orthodox-crowd-attacks-police-officers-24325

Another video going viral of of the police beating up an arab suspect who resisted arrest. That was vicious ... but again, why weren't the ultra-orthodox jews in the above article  even arrested? http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4868832,00.html

I've been working till very late these few days despite my fainting spells. There's just so much to do before datelines are up. But it's always better to have work than none at all. The sisters around our area are watching out for me as they came to know about my fainting. The Spanish sisters boiled some eggs for me to eat, while the chinese sisters cooked dinner (with fried eggs). Billy and his wife at Mian Noodles boiled soup with chinese herbs. Everyone thinks I'm not eating enough and that caused my fainting spells. Well I'm feeling better now though my right foot is still swollen.