End of January

Garbage at
Suleiman Street

The public service continues into the 3rd day with garbage piling up everywhere and streets reeking of rotting food. I wonder if the Municipality will resolve this problem soon. So far there has been no outcry in the  City over this but sooner or later as pests and rodents come out, there'll be a reaction.

Weatherwise the skies have gone all cloudy and grey ... and the cold has returned. A little drizzle this morning and we're expecting showers later in the evening. Everyone is talking about the forecast of zero degrees tonight and the next few days. I'm certainly not looking forward to it.

American politics is still the topic in the streets and newspapers. Like I said in yesterday's blog, the travel ban affects not just arabs here but also jews. The sacking of the acting Attorney General ... well ... looks like America is now a dictatorship. Democracy in the death throes. In a rare move, orthodox and liberal jew have united to oppose the travel ban as they remember jewish refugees turned away by America during their flight from Nazi persecution in Europe.  http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-rare-unity-orthodox-and-liberal-denominations-slam-trump-refugee-ban/

One of our
illuminated
manuscripts
exhibited in NY

Our manuscripts have returned from the Metropolitan Museum of New York. It was a successful exhibition entitled "Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People under Heaven". If I remember correctly, there were over a million visitors. Anyway they flew back to Jerusalem accompanied by the Met's conservator. Each of the 3 huge volumes require 2 men to carry as they are a meter high and bound in wood and bronze covers. And inside the illuminated initials are incredible ... gold and tempera exquisitely used to decorate some pages. Soon these and other manuscripts will be available online as the digitalization project ends. But not too soon ... it'll be another year at least. So don't hold your breath.