St. Leo the Great

Chinese pilgrims venerating the
relic of the True Cross before
starting the Way of the Cross

There was light rain this morning but the sun came back up and it was quite warm during the day. I was extremely busy with groups. Had to accompany one group through the Way of the Cross. The streets are packed with tourists. You have to wait in line at each station for your turn at prayers.

There were easily 2000 chinese tourists this morning at the Flagellation Chapel. The chinese market is huge and is saving the Israeli economy because groups from european and american countries have all stopped coming.

There was no violence today throughout the country. That is good. After class in the afternoon, I had to go to the Jewish Quarter to buy a printed Torah Scroll. I took the shortcut through the Wailing Wall which saves me 10 minutes of walking. After buying the Scroll, I wanted to go back through the Wailing Wall but security would not let me. No Torah scrolls allowed in the Wailing Wall. What????? I said this is not even a real scroll, just a printed pedagogical tool. Absolutely NO. I had to make a huge detour through the Cardo to get back home. Took me half an hour more.

Cheesecake and cappuccino
at Cafe Cafe

Yesterday was my feast day and part of a Singaporean group when out with me for tea. Actually they wanted to buy books and I had to bring them to the bookshops but next door was Cafe Cafe (name of the cafe chain in Israel). So I was treated to my favourite cheesecake and a cup of cappuccino. It was nice. The feast was of course St. Leo the Great.

The Jewish east of Hanukkah is round the corner and sufgoniot - the jelly filled doughnuts are already on sale in all bakeries. This will be fun because the weather is cold. Nothing like a nice warm sufgoniot with a cup of cappuccino in winter.

Friends in attempted stabbing

The peace in Jerusalem was shattered today by 2 attacks near Damascus Gate ... both within 5 minutes of each other. And what hit me hard was the 2nd attack was against 2 of my good friends A. and B. who are security guards. An arab man is seen in the video raising a knife to attack them from the back but they shot him dead. It took place in front of Maswadi mini market where I usually go to buy Shoko chocolate milk. See http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/WATCH-New-video-of-security-forces-shooting-terrorist-charging-at-them-with-knife-432596

Wet cold morning. View of
the Mt. of Olives from
Via Dolorosa

I heard gunshots as I left the house at about 4.30pm. Other security friends nearby immediately told me about the attack. I was shocked. A. is such a quiet, small guy ... I never imagined him to be so quick in reflexes and fired the first shot. I'm glad he wasn't hurt. But I was really shook up. Those guys risk their lives everyday. I treasure each time I meet them. They're really good buddies.

The skies continue to be overcast and very humid. The rained very heavily last night but daytime was only drizzly. And it's very cold. It seems to reflect the tragic, hopeless situation that we find ourselves these days.

These past 2 days I've been working 18 hours flat. It's exhausting. Each evening I visit 2 or 3 groups of chinese pilgrims in their hostel, giving them talks. This makes me cover some 5 km on foot. This evening I was at Mamilla with one Singapore group; then walked 2km to Ritz hotel to meet another group; then 3 km up in the Mt. of Olives for the 3rd. That was too far and dangerous by foot so I had to hire a car to bring me to and from the St. Vincent de Paul convent where the group is living. It's also good to meet the pilgrims and share the Good News with them. But it's really tiring too. Hope I have energy tomorrow to accompany a group for the Way of the Cross. Same thing for another group on Thursday.

Stromata

Rain at Palm Plaza last night

Yesterday was one of those days when I had so much to do there was no time for personal time. From morning till after 10pm I was rushing from one place to another, meeting people and groups, doing chores etc... I was utterly exhausted. And it was raining most of the time.

We need the rain so we shouldn't complain. But it was also cold. These few nights the temp. dropped to 11 degrees. My heater is out and have been using it for several nights now. In the mornings the rains usually stop for several hours ... and the fog is thick, so thick it enveloped the Mt. of Olives totally yesterday. In the Old City, visibility was reduced to 200 meters.

Extreme fog - Mt. of Olives
is invisible

Stabbings and car ramming continue to occur each day ... but there're out in the Palestinian Territories where Jewish settlements have occupied arab lands. Here in Jerusalem, after 2 weeks of relative peace, the police have relaxed their watch and removed many checkpoints and barriers.

2015 is almost over. Advent is hardly in and shops in the Christian Quarter are already selling christmas decorations. Time flies.

And more rain

Amazing sunset after
the sandstorm

And the rains keep coming ... and I'm not complaining!! It has washed away all the dust and sand from the air. And I can breathe a lot better. But it's getting very cold as well. Tourist groups are getting drenched and shops are making a quick buck by selling umbrellas and jackets ... something to make up for the month of closures due to the violence in the Old City.

Being Friday, military presence was stepped up. Young men continue to be stripped searched in public ... utterly humiliating. I wonder why the UN or any other country has yet to condemn this. The Intelligence Service of Israel has waned that though the violence has lessened, it will likely to re-explode in the coming months: when it gets colder and the arabs have no access to electricity, water, heating ... even food has expensive because the produce from the Palestinian Territories can no longer pass through the checkpoints into Israel.

This afternoon a 72 yr old arab lady was shot dead in her car by Israeli soldiers. They claim she tried to run them down with her car! The arab version is she was simply turning into a gas station when soldiers shot her.  If indeed she was a terrorist, she would be the oldest on record!!! And those young soldiers are nervous and jumpy, so they pull the trigger quickly at anything. Remember they have orders to shoot to kill, and shoot before asking. I'm scared when I walk pass the soldiers. I pull down my hoodie and walk slowly, hands outside pockets ... so they can see clearly I'm an unarmed foreigner. This morning in the heavy rain, I walked pass such a group under Sharon's House. One of the soldiers shouted something. I walked on, thinking it was meant for someone else. Again he shouted. This time I thought it must be me as no one else stopped. I looked at him and shrugged my shoulders to say "What?". Again he shouted at me, but slowly this time: "ni hao". I shouted back in arabic "hi" and walked off.

This morning we had an evaluation of the exhibition: me, the prof and 2 members of our sponsor institute. The consensus was it was a success. Now we have to plan for the next year's activities. Whoever said the library is a boring place?

Rain

The rains came! In fact it flooded Jerusalem in some areas ... the news showed a huge dumpster floating away in the torrent. I was caught in the rain a couple of times today as I had to run from one place to another. I think I caught a cold now.

Sinple dinner cooked by
the MC sisters

It's been a tiring day. 8am setting up the exhibition, opening the library; 10am meeting with architects; 11am meeting with a chinese professor; 12pm lunch with a good friend; 2pm class; 5pm conference, confessions and adoration with the MC sisters. Am so exhausted I had to cancel meeting a pilgrim group at 7pm. And the rain kept coming. The consolation was a warm simple but delicious meal cooked by the MC sisters (Mother Teresa) after the adoration: plain rice with curry veggies. Made my tummy feel good in this cold wet weather.

The exhibition closed today. It was a success ... but it was really tiring. We had lots of visitors: from professors and students, Israeli sand arabs, ambassadors and Consuls, UN personnel, church dignitaries from various denominations ... one of the last visitors requested the exhibition be organised at the Italian embassy in Tel Aviv.  now that is a success.

Sandstorm in Tsahal Square

One very shocking news today was the Supreme Court, after having ruled to demolish an illegal synagogue built by settlers in Palestinian land, backed out of its ruling after settlers vandalised the Supreme Court walls with graffiti. It's surprising how justice can be threatened and stopped by settler threats. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.684119

And the rains must have flooded a crocodile farm near the Jordan River ... because farmers found crocodiles in their fields today!

The sandstorm ended with the rains but it was bad when it lasted. My asthma was really bad: choking and suffocating every minute.

Exhibition

The reception table of the exhibition

All Saints Day and All Souls Day passed and I had hardly anytime to reflect on these feast days. I was in the midst of preparing for a 3 day exhibition on the history of the book as a means of preserving the text. Arranged in chronological order, it starts with the presentation of the Samaritan Torah scroll (replica: the original was stolen 2 decades ago) and the beginnings of the codex.

The Custos (2nd from R) gets a private
tour with Prof. Barbieri (R), and the
superior of St. Saviour Monastery (2nd
from L) and Dr. Bignami (L)

Then there were the types of bindings and covers which developed through the centuries, from basic to elegant to luxurious. Then there were exhibits of special coverings: those made from bronze and iron, others gold-gilded, others reused parchment, others engraved animal skins. I must say it is a very interesting collection.

The exhibition ends with the modern forms of the book: digitalised and electronic. Prof. Gino Roncaglia, an expert in the history of the book, provided these examples. He will give a talk on the history and future of the book tomorrow evening.

At the inaugural speech

The exhibition actually started with some 8 months of preparation. I'm utterly exhausted from the past months of intense work, selection, studies and research, printing of the catalogue; now that the exhibition is opened, I hope it's a success. There was a large crowd for the inauguration and we even had many professors and doctoral students from various Israeli universities who came to visit. In the next days we expect visits from professors and students from Palestinian universities. As we had aimed, books can be a unifying force and we hope the exhibition opens dialogue and mutual understanding between Israeli and Palestinian intellectuals.

And I say this while jewish lynchings of arabs continue to escalate. The govt this afternoon has fixed the penalty for arab stone-throwers to a min of 3 yrs in jail and 15 yrs maximum. But if an Israeli throws stones, this law does not apply.

A normal day

IDF soldier helps aran woman
with olive harvest
(photo from StandWithUs fb)

The weekend passed with some more violence in the terrorists. Today the newspapers counted 75 deaths in all: 22 in Jerusalem, 43 in the Palestinian Territories and 10 in the Green Line  (Palestine - Israel boundary set in 1948). Yet despite the violence there has been good instances of goodwill which never get printed in the press. For example a restaurant in Tel Aviv that offers 50% for any table seated by a jew and an arab. Or the instance when an Israeli IDF soldier helped an arab woman carry her bag of olives during the harvest.

Instead we get drawn by the dreary daily news of killings, illegal expropriation of lands, church burnings, killings, revenge attacks ...
Like this morning we got news again that extreme rigtwingers are being helped by the government take over property of the ancient village of Silwan (Siloam and its famous pool) now populated by arabs. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.683416?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook

The other headlines is the rainstorm we experienced a few days back. The coastal and central plains were hardest hit, with floods and electric outages for 3 days. A dispute with the Union of Electric Workers meant that nothing was repaired and 5000 families had to go without electricity during that time. Thank goodness today the sun is back.

Market day at the Musrara
open market where 3
stabbing attacks took place

My asthma is still killing me even tough the sisters of St. Vincent de Paul got me a nebuliser. I hardly sleep 2 hours a night due to the suffocation. During the day I'm totally exhausted but still I have to work. That's as normal a day for me as it can get. As for other people, they try to push the violence as far as possible from the mind. Markets try to open as usual ... but with the closure of the Territories, fruit and vegetables are not coming in, so whatever's available is very expensive. I couldn't find a shop that sold eggs. There's an egg shortage! And that's a constant reminder to the locals that things are not as normal as they would like.