Exhibition and conference

Part of the exhibition

So it's been 3 days since the last update. I've been extremely busy because of 3 days of exhibition and a conference. Plus working in the evenings to earn something to pay for the exhibition and conference. Nothing is for free and yes ... I have to work to earn money like all the rest of you do, in order to pay for other things.

The exhibition presented a sample of 15th century incunabulae (earliest western printed books) that our library holds. It's an interesting collection ... and precious too. It was a time of experimenting with block printing, different types of fonts, different types of paper and binding, and especially of covers to preserve the printed work. It was a time when knowledge became available to more people, cost of books became cheaper, education more universal.

Dr. Rivali explaining an exhibit

We had many visitors ... mostly scholars rather than common folk. I guess the topic was too specialized. On Wednesday afternoon we had an inter-cultural conference on cataloguing of ancient manuscripts. We had invited heads of the Israel national Library, the muslim Khalidi library, the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem and as key speaker the directress of the Royal Library in Madrid. The latter connected with us to deliver her speech via Skype. The audience was small ... because the topic was exceptionally specialized ... on cataloguing. But they were all librarians from other institutes who wanted to learn more.

Dr. Salameh presenting the holdings
of muslim libraries in Jerusalem

It was definitely a success because it was the first time jews, muslims and christians came together and share knowledge on library science. Each presented in brief the treasures their libraries hold ... and it is utterly amazing. And I remarked to Dr. Finkelman, the curator of the Israeli National Library, that we may live just meters apart but we don't know the holdings of each other's libraries. Dr. Finkelman said he hoped this would be a beginning for our communities to collaborate in future projects.  Sow e succeeded in building bridges. The only regret is the absence of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. They never participate in anything ecumenical or inter-cultural. Too bad because they have a huge and precious collection of manuscripts form ancient times.

And the Consuls General of Spain and Italy were also present.

Anyway it's all over. The team from the University of Milan which came to help organize this conference and exhibition returned to Italy this morning. I've slept very little and had worked hard for these 3 days. But there's no time to rest. I must resume school again. Perhaps Sunday would offer me a few hours free to sleep.

Inauguration Day

Inaugural Speech of the new
academic year

Just saw the live coverage of Hong Kong's legal personages making a silent protest walk to the Legislative Building. As far as I know, Beijing always held the right to interpret the Basic Law. It is Britain under Thatcher who dumped this on Hong Kong. Britain must take responsibility for the situation ... and not pretend that it is not its problem. 

The rise in chinese tourists has been a big help this week. Not only to the economy but to the poor christians living here. They bring medicines, toiletries and money to help the various institutes that support the poor with care, food and medicine. Of course there are also those who simply come for tourism sake ... spending thousands of dollars on diamonds and snob appeal goods.

Honoring  Prof. Buscemi
(white haired franciscan in
the middle) 

Today the Dominican biblical school and the Franciscan university in Jerusalem held their combined "Inaugural Speech" (Proluzione in italian) for the new academic year. It was packed as usual not only by the students of both institutes but also by members of other academic institutions. Notably missing though were the bishops and Custos who were away for a serious meeting. It was also an occasion to honor Prof. Buscemi on his 70th birthday and 40 years of academic service in our university. He is now retired in Sicily. Buscemi is one of my best friends and we walk 4 km every Sunday ... partly to exercise and partly to shop for weekly necessities.

At the same time our library organized a 3 day exhibition on the Incunabuli held in our ancient books section. It's an interesting collection of the 1st printed books in Europe. Though there were others who did most of the work, my little contribution in organisation has left me exhausted. in fact the pressure was quite hard and due to lack of sleep, I almost fainted again during the precview. Went to my office to rest for a couple of hours. Still feeling dizzy.

Meantime the water crisis in Palestine is worsening by the day. The fact that the Palestinian govt refuses to meet Israeli officials (who hold the water sources) only makes the fate of poor arabs even more dire. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4876000,00.html

Good old days?

Was watching live streaming of the demonstrations in Hong Kong last night. Unbelievable. What would be the solution? It's a standoff of sorts.

And then there is Singapore: MTR system breaking down every week, Internet service breaking down, road rage, mainland chinese abusing locals .... LKY would never have stood for this. He'd kick them all out. What's happening?

And Israel saw it's share of demonstrations by ultra-orthodox jews in several cities. They were demanding the release of one of their members who did not show up for compulsory military draft. The police had arrested him. The ultra-orthodox jews do not want to serve in the army. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4875492,00.html

Rusted iron motorbike with sidecar

What a dismal start to the week. Makes you want to go back to the good old days. It wasn't really that good but human memory plays tricks. It's always the good old days ... and we forget how nasty it was back then. Reminded me of a rusted remake of a 1940s motorbike with sidecar I saw in Jaffa last week. Must have been dreadfully uncomfortable to sit in back then ... but today it looks excellent for show. No one remembers how uncomfortable it was.

Cold

Early morning chill: bedouin women
prepare to sell vegetables

The weather has cooled drastically in 2 days. Nights go down to 10 degrees ... and daytime is very cloudy with dark clouds though it never rains. And the wind is cold too. Hoodies are the main clothes worn by most people. So are scarves and caps.

The streets are quite empty in the early mornings as the chill deters people from going out. Only the bedouin hawkers dare to brave the chill by setting up their vegetable produce, waiting for the first customers to pass by.

I managed to notice all these when I went to the Holy Sepulchre yesterday morning for Mass. It definitely feels like winter. Our new Indonesian student is having trouble with this cold weather. He was not prepared for it. Now he's sick with cold and does not have winter clothing. I gave him what I luckily had - mostly new winter clothes and shoes. Yesterday I bought him winter pyjamas and socks. Hope the poor guy recovers.

Holy Sepulchre Church at 4am

There's a video circulating in the Internet showing the Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Bagdida returning to the bombed out cathedral and offered the first Mass in 2 years on a makeshift altar. Let's hope the christians will return to the christian towns. It will be a lot of work to rebuild the lives and buildings there ... and they need our help. Basic infrastructure such as water, electricity and food is essential ... and now that winter is in, heating will be very necessary. It will not be a warm, joyous Christmas for them this year. Perhaps you can spread some joy to them.

Mass in the Empty Tomb

The original stone bed is covered by
the modern marble slab ... again

Early this morning at 4.15am I walked slowly to the Holy Sepulchre Church for Mass. It's my first Mass inside the (still) renovated Tomb ... definitely one of the first Masses to be celebrated after the original cave stone where Jesus' Body was laid, had been uncovered ... and re-covered. It was an overwhelming experience for all who attended the Mass.

It was Sr. Nimfa (a PDDM sister who graduated form our university 2 years ago) who organised the Mass for her small group of pilgrims. The priest who was supposed to come with them could not make it, so Nimfa asked me to celebrate the Mass for them instead. I brought along some old friends Gus and Eunice and their friends to join in as well. All in all there were only 11 people which made the Mass inside the Tomb very pleasant.

Glass window
exposing the
original cave wall
inside the Tomb

Something new was added inside the Tomb: a glass window exposing part of the original cave wall. Remember Jesus' Tomb was originally a cave. It is amazing. Everyone was crying when the Gospel was read regarding the women coming to this Tomb with spices, wondering who will move the stone away from the entrance. Now we could see the actual remains of it.

And I remembered everyone of you during Mass inside the Tomb. And I prayed for you all and your intentions.

Meantime there has been an incredible influx of asian tourists to the Holy Land this week. This morning alone the Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross which is a street) was packed with chinese, indian, filipino and indonesian groups. I had to push my way back home. This is a good sign. Now let's hope it's not just a shopping tour for them but an encounter with the Risen Christ.

Unity in diversity

3 oriental rite priests

Tomorrow morning I will be celebrating Mass inside the Empty Tomb, over the marble slab that covers the original rock table where the Body of Christ was laid. Will remember you all and your intentions there. It's great to be confirmed in faith by this archaeological event. This time people can be sure that this is the place of the burial. Celebrating Mass there will never be the same.

The other day while resting in Jaffa, I celebrate one Mass with the community. It was presided by Fr. Tojy, a syro-malabar rite priest. On his right was a greek catholic rite priest Fr. Pantelemon and on his left was an ethiopic catholic rite priest Fr. Medhin. All belong to the oriental rite of the Catholic Church but they were celebrating the latin Roman rite!!! It was very funny because they were not familiar with the roman rite. Only here in the Holyland will you see celebrations like this .... truly catholic ("universal"). Yesterday morning I concelebrated the 1st Mass of the Dead with the community again. The whole community was there: polish, filipino, ukrainian, indian, ethiopian and singaporean. And Mass was celebrated in italian ... which is not any of our mother tongues!!! Again, how catholic can you get???? Unity in diversity.

Several days back there was a revolution of sorts at the Wailing Wall. The ultra-orthodox jews have control over the Wall and dictate who and how prayers can be conducted there. That practically excludes all other jewish groups except the ultra-orthodox. It enforced unity in religion by conformity with the ultra-orthodox tradition. The govt. promised to divide a space separate from the ultra-orthodox for other jewish groups to pray ... but it never materialised. The govt. is afraid of the ultra-orthodox. So groups representing liberals, reform, conservative and other smaller groups of jews marched into the Wall carrying Torah scrolls. Ultra-orthodox jews physically forced them back and scuffles broke out. Eventually they succeeded in reaching the Wall and praying there. But bad blood has been stirred and we can expect repercussions for challenging the powerful yet minority ultra-orthodox community.  http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.750459  and  http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-historic-first-pluralistic-worshipers-bring-torah-scrolls-to-western-wall/  and  http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Violent-fracas-breaks-out-at-Western-Wall-471476

Well it's always a tension between unity in diversity ... and unity by conformity.

Halloween horror

Uninvited Halloween guest

All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day were a rare occasion when I can get a vacation. Both libraries are closed on both days so I could get away to our Jaffa community where I could rest. I slept right through the first day .... all the exhaustion and sickness had taken its toll. But quite nicely it started to rain and temp. dropped so it was just right to keep me asleep. Buddy came along and he only wanted to play. Woke me up a few times but otherwise he's very well behaved, sleeping on my shoulder. It was a good rest except for one midnight surprise. I was woken up by something flying around the room. I first thought it was Buddy but he doesn't fly when there is no light. I switched on the light and there on the floor was an enormous bat ... probably from the Haunted House down the road. It was at least 8 inches long and a wingspan of one foot. And it had very sharp teeth. Now that was Halloween night, precisely at midnight. And all the windows and door were closed. So how did it get in? Anyway I opened the door and it crawled out.

It's a sad day when local news report that documents handed to the High Court "went missing" against jewish youths who set fire on an arab house killing a baby and its parents. In the past, police were known also to lose documents and even "accidentally" erased video tapes of jews attacking arabs hence trials had to be cancelled due to lack of evidence. This is very very scary .... much scarier than Halloween bats when justice is impeded.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4873683,00.html

And today to top it all up, the Supreme Court in an unprecedented move decided to severe ties with the Minister of Justice. The Minister is a young ultra-nationalistic ambitious girl who had sought several times to curtail the powers of the Supreme Court or change its composition because the Court was not tough enough on arabs, accusing the Court of being Leftist. This time she tried to get around the law by changing the way Supreme Court judges are elected so that her candidates will be appointed. The independence of the Supreme Court is now called into question. The usually tolerant and calm judges took the unprecedented step to issue a strongly worded warning to the Minister to severe ties with her ministry if she sought to control the Court. http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Supreme-Court-severs-ties-with-Ayelet-Shaked-over-gun-to-the-head-threats-471568

This is all too scary. No horror movie or Halloween costume can beat this. Not even a mysterious 8 inch bat at midnight.