Monti Fest

Indian sisters in our kitchen

My allergic reaction yesterday was very bad ... but not critical. There were moments when I thought I had to go to hospital ... but slipping in and out of sleep ... I couldn't and didn't have the strength to walk. Stayed in bed all day and night. Ate a lot of fruit though ... I find that helps in soothing my swollen tongue and throat. Well ice cream would have also worked but we don't have any at home and I was not strong enough to walk out to buy some. Anyway I slept most of the time ... the antihistamine I took later made me very sleepy.

Today the Indian community celebrated Monti Fest ... a mix of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the birth of Our Lady together with the rice harvest. There was a procession of the statue of the BVM from Damascus Gate to St. Saviour Church in New Gate. I missed it as I had Mass in the Holy Sepulchre and then class with the community from St. Anthony's Church in Jaffa.

Preparing for Mass at the
Holy Sepulchre

A team of 3 Indian sisters from the Nazareth Hospital has come to manage our kitchen and sacristy. The polish Faustina sisters have left because they cannot cope with the mission anymore. These indian sisters are temporary until a stable community from India comes next week to take full charge. Anyway it's a blessing for me because these sisters took care of me when I had my operation in their hospital. They know about my allergies and one was my dietician who still checks to make sure my diabetes and cholesterol is under control.

Water is now at a critical low in Israel ... in fact at its lowest ever point. Still there is no govt. call for water conservation, no punishment for water wastage .... it's just talk. Maybe all that hot air will whip up a hurricane and bring in the rains.

The implosion drama continues as hundreds of US rabbis wrote to the Israeli PM complaining of the stranglehold the ultra-orthodox rabbis have over the govt. and its policies. It is alienating many jews who do not conform to their extreme religious views. But the PM needs these ultra-orthodox to keep him in power so it's unlikely he'll heed the voices of moderate Judaism. Things have actually got quite bad when several days ago the former chief rabbi of Jerusalem called leftwing Israelis "worse than Holocaust deniers" ... which is one of the worst insults and accusations.     http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.811271
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Jerusalem-municipal-leaders-say-they-regret-voting-for-anti-Reform-chief-rabbi-504553

Yet these same ultra-orthodox rabbis have declared that jews can travel if their lives are endangered by the hurricanes on the Sabbath Day. Well at least that is in keeping with the Mosaic Law ... whereby preserving life takes precedence over the Sabbath Law of no work.  https://www.timesofisrael.com/jews-may-travel-on-shabbat-to-escape-hurricane-haredi-rabbi-says/

Sick

The Grotto of the
Nativity of the BVM

It's the Nativity of the BVM today and our neighbour St. Anne's Church aka Bethesda Pool is the centre of the celebrations. Since Byzantine times christians believed that was the place where St. Anne gave birth to Mary. Pilgrims came here to recall the event, as well as the miracle of healing the paralytic by the pool (the Bethesda Pool is just meters away from the Nativity Church). A church was eventually built over the grotto where it is believed Mary was born. During the Ottoman era, the arab muslims used the church as a girls' school ... which ironically saved the church from being destroyed like many others were during this period. However the grotto below the church was out of bounds. Franciscans came in the night and entered the grotto from a tiny window on the south side of the church ... to celebrate Mass in the grotto. For decades this was done till the Ottoman empire collapsed in 1920 and the church was once again opened for religious services. And till today Franciscans preside at this Mass every Sept. 8th, passing by the little window through which the early friars enter and exited, at the risk of their lives because if they were caught by the muslims, they would have been killed.

This morning in a rush to get to Mass I forgot to take my medication. I drank the consecrated wine - I am allergic to the preservative - and almost immediately had an allergic reaction. It was not severe but it was bad enough to put me in bed the whole day. Swollen eyes and throat, difficulty in breathing, running nose, watery eyes. And I had chest pains as well due to the difficulty in breathing. But I'm not going to hospital yet. Will try and sleep through this one.

Big earthquake in Mexico last night ... and right now. we're getting news that there's an earthquake in Japan. Not surprising ... after N. Korea tested its hydrogen bomb in the centre of the earth. Each time a nuclear bomb is blown up in the earth, it sets off an earthquake on the opposite side of the earth. Utterly appalling.

There's an expected 56 million chinese leaving China for the National Day holidays ... but their regular destinations are changing. From the Middle East, they're now going to exotic places like Croatia, Czech and Iceland. Israel will soon be left out of this tourism boom.  http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/6-million-chinese-tourists-going-overseas-during-national-day-holiday-in-october?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&xtor=CS1-10#link_time=1504763450

Eve of the Birth of the BVM

Autumn fruit on sale

The weather has cooled a lot and I'm wearing a hoodie in the evenings when I come home from work. The temp. ranges from 30 degrees in the day to 20 degrees in the nights. And the wind in the evenings are quite chilly. All these seem to go right as soon it will be mid-autumn ... for the chinese; and on the same day, it'll be the feast of Tabernacles for the jews. The harvest has started and the markets are full of autumn fruit. And the full moon is out ... absolutely lovely and bright ... lighting up the City. It's a nice background to the Feast of the birth of the Bl. Virgin Mary that we'll celebrate tomorrow. The place is just down our street at St. Anne's Church ... also called the Bethesda Pool where Christ healed the paralytic by the pool.

I haven't reported about my health in the recent blogs. Thankfully y asthma is under control and had a minor attack only when I ate some biscuit with a little pistachio. But everything's alright. However I've been having fainting spells the past 3 days ... and lots of dizziness. I guess it's exhaustion. Yesterday I managed to grab an hour's sleep and it felt so good. The old body is slowing down and rest is a constant need. And thankfully the roadworks have progressed down to Ecce Homo convent. We can't hear the racket in the nights anymore. And I made a couple of friends among the workers.

Full moon over Damascus Gate

School has started in Israel and Palestine today. This morning I had to give the Induction Talk to the 1st Year students. It's the 3rd year running that I've been asked to do this. This year we have americans and ethiopians, indians, italians and a few I'm not sure where they come from. I didn't have the time to chat and get to know them. Everything was rushed.

Back to the topic of implosion ... the rightwing agenda is now gathering so much steam, school teachers are being ruined out of school because parents consider them leftwing. More division in the country. When education no longer is objective and impartial, but leans toward one ideology and narrative, you can only expect a future generation of extremists.  http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.810778

Disturbingly, an arab family was evicted from their home in the early morning so a jewish family could reclaim ownership over the house even though the arabs have lived their since the 1967 war. Jews have a right to reclaim property owned before the war but arabs don;t have this right. It is a form of injustice which unfortunately is quite common here.   http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.810671

Wednesday

Homenade noodles
for lunch

I didn't have time to blog yesterday as it was just one job after another. By the end of the day I was too tired to even eat dinner ... just went straight to bed with shoes and all. I had work s usual ... but with extra chores ... and I had to rush to school in the evening to discuss the opening lecture I'm supposed to give to the first year students tomorrow. Luckily today the chinese sisters made noodles and gave me some for lunch. I would have died of hunger and exhaustion. They made noodles themselves with veggies and boiled sweet potatoes. Nice.

Again we have jewish implosion on record. An extremist jew bought gasoline to burn leftist organisations, threatening atheistic and reformed jews, spraying graffiti on Reformed synagogues. This, I say, is the real threat to Israel - an implosion within a divided society. This is a greater danger than the arabs outside. With these later threats, you can negotiate, compromise or fight. But with extremist jews, these alternatives just simply do not exist.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5012182,00.html

And further implosion news: the shady "kosher" certification authority (now limited to the ultra-orthodox jewish rabbinate) is reported to be biased and prejudiced. A business partner viewed as Ethiopian or not Sephardic is charged extra money for the kosher certificate because the partner is "suspicious" (=read "not jewish enough").   https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5010899,00.html

The Israeli Supreme Court decision to confiscate Church land sold to private developers is causing great consternation  among the churches. In effect it means the State can take land away from the Church if it deems fit. Without landed property, the churches are in the mercy of the ruling govt. ... something which has rarely occurred in 2000 years. Church leaders are calling world leaders to help fight this injustice.   http://www.janglo.net/component/option,com_adsmanager/page,display/tid,428061/catid,99/Itemid,361/?utm_content=bufferdd48a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=bufferand   http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Church-leaders-protest-attempt-to-weaken-Christian-presence-in-Jerusalem-504225

This may sound strange but another crocodile encounter ... this time in Sarawak ... is a good and happy sign. The almost extinct estuarine crocodile has come back after some 30 years. It means the habitats in the South East Asian mangroves are stable and healthy so crocodiles are breeding again. I kind of like that.  http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/giant-crocodile-caught-in-sarawak-tyre-repair-shop?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&xtor=CS1-10#link_time=1504412447

Full moon

Full moon over the
City

It's the last day of Eid al Adha and most shops have already closed early. 4 days of revelry is taking its toll and people are ready for normal life again. The full moon is out and most people are out in the parks and plazas enjoying it before school begins and offices open up again.

Today we celebrated the memorial of St. Moses. What? Yes for us here, as with all the Orthodox Churches, the Old Testament personages are also saints. Our monastery on Mt. Nebo where Moses died, celebrates it as a feast day. We also have St. Elijah, St. David etc....

As the school year begins, a new group of chinese religious have arrived to study courses at various institutes. A priest - once my student - is here for a sabbatical, as also an FMM sister; and a seminarian who will study theology in preparation for the priesthood. Nice group. We met up just now at the Chinese sisters' convent over a simple dinner, to get to know each other. Here's wishing them all the best in their studies and an enjoying stay in the Holy Land.

Newspapers are all reporting that Israel's army is undertaking a massive war drill never seen in the past 2 decades. It's a warning to the north (Lebanon) that Israel is ready to fight if provoked. A very clear message.  http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/IDF-holds-largest-exercise-in-20-years-to-fend-off-Hezbollah-threat-504188

And if you still didn't realise, Israel has been in a state of emergency since it's founding in 1948. The govt is considering extending this state of emergency as the State is still being undermined by enemies. While its true that muslim extremists have been causing conflict these past 2 years, I still say the biggest threat to Israel is from within - from the extremist jews and ultra-orthodox jews who do not recognise the State.  http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/politics-and-military/politics/israel-to-extend-state-of-emergency-due-to-terrorism-30834

Enormous Neapolitan Mastiff
seen in Jaffa

And example of this internal strife and division came up in today's newspapers reporting that ultra-orthodox schools are measuring girls' hair to keep modesty, and will cut off any girl's hair if it's considered too long. Also parents of students are expected to keep a dress code in accordance with these ultra-orthodox rules otherwise their children will be kicked out of school. This has caused an uproar even in ultra-orthodox circles. Apparently these extreme rules are enforced by the minority Lithuanian ultra-orthodox who have always been the leading interpreters of jewish law. I wonder what Moses would say to all this ... since it was he who brought the Law down from Mt. Sinai.

And a joke that's going around town ... Israel is helping China open up a winery. So now even kosher wine is made-in-China. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/1.810435

Busy weekend

St. Peter's Church

Yesterday was extremely busy because I was sent to Jaffa to be sacristan. Everyone in that community was out of different missions so no one was available in the sacristy to care for the sanctuary.

I woke up at 3am to prepare for my trip to Jaffa. At 4.45am I was walking out to wait for my car which brought me there by 6am. Then work began almost immediately. Cleaning the church and sacristy, opening the doors and preparing the altars for various groups coming to celebrate Mass before going on to the airport. There came several groups from Egypt and Jordan ... all christians. And a group of koreans led by my old classmate 25 yrs ago ... Sr. Gabriela Kim who is 75 yrs old this year and celebrating her golden jubilee. It was a nice surprise.

Seminarians cook lunch

There were 4 seminarians staying there as part of their holiday. They just arrived and was their first time. That meant they knew nothing. Yesterday being Sabbath, there was no cook in the house as well. I sure wasn't going to cook lunch for them as I was busy enough in the sacristy, so I told them to cook lunch themselves. They managed to cook up some chicken and rice and a salad and french fries. Not bad. No one died of food poisoning. I decided to ask them to help out in the sacristy as they had nothing to do all day ... in fact all week.

When I got home it was 10pm. I had worked almost 16 hours with no break. Then after a few hours of sleep last night I had the armenian Mass this morning, then an important meeting after that. Then I had class with the chinese sisters. We're doing 3 weeks of classes for the summer holidays as part of their updating. Then next week they will start guiding groups again.

Its been a very busy weekend for me. I'll sleep early tonight to make up.

September is in

Mjaddara for lunch

September has come. Summer is on the way out and autumn is creeping in. The nights are very chilly here and everyone wears a jacket or hoodie. The Mid-Autumn Festival which coincides with the jewish Feast of Tabernacles (Booths). That begins the whole month of jewish feasts of Yom Kippur (Atonement) and Rosh haShanah (New Year).

Well one thing I'm looking forward to in September is the launching of the film "Inhumans" .... Marvel comics course. And the real star of the film? Not Black Bolt or Medusa. It's the cosmic bulldog Lockjaw that has the gift of teleportation. Not bad for a bulldog.

Today is the 1st day of Eid al Adha. The streets are empty and shops are all closed today. The muslims are sleeping after a whole night of feasting and festivities. But once night begins, the shops will reopen and the people will be out again in the streets. It's like this for the next 4 days.

Much as I didn't like it ... I'm forced to work again. One of our library assistants cannot come into Israel due to the feast. That means I have to substitute him everyday. Goodbye to the last weeks of my "summer holiday".

It's Friday. That means no meat day. I like that. But usually Fridays mean lentils. Cooked with rice and caramelized onions ... no meat required ... it's called Mjaddara. It's food that the poorest people eat ... and it is never served to guests. It's nice to eat though except I dislike lentils. Now eating it is real penance on Friday.

One bad news is the Supreme Court has ruled that the Rabbinical Court is responsible for marriage matters ... and the latter has ruled that messianic jews (jews who believe in Jesus) cannot marry in a jewish ritual.  http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.809961