St. Teresa of Calcutta

Buddy bowing to M. Teresa

The canonisation Mass of M. Teresa is on right now. I'm watching Vatican TV online. So is Buddy. He didn't bother much about the bishops and cardinals, but when M. Teresa's picture was shown, he bowed. yes he did!!! And when the pope came up on screen, Buddy stepped on the bar to pause the frame. I wonder what Buddy was thinking.

I guess I've neglected Buddy these few weeks. With all the work, I've left him alone in the room most of the time. In the night sometimes he comes down from the curtain rails (4 meters high) and sleep with me. Today I decided to stay in with him so he's very happy. I even gave him an apple.

The railway implosion is really peaking. Thousands have demonstrated and public media have condemned the whole fiasco. The PM is getting all the blame a he (naturally) bowed to the ultra-orthodox demands. He needs to do that because his coalition govt. hangs on the few seats held by the ultra-orthodox. Political survival is more important than the public that elected him to serve them. But things are not as simple as it seems. The Transport Minister, who has had a history of clashes with the PM, has calculated this fiasco to shake the PM from power. The public discontent that traffic and rail system be halted now for several days, affecting security (soldiers can't get to their bases) will certainly bring the govt.'s downfall and earn the hatred of the public for the ultra-orthodox who have till now controlled almost all of Israeli life. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.740086  and  http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.740055

And another joke (insult?) on the headlines is Donald Trump wearing a jewish prayer shawl given by a Protestant pastor. Some jews are greatly insulted by this. Others think it is inappropriate. I think the pastor is just plain dumb. You're christian!!! Give a cross or a bible .... but not the religious garment of another religion!!! What next? ISIS giving out crosses to buddhists and hindus??? Sheer idiocy. Identity crisis of american protestantism.  http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.740062

M Teresa's sisters beaten up and Eucharist desecrated

Dark quiet road
from 7th Station to
Holy Sepulcher 

Really busy. Last night was traveling 77 kms to Herzliya, the coastal city, to celebrate Mass for the migrant community there. It's a pretty mixed group of people: americans, africans, filipinos and indians. When I reached home in Jerusalem it was past 10.30pm. No food all day so I was lucky Nadia our cook prepared chicken schnitzel with potato chips. I had to go to her house to get it. The by 4am (slept only 4 hours) I was up again because there was Mass at the Holy Sepulcher at 6am for the Tel Aviv community of migrants.

Walking up to the Holy Sepulcher was strangely quiet. No one in the streets at 5am except for groups of soldiers huddled together waiting for their shift to end. No groups going to or from the Holy Sepulcher, no merchants preparing their wares. I was the only one walking there ... except for baker carrying a tray of kaik (bagels) on his head, heading towards Damascus Gate. There were some 30 plus people who came from Tel Aviv for the  Mass.

Holy Sepulcher
under restoration

Then at 8am there was the indian Mass at St. Savior's parish. Big crowd of some 400 konkani speaking migrant workers. Next Saturday is Monti (Indian feast for the birth of the Virgin Mary) so they have started a novena.I was dead tired by then and felt faint 4 times during the Mass. Anyway managed to survive ; the chinese sisters cooked some rice and veggies which I ate for brunch. They came for the 6am Mass in the Empty Tomb.

Anyway now it's time to run off to the PDDM sisters at the 3rd Station. Have to teach them how to sing some prayers in armenian for tomorrow's Mass at the Armenian Catholic cathedral. The organist died 2 weeks ago and Sr. Cecilia the one-person choir was transferred to Italy. It's now starting from zero to organize a choir that can sing something in armenian.

If you're feeling confused about why so many Masses on Fridays and Saturdays, remember it's the national weekend. Most migrant workers get their off-days either Friday or Saturday so churches celebrate Sunday Mas son those days when they migrant community can come. Sunday is the 1st working day of the week and hardly any migrant catholic can come. Only arab christians are free on Sundays.

We just received news that 5 sisters of M. Teresa were beaten and tied up in their convent in Argentina. The chapel was desecrated when the 3 men threw the consecrated hosts on the floor. They managed to steal only US$3.50 which the sisters had. Absolutely shameful.  http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/eucharist-desecrated-missionaries-of-charity-assaulted-in-argentina-63151/

1st Day of School

You must be confused when I speak about the weekend ... because sometimes I refer to the muslim weekend, sometimes to the jewish weekend and sometimes to the christian weekend. Technically weekend means 3 days from Friday to Sunday.

Zion Square night market was quiet

Well it's the weekend (!!!) and the night market at Ben Yehudi Mall was up and running as usual. But yesterday it was pretty quiet. Perhaps it's the first day of school so most of the children and youths have no time to come out. Tourists are also few ... perhaps because of the heat but also because of fear. Such a pity. There were street performers and buskers but they drew very few audiences. The famous violinist wasn't even there ... as was missing also the ultra-orthodox guitarist. It was all very downcast, I felt.

Ben Yehuda is
also quiet

And what was I doing there? Well I couldn't get home!! My street was blocked off by the police because jewish youths were marching through my street. They do it once a month ... very provocative ... to show that East Jerusalem (mainly arab) belongs to Israel. They come in the hundreds singing, chanting and banging drums and waving Israeli flags. And everyone else must stand aside and keep out of their way. And they pass through my main door and we're not allowed to open it. They spit at us. So I was locked out and decided instead to walk around the New City till they reopened the road. That was about 9pm.

This week was also the Beer Fest held annually at Independence Park. Lots of different brewers come to show their products and lots of youths come to drink. And there's also a live concert. I'm not interested in beer nor the concert. But we can hear the noise from New Gate.

Yesterday was the 1st day of school for both Israel and Palestine. Early morning and afternoon saw thousands of students going and returning from school. In between that, the streets are quiet, peaceful and less stressful. School can be quite a relief for parents and residents.

Thursday Salad Lunch

Lunch at Salatiah

It's almost weekend again (Muslim weekend = Thursday Friday; Jewish = Friday Saturday). One thing I like about Thursday despite it's more than usual hectic schedule is having lunch with my friend Aviram. We don't do it as often as we like because our schedules are really tight (more me than him because he gets Thursdays off except for night school later in the evening), but we still try and meet up. It keeps me sane as I take a break from everything and just walk off to the New City. We always have a salad lunch because it's healthy and cheap. For 35 shekels you get to choose 9 different types veggies (over the basic lettuce) plus various sauces. And the portion is really big so we usually eat only half and keep the rest for dinner. And we chat up a lot during lunch. The salad place is called HaSalatiah (literally "salad"). It's the only one of its kind in Jerusalem and is very popular. Too bad today they were out of green peas and bean sprouts. I had tomato/parsley, baked sweet potato, baked potato, mushrooms, baked eggplants, an egg, pasta ... can't remember what else.

Back to the implosion theory: the police chief said it's only natural that Israeli police should suspect ethiopic jews. Huge backlash since yesterday.  http://www.timesofisrael.com/ethiopian-israelis-seek-apology-resignation-of-police-chief/

More disturbing is a summer camp organized by extreme rightwing Israelis. A video showed how israeli youths were taught to attack Israeli police and interrogators, sabotage techniques, assault, martial arts and other violent actions which have shocked the rest of Israel. This group attacks not only arabs and christians and other minority groups but also Israelis who do not agree with their worldview. Members of parliament (Knesset) have asked the group to be branded terrorist ... similar to arab terrorist groups. A Major General said it is more worrying than incitement from the arabs.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4848543,00.html

Former Custos Pizzaballa will be
Apostolic Administrator of the
Holyland in place of a Patriarch

Anyway the weekend is upon us. On Sept. 10th our former Custos will be consecrated Archbishop and take over the Patriarchate of the Holy Land (there is no patriarch).  Also the canonization day of Mother Teresa is this Sunday the 4th. On Sept. 11th evening the muslims will celebrate Eid al Adha "The Sacrifice of Ishmael" (not Isaac) and October 2nd begins the cycle of jewish High Holy Days beginning with Rosh HaShana (New Year) and ends on Oct 23rd. Autumn is always full of celebrations.

Heading towards civil war?

The retired secret service director of Israel has predicted that a civil war is more likely than a threat from outside like Iran. He said that Israeli society was badly divided and nothing less than a civil war would erupt. Well I've been saying that for some time now: Israel will implode. The threat is internal, not external. If nothing is done now to heal the rifts between ultra-orthodox and the rest of jewry, the left and the right, the rich and poor, the Ashkenazi and the Sephardi ... Israeli society will implode. I said once that Israeli society is very good and hiding behind a veneer of normalcy - this is understandable given the racial and religious tensions daily - but if it hides too long behind this veil and avoid addressing the uncomfortable issues that matter, then it will erupt with great force. And this war will be fought by jews against jews.  http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Ex-Mossad-chief-Israels-biggest-threat-is-potential-civil-war-not-Iran-466415  and  http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/in-israel/local/former-mossad-director-israel-is-headed-towards-a-civil-war-23309  But read also  http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Why-are-there-anti-Israel-Jews-465921

Meanwhile foreign students are angered that they have been tricked by institutes claiming to offer courses on agricultural technology (which Israel is leading the world) and actually making them laborers ... picking fruit and veggies from the fields. The institutes are not academic nor accredited nor have degreed personnel to teach. What a rip off! But like everything else, the institutes will never be prosecuted.   http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.739234

Nice greek food

Yesterday evening I caught up with Prof. Dong, a graduate student whom I helped 3 years ago while he was writing his thesis. He had a scholarship from the prestigious Albright Institute here in Jerusalem and wrote his thesis on Medieval Jewish philosophy ... namely Maimonides and Averroes. Then he came back with his family early this year to do another research. His wife too was doing research, writing her PhD thesis on gnosticism. Well they finished their job and soon will return to China (Shandong University). Prof. Dong brought me out for dinner ... and we had a nice Greek meal. That's a good break from all that chinese food.

Work

Zika is the big news in Singapore. Trying to blame the Ministry for being late in identifying the illness is ridiculous. If sick people don't go to the doctors, then how can it be identified? This type of blame game is so typical of Hong Kong ... I see it's contagious and have affected Singaporeans as well: blame blame blame ... spending so much time and energy blaming instead of solving the problem. Negativity seems to be the main motivation.

Here in Israel a local firm has managed to hack into iPhones. It's causing some panic here but instead of blaming iPhone for security lapses, the attention is on how to stop these intrusions because any false message can be used to incriminate people in this high security country. People can be framed by false photos and messages. This is what people fear.  http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium-1.739241

The earthquakes in Italy and Burma have also woken up the Israeli public to the big earthquake we have been expecting for the past 7 years. it's long delayed ... and each year's delay increases the magnitude of the quake. Studies have shown that 99% of old buildings are not earthquake-proof.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4847567,00.html

Now I bet you did not hear the news about 2 catholics nuns murdered in Mississippi. Persecution of the Church is so common now it seldom gets reported. But yes, 2 catholic nuns killed in the USA.  http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/two-nuns-found-murdered-at-their-home-in-mississippi-84964/

Some ethiopic manuscripts

Some professors have returned from their vacations. On Sept. 1st our libraries will be opened to the public and slowly students will be coming to do their research before the school actually begins. I started on a new project in the library: cataloging the ethiopic and coptic manuscripts in our university library. I brought our ancient books expert from the General Library down to the university to help out in this project.  You can see our manuscripts on our library website http://www.bibliothecaterraesanctae.org

Palm Plaza lights

Palm Plaza at 10pm

It's Monday ... I started work at about 5am. Had only 4 hours of sleep. I must start writing a lot of reports because there might be a change of jobs and transfers next month. I must be prepared to hand over my various jobs to others if the decision is taken. I hope I get to transfer to a retirement home ... to rest and recover from my illness and prepare to die.

The lights in Palm Plaza is a permanent feature now. Every night the lights on the palm trees are on ... and they are very beautiful. A little joy in an otherwise tense neighbourhood. I call it Palm Plaza as most people do because the official name is Mishol HaPninim Garden and no one can remember or pronounce it.

There's a video going viral about a jewish orthodox rabbi calling for the deaths of 2 christian who were evangelising in Israel. Watch it and see the response of the 2 christians. Don't think that this is an exception ... such concepts and attitudes to christianity are held by the majority of Israelis who learn it from school.  https://www.facebook.com/oneforIsrael/videos/1344268295591126/?pnref=story

Several court cases are in session probing soldiers or civilians shooting and killing palestinians. The outcome? http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/in-israel/local/exclusive-police-calls-to-free-farmer-who-shot-palestinian-23224    and  http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/IDF-investigating-soldier-who-shot-Palestinian-running-toward-checkpoint-466312  are just 2 articles on some of the cases. Mind you, I'm not saying that shooting and killing jews are permissible. No killing is. Not out of fear, prejudice or revenge. But the prosecution of jewish and on-jewish killers are disproportionate. Some newspapers have noted this.

Palm Plaza during the day

Leaving contentious issues aside, the weather is cooler than we expected for August. The nights can get chilly. My asthma is a lot less, just once a night now. But my partially subluxed shoulder still hurts, as my left ankle. These old injuries will be bothering me forever.