Strike

Lighting the hanukkia
last night at the Square

There was a general strike today called by women against domestic violence and many govt, municipal and private companies joined in by allowing their employees to participate. It was massive. Hopefully the legislature will sit up and pay notice and study a law to protect women now. They had ditched it before but since the murder of the 2 girls within 24 hrs in 2 different cities last week, the people will take it no longer.

The weather is constantly cold and the forecast is rain on Thursday and Friday with even colder weather .... temp. will fall to 7 degrees. But that is not dampening the Hanukkah festivities. Last night I watched the lighting of the 2nd candle on the giant hanukkia (candle-stand) in Zion Square. The rabbi prayed and the mayor lit the lights. It was very crowded and people were singing and dancing.

Giant Christmas
tree in the Old City

My classmate from college days came on a pilgrimage and after 37 years we finally caught up. I took her to see the New City and the Hanukkah festivities and we had lahfa for dinner. That's a huge flat-bread wrap of shawarma (spit-roasted meat) with all sorts of sauces and salads. The workers there were arabs and when I ordered in arabic they laughed and called me ` "Halili" meaning a resident from Hebron because my accent is from the south. That's the accent I learned because my neighbors are all from that southern area and it's characterized by a long final vowel in each word. Anyway we all had a good laugh ... but I didn't get a discount. Had extra salads and sauces though.

The giant Christmas Tree which stands every year at the La Salle College near New Gate is no longer there. It's been moved inside to the Christian Quarter. Probably the police has forced us to move the Tree because every year ultra-orthodox jews complain that christians put up an idol at the City Gate which is offensive to jews. So as usual the christians are beaten down and driven to a corner. Despite all that's said ... christians are still persecuted by the ultra-orthodox jews every single year for Christmas and Easter.

In a dreadful development of the war in the north, Israeli defense has discovered lebanese hezbollah fighters had dug tunnels into Israel. Just a few moments ago the Israeli air force destroyed the tunnels. Not a good sign that calm will remain in the north.  https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDF-launches-Operation-Northern-Shield-to-destroy-Hezbollah-terror-tunnels-573459?fbclid=IwAR0UWW-aJv26AVdfzP_wY0uF1BpWQpwJeos1pq2cWFcyIRienm6kkYs3Bcc

Advent 1st Sunday

Stormy skies

Last night the temp. fell to 7 degrees ... it's getting really cold which is nice and suitable for Christmas. However the rains are not falling as expected. The sun is up and bright this morning and we're quite disappointed. We need rain. Storm clouds that fly over in the mornings promise nothing.

It's the 1st Sunday of Advent. Christmas wreathes are everywhere. I'm using my old one ... which I found was broken into 3 pieces ... but it still works. Maybe if I'm free I'll go pick pine cones and pine leaves to make another wreath. Time is always the major factor in everything I do nowadays. With my general fatigue, I do things a lot slower than before and keeps me losing time to do other things. I have to prioritise.

Musrara open market ... empty in
the cold

Last evening the giant Christmas tree in Bethlehem's Manger Square was lit. Thousands of christians from around the southern country came to watch. Then it will be the turns of the other cities like Jerusalem, Nazareth and the other christian villages. It's a big thing for the local christian communities because they are a minority in this country so any public manifestation of their faith is a great morale booster.

There will be a major strike around the main cities of the country on Tuesday against domestic violence against women. Last week in 24 hrs 2 girls were killed. There is still no legislation to protect women.  https://www.timesofisrael.com/support-spreads-for-tuesday-strike-to-protest-violence-against-women/

This evening begins the feast of Hanukkah and the next 8 evenings will be full of fun events in the jewish side of the City. But it also means extra security on the arab side of the City which can be quite a bother ... blockades and police checkpoints.

Solemn Entry

Heavy rain on the horizon

Today is the eve of Hanukkah. I haven't been out to the New City so I don't know what Hanukkah decorations are in the streets. Obviously most buildings and plazas will have hanukiot that will be lit each of the 8 coming nights. The hanukiot is the 9 branch candelabra of which the center one is used to light the other 8, one for each successive night to commemorate the miracle of the small jar of oil that kept burning for 8 days in the Menorah.

My 1st anemone

Well the cold wet weather is going to dampen any festivity this weekend. Last Thursday while on my way from Jaffa to Tel Aviv to see the doctor, I managed  to photograph the horizon of the Mediterranean Sea on Tel Aviv ... a brown haze on the horizon ... which was heavy rains coming our way. Amazing sight. And this sudden cold has made many Spring flowers bloom! One of my anemones has already opened ... when it's usually February that they flower.

Well today the Custos begins his traditional solemn entry to Bethlehem as part of the Advent celebrations. It's a very solemn event with lots of tradition going back to the Crusader period. Civil, military and religious authorities from both sides of the border were in attendance: the Israeli side sends him off to Palestine (Bethlehem) and the Palestinian side to welcome him. It was broadcast live by our Media Center.

Many groups from Asia have arrived and I'll be busy visiting them in the evenings. Then there are retreats to preach. And I hope to start visiting the Armenian families with our 4 armenian brothers for the Christmas season. Advent will be tiring.

Friday rain

Flowers and sufganiot for Ambra

Rain was forecast for today and the rest of the weekend. The sky was dark and cloudy but no rain fell ... until this evening at 9pm. A shower broke and just as quickly it stopped. Not very satisfying. We're all hoping it'll rain heavily later tonight.

Next Saturday - feast of the Immaculate Conception - our former library assistant Ambra will make her perpetual profession to her community of St. John the Baptist. She was a great help to both our libraries as she holds a degree in library science. So yesterday while on my way home from the hospital, I stopped at the florist and bought a bunch of flowers, and a box of sufganiot (ponschski) as a gift from the staff of both libraries. When I reached her office - she now works in our Curia office - she wasn't in. Her parents had come to celebrate her profession a week ahead so she's out with them. Her colleagues took photos of the gifts and sent it to her ... but we decided to eat the sufganiot as it won't last till 10 days after.

The famous Clock Tower of
Jaffa in the rain

Well on the international level we read that the US govt is scrambling to undo (at least in part) the US  abolition of aid to the Palestinians. Trump shot his mouth when he frivolously made that decision without thinking ... now his govt realised that intelligence sharing and co-ordination with Israel will also be cut ... and that is a grave danger since terrorists will be able to work without hindrance. So the US govt is now trying to salvage this abolition by granting exemptions to the Palestinians. Typical of Trump to frivolously make decisions without thinking of the consequences.

Today's leftwing paper Haaretz just publicly expressed what I've been saying all along ... Israel's greatest enemy is from within ... the infighting and implosion of Judaism.  https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-iran-and-hamas-threaten-israel-s-security-so-do-the-leaders-of-ultra-orthodoxy-1.6699505?fbclid=IwAR2wAINf_lgpPw473vBLkZfPRlDRPQAhDR0yeqGNqDylKGhd5t4g167yorE

All Saints Franciscan

Tel Aviv at 5.30am

It's All Saints Day for the Franciscan Order today ... we commemorate all the saints of our 1st, 2nd and 3rd Orders collectively on this date. It's a nice practice as we have so many holy men and women who are not officially canonised. I was at our Jaffa house for the Mass this morning ... I had left Jerusalem at 4.30am and reached Jaffa at 5.30am. Being so early ... as I usually am on Thursdays when I gave to go to Tel Aviv for my medical checkup ... I hoped prepare the altar for Mass and lauds. This morning the chapel was crowded. The community made up of 3 Oriental Rite priests and 2 Latin Rite priests were all present with another guest priest and myself. Then the laity included 2 indians, a spanish couple, an american, a nigerian and another of unknown origin. But it was nice to have a crowd ... it felt like a feast day.

Sufganiot on sale

Checkup took an hour in Tel Aviv then I decided to rush back home. The taxi driver that would have taken me to the Central Bus Station suggested that he drove me to Jerusalem instead for a reasonable price. I was by then sleepy and exhausted so I said yes. Reached Jerusalem City Centre within 50 minutes. I decided to buy some sufganiot for my library workers. Hanukkah falls on Sunday evening and the traditional sufganiot (polish ponschski) is sold everywhere .... some very bizarre versions too. I bought 10 and was given 2 more for free. I shared them with our library workers and secretaries at our Curia office. Eating sufganiot today made our All Franciscan Saints feast much more fun and festive.

A storm stirring in the teacup regarding the measles outbreak in Jerusalem. The ultra-orthodox rabbi serving as deputy Minister of Health has blamed arabs for spreading the measles. An uproar was stirred even among jewish circles ... because the arab population is the highest in vaccination and the ultra-orthodox jewish community has the lowest and now they are hit hard by this outbreak. But typically of them, they would blame non-jews for their own shortcomings. If it were the other way round, it would be called anti-semitism. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-s-deputy-health-minister-makes-baseless-claim-on-arabs-spreading-measles-1.6695408?fbclid=IwAR1OO0lmcswnc5XK-IETVK8nDii83rw_zdgIT_Ztz8tI2Q45_1saWUt2BpA

Meantime the Israeli military had occupied several dunams of private land along the Jordan River owned by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. One dunam equals one thousand sq. meters. Well we're not sure of the circumstances but it certainly is worrying that the govt. is now confiscating church property without warning or compensation.  https://www.lpj.org/il-patriarcato-latino-si-oppone-allappropriazione-delle-sue-terre-nella-valle-del-giordano-settentrionale-parte-autorita-militari-israeliane/?lang=it&fbclid=IwAR2FGL6hN48fVKEACu9dPB0AJjEdQaUSPsbiqQOfuROjz0I6h17GDX9V48M

Another day

Sunrise today

It's midweek and I've felt so exhausted this morning I could not go to work. In fact I woke up late ... because I woke up at midnight with a coughing spasm. It was cold and the heater was on so the air was dry and made my throat itchy. Didn't sleep till 4am when the coughing stopped ... I actually have to drink a cup of warm water to calm the throat. The rest of the morning was spent with a little gardening and clearing up some backlog work in my home office before resting for another couple of hours. Then it was class in the afternoon and helping Sr. Clara in the kitchen. The other 2 sisters were out on excursion so Clara had to work in the kitchen and sacristy at the same time. Well we managed to get dinner prepared.

The weather continues to stay cool and cloudy ... which is very pleasant because this Sunday is the jewish feast of Hanukkah and there'll be lots of activities. If I have enough energy I'll see if I'll go out and see what's happening. But today I'm staying in and sleeping early.

Congress

Congress of commissaries

The International Congress of Franciscan Commissariates started yesterday. Representatives from all over the world are here with the Cardinal Prefect of Oriental Churches to discuss the role of the commissaries and the importance of supporting the churches in the Holy Land. Their main job is to collect the Good Friday Collection, the organizing and promoting of pilgrim groupsI had hoped to join in the conferences and talks but yesterday I was occupied with work. And this morning I had to cancel my participation as well because it was again meetings with lawyers and the bank ... just to pay a 15 euro subscription for the library. 2 hours were lost. It's a nightmare here.

The weather continues to be cool and cloudy though no drizzle has fallen. Last night it went down to 9 degrees. Everyone is wearing thick clothes even though at times it gets quite hot during the day.

There has been a series of horrid murders these past 24 hrs. 2 teenage girls, one a christian in the village of Jish where St. Paul's parents came from, and another in Tel Aviv, were found dead. Violence against women is taking prominence and women in Israel have been marching for the past month for the govt. to act. Being a patriarchal society, women in this region have little protection and their rights are seldom upheld in favor of tradition.   https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5414698,00.html

And in Jerusalem there's a measles outbreak with over 2000 cases reported. The youngest is a 3 month old baby who ctracted the disease from the mother. Apparently it's most widespread in the ultra-orthodox community who reject vaccination.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5414385,00.html

And the bill proposed by the rightwing Culture minister to stop funding to artistes not loyal to the State has been shot down. The Culture minister who said it's not a right to get govt. funding is right, and I agree. It's a privilege. No one has a right to public money if the public does not say so. However to coerce artistes to perform and create works only to support the State smells a little off. To be fair, it must be said that the works of art and performances themselves are not banned ... just that they get no public funding. Well the truth of this world is whoever pays the piper calls the tune ... so artistes have to wise up and accept the facts of life.   https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Regev-demands-culture-loyalty-bill-go-to-a-vote-attacks-Liberman-Kahlon-572841