Ceasefire? #Firgun Day from Jerusalem

Cease fire?

Israel ceases.

Hamas keeps firing.

Firing so many rockets,

it was impossible to catch all the names of the locations.

Israel was still under fire,

50 rockets in 6 hours to which Israel did NOT respond.

The photos posted by Arab propaganda have featured

wailing women and blood covered babies.

Of course many of them are from Syria.

There’s one with a baby in a wool winter hat and a heavy sweater,

in the heat of this past week a baby dressed like that

would have died from heat stroke.

Not gory enough? Now they are using

scenes from Hollywood horror movies.

While damage has been limited, all of Israel has been affected.

Thousands of children were brought to Jerusalem from southern Israel for fun days,

and large groups were hosted at the Knesset and Israel Museum.

image children running

 At a special day camp at Beit Hanasi, the Israeli President’s residence;

Shimon Peres with children in Beit Hanasi

President Shimon Peres sat with a group from Kibbutz Saad.

I went to see what was really happening on the Jerusalem, Israel streets,

instead of staying in and listening to all the alerts today.

image women sitting in shade

Sorry Hamas, but these ladies do not look afraid of you,

image two women sitting on bench in jerusalem

they were looking for shelter from the sun.

two women sitting in shade in Jerusalem, israel

As were my friends who were sitting and talking near a main street.

The big trend on the Jerusalem, Israel streets was staying in the shade.

Not so great for photos, but the cool breeze was nice.

image Jerusalem Street scene

This woman went to the grocery store and returned with her cart full.

image young family in Jerusalem

And this visiting family said they were concerned,

but not so afraid to be here now,

image Jerusalem, Israel taxi

their taxi arrived and they were off for a fun day.

What a different perspective one has when you arer here,

than that of concerned parents watching from overseas.

(I did love finding out that her family were our old neighbors.)

image transportation Jerusalem

This woman had her own transportation,

with an Israeli flag and עם ישראל חי sign.

Arab woman Jerusalem,

A woman wearing a hijab crossed Azza Street

image two friends meeting.

 while at midday two friends met nearby.

Some cafes were almost empty,

but that was because it was a fast day.

image woman walking with cane, photo Jerusalem street scene

Just another ol’ day on the Jerusalem, Israel streets,

not newsworthy with no violence,

after the sirens and rockets of last week, we hope it stays that way.

The Hamas rockets have hit Arab houses in Hebron,

injured Bedouin girls near Beer Sheva,

and knocked out their own electricity.

Each rocket aimed at civilians is a war crime.

All of this must stop.

But as always there is something more…

coming from Jerusalem, Israel.

(please let me know if you hear it here first.)

The International #FirgunDay is on July 17th,

and you are invited to join from anywhere in the world!

Firgun (pronounced FEER-GOON, פרגון)

is a Hebrew word that means a compliment

or act of kindness performed solely to make another person feel good

and without any intention to get something in return.

What do you do on #FirgunDay?

 Pick a person or organization which you find inspiring and worth a “Firgun.”

Post on Facebook, twitter, instagram, or any other social media

 and explain why that was your choice.

Don’t forget to add the #FirgunDay hashtag!

 Help spread the #FirgunDay love and share with your friends,

so they can post there own #Firgun, making another person happy!

Happy #FirgunDay!

בואו נפיץ קצת פרגון! יום פרגון שמח

Dark Clouds, Smoke Clouds and Much More in Jerusalem

 Almost three weeks ago looking out from Alon Shvut,

we knew Eyal, Gilad and Naftali were there,

somewhere,

but we were not sure if they were still alive.

iamge Gush Etzion

This week the sad news was broken that their bodies were found,

Rav Adin Steinsaltz’s statement is worth sharing:

“A dark cloud has befallen our nation today. Our hearts are broken, yet united with the hearts of the boys’ families, as we mourn and we cry with them. We cannot erase the evil. But we can create good. We can transform the world through goodness by living as Jews and acting as Jews, with our Torah and mitzvot.”

image funeral crowd

The crowd to get on shuttle buses from Modi’in to the funeral,

was so large I had held up my camera to try to get a photo.

image people waiting for bus

Not all those trying to get to the cemetery were young,

but only the quickest  and pushiest could get on a bus.

I kept thinking this would certainly would never do in England.

image walking to crowd cemetery

Buses lined the way to the cemetery, while

 thousands of people walked and filled the road.

image large crowd walking

Short cut? I am not sure,

but more buses and more people were as far as one could see.

It was hot, people were so crowded,

but I heard no reports of violence.

Most reports were of sharing water and food

or lending a hand or literally a shoulder to rest on.

A big thanks goes to the hatzalah driver who gave me water.

image large crowd

This was as close as I could get, and again had to hold my camera high.

I never planned to be out for eight hours until 11:00 pm,

but I am certain many got home much later.

What a week,

smoking forest fires, rioting in Shuafat, and talk of revenge.

Awful news filled much of the headlines,

but as always there is more happening in Jerusalem, Israel.

photo Jerusalem beach

I finally got to the beach,

the Jerusalem beach that opened in First Station.

photo beach Jerusalem

Unlike the last attempt bringing a beach to Jerusalem,

there is not only lots of sand, but also water,

photo playing ball in sand.

and on a quiet night even a place to play soccer.

Also for many this week,

image Mondial

soccer was not just for little kids,

it is Mondial.

 The AACI celebration for Canada Day and July 4th this afternoon

  has expanded to include all olim at a Salute to OLIM Fair.

It is hot and it is a difficult time now, however,

 we have friends who are on their way across the US to make aliyah.

They sold their beautiful home in California,

to follow their dream.

Too bad they will not make it in time for the concert today,

but they can join us next year in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem in June

June in Jerusalem, Israel,

More than 20 International Mayors were just here,

and now the Jewish Agency Board of Governors are back.

The Jewish Media Summit 2014

image Shimon Peres, photo Daivd Horowitz

opened Sunday night with both Israeli President Shimon Peres

image Israeli Prime Minister

and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in attendance.

The line to get past security moved slower than a snail.

But even without these exclusive events,

the school end-of-year extravaganzas, graduations and conferences galore

could triple book any Google calendar.

085b  Jerusalem light fewstival

If you missed the Light Festival some of the best is here,

image Israel Festival

while the Israel Festival has too many programs to mention.

image shavuah hasefer, photo Israel Book Week

Shavuah HaSefer, the annual Hebrew Book Week

image Hebrew Book Week

was back in its old location near the new First Station.

image shavuah hasefer , photo Book Week

As every year, book lovers came out in droves every night from June 11 – 21

image Hebrew Book Week

to browse and buy at bargain prices.

image Tower of David Museum

The Tower of David Museum has  a new year-long exhibit.

Where else could you find

image Tower of David Museum, photo tool from Second Jewish Temple,

a fire-pan used by the Priests in the Second Jewish Temple,

image Palestine Post, photo 1938 headline

 an ad for  “FIAT the car for Palestine,”

image Tower of David Museum at night

and this scene at sunset.

Over at the Israel Museum,

image Israel Museum, big bambu image.

US twins Doug and Mike Starn and over two dozen mountain climbers

Image Big Bambu at Israel Museum

from the US and Israel crafted this big, really big Big Bambu.

image BigBambu at Israel Museum

Israel Museum visitors are going to love it this summer,

imige Israel Museum

especially when it is free for children in August.

There is lots of sand this year at the Bloomfield Science Museum

and at the new “Jerusalem Beach” at First Station,

but that will be for another time.

This June,

image kidnapped boys, photo return of kidnapped Israeli teens

“all are with the three terrorist kidnapped teens,

Nafatli, Gil-ad, and Eyal,”

image sign for Three kidnapped Isaeli  teens

“Shuvu Ahim, return our brothers”

is on our signs and on our minds.