Israel Under Fire – Keep Calm & Carry On

What a week this has been!  

I’m not sure where to begin, but let’s start with the

 view from the Tayelet, one of the most impressive in the world.

On Wednesday it was the scene of the annual Ethiopian Sigd celebration.

At the end of the day, many of the young people were hanging around, 

some texting on cellphones, too many were smoking,

some had been drinking, their style of hair and clothing was something else.

But there was also a Bnei Akiva youth group marching with flags

and this young man with a traditional instrument, a mesinko.

The Sigd Festival showed some of the best 

and worst aspects of Israeli society.

From the Tayelet, I hurried back to 

The Van Leer Institute, which is located next to Beit Hanasi,

the Israeli President’s official residence. It cannot be seen from the street,

but this beautiful campus is behind a high stone fence. 

Many international seminars and conventions are held here;

this week was the EVA/MINERVA conference which focused on digitization.

Frank Thinnes (right) of EUROPEANA came from Luxembourg

to speak on “The Virtual Tourist”, and though I really enjoyed his talk,

it was his “KEEP CALM & CARRY ON” bag

that caught my eye and got him on to this blog.

The 1939 British poster slogan has also been on Facebook this week.

 Southern Israel is being pounded with rockets

and there were even sirens in Tel Aviv,

yet life went on normally on the Jerusalem, Israel streets.

 4,000,000 Israelis are now living under fire from Gaza rockets,

but Arab women and children went to the mall as usual.

While they feel safe to move around freely, as they should,

my relatives in the South are sleeping on mattresses

on the dining room floor, in bomb shelters and secured rooms.

That is, if they are able to sleep between red alert sirens.

 “Keep Calm and Carry On” 

and pray for

a Shabbat Shalom.

Sunday Update:

Friday night rockets were aimed at Jerusalem

and there has been a constant barrage from Gaza at Israeli cities.

If Hamas stops aiming at Israeli civilians, there would be a cease fire.