The "Shuk" in Kiryat Shmona

Every Thursday we have a Shuk (open-air market) here in Kiryat Shmona. The term "shuk" translates into "market". My husband prefers to buy his food at the supermarket where it is cleaner and the store is odorless. He says he doesn’t like to buy food that everyone had touched before.

I love to look for bargains at the Shuk where many things are cheaper. I love the atmosphere. A Hebrew word that describes it best is “balagan”. It simply means messy, chaotic, and can be used to describe anything, from my hair in the morning to the current state of the Middle Eastern peace process. - The Shuk is at the same time crowdy, noisy, boisterous and colorful.

The Shuk has a large number of small vendors who operate from open stalls. They offer all sorts of clothing and house wares, shoes, and of course also produce. Kiryat Shmona’s covered outdoor market bursts with fruit and vegetable stands, bags of spices: paprika, chili pepper, and curry…, baskets of roasted pecans, dried apricots, and dates, many different sorts of olives, and a few scattered bread and pastry stalls, selling crusty breads and phyllo-wrapped treats. This is the place for treats such as freshly baked pita and honey and plump dried berries.

The stalls function a little like the Kiddush table at Shul, with grandmothers and youngsters elbowing each other out of the way to edge themselves closer to the best goods. – I have learned that you need to “push” your way through to the vendor if you want anything.

The best way to enjoy the Shuk is to simply wander its alleys, look all around, touch, smell and taste the produce. I can not only touch the produce, squeeze it, but in some cases even taste it. Most importantly, it is usually reasonably priced and fresh. My senses are accosted with the brilliant colors of the fruit and vegetables, gifts and haberdashery. The mixture of aromas of spices and baked goods enhance that exotic sensation, and the sounds of merchants shouting their bargains, and buyers haggling about prices, freshness and flavor, is almost musical.

Yet, in spite of all the busyness, people are in almost a leisurely mood as they casually chat, sip coffee, and greet the passersby they recognize. - But let me warn you, watch out for the banana peels, broken eggs, and fruit pits underfoot!

A shuk is in a way a picture of Israel, a colorful and vibrant mixture of people. A mix of people who came from many nations to gather and join together. It’s a blend of old and young, rich and poor, well educated and simple, religious and secular. It’s a place where one glance shows you a bounty of the G-d-given harvest of every imaginable flavor, aroma, color and texture.

The biggest impression I get from the “Shuk” is that it is thriving and bustling. If you want to experience the sounds of a shuk, click on the link below:

Shuk in Jerusalem

Visiting Friends in Efrat

A few days ago we visited our dear friends in Efrat .

We took the bus to Jerusalem and from there the last 8 miles south, to the beautiful garden city that blossoms in the Judean hills. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Very peaceful.

Thanks to the new Jerusalem-Gush Etzion highway that was opened in August 1996, Efrat can now be reached in less than 10 minutes from Jerusalem.

The highway features the longest and highest bridge in Israel as well as the longest tunnel in Israel. It bypasses Bethlehem today, and one has to drive through tunnels to arrive safely at the destination. Palestinians used to aim gunfire and threw rocks at the cars driving from Jerusalem to Efrat or Hevron. - Bethlehem used to be a town Christians loved to visit because it is the birthplace of Jesus. But today, even the Arab Christians fled that town because of Islamic hostilities. - Well - what can I say - the businesses in Bethlehem today suffer because nobody goes shopping there anymore. The Palestinians cause their own problems all by themselves!

Efrat was founded on March 15, 1983, in a magnificent mountainous location, in the heart of the Etzion Bloc (Gush Etzion). The town's name actually means "Towards Efrat", since the Biblical Efrat was actually located in modern Bethlehem, which is somewhat north on the main road from modern Efrat(a). The name "Efrata" would thus indicate that ancient Efrat was nearby, but not at exactly the same location.

Located in the Judean hills, it was a series of bare hilltops in 1980 when it was established, one of several yishuvim (settlements) in the Gush Etzion area. Historically, Gush Etzion was settled by Jews before the War of Independence, but fell to the Jordanians in 1948. Following the Six Day War in 1967, the children of the families who had lived in Gush Etzion (many of whose parents had been massacred in 1948 defending the area) requested to move back and led the movement to re-establish a Jewish presence in Gush Etzion.

It lies 960 meters above sea level and has dry mountain air. The summers here are hot but dry, and the nights cool down to make sleeping with the windows open very pleasant.

Today, Efrat is inhabited by over 9,000 people (1500 families) including both native Israelis and immigrants from the US, Canada, South Africa, England, Russia and elsewhere. One thing they have in common; they believe that this is their Jewish homeland, and that they have the G-d given right to live there.

Many people refer to this place as a West Bank settlement, even though the hills of Judea have always been the very heartland of Israel. As a matter of fact, this part of the Land of Israel is the biblical, historic and exclusive homeland of the Jewish people.

I want to re-emphasize that the “Israeli-occupied Arab West Bank” is the very cradle of Jewish civilization. It was in the West Bank that Abraham stood when God told him to look to the north, to the south, to the east and to the west, promising that all the land he could see would be given to his descendants, “forever.” Israel’s founding fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, lie buried there. It was in Efrat where Ruth met Boaz, who wooed and married her in this “Israeli-occupied Arab West Bank.” Their grandson, the Shepherd King David, was born in Bethlehem, in this “Israeli-occupied Arab West Bank.” King David ruled the first 7 1/2 years in Hevron, and our Patriarchs traveled on the road from there to Jerusalem.

The hills of Judea in this ancient region in Israel, have been inhabited by Jews for thousands of years.

This is something not everyone knows: - the word "West Bank" has only been created since the Arabs lost the 6-day war in 1967. In all of history the land has only been known as “the West Bank” for 19 brief years!!

On the way back we got a ride with a woman who took a shortcut through an Arab town, where she had to stop to let people with two donkeys cross the street. That's when she said: " I better start praying that we get through here safely." She prayed the Traveler's Prayer (Tefilat HaDerech) out loud while we kept driving until we were on the main street again. I prayed silently with her while Uri put his hand on his pistol in the back seat.

But we arrived safely in Jerusalem.

Shalom from Israel - Lilo

Understanding Obama: The making of a Fuehrer

Watching some of the presidential debates and the reaction of Americans to the candidates, in particular to Obama, I was stunned by the level of hysteria that the crowd displayed towards this man. Why could this man arouse such raw emotions?

To me he was just a young, black man, promoting talking about “change” in an eloquent way.

His ideas of spreading the wealth to everyone sounded to me much like communist propaganda. When I was young I had similar ideas, until I visited Czechoslovakia and Hungary behind the Iron Curtain, and witnessed the reality of what was happening in those countries.

So why is the American crowd almost like under a spell, when he speaks? Don’t they hear what he is saying? Yet the crowds are cheering Barack Obama, the charismatic senator like he was a rock star or another such American idol.

When I heard a TV commentator say: "Here was the American dream embodied in a young man running for Senate, a new Jack or Bobby Kennedy", I suddenly remembered John Kennedy. As a European I could never understand why Americans had such a personality cult. In Switzerland we have a group of 7 men who take a yearly turn to represent the government. It is set up that way so no man (or woman) can ever gain personal power. It is a democracy where the people decide their destiny.

Recently I watched a You Tube presentation entitled: “Understanding Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer” by Ali Sina, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVnRzn4rjbY .

I am not a psychologist and didn’t know anything about the Narcissic Personality Disorder, but the video made me understand a little bit why Americans give up their own reason to “worship” Obama.

What is downright scary is how many people fall for his empty words to choose him to be Commander In Chief and Leader of the Free World ....

Source: http://www.faithfreedom.org/obama.html

The Witch of Endor

It seems almost like a Halloween story.

King Saul was so preoccupied with his rival David, that he neglected the growing Philistine threat to Israel. Meanwhile, the Philistines marched with their chariots into the Jezreel Valley (Hebrew: עמק יזרעאל‎, Emek Yizrael). The spacious, fertile valley spreads out to the north and east from Mount Carmel. Its largest settlement in modern Israel is the city of Afula (Hebrew: עפולה‎), also known as the "Capital of the Valley" (בירת העמק)

But to come back to our story, King Saul was now cut off from the northern tribes by the Philistines. When Saul saw the Philistine army he was so afraid that his heart "greatly trembled." In other words, his heart was gripped with fear. But when he consulted G-d, he didn’t get an answer. The prophet Samuel was dead. No encouraging word would come from the L-rd. So Saul sought out a medium to foretell him the outcome of his battle with the Philistines. G-d had commanded Saul to expel from Israel all those who told the future by communicating with the dead or with a demonic spirit. However at Endor - between Mount Tabor and the Hill of Moreh - there lived a woman who had escaped the purges.

The Torah explicitlyforbids any kind of attempts to contact the dead or any kind of prayers to the dead. (Devarim 18:9-15) The Torah forbids it because it goes against the ethical and spiritual foundations of the Torah. G-d is not affected by such behavior because G-d cannot be manipulated.

But Saul disguised himself and traveled under the cover of darkness to Endor to consult a fortune teller. Assuring her that she would not be punished for practicing her forbidden profession, he requested that she bring up Samuel from the dead. The witch carried out Saul's instructions, but rather than using the tricks of her trade to deceive Saul, she herself was shocked to see an old man appear, whom Saul identified as Samuel!

Some have suggested that the appearance of Samuel was psychological - in the mind of Saul. However, the woman also saw Samuel, and Saul actually talked with Samuel. Some held the view that a demon impersonated Samuel and appeared to Saul. But the message in (1 Samuel 28:16-19) would have hardly come from a demon. Still others concluded that the medium was a fraud and tricked Saul into thinking that he saw Samuel. Yet the medium was surprised herself by Samuel's appearance and that would not have been the case if it were a contrived trick. - The traditional rabbinical view is that these verses record a genuine appearance of Samuel that G-d Himself brought about. Samuel reminded Saul that the kingdom had been taken from him because of his disobedience in the Amalekite war, and then predicted Israel's defeat and the deaths of Saul and his sons at the hands of the Philistines. Samuel never answered Saul's question, "What should I do?" There was nothing that could be done. Because of his disobedience, his fate was sealed. - Judgment was imminent and certain. All that had been Saul's as king would soon be lost because of his rebellion and contempt for God's will. Saul, who appeared to be full of promise as a young man, ended his own life in disgrace. The great failure of Saul as king was his lack of obedience to the will and Word of G-d.

Why did I say this seems almost like a Halloween story?

Because on the surface Halloween appears to be a harmless celebration defined by costumes, candy, pumpkins, and other fun family traditions. But Halloween has a dark side to it.
Some trace the origins of present day "trick-or-treat" to Samhain, which was the supreme night of demonic jubilation. Spirits of the dead would rise out of their graves and wander the countryside, trying to return to the homes where they formerly lived. Frightened villagers tried to appease these wandering spirits by offering them gifts of fruit and nuts. They began the tradition of placing plates of the finest food and bits of treats that the household had to offer on their doorsteps, as gifts, to appease the hunger of the ghostly wanderers. Pumpkins were cut with faces representing demons that were originally intended to frighten away evil spirits.

To witches, Halloween is a festival of the dead, and represents the end and the beginning of the witches year. It marks the beginning of the death and destruction associated with winter. At this time the power of the underworld is unleashed, and spirits are supposedly freed to roam about the earth; it is considered the best time to contact spirits (http://www.witchway.net/).

Yet we dress our children up as witches, ghosts and sorcerers. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, costume parties, visiting haunted houses, carving jack-o-lanterns, watching horror movies or reading scary stories. Maybe we should read our children the story of the Witch of Endor instead?

Communism is coming to America

Rain in Zfat

Today we were in Zfat. It is the highest city in Israel (2608 feet above sea level), nestled in the Upper Galilee mountains, peering down on the Sea of Galilee, and lying about 15 km south of the Lebanese border.

Almost all of Tzfat is built in a circular fashion on a hilltop. The old part of town consists of narrow twisted streets revealing artists' galleries, medieval synagogues, private homes and small guest houses. I saw an Artists Colony, where a lot of painters, sculptors, pencil artists live and work. There were a lot of architectural monuments, picture galleries and the Printing Press Museum. But wherever we went, it was either uphill or downhill.

On the end of the festival of Sukkot, Israelis begin mentioning in their daily prayers that G-d is the One who "makes the wind blow and the rain descend." - These prayers must have been heard, because today it was even thundering and rain fell. We got wet sitting on a covered bench, waiting for the bus.

Israel relies very much upon winter rain in the mountains in the north, as there is little rain elsewhere in the country. The scattered thunderstorms in the north are the first heavy rains of the season and have not come too soon for the dry country, which has suffered four straight years of below-average precipitation. The extended drought has left the country's water resources seriously depleted.

Most of the Galilee consists of rocky terrain, at heights of between 500 and 700 meters. The rain that falls in the mountains by Zfat, runs downhill toward Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee.) The Kinneret has dropped a whopping 5.41 meters (18 feet) and is 1.24 meters under the "red line," which serves as warning that lower levels will endanger the quality of water and the ability to continue pumping. Because of this the underground aquifer system is in danger of salinization.
Long-term forecasts for the winter are mixed. European models indicate that Israel will suffer a lack of rain for a fifth year, but American weather models suggest a wetter-than-usual winter. - That tells me that scientists today have no clue what the weather is going to do.

We live in interesting times. Soon we have an American election, and now we will also have an election in Israel.

From Israel with love - Lilo

In G-D We Trust

A few weeks ago we flew with Iceland Air over Reykjavík on our way to Europe. A week later we heard on the news that Iceland was bankrupt. I know that people go bankrupt all the time and companies do, too. But it can happen to an entire country also. - Yet Iceland’s government shut down the stock market and seized control of its last major independent bank. That brought trading in the country's currency to a halt, as foreign banks were no longer willing to accept the Icelandic Krona.

"Iceland is bankrupt," said Arsaell Valfells, a professor at the University of Iceland. "The Icelandic Krona is history. The IMF has to come and rescue us."

The IMF managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said in Washington that he had activated an emergency funding system, last used during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990's, to help countries in crisis. This has happened of course before, but in places like Argentina and Thailand, and never in a country so close to Europe.

Iceland is raked by icy North Atlantic winds and dotted with volcanoes and geysers. Its inhabitants now not only live with the threat of earthquakes and maritime disasters, but also with the new fear of losing all of their money.

We live in an hour in the earth that the Bible speaks of as the "last days." Many of the prophets of G-D are predicting times of trouble and tribulation for our world today. This is certainly a description of our present world. One of the greatest fears people are fighting today is fear of financial loss and fear of the future.

Just this Friday stock markets around the world plummeted and oil prices plunged to their lowest in more than a year. Even gold, the traditional safe haven in times of panic, fell sharply. According to Associated Press Writers, Patrick Rizzo and Ellen Simon:” The common denominator was growing fears that governments, central banks and finance ministers seem powerless to stop the deepening of a global recession that will slam corporate earnings and lead to deep job losses around the world.”

"This is beyond volatile: It is chaotic," Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics wrote in note to clients.

On March 10, 1862 the first United States paper money was issued. The denominations were $5, $10, and $20. They became legal tender by Act of March 17, 1862. The inclusion of "In God We Trust" on all currency was required by law in 1955.

This inclusion is not such a bad idea after all. Since you can’t trust your bank today, the only safe place for any of us is to stay in the will of God!

Psalm 91:15-16: "He will call on me, and I will answer him: I will be with him when he is in trouble; I will deliver him, and bring him honor. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation."