Exciting article about a new translation of the bible into a Inuit language, only took 34 years!
This bit made chuckle:- “Another example is the translation of shepherd, which appears in the Bible often. In Inuktitut a shepherd tends to children of dogs, not goats and sheep, which aren’t found in Nunavut.”
Not sure why, but the arctic has something of a fascination for me, and seeing the gospel reach the very extremes of the world is exciting stuff.
During friday whilst in bed before getting up, as my alarm is set to go off at 6.15am I felt something I thought might of been a small earthquake, in fact I think I heard some creaks from furniture in my house that moved slightly.
Just seen this today, from a volcanoes group page on Facebook I get alerts from as I got a little bit interested in Geology as a child and in 2005 I went to Iceland and saw the volcanoes there.
Turns it was an earthquake that happened after all, actually in the Dead Sea area, but could be felt here in Jerusalem. Doesn’t seem to be any damage anywhere but we are on a fault here.
The 8th of October is Yom Kippur or day of atonement, one of the most significant events in the Jewish calender, its a holiday where everything shuts down completely, people fast, stay at home and huge numbers of people visit the Kotel (Western Wall)
Me and some friends decided to do some spontaneous craziness, there is a big tunnel that passes under the front of the Jaffa gate, its part of a big dual carriage highway that acts as a important traffic artery that winds its way hidden under the famous gate so not to spoil the historical look of the old city. This road is very busy, and there is only one day where its empty…
I am riding up with my friend Yossi who lives quite near me, bizarrely all the traffic lights around Jerusalem are permanently flashing amber.
Heading towards the tunnel, oh wait, drat – its shut!! Bah.
Waiting for the other guys to show up, one of them was still in bed! Slackers. 
Ok, we are all set….
The tunnel is shut – as in there is a barrier over one side of the ride to stop cars going in, easy to dodge this on a bike though
One of my other friends got some videos of this, maybe try and put this on Youtube later…
Ok, this is one way back, the road is a steep, not that obvious, but you give up riding 1/3 of the way back!
Stopping for ice cream at German Monastery in Old City.
Some general randomness and goofing off all around the city, including going up some steps reveals some bike-friendly and a skateboarder’s paradise of slopes and interesting corners to ride around….
Certain bits of the old city gives you hidden rooftop views of the markets below..
After this epic ride around a few of us went to the Kotel (Western Wall) and got some pizza. Good day I think with my Christian, Jewish and Arab buddies.
Back in the 60s and 70s, the word ‘peace’ was a greeting used by hippies, I wonder if they got the idea from Jews and Arabs who have used it as a regular hello in their respective languages for a few thousand years.
Just lately I have found it interesting with seeing examples of false peace here in Israel, not just what I see on the news. Normally its from other nations who are asking the State of Israel to compromise with its security arrangements and borders, but there are some other things as well.
In southern England, around the countryside there are small buildings we called ‘follys’, they are buildings that where made with no specific purpose whatsoever, they were just made to provide a centrepoint on the hill above a village or mark a land boundary and to provide employment for local labourers.
In Nazareth, I saw a slightly odd aerial shaped monument next to the precipice. Now the precipice is a hill which was meant to be where people tried to throw Jesus off that got upset by his teaching in the synagogues.
On top of here looking south you can see a spectacular view over Megiddo and Mount Tabor. One is the place of previous wars and a future one planned for the end of the world, and one is a possible location of Jesus’s transfiguration. On the other less steep side of the hill facing northwards is a TV aerial shaped thing at the front with a series of concrete steps to sit on which looks like a pleasant place to watch a concert or (small) sports event. The paths that lead in between the step have rough gravel on them, certainly no good for people with baby carriages or wheelchairs. It looks unfinished and rushed to be honest. If I remember correctly this project was a gift for peace to the people of Nazareth from the Pope and the Vatican in circa 1997. Having said that, the view up here is terrific, and it would be nice to see some live bands up there, but I didn’t see anything on any posters about any live music scene. If you are interested in my travels to Nazareth, start here on part 1 of my trip the city of Jesus’s youth.
In Sderot, I went with my friend Daniel from work with one of his community projects to a small town that most of you will know gets used as target practice for terrorists in Gaza. These poor people live with worry of being next hit by Katusha rockets. Next to some fields and an army base on a hill I can see directly into Gaza less than 1.5km away. Up here is a giant musical instrument, with some chime bars and a hammer thing on a piece of rope you can use to ring as a ‘peace’ gift for Israelis and Gazans. I don’t remember who made this thing, but it a novelty chime instrument doesn’t help people having to rush into bomb shelters especially when they happen when their kids go to school.
Jerusalem is the same. Near my house is the UN headquarters, and close to there is a monument with some inscriptions in English, Hebrew and Arabic, probably say people need to give each other a hug or something.
Closeby is the Haas promenade, there is a really nice place to walk along the side of the hill which attracts Arab and Jewish families having picnics and foreigners on rented electric Segway chariots. On the paths that go down, is a few peace monuments here, these actually look quite decent that are designed a viewpoints over the city.
That is until you go up the steps to view out of them, there is graffiti inside them, and smells of that they have used as a toilet. One of the monuments that was a gift from Canada, has some wooden steps that go sideways onto the path. Trouble is most of the wooden slats of the steps you can see below are missing, as someone stole them probably for firewood for their barbecue.
Ezekiel 13 : 10 “‘Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash.
Really, these buildings from foreign nations trying to help Israel, seem like nice gestures, but are not implemented well and are a bit shortsighted in their actual useful value. Its a bit like getting a present of a picture of an ornament you don’t really like and having to put it on the wall when you friend comes round so not to hurt their feelings. Here is a little sketch:-
A random foreign nation decided to drop by and see Israel. This entirely fictitious nation I have called Kerblamistan:
Ding dong!
Kerblamistan: Hello Israel! Happy birthday! I brought round a present!
Israel: Marnish ma! (how are you) come on in!
You want coffee?
Kerblamistan: Yes please, heres your present! You are looking lovely for 63!!
Israel: Ah, Toda raba! (thankyou) I wonder what it is, [stirs coffee]
Kerblamistan: You will never guess what it is, its a….
Israel: well I could really do with a another hospital or school, this would be good to serve our differing communities of people in our borders?
Israel: oh its a peace monument?!
Kerblamistan: Yeah, glad you like it! I thought its just what you need to help with neighbours and all that!!
Israel: (had kitchen cupboard door open) sigh, oy vay… <face palm>
Kerblamistan: Look its got little doves and things on it, and stuff in Hebrew and Arabic! bet you have never had one like this before eh?
Israel: (hides other naff presents in cupboard behind mugs and teabags.
Israel: er how many sugars did you say you have?…
Other examples of false peace are so called authorities that provide prizes or bestow awards, such as PLO chairman Yasser Arafat who got a Nobel Peace award in 1994. Also a well known ex-Palestinian terrorist who wrote a book about accepting Jesus, has be spoken about as being a fraud as still hating Israel, after some things spoken about recently in Arabic appears to be different from the story he originally gave in his book.
Architects seem to like create buildings for peace purposes that don’t quite yet have a proper purpose to them.
My thinking is if you want to do a tangible construction project for peace purposes maybe start with something that has a social benefit like hospitals and schools. I really like the Magon David ambulance service which I think is entirely funded by foreign donations, but assists Jewish, Arab and foreigners to Israel if an accident or emergency happens.
I am really proud to part of Bridges for Peace, true, our two food banks won’t win any design awards, our headquarters looks lovely and has a wonderful garden but is tucked away from the public with an electric gate, and my role is in a backroom to look after resources and equipment, but the works we do impact the poor people in this nation, as well try as close as we can to follow the actions of Jesus in this land to the most needy.
Jeremiah 8 : 8-12 “‘How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,”when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? 9 The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they have? 10 Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. 11 They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace.
It smells nasty in this look out post, signs of arson and grafitti, not all of it bad though!
My point isn’t to poke fun too much at efforts to make peace between nations, but for me, true reconciliation will only happen between Israel and the Arab neighbours will happen with Jesus’s return.
This view shows facing southwards from the most extreme north coastal point of Israel.
This is Rosh Ha Nikra (meaning Head of the Grottos) a place of natural beauty, containing not only natural caves, but a museum built on the site of a railway line which goes from Israel through Lebanon through to Turkey built by the British in WWII, not running any more of course!
There is a nearby Kibbutz, the white tent you can see in the distance is a banana plantation, apparently British Jewish comedian who created Borat and Bruno characters Sacha Baron Cohen once lived here.
The left field has all the fruit picked. The right hand one shows the bunches of bananas has blue plastic bags round them to keep out insects and birds, as well plastic sheeting around the whole field. Means the fruit doesn’t have any chemicals on them instead.
The entrance to the cable cars and visitor centre.
Amusing looking warning signs in the cable car, the journey down was something like two minutes or so I think.
The tunnels, long since blocked off, as its impossible to cross over to Lebanon through the regular borders, carried trains all the way up through the middle east. These days in holds a cinema screen and some chairs for a presentation showing the history of this railway route.
Ancient grafitti in Hebrew here, not sure of age, not so easy to see unfortunately from this picture, could be good to bring some crayons and paper and make some rubbings if you plan to come here. On the right, some modern scribbles.
The caves are beautiful.
Traces of copper and iron in the caves, also some tiny fossils of creatures on the rock outside.
There is a very pleasant walk that winds around inside the caves and along the edges of the cliffs.
The border! Beyond here is a military base, and a demilitarized zone, before you reach Lebanon.
Only 120Kms to Beirut, Lebanon!
A month ago, I went with some friends from work to see Yad Vashem museum.
This concrete bridge over car park has a a scripture from Ezekiel 37 : 14 “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.”
The triangular building on the left is where the exhibits are, in the middle is a ticket hall, although entrance is free, but brochures can be bought and radio headsets can be rented for languages other than English and Hebrew and a cafe and toilets are in the basement.
The museum doesn’t allow the public to take pictures, but I did get one of this tall domed roof hosts photos and documents of children. I touched on recently how members of the public with families who perished have been invited to submitted to Google recently in conjunction with Yad Vashem.
There are many things that I feel shamed reading about, how Christians accused Jews of being ‘Christ killers’ and how the British denied boat loads of Jews desperate for a safe place to call home from docking with (The British Mandate of) Palestine. This was many things that were shocking in addition to the precise way the Nazis committed large scale genocide.
You would think that lessons would be learned from a murder on a mass scale like this.
There are number of things today that deeply trouble me. One is that are worryingly parallels between Nazi fascism and today’s rhetoric from Arab nations, and bits of this are echoed in the western media. Some of these things was the Nazi’s call to boycott Jews, as some vintage propaganda posters were shown in a cabinet. Other similarities are the Nazis burning books, and countries today turning off their internet to try and keep the public in ignorance.
Its crazy today that some people try to change history and pretend this awful event never happened. There is also a secondary type of hatred, and that is from people who consider the previously mentioned people to be a credible authority of information.
It was only a few years after this terrible part of history before the birth of the modern state of Israel in 1948. A nation born in a day. Isaiah 66 : 8 says “Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.”
This photo I took at the end of the museum, is this amazing view of the north of Jerusalem onto a forest. This beautiful and dramatic view is a nice and concludes a visitor’s trip by showing the land that the Jewish people waited so long for.
My mention on Google’s holocaust records project.
Next, a head of state spotted…
This beautiful arcade is what people imagine some of the most romantic parts of the Near East should looks like.
Sadly its off limits as they are mending the floor! I would love too see these arches when bustling with people and with brightly coloured drapes hanging up and old Arab men sitting around chatting, drinking strong coffee and playing Sheshbash (Back Gammon)
Canaries are a very popular pet among Arab people and the cages are often outside in a shop or above seating in outside cafe.
Hello sir, can I help you? My name is Mustafa, I am just filling in today as the canaries are on holiday. Can I interest you some mint tea?
This little chap was one of the friendliest Cockatiels I have seen in a while, greeting me with song as a I walked past this shop.
This shop is run by Arabs and Jews together raising money to help disabled people. The mottos on the Tshirts appear to be a bit suggestive but they are promoting using braille.
I like the interesting character of what things people keep in their yard. Just like Jerusalem you see all kinds of things, this is a shop selling statues.
But this is just someone’s idea of a non conventional outdoor lounge it seems, complete with barber’s chair
The juice stand with a bit of a twist.
I am not sure if this is someone’s idea for a joke or a novel way to get a spare bedroom for guests to stay, but I saw this lifeboat (or is it a submarine?) complete with winch system ontop of a house!
Next, some sad events in Akko….
Oops, this was actually meant to be part one of Akko, not to worry…
The trains here in Israel are pretty good actually. Cheap, comfortable and on time.
Many of the carriages here are double decker, similar to the ones I saw in the Netherlands quite some years ago where I went from Amsterdam to Utrecht. Something impossible to operate in the UK given countless bridges and tunnels not having enough height.
Two changes are required, one at Haifa and one at a small town I don’t recall the name of.
After maybe a mile and half of walking from the station, I was coming near the beach…
Akko has been through many different owners, Arabs, Crusaders, French, Turkish, Egyptians, Romans and Greeks.
The Templar tunnels, not that long but worth the small 10 Shekel fee to visit. Headroom gets a bit narrower as you go further…
Fans of the video game “Assassin’s Creed”‘ may like to know that this city was used as the location for the game.
Here Acre has a fun collection of passageways and alleys that are fun to explore. Check out official site at www.akkanet.net (More Muslim slanted, Arabic only) translation here
This link from Jerusalem Post has a good run down on Akko:- www.jpost.com/Travel/TravelNews/Article.aspx?id=176791
I took a trip to Akko, as this place is very rich in history, its just a brief train ride from Netanya too. When leaving the station it looks fairly unremarkable apart from a sign on a hill and some palm trees, to get to the coast required about a mile and half of walking.
There was signs of bad weather in Netanya, here it seems the sea has been pretty fierce indeed.
Only a few miles down the road is Caesarea which part of the ancient Roman city walls are under the sea now, it seems its easy to underestimate the power of the Mediterranean!
Islamic worship places meets a fishing community.
Fishing is a big part of Akko, and the array of fish and shellfish was quite amazing. I was quite tempted to get some prawns as I have not had any in a long time, they are strictly not kosher, so you won’t find them for sale in a Jewish city. Take a closer look at what’s on this trader’s table…
Next I will show some interesting discoveries, treasures and sad events I experienced in this city.
1/ Go forth north! – 2/ Snow patrol – 3/ Sloping off – 4/ Nimrod’s Fortress – 5/ Badgers Rock
I have mentioned this little creatures when I went to Ein Gedi, next to the dead Sea. Lots of them live around the rocks, they are pretty active and move fast.
These are Hyrax (also known as Rock Badgers)
They look like giant Guinea Pigs. I wondered if people ever ate them, after all they are a bit bigger than a rabbit. I checked the bible. Leviticus 11 : 5 “The hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.”
Ah. They are not Kosher. Oh well The bible mentions them quite a bit actually.
Arabic inscription on some stone up here.
Some amazing views from up here.
Lastly, just before we went home we stopped off at a friendly Arab restaurant on the north part of the Galilee just close to Tiberias.
1/ Go forth north! – 2/ Snow patrol – 3/ Sloping off – 4/ Nimrod’s Fortress – 5/ Badgers Rock
Soon: visit to Yad Vashem holocaust museum.
