Christmas panto in Russian!
This is quite an unusual sight as Christmas is a non-event apart from Arab Christians and Armenian Christians who live here.
This was outside a shop in Agrippas Street in Jerusalem that sells newspapers, magazines and books in Russian. Russian speaking people from ex-Soviet states make up at least 15% of the population here.
О нет, это не так!
A local Israeli I work with told me something interesting today:-
The word Hamas, the political movement that controls the Gaza strip, has eerily similar word in Hebrew.
I am not going to tell you, you have to find out for yourself:- 🙂
here is the text you need to copy and paste into:
Here is Psalms 140 in Hebrew which it also occurs in. Click on above link or click here http://study.interlinearbible.org/psalms/140.htm (if you have a Windows XP computer you might need to add Hebrew support to read this)
Saw this today which seemed interesting in Israel Today magazine:-
Jish, an Arab town in the Galilee only 2 miles away from the Lebanese border has got the go ahead from the Israeli government to teach children the ancient obscure Aramaic language that was used during the time of Jesus.
The only Aramaic words I know is Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani? (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) as spoken by Jesus in Matthew 27:46
The first three words are almost the same as their Hebrew counterpart, but the last word sounds quite a lot different and not like Hebrew at all.
Only a few communities in Syria speak Aramaic as far as I know, I did see sometime ago amongst Lebanese Christians there was a Facebook group campaign to teach children there Aramaic.
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/tabid/178/nid/23382/language/en-US/Default.aspx?ref=newsletter-20120910
Fascinating stuff, but I take joy that our loving saviour speaks the language of anyone from any country that calls on him.
After traveling this part of northern Israel before in the Jezreel Valley, famous for where the end of the world will happen, I got a chance after I finished working for a few days in nearby Karmiel to actually have a proper visit of this historical site.
I came not to speculate at the very place the book of revelation says the last battle will happen, but to make sense of a particular scripture I have read that I have been trying to make sense of:
Zechariah 12:10-12
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives
Question; this future prophesied repentance and revival is parallel with a place and/or event in history of the “Hadad Rimmon”, I am curious what this is, and why it is after some searching, no one knows what it is.
My primitive knowledge of Hebrew tells me that Rimmon is a pomegranate, but thats all I know. By going to the Megiddo historical centre I thought maybe I could shed light on this.
I had to ask the manager of my youth hostel how to get to Megiddo,which advised getting the bus to Tel Aviv. Megiddo is not mentioned on the bus stop schedules, I had to ask the bus driver to let me off at the right time. Actually I had to get off at a bus stop at the side of the highway and walk for a mile, along this junction to the visitor centre.
By the main road is a large prison. There has been some talk of tearing it down and rebuilding elsewhere as more significant archeological discoveries were found not long ago – possibly the oldest Christian church ever found.
The end of the world welcomes careful drivers….
I had my iPod with me and I was in the mood for some 80s rock, so I had this apt track from Def Leppard’s ‘Armageddon it’ its funny that Armageddon which is derived from Ha Megiddo, has become quite common in language as a modern phrase for any big impending war.
Anyway, once at the outside of the visitor centre I just paid 28 shekels to go in.
I found out that Megiddo became an Israelite city sometime between the 10th and 9th centuries BC and functioned as an administrator centre for the fertile Jezreel Valley, many parts were added later.
These drawings on the walls I think are from Canaanite period. The drawing of a giraffe is quite interesting, didn’t think there was those here in Israel, but then again there were lions in the bible which aren’t there now, there are a small number of wild cats, leopards in Negev but they are very rare. On the right is a picture of the Pope which someone has scratched on graffiti in Hebrew.
From the top of the site you can see all across the Jezreel valley, the plain of Megiddo, a wide open space with a busy main road that goes to Afula. There is two petrol stations and a McDonalds along the fields of Megiddo!!
There were mostly people in one big group here, so I was a bit cheeky and stood close to the historian who was speaking, as I think it costs extra to hire him to guide you.
Like a lot of other ancient parts of Israel like Masada, there is a complex underground system built to provide fresh water. I went down the steps to see the tunnels.
>>> More on Megiddo on the next chapter…..
Zechariah 9:9 from the OT talks about a prophecy of a future Messiah of Israel:-
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
In my neighbourhood I noticed this:-
This banner on the car says “Baruch ha ba melech moshiach” in English: Welcome to king of the messiah.
My thinking is the Ukrainian Rabbi fella (actually he died in about 1994) which some religious Jews think is the Moshiach and maybe someone’s interpretation of the scriptures here was the Moshiach would come on this Mitsubishi Colt!! *
Actually I do get Arab children coming up my street on a donkey sometimes.
The New Testament explains the fulfillment of this:-
Matthew 21
21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Talking of the Mount of Olives, further up this street is a park you can stand and see across Jerusalem. This Google Streetmap below shows the Mount of Olives, you can see by the ‘whiter’ area of the hill, as it contains thousands of graves.
* My mistake, this is actually a Mitsubishi Lancer.
Early this year I went to see my Dad at a prayer conference at a hotel by Mount Scopus.
As I was cycling back, I went through the Ultra Orthodox area of Meir Shereem, which looks a bit like this, except it was about 11pm:
Without asking for a directions, an older Hassidic gent with usual black hat, garb and bushy grey beard came up to me and asked me something, when I asked him if he spoke English, he asked me if I was lost, I said I was just looking to get back to the town centre and despite riding through this street a couple of times before I had lost my bearings.
The man was helpful and also seemed kind as I didn’t ask for assistance he approached me. He wasn’t a native Sabra Israeli, he had a strong Eastern European accent, perhaps Hungarian.
It was only as he gave me the last part of the route he said I needed, he exclaimed “I tell you the truth….”
This shocked me quite a bit. Probably I know its maybe the most common phrase spoken by Jesus. Its in Matthew 18:3, 24:40, 25:45, Luke 9:27, 12:44, 21:3, John 6:26, 32, 45, 53. 13:21. 16: 7, 20, 23. 21:18.
Not sure how you would say this in Hebrew, but anyway its just very interesting to see some of the things I imagined from Jesus’ time would be said today. Actually if you are curious you can try this Google search:
This is in all through the first bits of Gospels but I don’t see it in Mark. I guess as Matthew, Mark and Luke report on parallel parts of Jesus’s life, but from different viewpoints from the perspective of three men who observed Jesus’s life, a taxman, a teacher and a doctor, maybe explains it.
Been busy not blogging due to hectic schedule and entertaining a friend who is visiting Israel and staying with me.
Its always funny how one word in one language can meaning something humorous in another language.
Take this:-
This looks like this sign is saying ‘elo. Saying ‘ello (Israelis drop Hs in a similar way to the French) is more of a way getting someone’s attention than a greeting in this country.
However if you read this in Hebrew cursive script its just the word “Sushi” funnily enough.
Interesting shops in Tel Aviv.
Yes this is Pork!!
And prawns!
Some things are kosher though
A humous restaurant is pretending to be a synagogue!
Vintage gear.
Although Yaffo down the road is a bit different:
These are Jaffa’s famous second hand markets. I like trawling through car boot sales but there was nothing interesting here that day. Although they forgot to bring stuff in, and several TVs were left out in the rain.
1. Jaffa/Tel Aviv – coastal city of oranges
2. Jaffa/Tel Aviv – Graffiti and wall art
3. Jaffa/Tel Aviv – Whales and hovering trees
Jellyfish I think are the weirdest of God’s creatures ever.
They aren’t fish, they some completely different genus from shellfish, their transparent gloop-like elasticy of their bodies make them completely unique.
There is no skeleton or rigid structural parts to their bodies, nor do they have any obvious things like eyes and mouth. The four ‘gland’ type things I can see I wonder is their brain, breathing, reproductive and digestion components?
These ones are everywhere in Eilat, in the top of Red Sea, and they are purply colour. This adult one is about ten inches across, like a typical sized dinner plate.
Apparently they do sting, but very mildly like a slightly unpleasant rash. These ones are more like inverted flowers rather than the long decorative tentacle draped lampshade-like ones people think of has been exotic and deadly.
Anyone who knows me well, knows I can’t swim. This is always and awkward subject, as people look in astonishment and tell me its “easy” and ‘I came 1st in XYZ swimming competitions… blah blah…..” Geez thanks people. Shall I go up to a disabled person and laugh and say “haha!! you can’t walk!!”
I had a fear of drowning as a child, combined with the evil swimming teacher woman from hell circa 1985 when I was about 9, in addition to not seeing now how my average 5’10” frame can propel in the surface of the sea without me getting into a panic of inhaling water. Yes – I have tried. But prefer to admire the sea no deeper than my knees which suits me fine.
Before I got to see the incredible exotic fish here which rival the sort you would expect from being in the Caribbean or a Pacific Island, I didn’t get to visit the Marine aquarium this time, but the Jellyfish and serene stripey and mauve fish that are a complete world away from fish you see in Southern England are a real treat to see.
This was our driver who took us from Jerusalem to Eilat, a fairly punishing 311Km trip all the way down the Negev desert to the very south point of the country. And I do mean a ‘point’ as that’s exactly the bottom shame of Israel’s Red Sea city tightly between Egypt and Jordan.
There is something a little unconventional about this driver’s uniform.
Stopping at a petrol station for a bathroom stop, (4 and 3/4 hours, no toilet on the bus) made me think we were in the Nevada desert rather in the holy land.
Actually judging by his accent, this gent was a regular Sabra Israeli, ie: not an immigrant from anywhere else. I think he likes his job as a cowboy driver across the desert.
To be honest, as we alotted seating, I was on the very back seat in the middle which is not so good for seeing scenery, it was full so there was no chance of moving later.
Actually this man reminds me of another driver, this time of a well known black GMC van.
Mr T became a Christian back before the A-Team, there is a good article here.
Athough not in the newest A-Team movie, he hasn’t aged that much, and as he is a leadership position in his current church, I think it would be good if he could lead Christian groups to Israel and hire the above chap as the tour bus driver!
I can just picture this; “I pity the fool, who follows BDS!!” if you want to obey God, you need to pray and support Israel Sucka!!!
Brit In Jerusalem 