Tag Archives: Jerusalem

Jun 27 2010

recent demonstration of 100,000 Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem

Over a week ago, you may have seen in the news plans for demonstration in the city centre from around 100,000 religious Orthodox Jews who were upset about their children being taught with secular Israelis in schools.  I don’t really know the full details of this, but we were asked by my work to be called into the main reception area to be be told to grab our things and go home for the day as there was a possibility this demonstration could turn violent, we just did a quick prayer that the demonstration would just be done and dusted without any problems.   This was a bit annoying as well I wasn’t be able to go to worship event at my church that evening, as the demonstration would of gone on till midnight and is in the main streets where I cycle through to church.

The Haredi (ultra Orthodox) communities often have demonstrations, since I have been here there have been one concerning a woman accused of abusing a child (the religious thought the police were ganging up on them) and other cases its usually they are complaining that the government are being too secular.   On one of the occasions a police car was torched and people were hurt.  But thankfully that thursday went peacefully.

The rest of Israeli society may get annoyed at the Orthodox people as lot of them do not work (just study Torah and religious books) or join the military, although in recent years there are more in the army.

There are many different facets to the frequently spiritually stormy atmosphere here.   Another reason to quote Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, Psalm 122 : 6.

Jun 25 2010

At work, the Talpiyot food bank team, replacing LCD screen on Acer Travelmate laptop

Work has been busy this week, actually I am not often not busy, but had some trouble with a PC that sits in the Talpiyot food bank that is supposed to back up everything off servers, this essential running box was showed as off on my Spiceworks console, and after I went over and replaced the power supply, the next day it did it again.  The PC had to be replaced and took good few hours to get it running the same.

Talking of such, its been very very hot in Jerusalem, temperatures have been up to 37c (thats 100F)  so cycling 4 miles to the office in scorching heat is pretty tiring!

Other things I had to do with to set up new members of staff, get a Russian speaking colleague who is based in Karmiel access to a database, he works with immigrants from Russia and ex-Soviet states who live in the north.

But as well as this I managed to put a new screen in a friend’s (ie: not one my work’s assets) laptop.  This Acer Travelmate laptop had liquid that got in the LCD from an accident with some olive oil, great for your health but not for laptops, the screen works just has some weird blobs in between the layers of thin plastic inside the screen, this would eventually cause the LCD to fail altogether as they are fragile.   When I went back to the UK I ordered a new LCD display and carried it in a box on the plane, so I was a little nervous that this part was all right, it cost me UK£70 ($100) from a specialist laptop spares company in the UK….

Out come the little rubber pads on the screen fascia.  Then take out all four screws.  Gently prise and flex the screen fascia out, the old LCD is freed from taking out 4 tiny screws from the long steel hinges that give the top section rigidity and also double up as antennae for the wireless card, then the screen can put flat down has the ribbon cable disconnected and two little wires from the inverter that supplies voltage to the screen.  The new screen is put in its place and I put the screws in loosely and tighten them up one at a time, as it needs to be jiggled a bit into place….

Hooray it works!!!  The volunteer who asked me to fix this gave me a bit of extra money which paid for my Dead Sea trip before I went away, so it was a blessing I could get this fixed for her, and she could provide me with means to do some exploring I did with friends at a weekend a month ago.

The IT workshop has three desks and half a dozen PCs as this room has our database expert (Gilad) sat here, we also had Shirley our American-Chinese IT specialist who took care of a lot of problems at this site, but she has left now (we miss you, come back soon!!) and there is a bench with lot of stuff in pieces to be rebuilt and put back into service.  At my main desk in headquarters I just have one PC and few spare parts and a server room I look after…

There is another Acer on the pile of PCs in the background, this has a full hard disk and need some software tweaking to fix it. (change data around the two partitions on it)   I am going to order a new power supply for this as the one the volunteer as its a bit unreliable and held together with tape.

The food bank floor team are having a bit of cake and ice cream after lunch (why I look forward to site visits there)  but don’t let this deceive you, this team work very hard hauling food onto pallets, several tons a day that are shipped to some of the most poorest and needy Jewish people in Jerusalem.  People do come and go fairly often, as people come to the end of their commitment is always sad.   Here you can see these pictures shows staff ranges from the US, South Africa, Japan and Finland.   We have had people here from every continent.

Overall this week has been extra busy, but got most things done I needed to do and it has been fun.

Jun 16 2010

my East Talpiyot neighbours

My neighbours are nice, I don’t seem them that often, apart from the odd shalom to the Ethiopian family in our block, some people say Israelis are hard to get to know initially which maybe true to some degree, but in the flat that I live in East Talpiyot, I burnt some toast, and someone knocked on the door asking if I was ok and to make sure I had not set the place on fire, I have had people twice knock on the door asking to borrow a bottle opener (sadly I didn’t have one)   and someone else below me pointed out when I had a leaking tap on the balcony gushing out over the side of the block, but today I had someone else knock on the door to say she was watering her plants and some of the dirty water had gone into my balcony, and she wanted to say sorry and clean it up.  I told her thanks but it wasn’t necessary, but was quite touched but how thoughtful this was.

Across the car park from my block is a large house owned by an Arab family, I don’t know them so well, apart from see the kids out playing at the front, but I have seen a very large tame rabbit jump out in front of me on my bike as well as their large garden at the back and have three sheep I can often hearing baaing and a few chickens, the sheep seem to be a recent purchase though.  I guess Arab people may chose to buy sheep ready for Eid, the Islamic festival in November.  Either way, with 100 yards down the road is across the 1949 Armistice line, as the Palestinian territories I sometimes go to a shop to get supplies as they are open most of the time.   I think its great that many Arab families with largish amounts of land around their house aim to be self sufficient and keep their own animals.

Jun 4 2010

June Gaza Flotilla incident and being a volunteer in a unpopular place

I know Christians working in numerous troubled parts of the world all over.  Pakistan, South Africa, Chile, Ukraine and many more.  Western nations as well.   For me, being in Israel has to be one of the most difficult, not so much just in the context of my actual role and living there, but more in case of being an ambassador and explaining to people in my home country both Christians and non-Christians alike why I am volunteering there.

“Christians supporting Israel? Oh so you are Zionist are you?”  is sometimes reactions I get.   This week has been particularly difficult as I try and explain to some people what I believe why the IDF had to board the ships by ‘freedom fighters’ trying to enter Gaza.

In a usual predictable fashion, there is worldwide condemnation of Israel being an aggressor on civilians yet again.   But hold on are these people really people providing humanitarian aid and support to the Palestinians?  Look on Youtube and you can see videos released by the IDF about these people came armed, ok mostly with relatively crude weapons, kitchen knives, iron bars and such, but still able to kill.   Fine if you wish to make a legitimate statement they could of just held up banners and could arrange a third party from the UN to arbitrate sending goods and assistance from their boat to the people in Gaza, instead they were there motives are not so well intentioned.  Even more so, one of the pro-Palestinian activists (I think from the UK or Europe) brought an 18 month old child, why?  Sounds familiar like Hamas terrorists deliberately attack Israel from amongst buildings knowingly containing women and children.  To the folks from Europe, just like some anarchic animal rights protest group, it probably seems jolly exciting to join a band of mercenaries against what they have read as an oppressive authority, and join a cause.  Its now been found that the supposed Turkish freedom fighters have links to Al Queda.

As I said earlier, I am not really a political sort of person.  In the UK I have voted on all three parties at different years, sometimes though when injustice and lies come from our familiar media channels you need to speak out, and when you are a Christian supporting Israel, your views are not always very popular.  All boycotts are a stupid and pointless thing and don’t achieve anything productive.  Instead we need pray and show love to people in all places of conflict.   Israel may get financial support from the US, but for me as a volunteer, the kind donations I have been given by people this year can be counted on one hand.   I am in great need of sponsorship and through asking through various channels, finding a regular sponsor has turned up very little so far.

My role as an IT administrator in the charity in Jerusalem means I have a relatively hidden backroom job but very necessary role of keeping a charity infrastructure running.  As usual with my blog I don’t like talking about politics and arguing, so I will get back to just more biblical places I have visited and seeing people in need lifted up and encouraged by the different Christian organisations I know of here.

May 16 2010

furry (and sometimes spikey) neighbours

Found these pictures from last year.

Was walking home to my old flat from a friend’s house after a party, down this narrow alleyway, when I saw something move from a distance which I thought was a rat.

When I got a bit closer, I was pleased to see it wasn’t.   I was quite amazed how tame it was, must of been a baby hedgehog, it eventually moved into bushes, I had to say ‘sech’a’ (excuse me) to a man walking the opposite direction then ask him in English to be careful not to tread on him. 🙂


May 10 2010

Brief visit to the temple mount

Several times I was curious about visiting the Temple Mount, the hotly disputed centre of the old city, where the dome of the rock is, an important worship place for Muslims, the times of opening to non-Muslims is a bit confusing and there is only one entrance in, up the wooden bridges that ascends next to the Kotel (Western Wall)  so every time I have visited the entrance is shut.

Although I say this, according to Islamic theology, neither Jerusalem or its Arabic name Al-Quds feature in the Quran, unlike Mecca of course in Saudi Arabia where Muslims aim to make a pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.   Nevertheless the Dome of the Rock with its gold roof stands as a centre piece in Jerusalem.  Of course this area is considered to be the place where the third Jewish temple will be built and often there are riots up here as Muslims react angrily if they here any rumours that Israel may be hinting at attempting to rebuild a temple there, I have an Arab friend who works an ambulance worker who often gets called there.  Such is the extremely politically volatile climate this area is in.

Looking down from the wooden bridge you can get some nice shots of the Kotel through the wooden slats of the bridge.  On the other side are these interesting ruins I have not spotted before.


Here this rusty sign above the doorway at the entrance to the Temple Mount shows that this not-accessible, (I am pretty sure Israelis are not allowed in, its only intended for Muslims and visiting foreigners)  I am not sure which age or era this sign is from.

Once in, the Temple Mount is quite different, where as everything is tightly squeezed in the walls of the old city into the four quarters (Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Armenian sections) and I would imagine property prices are high, here in the courtyard of this place there is a lot of big open space, and some nice trees and the walls, stairways and buildings are of interesting architecture, with the familiar green doors I see associated with Islamic buildings.

The main mosque has some cracks in the walls apparently, mainly due some unannounced extensions underground built by the Arab authorities, there is talk that some structural repairs are needed (the ancient walls around the old city have had a lot of maintenance needed lately)   but as Muslims are not keen on having Israeli structural engineers in their famous mosque, I am not sure of any remedial work has been done.   So given a busy day with a lot of people visiting the mosque, this could give great cause for concern for safety.

I wanted to get some shots of one of the insides of the buildings, I had to make do with this one as I was gestured by one of the staff not to take pictures, or it might of been in accordance with Islamic culture I should take my shoes off.  Anyway I decided to settle on just a wander around the inside perimeter walls of the Temple Mount, after getting around just two sides of the wall.

After passing one of the exits, I was told by a member of security I had to leave as time was up for visitors at 3.30pm, I was kind of disappointed as I want to good chance to leisurely explore this place which I have not seen previously.

As a Christian I believe some day Yeshua (Jesus) will return here and the temple will be rebuilt, and as the Dome sits as a centre point in the city, the architecture of this new place will be pretty spectacular as the bible says when Jerusalem becomes a completely free from war and conflict.

Apr 6 2010

Easter weekend & Pesach

Spent Easter sunday and monday wandering around the old city.   On sunday there was an early morning worship service at the Garden Tomb. Some of my friends went to this, but it was 6am and I slept in, so I got there later in the afternoon only to find it shut (it doesn’t normally open sundays)  After the early morning service there done by my church (King of Kings Jerusalem)   there was several other services in French, Spanish, Swedish and Arabic by some other Christian organisations.  I then went to a conventional service at my church in their regular building.

Not to worry, I got to visit the tomb today (Easter Monday)  as its the last day of the Jewish holiday of Pesach as well.  Its really easy to forget as gentiles, but Jews wont eat anything with yeast in on this time, so going to the bakery near my work place was shut for the weekend, as any conventional form of bread, cake or pastries are not available.  At this time Jews eat Matzvah which looks like an oversized cracker bread instead.  So stick some hummus or jam on it, and its pretty good.

The tomb was quite busy today of course, with Christian visitors from all over there, the garden looked very pretty too.

Mar 29 2010

Who is Steve’s Packs? The famous business in Jerusalem that isn’t online

Steve’s Packs Jerusalem is quite a famous business, for one thing I have seen the merchandise, rucksacks and outdoor gear with the instantly recognisable sun logo sewn on the UK, so its a famous enough brand I have seen all over the place, and a label that should be popular with Kibbutzniks and young Israelis who like to go traveling around the world after they have done their mandatory army service.

But since last year, the web site www.steve-israel.com leads nowhere, its dead.  But you can become a fan of Steve’s on Facebook, and the internet has a fair number of people asking similar things like me.

I went looking for a backpack last year and looked for the Steve’s shop in Hillel street in central Jerusalem, but couldn’t find it, so ended up buying a generic dark green rucksack from some other outlet which both the plastic fasteners on the straps broke whilst out on a expedition into the desert.  Meh. 😦

Later I found out the shop has moved to another part of the city, so I wished I got one of the famous bright yellow logo products from there now.  Looks far cooler than these wannabe surfer/snowboarder type brand name type outdoor brands I see back at home.

So here is the famous Steve’s Packs store, its just off Ben Yehuda Street, about half way down on the left.

So Steve, if you are watching this, please say hi and tell us about you and how you started your outdoor supplies shop which is shrouded in mystery, and please get your web site up and running. 🙂

Nov 10 2009

King David Citadel light show

Went to an exciting outdoor show last weekend in the Old City.

Inside the David Citadel has a huge collection of illusions done with projectors. Check out this video.

Think of the castle with audio recordings of some people from hundreds of years ago speaking and shadows of the people of the time moving around. Once a group of 15 of us had walked around the edges of building we sat down for the main part of the show, this is an stunning piece of illuminated theatre which shows the walls on three sides of us were covered by moving imagery of Jerusalem’s history.  It was thoroughly enjoyable and unique way to show history in a spectacular way.  Even with the large group of us as were there early we managed to secure really good seats on a balcony.