Hanukkah in Jerusalem

Good afternoon, and Happy New Year everybody! As I write this, I am sitting in my room with the window open. Temp is in the 50s and every so often the rain pours--I love the sound!

Tracking backwards a little bit, the Jewish festival of Hanukkah was celebrated beginning at sunset December 1st until sunset on Thursday December 9th. Hanukkah is not the Jewish version of Christmas as commonly thought; it commemorates an entirely different event than the Protestant Christmas.

To tell the story requires a little bit of history. The land of Israel was under Egyptian Ptolemaic rule until 200 BC when it became part of the Seleucid Empire of Syria. Although the people were initially promised freedom to continue living according to "ancestral traditions," in 175 BC, Judea was invaded, the Temple plundered, and daily sacrifices were outlawed for 3 1/2 years. If that wasn't bad enough, eight years later, Antiochus IV Epiphanes ordered an altar erected in the Temple to Zeus, pigs to be sacrificed on the Temple altar, and circumcision was banned.

This was maybe not the best idea as it induced quite a rebellion. A family from Modin led a successful revolt, and one of the sons became known as Judah Maccabee ("Judah the Hammer"). By 165 BC, this revolt was successful and the temple liberated.

It may surprise you to know Hanukkah is not a Biblically-mandated festival. It was instituted to remember the rededication of the Temple. The traditional story is that when the Temple was liberated, there was found only enough oil to burn in the menorah for one day. It took eight days to create and purify more oil, and the old oil miraculously burned for those eight days. While this tradition is widely known and believed, it may or may not be true. Regardless, Hanukkah has been celebrated for eight days ever since, and the word "hanukkah" comes from a Hebrew word meaning "to dedicate." Since this whole event took place before the birth of Christ, Jesus as a Jew would have celebrated the festival of Hanukkah (it's even mentioned in John 10:22-38).

One of the main customs of Hanukkah is a hanukiah. It is similar to a Jewish menorah, but it has eight branches in remembrance of the eight days. One candle is lit the first night, and one new candle is added each subsequent night. These candles are lit by another candle yet, called the "shamash"--server/attendant candle. The holder for this is different from the other eight. Interestingly, the candles are added right to left, but the new one each night is the first lit; thus, the candles are lit left to right.

There are also special blessings and songs associated with Hanukkah. It is quite common for Psalms 30, 67, and 91 to be read during the festival. It is customary to eat foods fried in oil (reminiscent of the oil miracle) and jelly-filled doughnuts! Dreidels are another Hanukkah custom, but this is a story in and of itself. (For more about dreidels, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreidel) One thing worth mentioning . . . Dreidels purchased outside Israel are usually inscribed with the four Hebrew letters nun, gimel, hey, and shin, an acronym for "a great miracle happened there." Here in Israel, the fourth letter is peh instead, changing the acronym to "a great miracle happened HERE"!

Hanukkah was once considered a relatively minor Jewish holiday, it has become quite a symbol of Jewish identity to those Jews in the Diaspora, especially in North America.

Here is some interesting Hanukkah trivia in relation to the States . . .Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion presented then US President Harry Truman with a Hanukkah Menorah in 1951. Jimmy Carter was the first sitting president to take part in a public hanukiah lighting ceremony on the National Mall in 1979. The first Hanukiah lighting ceremony to take place in the White House was led by Bill Clinton. Interestingly, in 2001, George W. Bush held an official Hanukkah reception in the White House, complete with a candle lighting ceremony. This has become an annual tradition, and in 2008, the hanukiah given in 1951 by Ben-Gurion was used.

As the normal seven-branched menorah has been a symbol of Judaism for centuries as well as the emblem of the modern Jewish state of Israel, and the hanukiah is the classic tradition of Hanukkah, there were hanukiahs everywhere throughout Jerusalem.

Above the Mamilla pedestrian mall
One evening I went out for ice cream in Mamilla. It was such a fun experience to be in the shop while the lit the Hanukiah candles for that evening! You can see their hanukiah up on the shelf to the left.
It was special as this bunch of men stepped into the shop and sang the blessings before the candles were actually lit. Certainly not a common experience in the US, and I am so glad I was there at the right time that night.
There were hanukiahs up on the street lights around western Jerusalem
We had a Hanukkah service at Christ Church with the English and Hebrew congregations gathering together, complete with our own candle-lighting moment.
The hanukiah might look familiar from an earlier post--this one was also used at our reception desk.

And of course where better to go sight seeing for hanukiahs than the Jewish Quarter?!

Kind of hard to see, but there was a hanukiah in each of the windows of this apartment bordering Hurva Square
A candle lighting moment along one of the streets
Door to a Jewish Quarter home (so many had hanukiahs outside the door, it was quite a festive scene)
A closer lookA couple other styles . . .

The Western Wall plaza the evening beginning the last day of Hanukkah 2010 (December 8th)
A large hanukiah down at the wall in the mens' section
The best hanukiah of the year (at least, in my opinion) was this one made of flames, to the left of the Western Wall plaza!

And one last picture from the evening that is intriguing to me. There were crowds of people flowing past this gentleman, yet he stood looking at the flames lost in thought. I would love to know what he was thinking. Memories from Hanukkah last year? What has changed in the past year? Wondering what the next year will hold? Maybe just praying. I don't know, but it was a neat moment in time.

Christmas in Jerusalem

My 2010 Christmas family--the Eimes (Aaron, Michelle, Micah, Atarah, and Tirzah)--you're wonderful!

Good afternoon! I feel like I'm sitting in the lap of luxury right now--in my quiet room, shoes off and slippers on, a purple candle burning on the table, a cool cloudy day (though no rain yet, maybe tomorrow!), and my shift finished for the day. I am scheduled for after-dinner help tonight, but I still have three hours to myself. I am not exhausted beyond being able to do anything, nor am I trying to process any new crisis, nor is there any unfinished work projects circling in my head. It's a place of peace and I am so happy to recognize it and just sit here in the quiet and absorb. Feeling envious yet??! :-) Or better yet, is my sense of peacefulness rubbing off?!

I wanted to share how I celebrated Christmas this year--it was drastically different and definitely had its highs and lows. Now that it's said and done, I really missed being home with my family (although my Mom worked really hard to send me as many normal Christmas experiences as she could), but being here will be an experience to remember.

Make sure you read all the way to the end of this post to discover the Christmas gift I gave my family. Hint: it has something to do with an airplane ticket.

We had done some Christmas decorating around here, but the Christmas trees didn't arrive until December 20th. That Monday was a really tough, heavy day as all the staff were back on the compound for the first time since hearing news of the attack in the Jerusalem forest two days before. The arrival of this van right after lunch was a nice dose of Christmas spirit! (Notice the nice sunny weather--temps were in the 70s that day)

There were at least three trees in the van, if not four or more--it was stuffed!!
For those of you interested, it's a different type of evergreen than what I usually see in Colorado.
Our wonderful Christmas tree delivery boys--Mark and Beno! :-)
Another important aspect of Christmas--gift giving. Tal had given me specific instructions that a) I was to give him a Christmas present and b) it was to be tasty and wrapped in Christmas paper. It took me some thought on what to get and then some searching to find Christmas paper. Trust me--over here, it is quite scarce! This picture was my idea, the garland Tal's idea.
On Christmas Eve, the Christ Church compound had a huge open house from 6pm until midnight for anyone who wanted to come. It consisted of question/answer sessions, lots of Christmas carols, a service at 10:30 (which I missed because I was busy elsewhere), soup, hot cider . . .
. . . mulled wine (made by Aaron) . . .
. . . and LOTS of cookies!! To be honest, we volunteers sort of tried some, but by about 10:00, nobody was even remotely tempted.

That was a late night; I think I got into bed somewhere around 1:30am . . . Due to plans for Christmas Day lunch, I worked the breakfast shift Christmas morning. We were able to start breakfast a half-hour later than normal, but I still had to report for duty at 7am. I remember recent Christmases where I groused a little about having to get up at 8--this year, the alarm went off at 6:15am!!! That part wasn't so fun.

The Christmas morning breakfast set up; unlike normal mornings, we had pancakes, fruit salad, and scrambled eggs along with the normal cereal, vegetables (yes for breakfast! it's quite Israeli), fruit, and toast.
After serving breakfast and cleaning up afterwards, it was off to church. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to go!

This was the very talented musical team of the morning--Beno, Ros, Joe, and Shane.
After church came the highlight of my Christmas this year. Aaron and Michelle invited a couple of us volunteers to join their family for Christmas 'dinner.' They have truly become my "family away from family" and I was honored to be invited. It was a lovely home-cooked meal shared in special company.

One end of the dinner table--John, Micah, Atarah, and Hadar.
The other end--Michelle, Aaron, and JohnAfter dinner, we visited for awhile, and I got the pleasure of snuggling with a special kitty. The photo is a little blurry, but still cute. :-)
I was back at Christ Church around 6:00 that night and feeling not that far away from bed! :-) I received a very special phone call from my family first. After talking to Mom and Dad for an hour, I talked to my siblings two at a time. In the past, the phone has been passed around person to person. This was an effort to maximize time. I'm not sure we were so successful in that regards and certainly there's not so much individual conversations, but doing it this way was so much fun! I got to be a part of family dynamics (ie teasing) and it was great.

Unfortunately, the box of Christmas gifts they sent didn't arrive until Sunday morning (December 26th). But, as I told them on the phone, it was still in plenty of time for Christmas. Yes, the western Christmas was the day before, but we still have the Armenian Christmas on January 6th and the Orthodox Christmas on January 7th.

To be honest, I had a hard time opening the gifts in this box. Up until that point, Christmas hadn't been too hard here because it doesn't "feel" a lot like Christmas. Warm weather, few Christmas decorations, few Christmas music playing. But, I cut open this box to find Mom had packaged it to reflect the celebration at home--items from my stocking, one gift to open Christmas Eve, and the others for Christmas Day. To be honest, that's when I sort of lost it over not being home for Christmas. I actually put the box away for the next couple hours and couldn't stand opening it any further.

Lunch time arrived and with it, Tal. He has such a great sense of humor and unpredictability, I saw my opportunity. I knew he could make this fun again, so I brought out the box while we were eating lunch. And sure enough, he salvaged the event for me and made it lots of fun. Thank you Tal!
And this picture is just plain funny. I never know what to expect from Tal; that day, he thought maybe fuzzy slipper socks could double as gloves. :-)
Well, and so we arrive at the end of another blog. I have been snacking on Christmas goodies from home while writing (they just arrived in the mail yesterday, complete with the cd we always listen to while making them).

Before I close, here is the big news I promised you. The Christmas gift I gave my family was to tell them when I was planning to arrive back in Colorado. The airline ticket has been booked for early May. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I will be on Colorado soil in spring--probably with more than the usual amount of luggage, huge jet lag, and torn between being happy to see my family again and the close of this amazing dream. It truly is a dream come true and I plan to still enjoy these last few months, making sure I get to the places I really want to visit.

Merry Christmas to all of you, my friends and family!

Jerusalem lights

Today is Monday, December 27th, 2010, and in honor of Abigail's 15th birthday, I thought I would post some pictures of lights in and around Jerusalem this past month! (For those of you who don't know, one thing we traditionally do for Abbi's birthday is go for an evening drive looking at all the lights put up for the holiday season.) Hope you enjoy this "drive" from Israel! :-)

A couple weeks before the Protestant Christmas holiday was the Jewish Hanukkah. I will upload a post on this later, but here is the giant hanukiah lit up on the plaza outside Jaffa Gate.
Our little hanukiah at reception--this evening, there were purple and yellow candles burning!

Since Christmas is not a Jewish holiday, nor even much of a Muslim holiday, Christmas lights and decorations are somewhat scarce around Jerusalem; however, the Mamilla mall had some great lights!

The entrances were decorated with light curtains
Walking through the curtain, more lights ahead!
The "cardo" of Mamilla was lit up with blue lights interspersed with evergreen garlands.
This light sculpture stood in the middle of Mamilla--any ideas on what it's supposed to be?
The entrance to the Mamilla mall from Shlomo Hamelech street. It's beautiful!!
Here's the entrance to a convent in the Christian Quarter of the Old City all decorated for Christmas.
One of only two shops in the Old City selling Christmas decorations (they are even scarcer in west Jerusalem!). I had some fun browsing through all the stuff.
Plenty of lights here!

We attempted to do some Christmas decorating here at the Guest House as well . . . This garland over the door from reception is beautiful--well done Tal and Rebecca!
The red garland and colored lights really spruced up the columns in the Nicolayson foyer.
I'm not sure this tree is the prettiest tree I've ever seen, but it did add a seasonal touch and a lovely evergreen fragrance.
Our gingerbread Christ Church--it was brilliant!

And to conclude, some beautiful natural light displays. This was sunset in Jerusalem on December 2nd. The first picture is looking south along the western wall of the Old City. Jaffa Gate is on the left; the limestone wall beyond it is glowing in the sun's rays. The second picture is looking west as the sun sets behind the King David hotel and the YMCA tower.

Happy Birthday, Abigail!!! I love you always!

Augusta Victoria

I had heard the Augusta Victoria tower commands quite a view, but the church/hospice is located on the Mount of Olives so it's not somewhere I can go by myself. A friend here at Christ Church had been wanting to go as well. We both had Tuesday off, so off we went along with a couple other volunteers. It was a beautiful day for a walk. And it is a walk--through the Old City, out Damascus Gate, down into the Kidron Valley, and then back up the Mount of Olives (that climb is a little more than a pleasure walk!).

The view east from the north side of Jerusalem's Old City. The tower on the horizon was our destination, with the Kidron Valley lying in between.
Beginning our climb up out of the Kidron Valley up the Mount of Olives. This was a quiet, pretty street. For some reason, it reminded me a little bit of Estes Park.Augusta Victoria began as a German hospice; the foundation stone was laid in 1907 and the guest house and church were dedicated in 1910. The church has an interesting history throughout the past 100 years, serving as headquarters for the German-Turkish General staff in 1914, occupied by the British in 1917, used as a military hospital in 1939, etc.

Maybe not the best of pictures, but it gives you an idea of the Augusta Victoria architecture
The entrance to the church
The Augusta Victoria chapel (view from the balcony)The central altar
Some of the beautiful artwork on the ceiling
A little side altar decorated for Christmas!
At the back of the chapel--a massive pipe organ!
After oohing and aahing over the chapel, we began climbing the stairs to the top of the tower. This German Church of the Ascension is situated on the highest point of Jerusalem. It is about 2800 feet above sea level and 4200 feet above the Dead Sea. The tower is approximately 148 feet tall. Interestingly, the bells in this tower are tuned to ring in the tones sol, ti, re, and mi, thus harmonizing with the Bells of the Dormition Abbey and the Church of the Redeemer in the Old City.

It didn't take us long to reach the top, somewhere around five minutes. The views were breathtaking, although it was unfortunately not as clear a day as we had hoped.

Looking east--on a clear day one can see into Jordan.
Looking south--this bell tower belongs to the Russian Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives. To the left is the eastern side of the Mount of Olives.
Looking southwest over the Old City. The golden Dome of the Rock is quite visible.
Looking west over Jerusalem's New City.
Looking northeast; this view is stunning in the sense that one realizes Jerusalem sits on the edge of wilderness.
Another view looking northeast--the trees are on the Augusta Victoria property (the summit of the Mount of Olives). Past this property, one is immediately in the Judean Wilderness.

My fellow walking/climbing companions: here is Shane (from Australia) and James (from UK). Shane did a great job pointing out the landmarks.
James and Amy (also from the UK)
Shane, James, and Amy

It was a fun morning with beautiful weather, great views, and wonderful friends!