After Passover, prayer for rain ceases for a time in Israel. A downpour of precipitation would ruin drying harvests during this season. Water is still essential to nourishing the land, so Jewish people begin to pray for dew. When the High Holy Days are finished in mid-autumn, they resume prayers for rain. The mystery of…
Tag: Israel
Purim Gone Ape…
Purim is the commemoration of one of the most beautiful stories in Jewish history. If you aren’t familiar with it, follow this link. I love that the traditions and culture of Judaism include the children–not as an after thought or sideline but as the center of observation and remembrance. Purim is a holiday that the kids…
Feeling of Home
This will date me. Yesterday I downloaded an old movie from iTunes and enjoyed watching every moment of it. As I soaked in the story and cinematography, I kept asking myself why I loved it so much. Well, it was “Jeremiah Johnson,” and it’s the story of a mountain man right after the Civil War…
God’s irony…
humble beginnings tender shoot sprung from parched ground God’s great irony He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him (Isaiah 53:2).
Cold Cockles
Although we have experienced unseasonably warm temperatures this January here in Israel, it gets cold when the sun goes down. The buildings, apartments, and homes are built with concrete, stone, and tile. Often it is colder inside than out. It is hard to keep our apartment warm in the evening without ratcheting up an expensive gas…
Gift to Self…
I bought a season’s greetings gift for myself… These beautiful, hand-blown glass balls grace my dining room table now…
Two Warring Brothers
I have wanted to write about what happened to my husband and me last Friday all week, but it has been busy and crazy. The first of the week we sadly said good-bye to friends that had been visiting from the states. And the day after they left I came down with the flu. I…
Hanukkah in Jerusalem
The Jewish festival that usual falls in December is around the corner. Hanukkah or the Festival of Light is a small holiday but a beautiful one… full of flickering candles, miracles, presents, dreidles (game for children), potato pancakes, jelly-filled doughnuts, and wonder. The streets of Jerusalem are lit with Hanukiahs or nine-branched candlesticks for the celebration…
Galilee and on to Jerusalem
On the second night of our Israel tour, the group stayed on Kibbutz Maagan Eden. Since I lived on a kibbutz for over two and one half years in my early twenties, I am very partial to kibbutz life. This particular kibbutz in the north is so beautiful and peaceful, nestled on the shores of…
Bonnie Saul Wilks 