Holy Exposures Commentary and Photos of Israel

Classic Photos of Israel Collection:

Back to Classic Photos Part 1

Many of our photos have won awards and/or have been published. You may also use them under the terms of Creative Commons License. Click on images to see larger resolution. Please rate the photos and add your comments below. Enjoy!

Independence Day Memories - Yom Haatzmaut Jerusalem Convoy Remnants

Olive Trees Near Beit Jimel Monastery

Boganvillas

Dawn of a New Day

If Trees Could Talk

Flora at Park Brittania

Open and Shut in Old City Jerusalem

Back to Photo Collection - Part 2

Classic Photos of Israel Collection: 

Many of our photos have won awards and/or have been published. You may also use them under the terms of Creative Commons License.   Click on images to see larger resolution.  Please rate the photos and add your comments below. Enjoy!

Night Fall

Chabad at the Jerusalem Shuk

Sunset over the Shefelah

Arab Man Selling Keffiyehs in Akko

Jerusalem’s Old City & Western Wall in Infrared

The spot where Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was assasinated in Tel Aviv.

The sign says “Forgive Us”

Celebrating a New Torah

Panoramic View of Tzfat (Safed)

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Following up on yesterday’s post, to the credit (sic!) of the perpetrators of yesterday’s mess, by this morning, most if not all of them were cleaned up.

However, not to be undersold, today’s leaflet shows that the old bard still has some fight left in him!

Well, I’m impressed that at least this time someone is fessing up to having distributed this.  (We cannot assume however, that Vaknin’s campaign actually did send this - politics is a strange business).  Likewise, I find it interesting that the pashkevilas have switched to English. Is that not a true ’sign of the times’?

Vaknin Supporters Have Switched to English

It’s just a few days before the local municpal elections and the “dirty” politics of Bet Shemesh are heating up.

Residents of Bet Shemesh woke up this morning to a blanket of leaflets all over the streets of Dolev, HaYarkon, HaYarden, and more.  The latest leaflets have been particularly nasty in language, at least for the Ramah. Also, it’s apparent that the candidates are targeting the Anglo community as most of the pamphlets are in English.

Political Garbage in Bet Shemesh

This particular leaflet really sums it up.  The candidate (or supporters of this candidate) are relying solely on a negative smear campaign against incumbent Danny Vaknin.  The leaflet, written in English, includes a photo of the trademarked Sesame Street character Oscar the Grouch.  (ed. I wonder if they are paying royalties to the rightful owners of this trademarked content).

The real irony here is that the streets of RBS have been relatively clean in recent years.  In fact, the biggest mess I’ve seen has come from the political process and all the paper strewn about the streets.  This message, with the cowardly politician who hides behind it without divulging his name, recklessly sent teenage kids out last night to literally spray our otherwise clean streets with their political messages about how the streets should be cleaned up.

I hope that the ones responsible for this mess will clean it up quickly.  I also wonder if this is the message of the winning ticket, is this what we can expect in the coming years…

What do you think?

What should we do?  How do we get the message back to the candidates that we want positive information, not anonymous smear and negative campaigns.  Please let us know what you think!  Reply below and I will B”N pass it on to our friends at City Hall.

An old joke waiting to be told:
How many Jews does it take to open the Ark and take out the Torah? Normally, the answer is one. Ok, I’ve seen in some synagouges two. How about three?

Background:
The synagouge service on days were the Torah includes an honor called “peticha” which litterally means “opening”. The honor is bestowed on a member or guest to go an open the Ark where the Torah scrolls are kept. He then takes out one of the Torahs and hands it to the Chazan (cantor) who brings the Torah to the bimah where it is unwound and read.

Three beats one:
I was visiting a synagogue in Chicago. This is a typical modern-orthodox American model. Here, the ceremony is as important as the actual prayers. Spotted as a guest, I was asked by the gabbai to go and take out the Torah and hand it to the chazan.

I walked up to the Ark and I saw two other men standing there as well. I turned back to the gabbai and asked what gives. He said each of the men would open one of the doors of the Ark and I would then take out the Torah.

Punchline:
I said, “if you need three guys to open the Ark, how many men does it take to do Hagbah (lifting the Torah after the reading)?”

In case it wasn’t already clear, in Israel we are used to brass-tacks prayers. No time for ceremony. Just like the Israeli people. We are an open and warm people, and we don’t stand on ceremony.

Share your experiences
What have you noticed different in your experiences in the Diaspora than what you are used to in Israel? Likewise, if you are from the Diaspora, what do you notice different when you visit the Holy Land?

Israel is a country with little natural resources coupled with expensive sea-based transportation of imported goods. What can be done to keep the cost of energy and products down? In short - recycling and use of renewable energy.

Cleaning Solar Panels

With the hot and sunny climate, Israel is the ideal location for widespread use of solar energy. Nearly all homes today are installed with solar panels for heating household water. Soon, the Israel Electric Company will begin a pilot program to allow individuals to collect energy from solar panels and send them to the Israel power grid, and get paid!

Israel established in the late 90s a government ministry (איכות הסביבה) to deal with environmental issues. This ministry - Eychut Hasviva, has worked diligently over the last 5 years to establish many new recycling programs. All plastic and glass bottles under 1 liter in size are purchased with a deposit fee, with convenient recycling ‘vending machines’ at the supermarkets for return and cash payback.

Most major cities in Israel now have collection points for larger plastic bottles (over 1 liter), and a new pilot program has been initiated for paper materials collection in designated bins.

Plastic Recylcing Bin

According to the Israel Export Office hybrid car sales have risen 300% since 2007.  Brace yourself, Israel has committed to creating a green / electric car network by 2011.   Imagine if all the power needed to run Israel’s cars was harnassed from the rooftop sun collectors and sent to the Israel Electric Company for a net gain in GDP with no additional outlays.  What a way to reduce foreign energy dependence and to reshift the power balance in the Middle East.

This is the Golden Age…Everyone’s gone mobile!

Is it Awe or the Atonement that gets us nervous?  Either way, this Thursday is the most special day of the year.  It’s the day above all others when G_d is listening and expecting you to fess up.  What better way to prepare for this day than with a visit to the holy sites in Jerusalem?

I visited the Kotel yesterday.  The Western Wall is on the top five list of the Jewish people’s holiest places.

This wall was built over 2,000 years ago towards the end of the 2nd Temple era.  It was one of the retaining walls that surrounded the Temple which sat atop what is today the Al-Aqsa Mosque (with the golden dome).

A well-known Jewish custom is to place notes to G_d in the cracks between the bricks. This man decided to go mobile and phone in his prayers

Western Wall - Jewish custom - notes to G_d are placed in the cracks.

Mobile Prayers - phoning in to G_d

On the patio of the hotel restaurant.  Give that bird a watermellon!

Here are some general shots of the Jerusalem Shuk, also known as Mahane Yehuda (literal translation - “the camp of Judah”).

You may ask yourself, what do the police and the shuk Mahane Yehuda have in common with me?

A while back, I was at the Shuk in Jerusalem (Israelis refer to Mahane Yehuda simply as “The Shuk”) which means “shopping area” in Hebrew.  As I am accustomed to do, I had my camera with me on that fine day.   I photographed some of the stalls, and generally blended in to the atmosphere.

I took a photo of this Arab worker sitting on an empty stall.

Then, I panned my camera and took a photo of the shuk’s main road with my wide-angle lens.  Within 10 seconds, two policemen (whom you can see in the right corner of the photo) had confiscated my camera, asked to see my ID card, and were questioning me about my ’suspicious’ activity.

I told them to relax and that I was doing an article for a newspaper in the USA.  Along with my strong American accented Hebrew, there was little to cause them further suspicion.  Then, they wanted to take the film in the camera since I had photographed them.   I then reasoned with them further that with such a wide-angle lens it would be hard to discern their faces, much less their identities.

After a few tense minutes, (the time it takes for a not-so-smart policeman in any country to understand an argument with logical reasoning), they returned my camera to me with the caveat that I could not photograph them anymore.  Once I had the camera back in hand along with my ID card, I jokingly told them that without some more photos of them, I wouldn’t be able to share with them the article I would be writing about the Shuk…  I never did get their names!

Enjoy the photo, i hope it was worth it…

The photo that caused a stir