A letter from Israel

The architecture found in Israel is pretty amazing. People have been building here in the Holy land since ancient times. And they left some pretty amazing buildings from the times that they lived here in Israel. From the Western wall in Jerusalem, churches,synagogues, museums to apartment blocks build in the  Bauhaus style  - there is some pretty interesting buildings to see. And while you look around you a bit and try and figure who and when these buildings were build, have a look at the amazing metal work found here in Israel. Modern balcony railing

A very patriotic sukkah All the Jewish holidays have special customs and traditions that make then quite distinctive from each other. So if you are eating doughnuts and lighting a menora, you know that is is Hanukka. In the Jewish New year, Rosh haShana, one eats pomegranates and listen to a shofar. At Yom Kippur you fast and in Sukkot you sit in a little hut.

Another year and another Jewish New Year, or rather Rosh haShana (the head of the year). And again we see pomegranates ALL over the place! I mean like...EveryWhere! There are pomegranates on the greeting cards we send each other for Rosh haShana There are heaps of pomegranates in the supermarkets There are pomegranate recipes in every single newspaper and magazine There are pomegranates, real and decorative ones, on the table during the Rosh haShana meals. As a matter of fact, pomegranate seeds are one of food stuffs that have a special blessing. The juice guys on the street corners are selling more pomegranate juice than ever The are even pomegranates growing like crazy all over Israel. They are practically 'dripping' from their trees.

The light water fountain that changed colors at opening night. A new park opened this summer in Zichron Yaakov with the usual pose and ceremony due to a major in an election year. But it was still easy enough to block out all the self-congratulating speeches and just enjoy the entire spectacle. We had people standing in long ques vying for the right to buy an expensive hamburger or a small slice of pizza (yes, me too) Young children had various kids TV-personalities entertaining them from a temporary stage The light water fountain changed colors and magicked all of us We had the very popular Israeli band דג נחש (Fish Snake) playing their hits songs ( I am also a fan) It felt as if every young child in Zichron were climbing about on the spanking-new jungle gyms and monkey bars

I have always taken offense at the Jerusalem pine trees that one sees dotted all over the landscape here in Israel. They are just too scraggy, skinny and needle-ly and let's be honest: UGLY. I mean just look at it...

You know that you are living in Israel when: You get off your bicycle every five minutes to photograph the wild flowers. The red poppies in the spring time have their photos taken ALL the time.

One does not just find Jews, Muslims and Christians living in Israel. Also the followers of the Bahá'í fait  have strong historical connections to this this tiny country. But in comparison to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the center of the Bahá'í is in Haifa, and not in Jerusalem.

The politician Yair Lapid looking looking very happy, "suave" and may we say a bit "vain" about the outcome of the recent elections. "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is  vanity."  Kohelet 1  (Ecclesiates)  A new year and another turn to host  Haveil Havalim  - a carnival of Jewish and Israeli blogs.The Haveil Havalim blog carnival was founded by Soccer Dad  and every week a different blogger takes a turn to host a weekly collection of blog posts.

What do you do in Israel on a nice sunny winter's day? You go to the beach of course! The water may be too cold to swim in. (Except for a few brave souls whom I suspect of being former Russian immigrants :)) And the lifeguards' huts are all boarded up. No umbrellas cover the beach cheek by jowl. And the smell of coconut suntan lotion is absent...

Baby bagels are known as bagele It may not come as a surprise to you that we eat a lot of bagels here in Israel. Jewish communities from Poland brought them to Israel, just as they brought bagels to the States, Canada and England. And from there the bagel basically conquered the world. The astronaut Greg Chamitoff  even took a few bagels with him abroad the space shuttle Discovery.