Robishaws in Israel: May 2010

Posted by Mom

“Certainlyyou made my mind and heart; you wove me together in my mother’s womb. I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. You knew me thoroughly; my bones were not hidden from you, when I was made in secret and sewed together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. All the days ordained for me were recorded in your scroll before one of them came into existence. How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! How vast is their sum total!” Ps 139:13-28

Well, my Baby Girl, “Bean” as Eric sometimes calls her, is now 10. On April 24th Celine turned 10. We had a wonderful time eating cake and ice cream with friends. Celine has made friends with a very sweet girl named Cate. Her daddy is a student at Jerusalem Univ. College. They are from Michigan where her daddy is the preacher. The wife, Libby has been such a joy to talk with while the kids play. She has 2 older sons that are adorable and keep busy with basketball at the school. Fortunately, Eric did not have a field study that weekend and was able to celebrate with us. Libby and her kids came and we all enjoyed the celebration for Celine.

	Cake and Ice Cream! Cate, Celine, Gabe, Bennet, Lillian, Libby, Tally
	Celine wearing her new hat.
	Purse that Cate gave Celine. Celine and Tally have loved these bags found in Old City.
	Cate, Celine and Lillian playing dress up after the party.

Back in February, Eric took all of us out to a restaurant, Olive, on Emik Refaim St. to celebrate our anniversary. It is a fun street lined with restaurants. While there, Celine saw a restaurant called Selina. She is often called Selina and asked if we would bring her there for her birthday. On the Monday, following her birthday we did just that and it was fabulous. Selina is kosher which means it will either serve meat dishes or dairy dishes. This was a meat restaurant so we knew not to expect creamy sauces or cheese on our “entrecote” burger (instead of “steak” they use “entrecote”). I had goose, Eric had chicken, Tally, Celine and Lillian shared entrecote and “schnitzel” dishes and we all shared some wonderful bread and chicken wings in teriyaki sauce. It was fancy and come to find out, the name was influenced by the young Mexican singer, Selina.

	Mom and Celine
	Celine pointing to “Selina.”
	Lillian lovin life!
	Celine and Lillian have a special handshake where they say, “best-friends-sisters.” They have a sweet relationship.
	Guess who Tally and Eric are listening so closely to—yes, me. : ) See the Sprite bottle in the foreground written in Hebrew?
	Tally being silly.
	After a wonderful dinner out on the town.

Card made by Tally for Celine. You can see under the heart, “P.S. look on back” which explains the last page.

Celine was given a cool brown hat, purse from Cate, a pair of blue Star of David earrings, blue skirt, and an Israel wallet which, of course was blue. : ) Tally also crafted a beautiful cross and card for her. We also had just returned from Jordan so we told her it was for her birthday, : ) She’s on to us though.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Her children rise up and call her blessed,
her husband also praises her:
“Many daughters have done valiantly,
but you surpass them all!”
Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting,
but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.
Give her credit for what she has accomplished,
and let her works praise her in the city gates. Proverbs 31:

Shalom Ya’ll!

Posted by Tally, Celine and Lillian and Mom

Thanks to all who sent us your answers. We enjoyed reading them and even learned some more about the items we chose to include in our Trivia Challenge. The winner of the challenge was Kathleen. Congratulations!

Before we give the answers we want to share with you a couple of things we have done lately.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
May those who love her prosper! Ps. 122:6

Dome of the Rock

We finally were able to get in to Temple Mount to see the Dome of the Rock. In the 4 months we have been in Jerusalem, the Temple Mount has been closed a lot to visitors because of rocks being thrown at the visitors. Every time we planned to go, we would get there and find it closed.

To be clear, the Temple Mount is the entire grounds which the Dome of the Rock, along with rooms for scholars, sheikhs and religious court offices, and a museum sit. This walled area takes up 1/6 of Old City. It shares its south and east walls with Old City. Herod the Great enlarged, built retaining walls and built the Second Temple on the platform that exist today. Herod’s Temple was destroyed in 70AD. After which palaces, a Temple to Jupiter and a church were built. It wasn’t until 687-691AD that the last Temple ruins were completely destroyed and the The Dome of the Rock was constructed.

The Dome of the Rock was built to serve as a shrine for pilgrims. Adjacent to it stands the Al Aqsa Mosque that was built in 709AD. It has been destroyed and rebuilt because of earthquakes because it is sitting upon the “fill” from Herod’s retaining wall built around 19BC.

It was great to finally get in and see where the Temple once stood, firsthand. What is also important to remember is in 1967, the Jews made a decision not to destroy the Dome of the Rock as a gesture of peace to the Palestinians and allow control of the mount to stay in the hands of the Palestinians.

The Cotton Market is a souk within Old City that also serves as one of the entrances to the Temple Mount. However, only Muslims are allowed to enter through it. Non-Muslims, like us, are allowed to exit the Temple through the Cotton Market which is what we did. It is no different from any other souk except that it opens to the Temple Mount. I’ve included pics for my brother, Calvin. When he visited, the Temple Mount was closed most of the time because of riots.

	Dome of the Rock—notice the marble columns in front.
	Dome of the Rock—Muslim women sitting on side of shrine.
	West side of Al-Aqsa Mosque with a courtyard of old columns in the foreground.
	“Gate of the Cotton Merchants”
	Inscription to the right of Cotton Market gate.
	Tally at the entrance of the Cotton Market
	Muslim smoking his nargila or waterpipe. This is very popular among indigenous Palestinians and the Mizrahi (Middle East)Jews. It is common to see men gathered together smoking a single nargila.

Beit Shemesh and Ashkelon

Sunday, we spent the morning hiking through Beit Shemesh. We had a little rain but it was a great hike. Beit Shemesh was a Biblical city that was on the border of Judah and Dan Territories. It was one of the 13 cities the Israelites assigned to the priests descended from Aaron. It is also the city the Ark of the Covenant was led by the 2 cows after the Philistines had plagued by its presence. King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah, son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah, in Beth Shemesh. There are springs there that definitely made it desirable. However, the the Babalonians sealed the springs which weren’t opened back up until 2004. The waterworks in Beit Shemesh were very advanced.

We then got back on the bus and rode to Ashkelon, a coastal city on the Mediterranean Sea. On the way, we drove through the Elah Valley, which lies in the Shepelah (Hill Country) just before you get to the coastal region. The Elah Valley is where the Philistines and Israelites were going to fight but little David, son of Jesse, killed the giant, Goliath, with just a sling-shot and stone. Goliath’s grave sight is thought to be at the park we ended our hike at in Beit Shemesh. It is certainly possible but not certain.

Ashkelon has a long history being occupied chronologically by Canaanite, Philistine, Phoenician, Iranian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic and Crusader. In 2000 BC, Ashkelon was a thriving city with the oldest city gate in the world—8 feet wide. It stands 2 stories high even in ruin.

The beach was beautiful, the weather was sunny with a cool breeze and great waves. Eric and I took a walk down the beach finding really cool ancient walls in ruin as well as many marble columns laying in the sand as the water would rush over them. I can’t figure how to fit them in my suitcase. Wouldn’t that be a great souvenir? To top it off, we had gone with the school which meant we didn’t have to drive or pack lunch. On the way home, Lillian got the treat of a lifetime, the guy leading the trip treated everyone to a McDonald’s ice cream cone—like he was reading her mind.

For recognition of the Lord’s sovereign majesty will fill the earth just as the waters fill up the sea. Hab. 2:14

	Robishaws at Ashkelon on the Mediterranean Sea.
	Eric, Tally and Celine are in the water behind Lillian. She loves running from the waves. The students of JUC are in the background.
	Tally in the Mediterranean Sea.
	Celine and the start of her awesome pyramid (not shown).
	Lillian in the Mediterranean Sea.
	Mom and Celine at the Mediterranean Sea.
	Trying to get a picture of all the girls. Anyone who knows Lillian knows she is not going to stay put for long…
	Construction of an aqueduct to feed Celine’s hole she dug.

Trivia Challenge Answers

	1. What is this? Menora *Why do some have 7 and some have 9 holders? 7-used in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, symbol of Judaism since ancient times and the emblem of the modern state of Israel. 9-Hanukah, one extra day and a helper (Shamash) candle.
	2. What is the man holding? Shofars
	3. What mountain are we looking at? Mt. Olive, just east of Old City.
	4. What is this? matza *On what holiday is this the staple? Passover (Pesach)
	5. What is the green bin? recycling bin
	6. Who is mom standing next to? Israeli riot policeman *Where are they standing? Western Wall Plaza
	7. What is this? Yad (hand)Torah pointer *Do you know what is it used for? Used to point at scripture to keep from touching the sacred parchment.
	8. Who is this? Israeli President Shimon Peres and he is our neighbor.
	9. What is this? Bag of milk. My friend Karen remembers drinking from individual bags of chocolate milk as a child in Jerusalem.
	10. What street are we climbing up? Yemin Moshe *Who are we with? Collin and Ryan
	11. What is this man wearing? Talith (prayer shawl)
	12. What is this symbol? Star of David
	13. What are these called by the Jewish people? Kippa (Hebrew) *What do we call them in the US? Yarmulke
	14. Who’s house are we looking at? President’s home *What is the name of the street? Hanasi- taken from the gate to our home
	15. What is this? Challah *When is it used? bread eaten on Shabbat (Sabbath)
	16. What do you call the strings hanging down from under the boys’ shirts? Tzitzit (bundle of 8 strings)
	17. What is this structure called? Dome of the Rock *Where is it located in Jerusalem? On the Temple Mount in Old City
	18. What is this furry thing? Shtreimel worn by married Heredi Jewish men particularly Hasidic sects.
	19. What is the language? Hebrew *What is this document for? the original parchment written by a rabbi containing Deut. 6:4-9 and 11: 13-21 that goes inside the mezuzah.
	20. What is this? Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) *Where did we see a similar one? We have seen these fly over our home (really the President's home, but we live across the street)
	21. On what holiday do you see this? Purim *Who is it named for? Hamantash—named for Haman (Booo!)
	22. What do you call the metal thing attached to this door frame? Mezuzah *Name some places you find them. Front door of home, bedrooms, businesses, Old City gates
	23. What building is this? The Knesset- the legislature of Israel
	24. What is this IDF soldier doing? praying, This is not the Western Wall, but seeing soldiers pray there is common.
	25. What is this? Spices in the suk
	26. What neighborhood is this? Mishkenot Sha'ananim (Yemin Moshe runs down the center) *What is the name of the windmill? Montefiore Windmill
	27. Where can you find these in abundance? Jerusalem *How many of these did we have before moving to Jerusalem? 3!
	28. What gate is this? Jaffa Gate *Where are you when you enter? Old City
	29. Who is this? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
	30. What is this? An old olive tree
	31. What is this? (Hint: If you can read Hebrew, the word above the crest will help.) Jerusalem Flag The Israel flag is just like this except with a star of David in the center.
	32. What is the building in the top-center? JUC, Eric’s School *Name of the valley below? Hinnom Valley (Gihinnom)
	33. What building is this? Church of the Holy Sepulchre
	34. What is this? Falafel *What is it made of? Garbonzo beans (chick peas)
	35. What is this? scroll
	36. What does this say? Hebrew letters Chai and Yod-read right to left, means "Life." You see this a lot on jewelry
	37. Who is this? Eric *In most of the stories he tells, what grade is he in? Eric is usually in the 5th grade in the stories he tells.