thanks for everything. We had a great time and really appreciated learning more about Israel from you. Good luck to you and stay in touch. Best, Michele

Danny — you gave our IDC group one of the best presentations yet!!  thank you very much…

[Paul Hunt, Ambassador of Canada]

It was great to meet you last week.  I truly enjoyed the tour of Jerusalem.  You need an excellent job of getting through 4000 years of history in two hours – with excellent detail. ..

Thanks again.

Bruce

גרסה בעברית:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This ambitious (and a bit ferreting..) project by Google aims to provide continuous visual information on every street in every central city. The results can be viewed in “Google Maps” by dragging the yellow figure in the scale into the map.

Google street view recorder in the old city of Jerusalem.

Only recently, I stumbled upon one of these recording vehicles in the Old city, next to the Holy Sepulchre, and again when parking (in a Public zone spot..) on mount of Olives.

Google Street View recorder on Mount of Olives.

I only hope this will not cause me to get a parking ticket..

As of early February 2012 the photos have not yet been uploaded to “Google maps“, but this will probably be done soon.

This year the state of Israel prepared internal parking lots at the Baptism site and there was no need for shuttles. Everything operated well and in order, except for the Ethiopians who decided this year to celebrate the event the following day.

At 11:00 the Greek-Orthodox Patriarch, Theophilus III, arrived at the “John the Baptist monastery” (=”Qasr el-Yahud“), and conducted the first part of the ceremony.

Towards 12:00 the Patriarchs completed his prayers, and the procession from the monastery to the Jordan river began.

The Patriarch was escorted by an entourage of clergymen, led by ushers wearing the traditional red Turkish hats (“fez“).

Before the Ushers the Beth-Shaour Scouts band were advancing and playing, with pride, Scottish pipes. This Christian Arab Pipe  band was founded in 1919 by the British, and performs to this day on various events.

At the Baptism site there was much anticipation and commotion. Only pilgrims intending to baptize in the Jordan were authorized to stand by the water. Wearing special white gowns, some will keep them for their burial.

Those who could not get close enough to the water watched the ceremony broadcasted on big screens.

At the peak of the ceremony the Patriarch released several pigeons, and sprinkled on the audience holy water.

At the nearby Gerasimus monastery (=”Deir Hajla“) a basic yet nutritious free lunch was offered to the all.

On the Jordanian bank of the river there was no special activity on that day, but much constructing could be noticed. Five churches were already built on the Jordanian side, as well as a Russian-owned luxury hotel.

Those who missed the ceremony will have another chance, well, next year, on January 18^th..

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And here is a clip I took of the procession, with my phone..

Click here to view the embedded video.

One of them was the completion of the uncovering of an ancient sewage system between the pool of Siloam and the Western wall. Walking underground for over 500 m, and reaching the Western Wall from below the surface  is one of the most exciting tourist attraction in Jerusalem today!.

Yet the blessed rains of this last January caused a landslide at the entrance to the sewage tunnel. ELAD organization is now working on fixing the damage and opening the tunnel again, but as of early February it is still mostly closed, except for the last section, from “Givati” former parking lot, to the Western Wall.

The blocked entry in to the ancient sewage system near the Pool of Siloam.

The rains caused also a rare flooding of the uncovered part of the Pool of Siloam.

The corner of the Pool of Siloam flooded.

The corner of the Pool of Siloam on ordinary days.

And while in the City of David repairs are being done, in Herodium a new model is being installed.

Visiting the site last week I was happy to see a truck downloading a big model of the royal tomb Prof. Nezter found at the site in 2007.

The ancient royal tomb was smashed already in antiquity, and only its base can be seen today, yet enough architectural fragments were discovered to enable a reconstruction of its full size and shape.

The model of the royal tomb in Herodium being installled.

The model was installed next to the main entrance, but plans are to combine it with a new visitors center to be constructed as well.

While I find no wrong in creating visitors centers and visual aids to appreciate heritage sites, “Haaretz” recently reported on some criticising this plan. I honestly can’t understand these critics, and suspect larger political agendas are behind these publications.

In the City of David, Prof. Ronnie Reich and Eli Shukrun reported on finding of a stamped impression (a bulla) bearing the letters דכא \ ליה.

They interpret the text to mean “pure / to the lord“, and explain the item as one used to mark products or objects that were brought to the temple.

A close up of the Seal. Photo by Vladimit Niachin, courtesy of the IAA

Eli Shukrun holding the seal found in the City of David. Photo by Vladimit Niachin, Courtesy of the IAA.

Antiquities Dealer Robert Deutsch, who specializes in ancient seals, suggested in his blog a more precise meaning to the object. He believes  the Mishna, in Shekalim terracate (5 4) describes how these stamped seals were used: IF A MAN REQUIRED DRINK-OFFERINGS HE WOULD GO TO JOHANAN WHO WAS THE OFFICER OVER THE SEALS, AND GIVE HIM MONEY AND RECEIVE FROM HIM A SEAL. THEN HE WOULD GO TO AHIJAH WHO WAS THE OFFICER OVER THE DRINK-OFFERINGS, AND GIVE HIM THE SEAL, AND RECEIVE FROM HIM DRINK-OFFERINGS. AND IN THE EVENING THESE TWO [OFFICERS] WOULD COME TOGETHER, AND AHIJAH WOULD BRING OUT THE SEALS AND RECEIVE (from Johanan) MONEY FOR THEIR VALUE.

The mishnahic description seems to indicate that the priests forced the bearers of sacrifices to purchase additional “drink-offerings” in directly, by seals. The end of the section confesses, in an aggravating way, that in the evening the seller of the seals (Johanan) and the provider of the “drink-offerings”  (Ahijah) would split the daily profits..

A similar line of interpretation was taken by Professor Shlomo Naeh of the Hebrew Univeristy, but he suggests a different reading :”Daka[r, day] a Leye[hoyariv].” “Dakar” in Aramaic means ram, and  ”a” stands for aleph, the first day of the week, when the priestly order of Yehoyariv was on duty in the Temple. The seal, argues Naeh, was sort of an invoice for giving the sacrifice on Sunday, the day of the Yehoyariv order.

One way or another the seal is first of it kind, and offer a glimpse into the sacrificial activity in the time of the Temple. More then anything, it adds credibility to the Mishnahic descriptions of the temple’s activity despite the fact they were written more then a century later.

Another ancient seal that reached headlines recently was found in salvage excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority near Akko, at a small site called kh. Utzah. The seal, measuring 5 cm in diameter, bears a relief of a seven branched candelabra – the  Jewish Menorah. In its back traces of letters stand for the possible name of its owner – “Leontis”. Leontis is not necessarily a Jewish name, but Jews used that name too (The mosaic floor decorating the new entry to the Israel Museum is of a Jew called Leontis).

The back of the Seal. photo: Danny Syon.

The Menorah Seal from Kh. Utzah. photo: Danny Syon.

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Dr. Danny Syon, director of the excavations in kh. Utsah, suggests the stamp was of a Jewish Baker, or a Jewish olive press. The product it was marking was probably meant to be sold to the nearby Jewish community in Akko.