Jerusalem Scenes

Jerusalem Day Song My prayer is a song A Psalm with an ever-changing Melody Levels of meaning dance around familiar and foreign words I stand in Song and Silence Neither a more prominent communication with G-d Drink the essence, the sweet savor in the unity that is Jerusalem Rachael Alice Orbach Here is how we want to see the Har Habayit, back in Jewish hands, with the Holy Temple built may it be done speedily in our days!  This is like the view if you were sitting on Mt. of Olives, with a super zoom camera.  We need the Cohenim, the Levi'im and all of Am Yisrael to really pray for this to happen!

When do we light the bonfires for the memory of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the writer of the Zohar?  According to the Chief Rabbanate, since there is not a Torah law, nor even a Rabbanic law to light bonfires in his memory, if the 33rd day of the Omer falls on Shabbat, like it did this year, then the bonfires should be pushed off until the next day to avoid any and all violations of Shabbat.  The same applies to Rosh Hashana, Succot and the reading of the Megilla.  These are Torah and Rabbanic customs, and there is no blowing of the Shofar on Shabbat, no waving of the Four Species on Shabbat and no reading of the Megialla on Shabbat.  Also, the contemporary holidays of Israeli Memorial day of the Soldiers and Israeli Independence Day are pushed off a day for the Honor of Shabbat.  This same logic should apply to bonfires.  In the rest of the world, the memorial of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is not marked with a bonfire, it is against the law to light...

I woke up to see this out my window, How wondrous the works of Nature! Rachael Alice

The sunset casts a shadow, today was a bit cloudy, a bit colder for this time of year! Sunday night will be the Bonfire Night of Lag B'Omer.  For those of you who have the custom to get your hair cut now, please call as soon as possible to set up your appointment! Rachael Alice http://travelinghairsalon.weebly.com/

This is what Jaffa gate used to look like over 2000 years ago.  And when you look up you could have seen the Temple!  We spent Israel's Independence Day there, imagining what it would have been like to have lived in the peaceful time before the Romans came.  . . . Rachael Alice

The Landmark Yeshiva where many Torah Luminaries and Public Figures studied from the 1900's until only a few years ago is now for RENT!  I can only hope that it will not turn into a Shopping Mall or other type of commercial enterprise. We can pray that it will be another Torah institution of learning. Please?  Rachael Alice  http://lifecoachjerusalem.weebly.com/