THE WEISS CHRONICLES

A more or less quiet day today.

However, of note, Tamar switched appliances. Newly installed were a new microwave (yes it is really pink) and electric oven (first image). I was impressed that the oven almost exactly fit into the space for it.

Those spaces were previously occupied by toaster ovens (second image).

Toaster ovens may have their place in the grand scheme of things but they take a long time to cook some items (e.g., over an hour for a baked potato) and Tamar doesn't have that kind of time anymore with a new baby.

Also today, Tamar discovered her bicycle was stolen. It is her second or third bike stolen in Israel but really bicycles in many countries are stolen frequently (this site estimates 1.5M bicycles stolen per year in the US).

Also today, Ann got another shipment of medicine that George sent via the mail. I picked it up at the post office which is only a 5 minute walk away. The post office has an "english" option for getting a service ticket.

posted by Martin Weiss # 1:01 PM

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

An Unpleasant Trip to the US Embassy

This morning Beth, Oz and I went to the US Embassy Branch in Tel Aviv (its in the first image and not called the Consulate) to apply for an American Passport for Oz (he has an Israeli passport but without an American passport you would have to get a VISA).

Not a good day. The cab ride was longer than it should be because of the light rail line construction (similar to the problem at the beginning of the Jerusalem trip on 23 July). As we were in line before entering, the Embassy announced they wouldn't allow cell phones to be brought in and there was no place in the area before security to store them. There was a coffee shop (image 2) near the Embassy that, for a fee, stores your cell phones while you are in the Embassy. When we were in the security line we found that Beth's cell phone charger was also forbidden. While she went to the coffee shop to add that to our cell phones, they told me a small bottle of antibacterial ointment was also forbidden. We ended up losing that. When Beth finally got to a window we found out that the passport picture she got back on 24 June wasn't good enough (a smudge in a corner). There was a passport photo office across the street so she left and came back, although Oz needed to be fed during this time so that slowed us up.

We finally got confirmation that the passport would be sent to Beth in about 3 weeks (by courier). It was about 4 hours round trip and about $270 for all the various fees, taxis, etc. (we will have to pay again to get the courier to deliver the passport).

While I was in the waiting room, I heard a half dozen real horror stories that had people applying for emergency passports.

posted by Martin Weiss # 9:41 AM

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Cats and Dogs in Israel

There are a lot of cats and dogs in Israel.

Probably there far more cats than dogs as cats seem to thrive in the wild in Israel. In fact there maybe more cats than people in this country.

In Ramat Gan there are cats on just about every city block.

The dogs are a problem because some people don't pick up after them but I've seen very little evidence of that as I've been walking around.

Our friends in Israel have cats and dogs. Charlie and Irine Jaffe have 4 cats and 1 dog. The Kromholz's have a cat. The people who own the bed and breakfast that we stayed at in Jerusalem have 4 cats (although we only saw one).

First image is in Jerusalem where the cats have a tough time during parts of the winter. Second image is in Tel Aviv.

posted by Martin Weiss # 12:19 PM

Thursday, July 25, 2019

At the Israel Museum

On Thurday, 25 July, we went to the Israel Museum after breakfast.

There was a special exhibit on Pans, including Peter Pan (an explanation of the exhibit is here).

There was also an exhibit of an incident in the 1920s involving girls who successfully faked pictures of fairies. The link for that is here.

The first image is of me and a Pan from the 2nd century CE. For centuries before this point the statues of Pan were more animal like and as the centuries came and went after this time the Pan statues became more human. Of course the character of Peter Pan is fully human (though magical). This pattern of anthropomorphizing has happened quite a bit. For example, the original Mickey Mouse was more mouse like and later became more human (and gained popularity).

The second image is me with the victory stele from the time of Tiglath Pileser III who marched to Israel and received tribute from the King of Israel in the 8th century BCE.

Information and a better photo (without me) is here.

One of the interesting things about this stele is that the Assyrian deities have been de-anthropomophized as previous images of Kings and gods had the gods looking more human and appearing in human attire whereas this stele has the Assyrian deities floating near Tiglath's head.

This is, of course, the opposite of the phenomena involving Pan.

There was also a new exhibit with part of Ilan Ramon's diary that was found in Texas after the disaster of the Columbia Space Shuttle in February 2003. RJStreets did a good image of that here. The Times of Israel did a close up of one section of that diary (see 3rd image) with the article here.

The fourth image is of me and Ann with Myra and Allan Sternfield who have been friends of Tamar for some twenty years and friends of ours for just a few years less.

We had lunch together in one of the museum restaurants that day.

Allan has toured the world giving piano concerts. One part of a performance of this type is here. The Jerusalem Post covered a 2018 retirement tribute to Allan by the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. It is here.

After the museum we went to the bus station, then I got the luggage and we took the intercity bus to bnai brak ans a taxi back to Beth's place. Somehow we didn't lose any wallets, passports or other valuables but I spent time worrying about this. Also, Ann was able to navigate the numerous stairs and curbs without falling. I was worried about that also.

posted by Martin Weiss # 5:00 PM

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Mt Herzl and the museum

After we left the Rockefeller Museum we went to Mt Herzl to see the museum.

It has a series of audio visual depictions of events in the life of Theodor Herzl. It was completed in 2006 but has been viewed more often the past few years since the light rail line was completed (the museum is very near the last stop). An article about the audio visual is here.

The first image shows Herzl's grave. It has only his name and it is a reburial (we were only a few days short of the 70th anniversary of this event which was August 10, 1949).

The image shows Ann in front of the "Homage to Jerusalem" sculpture which is just next to the museum and easily seen from the light rail station. It is also called the "Red Sculpture."

We got a few sandwiches at a restaurant and then returned to our room by about 6pm and Ann, having not had much sleep on the 23rd and two difficult days of walking, was asleep by about 7pm.

posted by Martin Weiss # 5:03 PM

Rockefeller Museum

We had discussed the Rockefeller Museum with Alfred Kromholz who said it was worth seeing.

We also discussed it with the owner of the Bed and Breakfast that we used. She said it was worth seeing but because of the long uphill driveway, it would be good to get a cab.

We got a cab at the Damascus Gate stop of the light rail line. Unfortunately, the museum wouldn't let the cab up the driveway so we had the walking to do anyway.

It was worth it. The museum has a lot of good material and no admittance charge and free cold water at several stations and good restrooms. It is not fancy, however.

The first image is me with a stele celebrating a victory of Seti I (a Pharaoh of the 19th dynasty who is sometimes connected with the dark period of the sojourning of Israel in Egypt). This victory was against a number of Canaanite tribes about 1290 BCE. A site giving lots of information about this is here.

The second image is me near a statue of a armed and robed figure standing on lions. It is from the palace of Hisham in the 8th century CE. This palace was the playboy mansion of its time with lots of images of women with bare breasts and lots of images of mythical beasts. This is despite the order of the caliph Yazid I in 721 to destroy all statutes of people or animals. More about this is here. More information on the 'playboy mansion' is here.

The third image is a reconstruction of a cave found in the Jericho area dating to about 1900 BCE (presumably the pre patriarchal period). It has bones from many people and reminds me of the phrase, "...and David slept with his fathers..." from I Kings 2:10 or "...and (he Abraham) was gathered to his people..." from Gen 15:15.

The final image from that is of a mosaic on the

floor of an synagogue in the 4th century. Interestingly it shows a bald eagle holding a medusa head. Somehow, this was found to be acceptable at the time although I doubt any synagogue now would allow it.

posted by Martin Weiss # 2:46 PM

Some notes about the Red Line

The first image is Ann as we await an arriving train while a departing train is going in the other direction. I think we took this at the Mahane Yehuda station (see map in second image).

Each train is pretty long with about 6 cars. Paying the fares is on the honor system. The same electronic card lets you ride the intracity and intercity buses (I don't think you are allowed to pay cash but I'm not certain of this). We rode it many times and only once did someone come by and check our cards to see that we had paid. Fares were about 5 Shekalim for the light rail line, about 16 Shekalim for the intercity from Jerusalem to Bnai Brak and about 4 Shekalim for intracity (on the buses you had to use your card to board).

The light rail train has some of the same problems that similar systems have. For example, at one point we wanted to get off at the Damascus Gate and the door wouldn't open so we went one more stop and came back to Damascus Gate from the other direction. There was also one time when it was so crowded I couldn't board until a new train came by. At various points the street with the light rail has no vehicle traffic other than police and official municipal vehicles.

There is one interesting difference in this system that I'll illustrate with a story. Once we got on (I think it was after taking the picture in image 1) and Ann had her cane with her and a youngish woman was sitting in the handicapped seats. A uniformed soldier pointed his Uzi (I think that's what it was) at her and said something (I think I heard the word 'bevakasha' which means 'please' but I'm not sure) she got up and let Ann sit in that seat. Of course the pointing might have been inadvertent but, in any event, this type of social coercion probably doesn't happen much outside Israel.

posted by Martin Weiss # 10:00 AM

the bed and breakfast place

We stayed at a room two red line stops away from the place where we had the breakfast.

The breakfasts were quite good although there was no fish or fruit. The garden patio where we could have our breakfast was very nice. Also there was a cat in the garden patio to entertain us.

Most of the other people were not Americans. I heard a lot of German being spoken. One person introduced himself as a Swiss citizen, another as a Finnish citizen. One person who was an American and lives only about 10 miles from us in Maryland has been coming to this bed and breakfast for 10 years (she does research in Jerusalem as she teaches Jewish History at the U of Maryland.

posted by Martin Weiss # 7:30 AM

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

After Arrival in Jerusalem at the Bible Lands Museum

After we deposited our luggage we got a taxi to the Bible Lands Museum.

It covers much of the same material as the two other archeology intensive museums but, of course, it has different exhibits.

The first image is myself and a sarcophagus from the New Kingdom during the dynasty of the Ramses that followed Ramses II, e.g., Ramses III, IV, V., aka the 20th dynasty.

This sarcophagus was made from Rose Granite and is the biggest ever found that uses that substance. Most sarcophagi from that period were made of limestone, King Tut's was made of quartz.

The second image is a 'fun' one taken near the museum cafe.

After our tour of the museum we took a cab to the home of Alfred and Yonna Kromholz. We had a nice supper and got to our room after 11pm. I didn't take a picture because I thought we would meet up with them the next day but alas, something came up for them.

posted by Martin Weiss # 11:46 PM

Construction on Jabotinsky and our trip to Jerusalem

Our trip to Jerusalem started nicely enough as we got a cab on Bialik Street to take us to a bus stop in Bnai Brak where our intercity bus would pick us up.

However, two things happened. First the construction in the vicinity of Bnai Brak caused a nightmarish traffic jam so that the 10 minute cab ride took about 45 minutes. Second, the construction included where the bus stop was. It took us a while (about another 40 minutes) to find another bus stop that would be served by intercity but fortunately, there are multiple bus lines that go from Bnai Brak to Jerusalem. However, that means it took longer to get from Beth's place to board the intercity bus than the intercity bus trip itself (about 75 minutes).

It was a bit of a walk, about 0.6 miles) from the Jerusalem Central Bus station (call CBS in the map) to our room but only two stops (to the Mahane Yehuda) on the Jerusalem light rail (aka, the J-town tram, the red line) so after we figured that out we started using the light rail line a lot.

posted by Martin Weiss # 11:00 PM

Monday, July 22, 2019

At the Gerrer Shtiebel

I have been attending a synagogue across the street. It is about a 100 foot walk, door to door (also noted in the vodka story in the June 23 post).

The synagogue is formally called Bnai Ha Rim after the founder of the Gerrer Hasidim (see link above) who was called the Rim. It is informally known as the Gerrer Shtiebel Ramat Gan. There are probably almost no Gerrer left in Ramat Gan. As I understand it, they almost all live in Bnai Brak now.

An interesting thing happened yesterday, which as the fast of Tammuz. I noticed that the prayer leader was moving the service along very fast. I thought this was because there are additions to the service on that day, e.g. long penitential prayers (aka Slichot) and people need to get to work. But later I realized there might be another reason. This was when the air conditioner, which is apparently on a timer, went off just before we began the Alenui.

An interesting point about Israel is that they do the priestly blessing when a Cohen is available to do it (about 30% of the time on weekdays there is no Cohen and they don't do it). Of course the service is open and not every Levite and Cohen knows each other. The protocol pre-blessing is for the Levites to wash the hands of the Cohenim. At the Shtiebel, one of the Levites stations himself at the door to the hand washing station so he will be ready if any unrecognized Cohenim show up.

This particular minyan has some practices that are different from most places I been to in Israel. One such practice is that they have a half hour or more break before reading the Torah on Shabbat (also noted in the June 23 post). This is for studying (put into practice sometime in early Gerrer history) and also to sequester informal conversation to this time period. It also gives the Torah reader an extra increment of time to get to the minyan.

Another odd practice is that, they will stop the pre Shacharit devotion (aka Pesukei D’Zimra) to do the Kaddish ha Rabonim if they get a minyan after the start of the pre Shacharit devotion and before shacharit (or maybe before the ashrai or the Barukh Sh’amar).

They also do not do the Hymn of Glory (aka Anim Zimiros) .

After minyan, they have cookies and whiskey available (except not for a fast day and not for the three weeks). On shabbat, there is sometimes a kiddush and sometimes not. The rabbi will give a sermon (aka shiur) during the kiddush but if there is no kiddush, there is no sermon. This eliminates the bored audience problem (last image).

posted by Martin Weiss # 2:11 AM

Thursday, July 18, 2019

A Hot Spike in the Day

Before yesterday, the weather has been approximately the same every day since we arrived. The minimum temperature is in the mid or low 70s with the maximum temperature in the high 80s or maybe 90. The winds, beginning late morning come from the west (from over the Mediterranean) and the strength of the winds determines whether the maximum is 87 or 90, say.

Yesterday was different. Between 7am and 11am local time here at the local recording station in Ramat Gan, the temperature rose from about 82F to 103F (near the Dead Sea, the maximum was close to 120F). The 11am temp was as high as it got. By 2pm, the temperature was back down to 90F.

The reason for this, per my reading, has to do with the regional wind field and compression heating.

During the rise in the temperature, the surface wind was from the east (from the uplands of Jordan and beyond and thus we had surface layer heating by compression in addition to the desert origin temperatures), the dew point declined from the mid 60s to the low 50s and the sky became a

greyish white.. After 11am, the wind shifted to the west so the wind was from the Mediterranean, the dew point rose to over 70F and the sky became bluer before getting cloudy.

The first image is from mid afternoon local time on July 17.

The second image is the same time on July 18.

The two maps are very similar, however, notice that the isobars are much closer on July 18. Thus the low pressure at the east of the map is a more effective partial vacuum and draws air from the Mediterranean across Israel. At some point on July 17, there must have been a partial reversal of the 'low in the east' situation but I can't find a map that shows it.

We stayed inside almost all day (I went out to get iced coffee late in the day). Oz Yehudah slept most of the day (last image).

posted by Martin Weiss # 7:06 AM

Monday, July 15, 2019

A Lubavitch Gan

Beth and I visited another Gan today.

It was not as far away as the one in the mansion and didn't have as many stairs but also wasn't as fancy. It is also a few hundred shekels a month less than the one in the mansion.

The first image is in the playground. Beth and Oz are on the left.

I didn't take a picture of the kids and workers because this gan is opposed to pictures of people (although they have a picture of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson on the wall).

Oz was very good for this trip. He slept or just looked around the whole time and didn't need to be fed or burped or changed.

The second image is on the way back. The tower at 39 Bialik is in the background and some nice potted marigolds (which in Israel are, I think, a perennial rather than annual) on both sides of Beth. Between Beth and the 39 Bialik Tower is Rambam Square. I thought this was taking also because both Beth and Oz were wearing horizontal stripes of similar color.

Oz is asleep in this image.

posted by Martin Weiss # 5:26 AM

Sunday, July 14, 2019

Birth Certificant Obtained

We went to the Ministry of the Interior again.

This time they were able to give Oz a birth certificate (its in the image). It is in both Hebrew and English so he doesn't need a separate English one (we think).

Recently, the Population Authority (a division of the Ministry of the Interior) has been given authority to issue passports. That is good news but, of course, there are two bumps in the road.

Bump number 1 is that the Population Authority won't accept the passport photo that we had (see the June 24 post). They have their own photo machine which is right over Oz in the image. The passport is 'biometric' but its hard to believe this device actually does an iris scan. They did require Oz to be awake and not crying which took a bit of time.

Bump number 2 is that they say they will mail the passport to you. They said they would do this with the birth certificate but, well, it didn't get here.

Anyway, more to come on this.

also, as of today's weigh in, Oz is up to 4.5 kg (9.9 lbs).

posted by Martin Weiss # 4:58 AM

Friday, July 12, 2019

Looking at a Daycare Place in Israel

We visited a Day Care place. It was about a 15 to 20 minute walk from Beth's place.

It must be a kind of Cadillac version of daycare.

It was in a mansion with spiral staircase (no elevator). Each floor was for a different age group.

The top floor (first image) had kids under one year old.

The second floor had kids a bit older. In the image the kids in this room were probably about 2 or 3.

Since it was Friday, the teacher was giving them a lesson in the Sabbath table. One kid was dressed up as abba, another as ima. They said that they change gender roles every so often so the boys get to play ima and the girls abba.

This facility was run by ethnic Russians. Beth said that this is good because they don't take off for, say, the intermediate days of Succos.

posted by Martin Weiss # 10:00 AM

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

PM visitors

We were visited by Irene and Charles Jaffe.

We had a late supper on 9 July with various pasta dishes from a local restaurant supplemented with some home cooked dishes.

Ann and I had seen the Jaffes sometime in the 1970s but not since then. Back in the 60s Charlie and I attended the same Synagogue, Sunday School and Hebrew School.

I found Charlie on the Hebrew University website as he teaches there.

Stanley Cohen had encouraged me to look up Charlie while I was in Israel this year.

posted by Martin Weiss # 2:21 AM

Tuesday, July 09, 2019

A.M. Visitors

We were visited this morning by Myrna Sternfeld and her daughter Esther Gruenhut (in the image sitting with Beth while Oz is napping).

They live in the Jerusalem area and Beth has visited them many times, beginning even before she moved to Israel in 2004.

They hadn't see her apartment yet and they brought various items (another rocker and a different baby holding 'sling'.

Oz was very good before and during the visit. I don't think he cried at all during this time.

posted by Martin Weiss # 9:57 AM

Friday, July 05, 2019

Hi Tech Baby Rocker

Someone gave Beth this device for free because her kid didn't like it.

The controls on the left control the speed of rocking and also have a setting for music.

We couldn't get either of those to work until today, but, in any case, there is no shortage of music playing devices available. At the time of the picture we were listening to Beethoven's 9th.

But on the right it has a setting for vibrations and that does work.

I'd like one of these in my size actually.

posted by Martin Weiss # 9:03 AM

Thursday, July 04, 2019

Oz has his first bus and cab rides

Beth and I went by bus to Bar Ilan today to pick up about a year's supply of contact lenses.

The bus rides went OK but the final stop was quite a distance from the Optometry clinic.

Oz was very good until we got to the clinic then wanted to be fed and fed and fed. So we were at the clinic about an hour.

Then we had a long walk to get to the outside of the University and we were hungry so we had a meal at a mall.

Then we decided to go to what Beth's ap said was a nearby bus stop but it was much further away than it seemed on the ap and there were obstructions. So we tried to call a cab but the cab companies said they weren't running because of demonstrations in Tel Aviv.

Eventually I hailed a cab but by then my brain was nearly fried from the heat and I couldn't remember how to collapse the Doona. But the cabbie knew how and so we made it back (and btw, Oz seemed to really enjoy the cab ride). The whole trip took more than 5 houirs.

posted by Martin Weiss # 9:59 AM

Wednesday, July 03, 2019

An trip to the Ramat Gan Central Post Office

George had sent some medicine to Tamar's apartment. The medicine was for Ann.

George tracked it. It took a few days to clear customs then a day or two before the Israel Post Office "attempted to deliver" (that's what the USPS tracker said). I don't know what the words in the quote marks means.

This morning, the custom's forms were in Beth's mail box (with no explanatory material about how or where to pick it up).

We took the forms to the local post office (about a 4 minute walk).

The provided us the package.

The image is from the interior of the post office. It is much nicer than almost any equivalent in the U.S.

posted by Martin Weiss # 5:38 AM

Tuesday, July 02, 2019

Baby Registration at the Ministry of Health

Tamar and I took Oz to the Ministry of Health today. It was only about a 6 minute walk from her apartment.

It was much nicer than the trip to the Ministry of Interior.

The first image is in the waiting room.

The second image is in the interview and weighing office.

Both pleasant places.

The weighed him (3.9 2 kg), measured him, etc. and Tamar scheduled inoculations.

They also provided lots and lots of advise.

For example, the Ministry wants Oz to listen to music more.

posted by Martin Weiss # 6:30 AM