1 Esdras, the wisdom of Zerubbabel

1 Esdras 3

[1] Now when Darius reigned, he made a great feast unto all his subjects, and unto all his household, and unto all the princes of Media and Persia, [2] And to all the governors and captains and lieutenants that were under him, from India unto Ethiopia, of an hundred twenty and seven provinces. [3] And when they had eaten and drunken, and being satisfied were gone home, then Darius the king went into his bedchamber, and slept, and soon after awaked.
[4] Then three young men, that were of the guard that kept the king's body, spake one to another; [5] Let every one of us speak a sentence: he that shall overcome, and whose sentence shall seem wiser than the others, unto him shall the king Darius give great gifts, and great things in token of victory: [6] As, to be clothed in purple, to drink in gold, and to sleep upon gold, and a chariot with bridles of gold, and an headtire of fine linen, and a chain about his neck: [7] And he shall sit next to Darius because of his wisdom, and shall be called Darius his cousin. [8] And then every one wrote his sentence, sealed it, and laid it under king Darius his pillow; [9] And said that, when the king is risen, some will give him the writings; and of whose side the king and the three princes of Persia shall judge that his sentence is the wisest, to him shall the victory be given, as was appointed.

[10] The first wrote, Wine is the strongest.

[11] The second wrote, The king is strongest.

[12] The third wrote, Women are strongest: but above all things Truth is victor.

Herodion

Last week I visited the Herodion. King Herod created this man-made hill so he could build his summer palace on its peak.
Inside the Upper Palace, including Roman bathing rooms, living quarters, massive cisterns, four watch towers and various accretions added by later inhabitants, such as a synagogue and a Byzantine church:
Happy cat, sunning itself:
Note the entrance to the cisterns/tunnels in the lower left-hand corner:Inside the tunnels - Jewish fighters took over the Herodion in their fight against the Romans and built an extensive network of tunnels from which to ambush the Roman army:
The fabulous views from the Upper Palace:
Ruins of the Lower Palace - including pools suitable for boating:
This was one of my favourite sites to visit - we were the only ones there, the surrounding land was beautiful and the ruins were fascinating...and they are still in the process of excavating so who knows what we'll be able to explore in another 15 years?

Strange night

Last night a dear friend called while I was on my way to the gym, when I entered the mall I told her to wait a second since I had to put down the phone to go through security. She laughed afterward about how different my life is now, and laughingly I agreed.

A few hours later, I was laying in bed when I heard a loud bang in the stairwell. I asked Pini if he had heard it, and then there was another dull bang - Pini jumped up to lock our door and then we just lay in the dark, wondering what was going on. Suddenly out of the darkness came the yelling of police, telling us to stay inside. They yelled at us from megaphones and their words scrambled together so we couldn't understand some of what they said, which was disorienting. We heard more loud noises, like heavy doors banging -- Was there a chase in our stairwell? Was someong going to try to burst into our apartment (we live on the top floor, next to an emergency storage room)? I told Pini that if people started shooting, we should hide in the corner by our closet. Haha (what?, this is so surreal) and then I started feeling a little nervous.

The police started yelling at someone, shouting at them to go home and get inside, and then they yelled at all of us again to stay inside. The sound of heavy thudding continued and I asked Pini if he had any idea about what was going on, and he guessed that the sounds were the detonation of suspicious packages (hefetz hashud)? I don't know, perhaps...but I can't imagine that many suspicious packages, especially in our neighborhood. We live in a terribly suburban town where everything feels eerily sterile - except for the willfully ignored ruins of Arab villages that remain on whatever land hasn't yet been destroyed for another neighborhood of dreadful white apartment buildings.

I wanted to go on the porch to see what was happening, it was thoroughly uncomfortable to be laying in bed in the darkness, hearing these strange loud sounds and the shouts of the police - but because I had no idea what was going on, I didn't know whether I would be putting us in danger? As I lay there not knowing what was taking place, the realization hit me that tomorrow no one would be talking about what was happening right now - it wouldn't be in the news, on the radio, in any newspapers. Ironically (or not), I felt I was aiding and abetting criminals, that I was a silent witness to something that would be dismissed from existence come morning, and I felt alone in caring about what was happening. When the noises died down we fell asleep and I spent another night in troubled dreams.

Update: I found out the commotion was caused by two "suspicious packages" on the street behind us - they were exploded and found to be harmless.

Hanukkah at the Western Wall

Last week Pini and I joined some friends to celebrate the fifth day of Hanukkah at the Western Wall. We were there to watch the lighting of the hanukkiot, and because our friend is a representative of the American Consulate, we were unexpectedly invited to join the party of the Rabbi of the Western Wall, who lit the first hanukkiah:
Our amazing view, the lit hanukkiah:The flaming hanukkiah and the Western Wall behind us:Where we were standing, from below:Pini and our friend then joined the men for the lighting of the second hanukkiah, at the men's section of the Western Wall (they're standing directly under the tall black speaker on the right, next to the partition):
The crowds of people, men and women:Waving hello from our ledge overlooking the plaza: