Late Afternoon Pre-Shabbat Hike

Leora and I met in the 1986 tour guide course. Then she married a redheaded dentist/rabbi and had 10 red-headed kids and 1 blond. We know trails within a 10 mile circumference of Jerusalem, except for this one.  This relatively isolated trail beckoned on the trail map, but seemed dangerous, being a bit toward Arab villages. And yet, it appeared as a family hike in this Friday's Jerusalem Post. So, I strapped on the gun and went to Leora's, where we all scurried to cook and clean for Shabbat, and then piled into the van at 2:30 PM.  (Shabbat candle-lighting was at 6:32 PM -- At one point in the video, you can hear 4-year-old Davidie worrying, "I don't want to drive on Shabbat".)  Turning off the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, we drove behind the hill of the Arab town of Abu Ghosh, onto a road that Leora vaguely remembered being on once, and that I had never been----with only forests and fields in sight.  


Our first steps on the trail revealed "pristine nature" (a nearly obsolete phrase anywhere near Jerusalem).  The hill we hiked down faced north, and hence was green, whereas the opposite southern-exposed hill was stark.  No phony pine forest was planted here.  Only the natural "Mediterranean scrub-land".  The lower down we hiked, the more green groves of cypress, oak, pistachio, and carob trees there were, casting their mysterious inviting shadows.

As hike-loving tour guides, we were astonished to see these ---till now unknown -- untouched surroundings just beyond Jerusalem's doorstep.  This was the one radius of Jerusalem's circumference that we had not explored. 


No jeep road yet mars this valley, nor a JNF lookout pavilion aggressively carved into the hills, nor a snack bar, a zip-line, nor a goat-cheese farm. Miraculously, this little corner of paradise has somehow been left alone till now.  Just Hashem's artwork and a few ancient crumbled ruins.


If you see a big black bush near the end of the video -- it's my hair.  

Fine Felines For Free 

Here are 2 felines that need to find good homes.  The black one is already

neutered and vaccinated.  Interested people should call me in Jerusalem at:

050 761 2109        I will bring them to anywhere in the country.

A Surprising Kitten Adoption

 2 weeks ago I found a kitten crying in the Christian Quarter.  I had him for 2 weeks, and named him "Cubby".

One late afternoon last week, I was walking to the Jewish Quarter parking lot to do the daily feeding of about 12 cats there, with a 2 week old kitten folded in my sweatshirt. This is what he looks like (click on the video):

 The thought crossed my mind how no one would ever know I was carrying a tiny animal on me.  Just then, a passing Armenian lady stopped and asked if I was holding a baby animal.   I showed her, and she lit up, saying she wanted to ask her kids if they wanted it.  I asked if she ever had a cat before, and she said she had a cat for 18 years.  I said that this kitten was too young right now, but that I had a bigger kitten at home.  Would she like to see it?  "OK".  So I ran around the corner and got Cubby, and took him to the doorway of their old Armenian house.  They (the lady, her adopted niece, and the niece's 2 little girls-----Emily and Tatiana) took him eagerly.  I asked, "Do you have any food for him now?" 
 "No".
  I ran back to my place, and brought canned food, dry food, and clumping sand.  They invited me into their enviably tidy, clean home, and took me to the back room, where the bedridden grandmother was cuddling Cubby on the blanket.  I said, "I have to go get a camera -----This is going on my blog."  So I ran home a third time for the camera.

Upon returning, I was informed that his name would be :"Musky"  I said, "Oh, that's a fine name.  Why 'Musky'"? 

 "It's a kind of dog from Alaska." 

 "Oh, that's 'Husky'". 

 "Oh, yes, that's right".

"But 'Musky' is nice, too.  It's a nice smell."
A nice neighbor then appeared, announcing that she would like to adopt the tiny kitten at the end of April, when he's old enough.


They showed me a photo of an elegant man holding a cigarette-----the late husband of the now invalid grandmother.  They met when he came for a visit from Egypt for a cousin's wedding.  Like many men, he barged into a room without knocking, and there was his other cousin----now the grandmother----in the middle of getting dressed for the wedding.  She complained to her family about this jerk who burst in on her without knocking.  Meanwhile, he was telling his family that he will never marry anyone but her.


We all agreed that he looked like Clark Gable.


Here is Cubby (Husky) in his adoption ad, followed by him snuggling with his adoptive family:

Then the lady invited me into her living-room, saying that the couch and many upholstered chairs along the 4 walls were 80 and 100 years old, and started regaling me with stories about how previous generations of her family were connected to famous people in Israeli history.  For example, her father had gone to the same school as one of the Prime Ministers, Yitzchak Navon.  When Jerusalem was reunited after 19 years in 1967, Yitzchak Navon quickly came to Jaffe Gate and asked around to find his old boyhood friend from the Armenian Quarter.  Her grandmother knew 7 languages (including English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Arabic), and so was the translator for Glubb Pasha when he was here before the 1948 War of Independence.