Tamooz 5770 th 27 1
July 2010 th 9
Hello Jaroslava ,
My name is Miriam , it's a Biblical name ( from the Old Testament ) like Moses'
sister's name …Moses , who took us , ' children of Israel ' , out of Egypt , out of
slavery , and led us to ' the promised land ' , about 3500 years ago , more or less .
I was born in Israel , so I'm a Sabra . Sabra ( Tzabarit for a girl , Tzabar for a boy - in
Hebrew , our language ) is but another word for a …cactus !
Do you know why a child born in the modern state of Israel ( it is absolutly
irrelevant what's the nationality of the parents ) is called a cactus ….er …I mean a
Sabra ? ( See picture enclosed ) .
In Israel we do not have , yet , ' a national costume ' . But , I in a show of ' national
costumes ' from around the world , ' a suggestion ' was given ( see picture enclosed ) :
The girl's dress and the boy's trousers are white cream in colour ; the boy's shirt is
brown ; and the embroidered decoration is of white , yellow and brown colours - like
the colours of the different kinds of sand found in Israel . The embroidered decoration
reminds us of the emblem of the state of Israel which has in it a Menorah ( a seven
branched candlestick ) and two branches of the olive tree ( symbol of peace - do
you know why it symbolizes peace ? ) .
Then there is also , in our emblem , the name
Israel - in Hebrew , our language : ישראל.
Did you know that in the Hebrew language we read and write from the right side to
the left ( and not the other way around , as in English ) ?
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from top of the first page you can see that we have here , in Israel , another callendar ,
with different names to the month and different number of year… This Hebrew year
of 5770 had started on the 18 th of September 2009 ( your callendar ) and is going to
end on the evening of the 8th September 2010.. … The year of 5768 ( 2008 ) was
a special year , not only ' a sabatical year ' ( that comes every seventh year ) but also ,
' a pregnant year ' ( in Hebrew : ' Shanh M'ooberet ' ) , it had an extra month , a 13th
month ! ( it happens more often then a sabatical year , like every 2nd or 3rd in a row )
Next year , 5771 - 2011 is going to have a 13th month , actually .Have you ever heard
about it ? I'll tell you all about it in my next mail ..
In my next mail I'll also tell you about : The explanation for the name Israel ;
The explanation for the names Tel - Aviv , and Givatayim ;
A short review of the last 120 years - history with ' tid - bits ' about fashion then ;
About ' Falafel ' - Israel's national snack ;
About - why our ' By Air Mail ' sticker has on it a gazelle with wings rather than a
bird or an airplane ;
And more … maybe some answers to your questions …
Have you read any books about Israel - like , for an example :
Leon Uris - ' Exodus ' , ' Milla 18 ' , or ' The Haj ' ( this one is about the Israel -
Arabs conflict ) ;
James A. Michener - ' The Source ' ; Alan Dershowitz - ' The case for Israel ' ;
We have celebrated the holiday of Spring a couple of months ago ..Israel is so
beautiful during Spring days , with everything blooming and waterfalls ( the few that
we have ) and rivers still having lots of waters , a reminder of the rains we had in
Winter .. Now it is Summer , so hot ( and so humid at the coastal plain where I live )
I'ld like to tell you something about our Summer .
Our Summer lasts from June to September ( your calledar ) , when most of
Our Holy Days have been celebrated already .. So , in order to pass these long hot
days with a little more easyness and joy - we have all these Summer Festivals .. every
week another festival and in another city .. Festival of the Hebrew Book , festivals of
music , each style has its honorable place : Jazz , pop , religiouse , also festivals of
cinema , theater , dances , ' story - tellers ' , and so on ..
First is ' The Festival of the Hebrew Book ' – in the second week of June .. In all big
cities , in the center , a square or so - lots of tables are loaded with new books that are
published , or new editions to old books ..People can walk among the tables , look
inside the book , and decide if you want to buy .. For the chidren it's a real celebration
Their books are so colourfull , with pictures and drawings . There are special corners
where the children books are read by clowns or with songs . For the tee agers and
adults , there is every day a group of authors ( their names are mentioned in the daily
ewspapers ( so you can meet your favourite author ) - who'ld sign on the copies
their book when you purchase them ..
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In the picture above , the woman , second from left holds a paper which has the list of
books and of editing houses , so it is easier to find the book you'ld like to buy ..these
papers are published in the newspapers and also are give ( for free ) in the entrance to
the location itself . Outside , in the open , the festival lasts a week ..In the book shops
all over the state - it lasts the whole month . You won't believe how so many new
books are written and published every year - and mind you …we are so small .. only
about 20,000 square kms ( like Wales in G B , or New Jersey in the U.S.A. ) and
about 7,000,000 in popultion .. ( from all stories about Israel on media you'ld think
that we are at least the size of the U.S.A. - won't you ..) .
Since November 2004 , the department of culture and education in the Tel Aviv Yaffo
has this project called ' Poetry On The Road ' . Pieces of poetry are hanged among the
trees of some boulevards of the city . Someone there thought that this would be a
good way to bring some culture to people who otherwise won't open a book , let alone
a poetry book ..
Rotshild Boulevards - Tel Aviv Yaffo - with pieces of poetry among the trees
So in these ' pieces of poetry ' there are : a couple of lines of a poem , the name of the
poem , the name of the poet ..and recently a picture ( cartoon style of the poet ) .
When the poem is from abroad , the couple of lines , name of the poem and name of
the poet are written in both languages : Hebrew and the other one . Here , in the next
page , a couple of poems in French .
Well , these ' pieces of poetry ' are also seen on bus stations and on the city trucks ..
The picture in the previouse page is of a truck that collects the garbage from
containers ( containing the garbage collected from the households of the different
streets in the city ) . This picture was taken in the street where I live ..The left side in
the picture is Tel Aviv Yaffo territory , while the right side in the picture is Givatayim
territory ( the ' border line ' between the two cities is ' somewhere ' in the middle of
the road ) . The poem on the truck has a sad story to it ( I'll tell you about it later ) .
Besides correspoding with people abroad I also like to read - a lot - , fiction , non-
fiction , history , philosophy – also eastern , zen etc' and comparing to other
philosofies , ' science - fiction ' etc' .. I also like music - all styles ,from classical to
pop , country and even rap .. I like to draw and paint , take pictures and travel abroad
and in Israel , cook and swap recipes , ad more.
1.Where
Greetings from Givatayim ( see picture enclosed ) , Miriam .