Written Hebrew

Hebrew has two forms of written script - a formal 'printed' style, which has a squarer script, and a cursive style that has a more flowing appearance. The individual letters of the two scripts are quite different, though it is possible to see where the cursive designs grew out of the printed script.

As with other languages, there are different styles of lettering, from the ancient to the modern, and a comparisom of an adverisement in a newspaper with an early text shows this clearly. Here are two shots of public lettering, the first showing the address of a building, and the second referring to an organisation, with cursive script over printed script.

Tefillin

By a Lotto stand on a main street at the edge of town, in front of a cordoned-off building site, a young man is helped with the detail of putting on tefillin.

Tefillin comprise two leather boxes, about an inch and half along each side, with black leather straps attached to them and which contain Biblical verses. They are put on daily by Observant Jews (except on Shabbat and certain religious holidays) and are worn during morning prayer. One of the tefillin is worn at the forehead and the other on the bicep of the weaker arm (that is, for a right handed person, it is worn on the left arm).

The use of tefillin is described in general terms in the Torah and in detail in the Talmud.

Books

Books seen through the bars of an open window in an abandoned building. Will someone collect them?

Wild Cyclamen

These cyclamen - about 4" tall - are growing on a part-wooded slope laid out as a garden, overlooking a valley with the Monastery of the Cross in the valley bottom and the Knesset building at the top of the opposite slope. The 'garden' is principally a number of paths weaving across the slope, with the scrub cleaned from among the trees and with some grassed areas. And this is to explain that the cyclamen here seems to be wild and does not seem to be part of an intentional planting.

A little Gem

On the street shown in the street sign, there is a building unlike the others, not very big and in what I call Odeon Style (though whether that is a term used to describe anything other than Odeon cinemas, I am not sure), with curving walls and with windows that echo the tiers of the building rather than its height.

What's On at the Jerusalem Theatre

The Jerusalem Theatre is host to plays, films, talks, art exhibitions, a restaurant and a bookshop. The film being advertised, is 'The Queen' with Helen Mirren. Looking at the advertisement, it seems that the half-face at the top of the poster is intended to be Diana, who sits like a ghost at the party.

Lifta Part ll

The intensity of the sun bleaches colour from everything. At least that is the perception to the human eye. The colour is there but it perhaps it needs to be brought out a little, as here.





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