It is I - the Mighty Shimshon a.k.a. the Little Purrince (Shimshi for short), Captain of the Guard and Master of the Queen's Mischiefs. How are you all? Did you have a good time over Rosh Hashana? Are you ready for Yom Kippaw, which starts at sunset today?
We have lots to tell you - because, as you know, We have a furry special guest - Joanie's travelling cow from the 15 and Meowing blog. If you have been following our last few posts, you will remember that Flat Moo is on a world tour and that she has been here in Jerusalem for several weeks already. Moo expressed a wish to stay for the High Holy Days, which made Us furry happy - and, in fact, We have purr-suaded her to stay for Sukkot also, not that she needed much purr-suading (mol).
We have been showing Flat Moo all around Jerusalem, which, although it is quite small when compared to other capital cities, such as London and Paris, has a lot of furry impawtant places to see. But besides the well-known sites which all the tourists visit, there are some beautiful spots which not even many local people know about, unless they happen to be right under their noses. One such place is the Railtrack Park in the south of Jerusalem, just a short drive from where We live. It follows the route of the old railway track from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and is furry popular with joggers, cyclists and so on.
Along part of the route, one can find examples of urban art - such as mosaics representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
Here, for example, Moo and Caspurr are admiring one representing the Tribe of Naftali:
Naftali is represented as a hind or a doe, because in the Bible, his father, Jacob says: "Naftali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words."
I, Shimshi, posed with Moo beside a depiction of the symbol of the Tribe of Simeon - a city wall and gate. This is supposed to represent the city wall and gate of Shechem, which Simeon and his brother Levi destroyed in their attack on the city. I chose it because the name Simeon in Hebrew is Shimon, which sounds furry much like My own full name, Shimshon:
Caspurr remarked that many of the houses along this street have walled gardens with arched gateways like the one in the mosaic. He, himself, was born in one of those gardens which line the former rail track, although he doesn't remember it furry well. He was only a few weeks old when Mummy gotcha-ed him, and that was more than five years ago.
Trixie's favourite was the depiction of the Lion of Judah - because We are related to lions. They are also felines (mol). In fact, We will show you some more lions later on...
Judah's symbol is a lion, because in the Bible, it says: "Judah is a lion's whelp...he couched as a lion..."
We like the Bible. Mummy reads Us a chapter effurry day!
After a long walk in the Railtrack Park, We thought Moo might like to see Emeq Refaim Street, hub of the German Colony, so called because in the late 19th century, many Germans belonging to the sect known as the Templers, settled there and built beautiful European-style mansions. The British kicked them out when World War Two began, as they made no secret of their support for the Nazis. But their beautiful houses remained and are amongst the most expensive in Jerusalem. Moo could not resist a peak in some of their lovely gardens - especially as she was feeling rather hungry by now, and the grass lawns, although not so lush at the end of the long, hot, dry summer as they might have been, were still too much of a temptation.
Of course, that was rather naughty of her - but there was nobody around from whom she could ask purr-mission, and they surely won't miss a few blades of grass...
From the German Colony, We went on to Mishkenot Sha'ananim and Yemin Moshe, the first Jewish neighbourhoods to be built outside the Old City walls in modern times. Yemin Moshe is named for Sir Meowses (Moshe) Montefiore, a British-Jewish philanthropist (isn't that a big word, kitties?) who donated a great deal of money to build these new Jewish neighbourhoods. He also built a windmill there, which can still be seen today and beside which, Moo was anxious to have her photo taken:
Next to the windmill is a replica of the carriage Sir Meowses used on his travels in the Land of Israel. The original was destroyed in a fire in 1986.
According to a song made popular by the singer Yehoram Gaon, there are people who swear that on dark, windy nights, they have seen Montefiore standing by the carriage...
What's that, Mummy?
Oh, okay! I will tell them.
Kitties, Mummy says that is puff-fectly true and that one evening, she herself thinks she saw Sir Meowses standing by his carriage...
Kitties, Mummy says that is puff-fectly true and that one evening, she herself thinks she saw Sir Meowses standing by his carriage...
Between Mishkenot Sha'ananim and the main road is a park, and in the park, there is a fountain, called the Lions' Fountain. I told you We would be seeing more lions, didn't I? It was there that Moo and I posed for our last photo shot of the day, before heading home.
That's all for now, dear furriends. We would like to wish you all Gmar Chatima Tova and, for those of you for whom it is relevant, We wish you well over the Fast.
