Since many of you celebrate Easter, I asked Av this morning if on one of his (ten! he’s only taken me three times!) Israel trips he had taken pics there of things that might be interesting. In 1994, he went as part of the Birmingham Interfaith Mission to Israel, which was coordinated by the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
This is from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, traditionally the site of Calvary — and currently the object of a dispute among different Christian groups as to who is actually in charge there…
The Garden Tomb where Jesus was laid to rest after the crucifixion:
The Church of All Nations, which is on the Mount of Olives, and contains a stone that is said to be the place where Jesus prayed before he was arrested:
Here are three pictures from a baptism in the Jordan, in northern Israel. Former Birmingham police chief Johnnie Johnson co-officiated, and the woman being baptized was an 80-something year old Sunday School teacher from Texas who was on the trip.
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Other things:
While going through his old prints from one of his trips to Israel, Av found this image of a home in Northern Israel that used bicycles as part of its fencing:
Last year I took this pic at our first night seder at Av’s parents’ home:
The second night was at our home. We all gathered in the living room for the first half of the seder before moving to the table for supper and the second half. We started doing the first half that way last year, when it occurred to me that if the idea was to go through the seder as free people, in comfort, that we’d surely all be more comfortable there than at the dining room table for hours. That’s a tradition we are going to keep!
For supper, I made chicken piccata, barbecue brisket, potato salad, vegetable cole slaw, deviled eggs, roasted sweet potato fries, and for dessert — chocolate baby bites cakes and espresso sorbet. Yummm!
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We observe Passover, but whatever holiday you celebrate, I hope it is happy, hopeful, and sweet! xoxoxo!