JAFFA

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean.  But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop"......Mother Teresa

Wherever I wander,  I never have to  look further than the sea to find a strong connection. ....not a quote, but some thoughts I feel when I walk by the ocean like I do here in Jaffa as well as  daily when I am  home on Vancouver Island.  I love the way the water splashed upon the promenade, with boats and the Israeli flag in the distance.  The residents who are using this amazing promenade from Jaffa to Tel Aviv appear to be so healthy, not only for the fresh salty air and exercise but for the extended family and friends that they connect to in this location.   I come here daily to just watch people being happy!  The salty air is universal....you got to love that!  

We are staying in Old Jaffa  (Yafo in Hebrew or Yaffa in Arabic) It is said to be named after Noah's son Japheth, who was to have built the city after the Great Flood, and has a further claim to fame as the port from which Jonah set out before was swallowed by the whale in his flight from God. 

Jaffa's port had served as the main entry into the ancient land of Israel. Although there are older ports,  it has claim to be the oldest port in the world in continuous use - without interruption for over 4000 years!!  The centre of the town is dominated by the Clock Tower that was built by the Turkish Sultan Abed-el Hamid in 1906. The alleys in Old Jaffa are named after the signs of the Zodiac and of course written in Hebrew.  I continually find myself looking at the signs, trying to figure out which Zodiacal sign they represent. The area is quite hip, designer shops and artist's galleries are everywhere throughout this quaint and romantic place that is only one mile in length.  It is connected to Tel Aviv by a common municipal government but it seems a world apart in atmosphere.

Inside our apt. with the owner Roy and his beautiful son Tomer.  I would so very much like to recommend his apt. to anyone wanting to spend some time in Jaffa in the perfect location. Check out his website and read what previous guests have said:

The link to our apt. 

I looked extensively for a place in Jaffa.   The requirements I had hoped for was a balcony, a washing machine, fully-equipped kitchen and location.  Roy's apt. has two balconies,  both with electronic metal shutters that keep out  the light and heat which is better environmentally.....you don't need to use the air/con as much.  We can either overlook an inner courtyard or the side street.  It has another room for storage. Under Israeli building code, all new construction must contain a security room or bunker.  In our one bedroom apt., the utility room comes with a heavy steel door designed to withstand a heavy blast or explosion - could be useful in an earthquake too.  

  Yefet Street is Jaffa's one-way main street that connects to our street Rabbi Pinchas

 Our street that is a stone's throw away from the locally famous Shuk Hapishpeshim (The Jaffa Flea Market) which is set among the narrow streets of what used to be the Arab Quarter.   You literally can buy anything here but be prepared to spend awhile sorting through the junk!  We figure there must be 50-100 stalls depending on the day.  The area is  open 6 days a week to shop until you drop!

There must be a treasure somewhere in there!

Jaffa Clock Tower on Yefet Street.  At night the tower is lit up. 
Where Jaffa has not yet been gentrified, it is an area where Arab and Jewish families (mostly with generally lower income) live peacefully side-by-side in the same apartment buildings and work and shop together. 

  Street signs are Zodiac symbols and I am guessing it is Gemini

Taurus the bull, of course!

And this is for the Leos in our lives (Arie is the lion in Hebrew, not Aries the ram) 

 I am on a secret mission to take pics of all the historic Ottoman-period doors in town!

There are some obvious differences going from Jerusalem to Jaffa.  Tel Aviv is more like a modern European City.  For instance in all the time we were in Jerusalem, I might have seen two or three dogs at most. In Jaffa/Tel Aviv there are lots of dogs!  Unfortunately it appears that many dog owners  do not clean up after their dogs.  Also there are noticeably less soldiers here than in Jerusalem.  I did meet a soldier in the bottom floor of our apt.   I had gone down to the minus 1 level in our apt. to where the garbage room is located.  There are various doors on the parking level and they are all labelled which is great, except I don't understand one symbol of Hebrew as well as being written right to left which is the opposite of how English is written.  The soldier was on his way home with his daughter in her stroller....probably picking her up from daycare. He was so kind to point me in  the direction of where the garbage room was located.  Unfortunately something got lost in translation and I got turned around and only to find myself in the position of seeing this soldier again with the bag of garbage still in my hand.  Trying to save my dignity, I veered towards the elevator to sneak back upstairs along with my garbage (without him seeing that I was unsuccessful in locating the right door)  but alas, I was caught red-handed with the evidence clearly in my hands.  He insisted that he would push the stroller out of the elevator to show me the garbage room (see what I said about the Israelis?).  His submachine gun bashed the side of the elevator while he pulled the stroller out and we had a conversation about soldiers and guns and how different it is in Canada.  He agreed that in Israel it is just the way of life.....so many differences.

Mini Hebrew Lesson

Some things are self explanatory.....milk in 1 to 3 % cartons.

Prices and lists of meat in the local butcher shop are not so easily decipherable.  In the end, it really doesn't matter that the words are written from left to right......it's all too confusing.  In this case you need to point and choose.

I took this pic on the fender of a car.......the clue is that the question mark is actually the end of the sentence (remember what I mentioned about left to right in Hebrew?) which translates into something like....how is my driving?  Phone 5535 * to report me and I think the 24 might mean you can call anytime of the day or night.

Even figuring out a bill in a restaurant is easy with numbers even if you have to guess what the item you were charged for!  I will save you trying to figure out the exchange..... 49 shekels is approximately $14 and then the remaining 11 shekels for the tip is around $3.

And along the way there are Bar Mitzva signs everywhere in English.  We are thinking that the decorated cars we have been seeing might be for Bar and Bat Mitzvas, as well as for the weddings that seem to be happening daily around us.

And hey, it's okay to think that your local gas station is "so good" that is sounds like an eatery if you didn't notice or smell the gas pumps. 

The little bird in the second  bag of rice couldn't read Hebrew either!  Bird poop with your rice anyone?

Which leads me back to the confusing signs on the doors in the basement floor of the apt!  No clue if it means "Entry Forbidden" or "Take your Garbage here"  I am humbled to think of how it must feel for immigrants who come to our country because that is a tiny example of how it felt to me.  (Actually, Andy says it means "fire door")

As I write this blog, it is a Friday night which is the start of Shabbat.  I am sitting on the balcony facing the courtyard while a song is blaring out for all to hear........Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons....It's my Party and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to.  Also it is dark.....well past the sunset call to prayer for the mosque but we also hear the beautiful song that seems to be emanating from there.  Also we walk past a few restaurants that have been bustling all week long and late into the wee hours of the night.  They too were closing down in the afternoon - seems to a Westerner very strange to close a popular eatery on a Friday night.  Sunday mornings are back to routine again!

Jaffa has so many cute little side streets that just invite you to wander in and explore.

Little alleys that you walk past several times not realizing there was a secret way of finding another treasured corner.  I hope the resident upstairs did not mind me taking a pic while she was putting up the clothes on her washing line.

The Floating Orange Tree...........symbol of what the port of Jaffa was famous for in times past 

There is a floating orange tree situated at the end of Mazal Dagim (Pisces) Alley in the Artists Quarter of Old Jaffa.  The tree is elevated off of the ground by an earthenware pot hung by metal chains from the walls of the houses in the alley.

The "Jonah and the Whale" sculpture statue in Old Jaffa was created by Ilana Goor - a renowned Israeli artist.  It was at the Jaffa Port that the Prophet Jonah left for his journey to Tarshish in order to escape the mission that God gave him.  On the way Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and survived for three days and nights.  The fish eventually let Jonah go and God gave Jonah a second opportunity to learn and to serve.  

Ilona Goor's museum contains an art collection from around the world, as well as housing her own beautiful sculptures, made for Yad Vashem and many other locations in the world.  When Obama visited Israel in March of this year, he accepted three lovely gifts from Ilana Goor that were presented by Shimon Peres, the President of Israel, to be given to his daughters and wife Michelle. I was so very lucky to have the photo of the original gifts emailed to me from Ilana's assistant Maayanyaron, who served us very helpfully.  

The top bracelet is for Michelle.  The bird is a symbol of democracy and the gold discs are the union of the US and Israel as being one.  The bottom two bracelets are for the daughters Natasha and Malia Ann.

 The museum is filled with treasures that intrigued and fascinated us.   Rooms filled with such creation!

While some exhibits took us by surprise!

Made by Ilana for a certain family in Qualicum Beach.  Andy wanted something with leather to remind him of Simon the Tanner.  

This is one of my favourite views from Jaffa towards Tel Aviv.  Several times we have experienced the Hamsin (also spelled Khamsin), the wind that brings sand from the desert and traps in heat and humidity, and the reason why this pic of Tel Aviv looks so foggy.

Another favourite view .....looking down towards the Sea Mosque, which dates back to the 1500s.  

The house of Simon the Tanner is where St Peter had the vision that changed his understanding of Gentiles, and opened the door for the Christian faith to spread beyond the Jewish community to the whole world.   Perhaps you could say that it is thanks to that vision that we see today Arab Christian Orthodox Palestinians in Jaffa dressed in tartan and playing bagpipes:

We stumbled upon an Easter Monday ("Kissing Day) Greek Orthodox parade.   The top three photos are of the various Scout troupe Bands throughout Israel and Palestine.  Our apt. is around the corner from here and we couldn't figure out why we kept hearing drums and music. We got the explanation from Nicholas and his family who were in Jaffa, visiting from Hebron to celebrate the parade with other Arab Christians.

Jaffa was neglected for many years, and many places were used as a garbage dump.  It is currently undergoing a very substantial renovation.  The area is very hip and trendy, and property prices reflect this.  

Kenny Roger, Middle East Secretary for the Church of Scotland, and Alison, his wife, hosted us for dinner.   We met them through the Lutheran church in Jaffa, and in those small world experiences, it turns out they have just moved from Silverknowes, a part of Edinburgh only a stone's throw from Andy's brother, and their minister in Edinburgh took classes in Hebrew Bible with Andy at Glasgow University in the early 1980s.  Kenny has an office at St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem, although his home is in Jaffa.  

We stumbled upon opening day for a new street-corner cafe.  Henry is the manager at doublespresso, on the corner of Yehuda Hayamit and Siderot Yerushalayim, and he gave us a good deal on our coffee, bread, and pastries.
I could get really carried away with so many more photos, memories and especially the connections with people.  I wanted my Sojourner in Israel blog to allow my friends, family and anyone on line who enjoys travel and culture to see a tiny slice of life in the Middle East.  It is my hope and prayer that harmony and peace will live in not only the land but in it's people's hearts.....

To show how small our world is.......we got very early this morning and I posted some last pics of Jaffa on my facebook wall at 4 AM  before our flight to London Heathrow.  While boarding the London to Vancouver flight in the departure gate, we literally bumped into Doug Yelland who I had graduated with from Ballenas High School.  Doug told me he had got up very early on his last morning  in Spain, logged on facebook and saw my Jaffa pics. Seeing that I am still blogging, I could not resist to  add......Doug sat close to Prince Andrew on the flight.  A small world indeed.

Andy took a pic of Doug and I at the baggage carousel at YVR.....25 hours without sleep and  we are still standing. 


I have been awake for 30 hours and I am sitting in the cafeteria of the Queen of Alberni ferry on our way back to Qualicum where Ryan will pick us up and take us home.  My love is snoring next to me and  I am gazing out on the water towards the lights of Nanaimo  and thinking of the coincidences of today but realize  they are not coincidences but instead  a thorough connection we all have to people from everywhere in the world and that is true harmony and for that I feel excited.