The Fragrance of The Shechina

This morning, the first day of the Jewish Month of Elul, I joined other women for a calm and leisurely Prayer and Psalm session at Tel Shiloh.

We all felt the Shechina, G-'d's presence, as we prayed to G-d, possibly, in the very same area the Biblical Chana did thousands of years ago.

What a contrast to the stressful, crowd-filled Kever Rachel, Rachel's Tomb, which is strangled by concrete and bars.

That's one of the reasons I began inviting women to come to Shiloh on Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of each Jewish Month.


Tel Shiloh is open for visitors everyday but Shabbat and Jewish Holidays. Tours may be arranged. For more information email telshilo@gmail.com or call 02-994-4019. If you'd like to join my Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayer Group, please email me, shilohmuse at gmail dot com

Chodesh Iyyar Tov! Have a Blessed New Month

I just got back from Kever Rachel, Rachel's Tomb. Yes, it was crowded.



Kever Rachel, so close to Jerusalem, has always been a popular place for prayers, though it's not for the claustrophobic, or the asthmatic. Today's Kever Rachel is nothing like the Biblical, or even the one I first saw almost forty years ago.

Compare that to Shiloh. OK, the archaeologists will tell you that what is now Tel Shiloh is the remains of the Biblical city heaped on the spot where the Mishkan, Tabernacle rested for 369 years. But the plants are most probably descended from, or somehow related to, the ones which grew when Eli was Kohen Gadol, High Priest, Chana came to pray and Shmuel, Samuel, was sent to be mentored by Eli.




Relax, close your eyes and sense the the Ketoret, the fragrant incense once prepared for prayers. The air feels as pure as it must have been thousands of years ago. Chana, Elkana, Eli, Shmuel and thousands and thousands of Jews were here in Shiloh then.



For the past year and a half, I've been inviting women to join me in Tel Shiloh for Rosh Chodesh Prayers. Tomorrow, Friday, April 24, is Rosh Chodesh Iyyar. We'll be at the Tel at 9:30, G-d willing.

Women's Rosh Chodesh Iyyar Prayers at Tel Shiloh
יום ו' 9:30
יש זמן לפני שבת. נא להזמין אחרות
Friday 9:30am
להתראות,

Even if you enjoy the crowds at Kever Rachel, that shouldn't stop you from coming to Tel Shiloh.
Tel Shiloh is open to tourists all year long. Parties and other events can also be arranged there. For more information email: telshilo@gmail.com or call 02-994-4019.

Chodesh Tov!

Not Your Usual Israeli Tourist Scenes

Here's water going through the ancient water carrier in Ir David, David's City, Ma'ayan Shilo'ach.




And Kever Rachel, Rachel's Tomb was very crowded on the Eve of Rosh Chodesh Shvat, the beginning of the Jewish Month of Shvat, the last month of winter.

Remnants of the "Old" Kever Rachel (Rachel's Tomb)

The Kever Rachel of today doesn't resemble the old pictures. It doesn't resemble the place I visited in the fall of 1969. Then it was easy to imagine our forefather Jacob stopping there as his beloved wife, Rachel, went into labor to give birth to her second child; she died as her son was born.

Today it's an imposing fortress, which we enter on a special road. It's no longer the small, round-roofed, modest tomb in the dusty city of Bethlehem.


When I was there last week, I searched for remnants of the old building. I wonder if these pillars could have been what I once saw. They are so different from this corridor.



Outside, there's now a traffic circle with a "tree" of sorts. It did remind me a bit of that old street.

But today, you don't see the Arab tourist shops selling that blue-green Hebron glass, which used to be a classic souvenir.

Even though many people do visit Kever Rachel, I'm sure that nobody can enjoy it the way we once did.

"Peace" has certainly made life more difficult.

Three Scenes From Yesterday

Waiting for the bus on

King George Street

Jerusalem

Reserved for

Handicapped

at the Malcha Mall

The Outer Room

Ezrat Nashim

Kever Rachel

Yes, we got in

even after the traffic jam

Kever Rachel, Not For The Two-Wheeler

Recently there has been lots of praise for the news that you no longer need to go to Kever Rachel, Rachel's Tomb, enclosed in a bullet-proof vehicle. Just the other day, my neighbor told me how easy it was to go in a simple car, park in the parking area, stay for as long as they needed, go back to their car and drive out.

Yes, that's the good news, but Jerusalem doctor, Alexander King, was disappointed to discover that he was forbidden to enter the compound riding his bicycle.

Read his report:

Dear Friends,

Today (Wed 10 Sep) I cycled down to Kever Rachel at around 3pm.

The guard at the yellow gate checked with his superior, the "mefaked hakever" called "Yarden," and told me that bicycles are not allowed it. Only "rechev im mano'a" (motorized vehicles). No
amount of reasoning would help my situation. I hung around for about 20 minutes and then left. I was none-the-less happy to see that the tomb is being well visited: every few minutes a car would enter.

So I have a few options:

* To keep coming back every now and again (to put the pressure on)
* To arrive there with several other cyclists (+/- media) and see what happens.
Interested parties should forward me their cellphone numbers
* To speed past the guards when they open the gate for a car (not a good idea as risk getting shot or arrested)
* To arrange a visit, co-ordinate permission, with the local commander...
Does anyone have any connections?

Please let me know if anyone has any ideas, ajdking@hotmail.com.

To share ideas, please join the FACEBOOK GROUP "Biking to Rachel's tomb":


I have posted up some photos on the facebook group.

Regards,
Dr Alexander King