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Shalom everyone,
We had a great time in Tel Aviv last Saturday; Carmela, Ettie's friend (and mine now also) cooked a wonderful lunch. She's definitely my favorite friend for going to lunch. Everybody agreed and not just out of politeness but out of genuine appreciation.
The wine (s) was so good that I have to mention it here. Who knows I may need to come back to this letter another day to find the name (s), so I'll write it down for you and me. I assure you these aren't names to forget. I'm sure you have just as good wines, if not better, where you live, but keep a note of these wines for when you come to visit Israel.
Both are produced in wineries on the Golan Heights and aren't too expensive, according to my meager experience of buying good wines.
The first is known as Pelter and the other is known as "Bazelet Hagolan". Basalt is the rock that one finds on the Golan. It's pitch black and very hard. This wine is light but a little serious with a smooth feel and a soft taste. Pelter is lighter but still deep red and full of spirit but not sharp and aching like some strong wines.
Like Vered today I 50 years ago or so had also been a teacher so I could understand what she meant that she enjoyed teaching adults rather than children. I gave up teaching because I didn't have the patience one needs to teach and enjoy it.
Kids are great learners but the teacher always needs to stimulate their interest whereas adults usually stimulate the teacher and there's more give and take of information rather than just passing it on.
Vered is a great teacher judging from her relationship with children as adults. As difficult as it may sound one must simply relate to kids as if they are very adults and they start behaving like adults and the results are impressive.
Jerusalem and its archaeological treasures stimulate children's natural curiosity. They can't easily imagine what an ancient building looked like but they are full of wonder at the discovery of something hidden. Kids love hidden things and they love finding them even more.
Every day practically some hidden object is found in the excavations of the city of David; I just received an e mail from them that they found another bulla. This is a clay stamp used for sealing a letter about 3000 years ago.
It's generally accepted that only a few people knew how to write in those distant days so the room in the City of David part of the Old City of Jerusalem, must have been a government building like an archive where the chief scribe was in charge, not a private house.
This brings the total number of bullae of nearly 3000 years ago found so far, to about 50. Here we are standing in the official archive of Jerusalem of nearly 3000 years ago. Thanks to the archaeological discovery we are nearly back at the moment of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.
Among the names on the 50 or so bullae are three mentioned in the Bible; Gemaryahu ben Shafan, (Jeremiah 36:10) Gedaliah Ben Pashchur and Yehuchal Ben Shelamayahu.
“And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashchur, and Yehuchal the son of Shelamayahu, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah spoke unto all the people, saying:” (Jeremiah 38:1)
The Bible doesn't mention all the scribes whose names were found in the excavation because it isn't giving a general history of Israel. It only mentions scribes involved in events in history that demonstrate the need to listen to God and what happens if we don't listen to Him.
The time gap of nearly 3000 years yawning between us, living today and the Jews of that awful time has been shut. Now as never before in Jewish history can a Jew feel the terrible destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and feel the desperate urgency felt by Jeremiah trying vainly to warn of the coming disaster.
On Tisha B'Av, on Sunday the 10th August, the day of memorial of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the Romans our mourning will be more real than ever before.
A bulla is a clay seal that a scribe place on a letter to show he had written it.
Wishing you a great no news day
Yours truly
Leon Gork
