Leon's No News Bulletin 94 Fri 19th Dec 08

Leon's No News Bulletin 94

Friday, December 19, 2008

Shalom everyone,

Thanks to my friend, Donald’s victory over the virus in my computer by isolating it in its own compartment on my hard disk. (Hopefully it’ll starve to death there. I wouldn’t have such a thought about a living creature, but a virus in your computer isn’t a living creature.)

At last I can bring you the good no news, after the shocking lapse of 5 weeks without no news,

A virus in one’s hard disk is no reason to stop making no news; the most adventurous bit of no news is my visit to Petach Tikvah, another one of those towns in Israel never visited by tourists. I was in search of a sort of Western Wall, a place worthy to be visited by tourists. I accidentally arrived exactly on the only day, Tuesday, exactly at the opening time, 1600 hours, of the museum of the founders of Petah Tikvah. Unfortunately I wasn’t aware of this and in any case I had to rush off to get the 51 bus to Tel Aviv to hear a lecture about the theatrical aspects of the story of King Saul and the witch of Ein Dor.

Here’s the story:

“Now Samuel had died, and all Israel lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, and (each one lamented him) in his own city. Now, Saul had abolished necromancers and those who divine with the Jidoa bone from the land.”

And Saul disguised himself, and donned other garments. And he went he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night, and he said, "Divine now for me with necromancy, and conjure up for me whom I shall tell you.” And the woman said to him, "Behold, you know what Saul has done, that he has abolished the necromancers and those who divine by the Jidoa bone, from the land; and why do you lay a snare for my life to cause me to die?” And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, "As the Lord lives, no punishment will happen to you for this thing." And the woman said, "Whom shall I conjure up for you?" And he said, "Conjure up Samuel for me." And the woman saw Samuel, and she cried aloud. And the woman said to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!" And the king said to her, "Fear not, for what you have seen?" And the woman said to Saul, "I have seen angels ascending from the earth.” And he said to her, "What is his form?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a cloak." And Saul knew that he was Samuel; and he bowed down with his face to the ground, and prostrated himself. And Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you roused me, to bring me up?" And Saul said, "I am greatly distressed, and the Philistines are battling against me, and God has turned away from me, and has not answered me anymore, neither through the prophets, nor through dreams. And I have called you to let me know what I shall do."

Today Ein Dor is a kibbutz next to Mt. Tabor, in the eastern part of the Jezrieel Valley. The hour long bus ride in the dark and rain from Petah Tikvah to Tel Aviv gave me time to consider how Saul managed to get from Mt. Gilboa, where his army was camped ready for war with the Philisines, to Ein Dor. Even if he ran it would take him more than 3 hours to cover the distance. By the way, after all this bad news he also stayed for dinner with the witch. Just take a look at the menu:

The woman had a fattened calf at the house, which she butchered at once. She took some flour, kneaded it and baked bread without yeast. Then she set it before Saul and his men, and they ate. That same night they got up and left.

I like the menu but I would have preferred lamb to veal. In fact I’ve already told you about the delicious lamb prepared by a very cute Bedouin exactly near the place where Saul, supposedly met the witch.

I went to Petah Tikvah to see how much of the original spirit of bravery of the early pioneers of the 1880’s could still be felt today.

Modern Petah Tikvah stands on land deserted by Arabs in the 19th century because they believed it was cursed; whoever drank from the water, although it was plentiful, died mysteriously. Of course there was no mystery; in the course of many years animal carcasses had be thrown into the water at its source.

The Jewish settlers dug new wells, deep ploughed the ground and the wheat which they harvested was carried with joy to Jerusalem on the feast of Shavuot. Many people died from Malaria and other diseases and at the hands of Arab attackers but they never gave up and the small agricultural settlement started by Jews from the old Jewish community of Jerusalem grew into the modern metropolis of today.

I was amazed that there’s no direct bus from Jerusalem to the center of Petah Tikvah. The best is to take the Haifa bus (947) which passes Ben Gurion airport and the outskirts of Petah Tikvah. One get’s off at one of three junctions where there are sleek city busses of the “Kavim” company, much more pleasant than the Egged co-operative..

I got off at the Syrkin junction in an out in the country sort of area but was assured that soon enough a 99 bus would come along to take me to the city hall.

I could easily recognize the neat “L” shaped building with gardens and parking area, from the picture I found on the internet (see on my picture page).

Being used to the sort of narrow streets you find throughout Israel it’s quite a pleasant surprise to find a street so wide that you have 3 traffic lanes on either side of an isle with flowers and seemingly interminable rows of elegant stores in low level buildings, none more than 3 stories high on either side of this broad parkway.

This all gives the city an uncrowded relaxed atmosphere. I’ve decided to go back and enjoy a soothing coffee there one of these days. It’s the kind of place I like.

I was in too much of a hurry, unlike King Saul, to have a luxuriant, sit down meal. So I picked up a doughnut while walking, then some delicious gouda cheese in a deli and finally just before boarding the bus I had a pizza and a “Mitz eshcolit”. (Grapefruit juice).

After all this I came to the conclusion that King Saul couldn’t have been in a very good condition to fight the Philistines; he had to run hours to the witch, hear the bad news that Samuel’s ghost gave him, then eaten a slap up dinner prepared by the witch and finally had to run at least 3 hours back to the camp. It’s no wonder he lost the battle.

You might know that exactly at the time Saul was at the witch’s David, the man who would take his place as king, was consulting the Lord. Here is David’s story which runs parallel with Saul’s story:

When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David's two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod." Abiathar brought it to him, 8 and David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?"
      "Pursue them," he answered. "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue."

While Saul’s busy consulting witches David consults the Lord

Wishing you a great no news day

Yours truly

Leon