I’m getting ready for the spring migration and my new Suburban safari (Coming Soon!). So I’ve been checking out the area of Jerusalem around the ‘Old train Station’, Yemin Moshe and the Walls of the Old City. Today I saw some fantastic little birds: Graceful Prinias, Chiffchaffs, and what I think is a Masked Shrike. See the Map below for more information.
Watch this Space for more news.
I’ve been preparing for a new tour and part of this preparation has been mapping the wildlife in the southern suburbs of Jerusalem. My recent astounding sightings have been;
Graceful Prinia (bird)
Eurasian Jays
Kuhl’s Pipistrelle Bat
European Green Toad
Common Gazelle (!)
You can check regular updates on this map:
It was a wonderful experience seeing the gazelle at 5:30 am as the sun rose over the Jerusalem hills. I’m going to be preparing this tour for the next few months, if your interested in booking me for a tour you can contact me here.
This is the map that I will be updating regularly as part of my ‘Suburban Safari’ project. I will record the animals that I have identified, there location and the date I identified them. There is a key in the description section and hover your cursor over the markers on the map to see what has been identified so far.
There’s probably going to be a few kinks to iron out at first, but check back here regularly for new sightings.
Tour Guide, Bird Specialist and Super Dad!
As part of a new set of tours that I am creating I recently lead some educational birding sessions at the JAIS Summer Camp.
We saw some fantastic birds, featuring the Syrian Woodpecker, the Palestine Sunbird and the Ring Necked Parakeet to name a few. Here’s the whole extended bird list:
Syrian Woodpecker
Palestine Sunbird
Ring Necked Parakeet
Spectacled Bulbul
Blackbird
Palm dove
Rock Dove (Pigeon)
Sparrow
Hooded crow
I was very impressed with the standard of observation from the campers who could spot birds with their bare eyes that I couldn’t see with my binoculars. The whole day just goes to show the fantastic variety of birds you can see in my backyard right here in Jerusalem.
I am currently working on some tours that will involve some of the more unknown parts of Jerusalem wildlife. Watch this space!
Jews around the world are involved three thousand year old ritual called ‘the Counting of the Omer’.
The period between the second day of Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Pentecost) is called the Omer. According to Scripture; this forty nine day period between the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the books of law, the Torah, on Mount Sinai was marked by a daily sacrifice of barley and the appointing of a daily ‘count’.
Now that there is no longer a Holy Temple in Jerusalem Jews around the world mark the day by counting which day it is every night, for instance 2 nights ago we counted ‘1 day of the Omer Count’, the day after we counted two and so on.
There are many different responses to how to make this relevant to daily life. Many people focus on a separate moral issue every day. Many people have a different spiritual theme every day (typically they follow the 49 kabbalistic permutations mentioned in the Jewish books of mysticism).
A novel response by Rabbi Bobby Silverman has been to assign a different bird of Israel to each day. The bird pictured above is a Turtle Dove, the kind commonly found in the Sinai Peninsular and in Israel.
For more information see
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=d76e2f3a6435dec0b480fa8fa&id=2361993a65&e=e6b12d2f52
Or follow my tweets on
This word of Torah is devoted to the Health of Zlata bat Sima
This word of Torah is devoted to the health of Zlata bat Sima
A Griffon Vulture at the Hai Bar Nature Reserve near Haifa
In this week’s Torah Portion we discuss Moses going up Mount Sinai where the Eternal tells Moses to tell the Jewish People their divine purpose; to be a holy nation. He tells Moses to tell the Jewish people that he carried them on the wings of a bird called, in Hebrew, the Nesher.
The King James Bible translates ‘Nesher’ as eagle. This is mostly based in a European tradition identifying the Eagle as ‘The King of Birds’, the Eagle was the symbol of the Roman Empire and the Russian Empire. There is some zoological evidence to suggest that members of the Eagle family carry their children, though generally birds do not do this. However this identification does not fit other Biblical requirements. For instance, the Nesher, according to Micah 1:16 is supposed to be bald. Eagles (except for the American Bald Eagle which is not native to Israel an is not technically bald) do not tend to be bald, Vultures are. Vultures in Ancient Near Eastern folk tradition were associated with kingship. Vultures are also far larger than Eagles and have a larger ability to ‘pick stuff up’. One species, the Lammergeier or ‘Lamb Carrier’ in German, was even rumoured to carry away children.
The Symbolism of the Nesher is that its large wings are supposed to symbolise the eternal protection of the Eternal, know in Hebrew as the Shechinah.
For a more extensive explanation I encourage you to read Rabbi Natan Slifkin’s article on the subject.
In this weeks Torah Portion Isaac blesses Jacob with ‘the dew of heaven’. But why did n’t he bless him with the rain of heaven. The 12th and 13th century scholar Nahmanides gives us a clue to our answer.
Nahmanides, in his commentary on the Bible, wrote that dew is more useful because it falls in every place. Dew is condensation caused by a change in temperature causing moisture in the air to precipitate. It happens in both summer and winter and in many different terrains and climates.
Rain is not always as welcome as dew. Recently it rained very heavily in Jerusalem and the Judean hills causing flash floods and much destruction. The picture above is a flash flood in the Negev desert, flash floods have been known to carry away bridges, trees and top soil. In the winter, before the farmer has sown his seeds, the flash flood is welcome, it waters the ground, fills up cisterns and water reserves and prepares the agricultural community for the season for sowing seeds. In the spring or summer it is a nightmare where the farmer loses his topsoil and the wandering hunter is caught unawares in a dangerous situation.
The blessing of dew is a symbol of God’s protection in any situation and it forms a covering, just as in the morning the dew covers everything, God is everywhere watching out for us.
(Genesis 18:23)
What’s a Terebinth?The word in Hebrew here is ‘Alon’ which refers to Oak rather than Terebinth, which is a different kind of tree. The Picture above is of a ‘Quercus Calliprinos’ or ‘Palestine Oak’, which can be seen all over Israel.
“…They realized they were naked and they sewed together a fig leaf and made clothes” (Genesis / Bereshit 1:7)
The picture above is a fig tree, it is very common in Israel and has the merit of being the first species of tree mentioned by name in the Bible.
Tonight and for the next two days Jews Celebrate the New Year or Rosh Hashanah.
It is customary to blow a rams horn, their are many reasons for this, one of the best is that it reminds us of the ram that Abraham slaughtered instead of sacrificing his son Isaac. This symbol of sacrifice is an important one for Judaism.
We know that it is likely that the ram spoken of was a male Ibex, like the Ibex pictured above.
Shanah Tova (Happy New Year)!
Dedicated to the recovery of Zlata bat Sima and Grandma Sheila