Saturday Snapshot

Published on by Margaret

I’ve been reading Joan Leegant’s novel Wherever You Go, which is set in Israel and America. I’ll be writing about this book, which I really liked in a future post. It reminded me of our visit to Israel in 1993, so I got out the photo albums and here are just a few:

First a sight of camels on the skyline – photo taken from the coach on the way to Jerusalem.

Then a view of Jerusalem showing the Dome of the Rock, but not the usual view of the golden dome because this was in 1993 when the covering was being refurbished. It was covered with scaffolding all around it!

The Chagall Windows get a brief mention in Wherever You Go, when one of the characters talks of them disparagingly – Mariah the self-appointed arbiter of taste saying to Yona, one of the main characters:

‘I suppose you’ll go see the Chagall windows in the famous hospital in Jerusalem, Mariah had sniffed, the legendary artist deemed by the gallery crowd to be the painterly equivalentof Fiddler on the Roof, all mush and sloppy sentimentality, colorful art, like colorful clothes, against the law. (page 122)

The beautiful Chagall Windows in the Synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Centre were on our tour and I loved them. You couldn’t take photos inside but here is one of the outside:

I bought a tapestry canvas of one of the windows, Zebulon, whilst I was there. I still haven’t bought the wool to actually stitch the tapestry! I’d love it to look something like this when I’ve stitched it:

The whole visit was very memorable, and we have loads of photos, but one in particular was very special – the Yad Vashem Memorial. The photo shows the statue at the entrance to the Children’s Memorial in an underground cavern. You go down into a dark chamber where candles are reflected so it seems as though you are lost in space surrounded by stars:

Maybe sometime I’ll post more photos of our visit.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce on her blog At Home With Books.

18 thoughts on “Saturday Snapshot”

  1. Margaret, this was very interesting and I’m so glad you posted your photos. I’ve got WHEREVER YOU GO on my list of books to read soon. That tapestry will be stunning if you are ever able to stitch it. Love the camels!

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  3. What a great post! I just finished reading The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, set in ancient Isreal. I’ve never been, so these photos are a fun reference for me.

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  4. Margaret – Those are lovely ‘photos! What a wonderful trip you must have had. Thank you for sharing them.

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  5. I was a foreign exchange student to Israel in 1978. I would love to go back and see Israel again as an adult. Thank you for sharing your photos. They brought back some wonderful memories.

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  9. I love it when I’ve been somewhere foreign, then I read a book set in the same place. Makes me connect to the book in a different way. The last picture, of the sculpture, looks a lot the memorial sculpture at the Dachau concentration camp. I wonder if it is by the same artist.

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  13. I was in Israel when I was 16–that was a long time ago! There is an exhibition on right now of Chagall’s work on loan here in Toronto and I was surprised at the paintings–some quite violent. Not the usual perception at all.

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  18. They are lovely photos. If you stich the window you might want to do it in stranded silk – that would give a gloss to mimic the light thru the window.
    (there is also a silk like fiber made from soy, but I haven’t used it) Silk comes in a multitude of colors.

    Nina

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