Tel Kesalon

On a beautiful day in December we decided it was time for us to start hiking again. We used to hike often, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but since losing Gadi it has been hard to find the will. The bright sunny weather on this particular weekend gave us the extra push to get up and start walking, along with the knowledge that Israel's winter flower season was just beginning.

I chose a short but beautiful hike on Tel Kesalon, in the Jerusalem Hills. Kesalon is a biblical site mentioned in the Book of Joshua as part of the northern border of the territory allotted to the tribe of Judah:

Then it curved westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, ran along the northern slope of Mount Jearim (that is, Kesalon), continued down to Beth Shemesh and crossed to Timnah -  Joshua 15:10

Kesalon was a large Jewish village during the Roman period in Israel. In 1596 Kisla, as it was then known, was a village in the subdistrict of Ramla with a population of sixty-one. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, sesame, and fruit trees as well as on goats and beehives. Most of what is visible on Tel Kesalon today is the remains of an Arab village called Kasla, which was deserted in 1948. The ruins, including crumbling walls and terraces, add a historical charm to the natural landscape.

The nearby modern moshav of Kesalon, founded in 1952, is named after this site. New immigrants from Yemen, brought to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet, were given farmland there, but abandoned the moshav a few years later to join members of the Yemenite community living in Rosh Ha'ayin. Their place was taken by Jewish immigrants from Morocco.

We started our hike by climbing the tel itself. A tel is a mound or small hill that has been formed over time by layers of settlement. The view from the top, of Moshav Kesalon on one side and Moshav Beit Meir on the other, was fabulous. A Jewish National Fund forest was planted around Tel Kesalon and the surrounding area, named Ya'ar Hakdoshim (Forest of the Martyrs). It commemorates the victims of the Holocaust and contains six million trees, symbolizing the six million Jews who perished. Planting began in 1946 and memorials for perished communities are set throughout the forest. There are various springs in the area and the Kesalon stream passes on the north side of the hill, more than 200m below the summit. Almond trees grow on top of the tel and cactuses grow along the site's southern slopes.

We climbed back down Tel Kesalon and began our hike. I immediately spotted pale pink sitvanit hayoreh (Steven's meadow saffron), one of the first flowering plants of the autumn, and clusters of rakefot (Persian cyclamen). As we hiked further along the path I glimpsed karkom (winter crocus) and bunches of white narcissus blooms (Narcissus tazetta or Paperwhite) growing among the rocks. We passed a spring, its water tinted green by algae, and headed towards Ein Kesla, a stone pool carved around a natural spring. In late December the pool was still dry.

After a while it was time for us to retrace our steps and head back towards Tel Kesalon and our car. The rocky path along the side of the valley was precarious at times, but the views over the deep valley of the Kesalon stream were once again breathtaking. We then returned to the path we had started our hike on, but this time it circled around the other side of the tel, ultimately reaching the hilltop where we had started out earlier in the day.

It was time for lunch in one of the many picnic areas of the Forest of the Martyrs. Although it was December, just a few days before Christmas, the pleasant weather had drawn many people outdoors. As we picnicked, we spoke about Gadi and how much he would have enjoyed the hike. Pushing ourselves to return to the great outdoors felt right, and we were glad we had taken that step.

* This post has been shared on Floral Friday Fotos, Nature Notes, Mosaic Monday

Lilach

Lilach celebrated her birthday in early January. Her husband sent me this lovely photo of her and asked if I could create one of my "amazing cards" (his words!) to mark her special day.

I carefully recreated Lilach's dark green dress, including the tiny gold buttons on the cold-shoulder sleeves. I also captured her blonde hair and blue eyes, and added little stars cut out to surround the sparkler placed on the table in front of her.

Lilach's daughter also asked me to create a birthday card for her mum! She told me her mum enjoys going to the gym and visiting spas. At the gym, she works out with dumbbells and loves running. At the spa, she enjoys relaxing and getting massages. She's also really into mindfulness and likes reading books on the subject. And, as a fun little detail, her daughter mentioned that her mum loves smoked salmon - so she thought it would be funny to include that on the card. 

I decided to show Lilach working out with dumbbells while dreaming of a relaxing massage. Next to her, I included The Mindfulness Book and a plate of smoked salmon. Her daughter also mentioned that Lilach loves wearing jeans paired with a T-shirt or jumper, and that her favorite colours right now are blue and pink. With all these details, Lilach's outfit was complete!

Lilach was really happy to receive both cards and told me that she was excited to have her own "Lisa cards". She shared the photo I have added to this post on Facebook, writing "In the photo are my birthday cards made by the very talented Lisa Isaacs."

I cannot finish this post without acknowledging the Hamas war on Israel.

On Monday 26th January, the body of Ran Gvili was recovered and identified. Ran, an Israeli police sergeant, was the last hostage held in Gaza. After 843 days, his body was finally brought home.
All hostages taken into Gaza have now been brought back to Israel.
The clock in Hostage Square, which marked every minute and second since 7th October 2023, has finally stopped. We can breathe again, but relief and grief sit side by side.
For 87 families of fallen hostages, 7th October will never truly end. The same is true for the families of hundreds of civilians who were murdered in their homes, towns and communities during Hamas's brutal attack, along with the many fallen soldiers, heroes who gave their lives to protect us and to bring them home.
The road ahead will be long.
But at least they are now home.

* This post has been shared on Craft Schooling Sunday, Happiness is Homemade, Mosaic Monday, Busy Monday, Tuesday Turn About and Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.

Heroines: Fashion and Hope in World War II

Back in October I went to see the exhibition 'Heroines: Fashion and Hope in World War II' at the Design Museum Holon. The exhibition, which closes in April, looks at design as a symbol of hope during World War II.
The exhibition opens with the story of Hedy Strand, a Czech fashion designer who, together with her husband, perished in the Holocaust. For many years, evidence of Hedy's talent lay hidden in a forgotten envelope kept by relatives in the United States, until her sketches and designs were finally brought to life in an exhibition by the Jewish Museum Milwaukee. The Design Museum Holon has borrowed elements of that exhibition and recreated eight of Strand's design ensembles in Israel, presenting them alongside her personal story. Her design atelier is also reconstructed, complete with a rotating stage that displays her garments as if in a haute couture studio.

The exhibition continues with 'Unarmed Warriors' which follows the women on the American and British home fronts coping with WWII through fashion. Among the items on display are handbags made from telephone wires, original US Air Force makeup compacts, hats, earrings and Forget-Me-Not bracelets worn by women to remember their men fighting abroad. There is a contraption created to draw seams on women's stockings when silk wasn't available, glow-in-the-dark accessories made to light the way during blackouts, and victory pins worn to support the war effort, including diamond versions designed by Cartier.
The accessories in the exhibition are accompanied by the magazine and newspaper advertisements from the 1940s that promoted the items.

A side gallery of the museum includes a selection of items from the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, such as a sweater knitted by a concentration camp victim, made from improvised knitting needles and yarn unravelled from a German soldier's socks, a pendant sculpted from bread, a belt made from electrical wires, and a bra created and sewn from stolen fabric. Each item tells a story of how people maintained their grooming and dignity during dark times.

The upper galleries of the 'Heroines' exhibition looks at life after the war. The longing for new beginnings clashed with shortages on the home front and ongoing rehabilitation processes, but thanks to boundless creativity, various raw materials were transformed into new designs. The first section, 'If There Is Flour, There Is Fashion', displays dresses sewn from patterned flour sackcloth, above, a kind of upcycling effort designed out of necessity.

Following that, 'Around the World' explores how the waterproof, durable escape maps once used by Allied pilots and soldiers were transformed into striking couture dresses after the war. The display features six reproduction dresses made from silk-printed maps, inspired by 1940s designs. In the same space, 'Make Love Not War' presents six reproduction wedding gowns crafted from white parachute silk of the same era, set against the dramatic backdrop of a billowing white parachute, above.

The final section of the 'Heroines' exhibition displays the Gottex bathing suits of designer Lea Gottlieb, the Holocaust survivor who created her swimsuit empire in Israel after the war. From arriving in Israel with nothing, she rose to international fame and became a pillar of Israeli fashion.
The gallery is designed to mimic a massive, empty swimming pool surrounded by women in colourful swimsuits. Gottlieb's iconic collections, drawing on art history, flowers, and traditional handicrafts, have graced the covers of world-famous magazines and were worn by supermodels like Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer. The exhibition also features the swimsuits adored by Princess Diana.

Gottlieb often used daisies in her swimsuit designs, alluding to how she carried a large bouquet of daisies in her native Hungary whenever she went to visit her husband in a forced labour camp, to hide the yellow Jewish star pinned to her clothing and draw less notice from the Nazi soldiers. The daisies appeared over and over again in Gottlieb's designs, on bodices and bottoms of her bikinis and one-piece suits, a personal testament to the designer's intense desire to survive and continue to live and thrive.

At the end, the museum's Lab Space features a special section titled 'Iron Swords Heroines', below, highlighting the stories of women whose actions during the 7th October 2023 attack made a profound impact. The display honours women who fought off terrorists, rescued others, and intervened at critical moments to prevent further violence and save lives. Together, these narratives provide a powerful and moving conclusion to the exhibition.

* This post has been shared on Mosaic Monday, Busy Monday, Anything Goes, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Inspire Me Monday, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop and Wednesday Around the World.