Maayan

Maayan was due to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah just when Covid-19 hit. Her Granny had already arrived in the country all the way from Australia but unfortunately for Maayan, her Bat Mitzvah ceremony had to be postponed. She still had a birthday to celebrate though and mum was keen for her to have a card, just as her older sister did back in 2018.
Mum told me a few things about her daughter. "Maayan is the sunshine of our life" she told me. She is very artistic and loves drawing. She is sporty and enjoys throwing a ball around and playing basketball. Maayan loves playing with the family dog, Snowy. She loves reading, eating sushi and her favourite colour is turquoise.
There was plenty to work with!

I have shown red-haired Maayan cuddling her dog Snowy. She has a pencil in her hand and is doing some drawing. To her right is a plate of sushi and a pot of pencils. To her left is a basketball and net. A book is open in front of her.
Finally, I gave Maayan a turquoise T-shirt since it is her favourite colour. A big red number 12 marks her age and the age she became Bat Mitzvah. A Jewish girl becomes a Bat Mitzvah at the age of 12 and from then onward she has all the rights and obligations of a Jewish adult. The word Bat Mitzvah literally means "daughter of commandment."

* This post has been shared on Friday at the Fire Station Link-Up Party, All Seasons and Creatively Crafty.

'Resh' is for Randy

A new customer wrote to me right back at the start of all this coronavirus business. She had seen my papercut initials online and thought that they would make great "pick me up" gifts for friends in the US. For one friend she wanted the Hebrew letter Resh and for the other friend the letter A. She wanted both papercuts to be backed in blue.
The Hebrew letter ר Resh is the twentieth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It has a shape similar to a backwards English letter r. Most Israelis pronounce it like a softer version of the French r, in the back of the mouth where the tongue meets the throat. Sephardic Jews (from Spanish or Arab speaking countries) pronounce it like the Spanish r, which is how the equivalent letter sounds in Arabic. But English speakers like myself often just use the English r sound.

In gematria (a mystical tradition that assigns a numerological value to Hebrew letters) Resh represents the number 200. The letter represents our head ראשי (rosh) and is one of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet that initiates or begins, that starts something: First ראשון; First of all, firstly, origin, beginning, starting point ראשית; Increase רבה. Resh follows the letter ב Beth in the Hebrew word ברא bera, "to create".

Resh as an abbreviation can stand for Rabbi (or Rav, Rebbe, Rabban, Rabbenu and other similar constructions). The letter may be found after a person's name on a gravestone to indicate that the person had been a Rabbi or to indicate the other use of Rav, as a generic term for a teacher or a personal spiritual guide.

Finally, Resh is used in an Israeli phrase; after a child may say something false, one may say "B'Shin, Quf, Resh" (With Shin, Quf, Resh). These letters spell Sheqer, which is the Hebrew word for a lie. It would be akin to an English speaker saying "That's an L-I-E."

My customer's second request was for the letter A but there is very little I can tell you about this letter that you don't already know! In the case of this papercut, A stands for Ann. I hope that Ann and Randy were very happy with their artworks and the sentiment behind them.
My letters are available unframed and can be cut in various sizes. Do you have someone you would like me to cut a papercut initial for? You can order one right here.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Make It Pretty Monday, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Inspire Me Tuesday, Pictorial Tuesday, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, {wow me} wednesday and Creatively Crafty.

A Last Order Before Lockdown

Little Eilon turned 5 right at the start of all the Coronavirus trouble. It hasn't always been easy for me to get cards to my customers outside of my hometown during this time but Eilon's mum has been ordering cards for all her family for years and I didn't want this birthday to be any different. I managed to get the card to Jerusalem via my husband on the very last that he went into the office! It was meant to be.

Eilon likes watching the animated preschool series Top Wing. The series follows four eager young birds - Swift, Penny, Brody and Rod - who work together at the Top Wing Academy (see how much I learn by making my cards!).  I have shown Eilon holding Brody's hand wing as they set off on an adventure together. Behind them I added a big number 5 to mark Eilon's age and a random selection of Hebrew and English letters because he is just starting to learn to read.

His mum sent me these gorgeous photos of the birthday boy opening his card. "How lucky we are!" she wrote to me. "Eilon loves his card!"

* This post has been shared on All About Home Link Party, Inspire Me Tuesday, Celebrate Your Story, Tuesdays with a Twist, {wow me} wednesday, Little Things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Creatively Crafty and All Seasons.

Celebrating My 50th Birthday in the Middle of a Pandemic

So, whilst we have all be sheltering at home and keeping a low profile, I celebrated a big birthday. This week I turned 50! Believe me, this was not the 50th birthday I had planned. For the last few years I had been telling Mister Handmade in Israel that I wanted to visit Prague as a birthday treat. Everyone tells me that I will love it there. I would have liked to celebrate with friends and perhaps danced the night away (I love dancing!). But it wasn't to be. My 50th birthday fell right in the middle of a worldwide pandemic but Mister Handmade in Israel made it as special as it could be and I had a lovely day!
I was treated to this amazing cake made by the very talented Ella Bakes and received a beautiful balloon decoration made by Designed by Ruti. Breakfast was brought in from a local cafe that is still closed but does deliveries. Dinner was the same. I received a wonderful book filled with greetings from family and friends the world over, a voucher to treat myself to something from Etsy and another for Israeli breakfast when things open up again.
I'm a lucky girl!

As a family we have very much stuck to the rules and have stayed at home except for the necessary food shopping. But things are beginning to slowly open up again here in Israel as the numbers improve. Last week I heard that the national parks were opening again and that a limited number of people would be allowed in each day, as long as you pre-book. I knew that I wasn't going to Prague or dancing on my birthday, but thought that a day trip to Ein Gedi, an oasis and a nature reserve located west of the Dead Sea, might be nice. Then a heatwave hit and there was no way we could go there either! In the end Mister Handmade in Israel indulged me and we went out in the horrible heat to Castel National Park to see flowers and explore.

The Castel fortress is located at the entrance to Jerusalem, overlooking the main road into the city. We were last there back in 2012. The Castel hill is the highest point in the surrounding area and is an interesting place to explore and admire the beautiful landscapes.
The Romans first established their Castellum or fort and following them the Crusaders settled here. Later when the Arab village Al-Qastal was established here, the mukhtar's home took pride of place on the hilltop fortress ruins.
Castel's most significant historical events occurred in April 1948 during Israel's War of Independence. Jerusalem was under siege and running out of food and water supplies, so armed trucks made the treacherous drive along Highway 1 where they were prime targets for the enemy in Al-Qastal. To solve this problem Operation Nachshon was launched by the Palmach who entered the Arab village. Fierce battles that claimed many lives took place there as Arabs and Jews fought for control of the site, but ultimately the Palmach took the hill for the final time and soon a convoy of vehicles packed with supplies ascended safely to Jerusalem. Castel National Park is now a memorial site to the lives lost in this pivotal battle.

Mister Handmade in Israel and I explored the underground bunkers and communication trenches at the site. These were prepared in the early sixties by the Israeli army as a preventive measure, for until the Six-Day War in 1967 the Jordanian border was only a few kilometres away. We climbed up to the ruins of the Crusader fortress. Several walls, arched windows and doorways of the mukhtar's home remain. The ruins are now a spectacular lookout point and memorial site where the names of the fallen in the battles over the Castel are carved on a rock.

From the mukhtar's house, a scenic trail descends through lush, uncultivated vegetation back to the car park. A nice variety of shrubs and bushes such as Spiny Broom, Shrubby Jerusalem Sage and Sage-leaved Rock Rose can be seen in the area. I spotted Syrian Cornflower-thistle and Red Everlasting. In winter and spring, anemones and cyclamen flower here, though they were long gone by the time of our visit.

Then it was back home for a quick shower (did I mention how hot it was?) before a Zoom call with family and a delicious sushi supper. Mister Handmade in Israel was quite exhausted by this point! He had worked hard to make my 50th birthday special and I truly had had a wonderful day!

* This post has been shared on Little Things Thursday, My Corner of the World, Thinking Out Loud Thursday, Nature Notes, All Seasons, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Our World Tuesday, Pictorial Tuesday, Sharon's Souvenirs, Tuesday's Treasures and Travel Tuesday.