27th Iyar ~ FUNNY SORT OF SABBATH!
Well, I dunno but Sabbath today was a bit peculiar! As normal we went to Synagogue this morning but the readings from the scrolls seemed to take longer and the explanation was longer as well – maybe I’m just tired from all the work this week. Then Rabbi Moshe’ told us not to forget that Sabbath was really a day for the family and we should make sure we all “take time to enjoy” our meal together on it. He told the Mums they might want to remind the men how special proper prayers and teaching could be on a Sabbath. I think Dad already does enough prayers and teaching on Sabbath, dunno why he needed reminding?
But it didn’t end there! Rabbi said we all knew what had happened to his niece and he wanted us all to celebrate with him at a special Synagogue meeting later this afternoon. He said it was important for all of us to be there to share in his joy and, anyway, there was lots of news to tell us about “Young Rabbi Yeshua”. I’m a bit worried – I mean, I like Rabbi Yeshua a lot but are we always going to have two Synagogue services on Sabbath because of him? We’re not going to have much time to play – I dunno, I just dunno!
To understand the full story read Shmuli’s Mum’s blog:
Rut.LuvShmuli.com
26th Iyar ~ SHEEP SHEARING GANG!
We’d almost finished our flock of sheep today when the sheep shearing gang arrived. They didn’t look happy that we’d already started but Yov seemd to know them and had a word with them. In the end, when they heard it had taken us a week to shear just our flock, they started to laugh. It doesn’t seem right ‘cause we’ve all been working real hard this week!
Seems these sheep shearers travel around the country all the time. They’re a big gang of people ‘cause some of them have their families with them. Some of them have also got Camels. Wow, I get to see lot’s of Camels ‘cause they go through KfarNahum but I don’t remember having a camel living in our village before! Mum & Dad have stopped Rivkah & Miri from looking after the sheep and told them there is going to be plenty of work for them to do in the house.
All us boys in the village have been told that the grownups will deal with moving the fleeces now but we have the important job of guarding all the fleeces that are hung up to dry on the bushes. Seems we have to be extra careful this year ‘cause of all the people going past our village to find Rabbi Yeshua. Yoshi & I know where we’ll be protecting the fleeces – it’s on the path that almost everyone uses to go past us. It’s important that we’re there ‘cause we’ll be able to sell our fish & eggs to the people as well.
To understand the full story read Shmuli’s Mum’s blog:
Rut.LuvShmuli.com
25th Iyar ~ TOO POSH FOR FISH & EGGS!
Something seems wrong to me, the girls are doing the jobs Yoshi & I normally do! All we do now is go to and from that washing vat with the fleeces, while the girls get the fun job of looking after the sheep. One good thing though, because Yoshi & I have decided to do our job using our handcart, we do get time to sell our dried fish & boiled eggs to the passer-by. That means we’re making money and the girls aren’t – brill! And Yov says what we’re doing is really more fun, with the cart and he knows what he’s talking about.
All the bushes and trees around the village are beginning to look like they’ve got white leaves on them as the women dry the fleeces on them.
We had a really posh lady from Migdal come to the village today. She was so posh she had special guards with her. I tried to sell her some of our fish & eggs but she just made a face and put a cloth over her nose! I think that’s a bit rude, don’t you? None of the men with her would buy anything either. At least not when she was looking, she told one of the men to water the horses and he beckoned to Yoshi & me and said if we wrapped up the food he’d take three portions. I think he was going to share it out with the other men when the posh lady wasn’t looking.
To understand the full story read Shmuli’s Mum’s blog:
Rut.LuvShmuli.com
24th Iyar ~ THEY’RE DANCING!
Yoshi & I had a great time this morning with our cart and taking the fleeces to be washed! Well, we did on the way to and from the washing vat and while loading the fleeces. I mean how can a person have a good time when girls are giggling & whispering?
At lunch time Yoshi & I went off to eat on our rock overlooking the Kinneret. As we were eating we both began to hear a sort of screaming and wailing. We knew what that meant, someone had died. We hoped it wasn’t anyone we knew. Then, all of a sudden, there was loads of shouting and cheering. Yep, even where we were we could hear it!
Later we saw Rabbi Moshe’ coming up the road. He was jumping up and down and waving his arms about! Then we saw that he had his cousin Jairus with him, the Chazan at KfarNhum’s Synagogue. That’s never something to jump up and down about for us boys, ‘cause he’s a lot stricter than people are here in KfarGanot when you’re in Synagogue. I’m just pleased we’ve got our own Synagogue here in our village, ‘cause I’d be getting a lot more “thick ears” if we went to KfarNahum for synagogue!
Anyway, Yoshi & I were waiting for some more fleeces so we ran down to find out why old Moshe’ was waving his arms about. When we got to him he was shouting, ”She was dead, she was dead! Now she’s alive! I know, I was there!” Seems his niece, Yehudit, stopped breathing and then Rabbi Yeshua bought her back to life! Woh! That sounds a bit scary, a bit… woh, I jus’ dunno what to think! But it is G-R-E-A-T and Yoshi & I started to jump up and down with Rabbi Moshe’ – and Jairus and his family.
Shmuli’s Mum’s blog is really moving today:
Rut.LuvShmuli.com
23rd Iyar ~ GIRLS AGAIN!
I’ve really been enjoying shearing our own sheep, ‘cept when the girls thought they should do us men’s work! And you won’t believe it, Miri has managed to get the grownups to let her & Rivkah herd the sheep after they’ve been shorn. That means Yoshi & I have to take the fleeces to be washed – something just doesn’t seem right to me. I mean when you carry all those fleeces you get lots of oil all over you and the sun makes you shine, just like a girl – yuk!
Anyway, Yoshi & I aren’t silly either, so we decided to use our handcart – and it’s brill! We load up the handcart and instead of doing five or six trips we can do do the same work in only one trip. That means those silly older girls at the washing vat can’t giggle about us as much as they were – just what is it about girls?
The Levite came back, but he didn’t stay long this time. He just chose the best fleeces and left. Yoshi & I helped him to tie up the fleeces and put them on his cart. Well, when you’re an expert string “tier” - like what we are - then you ought to help out.
To understand the full story read Shmuli’s Mum’s blog:
Rut.LuvShmuli.com
22nd Iyar ~ SHEEP SHEARING!
The whole village is going to shear their own sheep this year ‘cause the shearing teams haven’t turned up! That’s great but it’s also a lot of work. We were all up at first Cock-crow this morning and we had to get all our normal work down as quickly as possible. This is the first time we’ve done the actual shearing ourselves and it’s real exciting. Yoshi & I helped the men put up the pens to hold the sheep before and after they’d been shorn. That took us most of the morning. Yoshi & his Dad had made a good job of getting all our sheep into the nearby pastures yesterday.
Rivkah & Miri did the women’s work and cleaned out the stone vat where they wash the fleeces. You’ll never guess what she wanted to do after that! Yep, she wanted to help us men with the sheep – is there no end to women trying to do things us men are supposed to do?
One of the local Levites came along as well but he didn’t do any work! He just waited, ate some of our food and drank some of our wine. Then he just went!
In the afternoon we started the actual shearing. It was quite funny watching the grownups learning how to do it! Yoshi & I had the job of bringing the sheep from the holding pen and then taking them to the other pen – and the girls sort of helped. Because the girls insisted on doing the men’s work Yoshi & I had to help take the fleeces to where they got washed as well.
These sheep don’t help you know! After they’ve been shorn they get very frisky and just want to run away. One of the sheep did manage to escape and we ended up having to run all over the place to catch it again. It was great fun and we got real dirty doing it – brill!
To understand the full story read Shmuli’s Mum’s blog:
Rut.LuvShmuli.com
21st Iyar ~ CHICKS AT LAST!
Dad & Yov took me and Rivkah down to KfarNahum today. It seems we’re gonna shear the sheep ourselves, ‘cause the shearers are late this year, and we’ve got to buy the right tools to do it properly. Yov knows all about sheep-shearing ‘cause that’s what his family used to do. Yoshi wasn’t allowed to come with us,as his Dad said there was too much to do in getting all the sheep ready for shearing!
It’s a good job we went to KfaNahum today ‘cause Yoshi & I needed some more dried fish to sell with our eggs. You know, we don’t have to go to market each week to sell our eggs ‘cause we sell them before it’s time to go. And we get more money for them by selling them as boiled eggs! Rivkah was really pleased as she says she always makes good money in town – I just dun’ understand why girls are always thinking about money. Not like us proper business men, who realise you’ve got to build a business properly.
While we were in KfarNahum Rabbi Moshe’s cousin, Ya’ir, came to tell Dad something. He’s an important man in KfarNahum ‘cause he’s in charge of the synagogue there. Anyway, after he’d spoken to Dad I was told to rush home and tell Rabbi Moshe’ he needed to come and see his cousin very quickly! So, ‘course, I ran and ran and ran – it’s not easy uphill! But as I was running uphill I saw Yoshi running downhill. He was waving his arms and looking really excited. Seems two of our Chickens now have chicks – woohoo!
I didn’t forget that I had an important message for old Moshe’, so I went to tell him first, before going to see our new chicks. Yoshi & I were very careful about counting the chicks and there were thirteen of them. Do you remember that silly competition Rivkah started with the lambs? Well, I thought we could have a proper competition, this time with how many chicks her chickens would have against how many Yoshi & my chickens had. Trouble is, Dad seemed to know what I was thinking, ‘cause when he got home he said he was not going to allow us to start another competition where we’d start fighting again! I dun’ really mind though, ‘cause I have no doubt who’d win this competition anyway.
To understand the full story read Shmuli’s Mum’s blog:
Rut.LuvShmuli.com
20th Iyar~ !!! YUK – YUK – YUK !!!
I just dun’ know, I just dun’ know! You will not believe what we were all told at Synagogue today. Rabbi Moshe’ called Yov and that girl Vered to the front and told everyone how pleased he was to announce the betrothal of Yov & Vered. He said he was really pleased to say that because of the betrothal agreement we now had a new permanent member of our village – Yov, ‘course. I really do not know what gets into these grownups! Just when you think you’ve found a mate who knows how to have a good time, he goes and makes friends with a girl!
It was a bit peculiar this morning ‘cause Mum didn’t get up to get our breakfast! Seems she’s poorly and we’re going to have to look after her today. Well, Vered going to look after her and we’re all going to Aunty Hadassah’s to eat. Aunty’s not a bad cook, so we’ll not go hungry and that’s good, good, good!
‘Course, Rivkah & Miri think it’s brill that Yov & Vered are getting married. That’s just typical of girls though – they just dun’ know the important things in life! I bet they think they’ll get to be bridesmaids this time. I think I will go to the wedding ‘cause Yov has been a good friend – but really it will be the food that’s important.
Yov suggested I ought to do something nice for my Mum – and he’s right. But what do you do for someone as ‘portant as a Mum? In the end Yoshi & I decided – if we could do it without the girls finding out – we’d go search for some nice flowers to give her.
To understand the full story read Shmuli’s Mum’s blog:
Rut.LuvShmuli.com
19th Iyar ~ GIRLS & BABY ANIMALS (or EGGS)!
It’s easy to find Rivkah & Miri at the moment – they’re either in the barn “cooing & ahhing” over the kittens or lying down outside one of the Hen houses giggling about the eggs talking to each other! I mean, it’s embarrassing, we’re supposed to be farmers not town-folk who do that sort of thing! Yes, it’s is quite nice to be quite and listen for the eggs talking to each other sometimes. But that’s only ‘cause, as proper farmers, we want to know our animals are doing alright.
Yoshi & I have had to have a talk about one of our Chickens. She hasn’t had any eggs of her own recently – but she is very good at looking after eggs when other hens don’t want to. Both Rivkah and us have had to place some eggs under her ‘cause their real Mums aren’t interested. So, Yoshi & I decided we could keep her for a while longer. That’s good, ‘cause it’s not easy for a farmer when the very first animals on his farm get old like that!
Yes, Yoshi & I have found where Rivkah & Miri hide to see the kittens. And, ‘course, we do take a look ourselves. Well you have to know what’s happening on your farm. But a good farmer doesn’t go all silly like these girls do – I mean, a man doesn’t do that sort of thing, does he?
To understand the full story read Shmuli’s Mum’s blog:
Rut.LuvShmuli.com
18th Iyar ~ PHEW!
Yoshi & I thought we’d go and see if we could see Rabbi Yeshua’s boat anywhere. We were so sad about it sinking with him on board! After we’d done our work and gone to school we ran all the way down to our lookout point to see if we could see anything in the Kinneret. When we got there we noticed some families waving and shouting at people as they went to KfarNahum. ‘Course, we needed to know what everyone was getting excited about, so we went all the way down the hill to find out.
You’ll never guess what has happened! It seems Rabbi Yeshua did get to the other side of the Kinneret safely, into the country between the two cities of the Goyim (Gergasa and Gadara). Seems he’s really upset the people there! They keep those unclean animals, pigs. Now, no good Jewish person would have anything to do with pigs. But the Goyim actually eat them – yuk! Seems Rabbi Yeshua found someone who was possessed by demons and sent the demons into the pigs who immediately threw themselves off the cliffs over there. Wow, Yoshi & I really wished we’d been there to see it!
Actually, that might mean those Goyim will need some extra meat, I wonder if they like Chicken… or even eggs?
[Our picture today shows the dramatic cliff edge above the Byzantine monastery in Kursi, which commemorates this story. We have chosen to interpret the seeming contradiction between the Gospel accounts regarding this story - i.e. three seemingly different locations, the cities of the Gaderenes, Gergesenes, Or Gerasenes - by interpreting the Greek as referring to the regions surrounding these cities.]