In the Galilee the year is divided about equally into two seasons. The first, which starts in the fall, can be called the rainy season, although it is more accurately described as the period during which rain may or may not come. In the second season, quite surely it will not. As one would expect … Read More »
figs
Roots are What Sustain Us
At this point in my life, birthdays are an opportunity to indulge in whatever I desire, and this year, not surprisingly, it was to spend time in the Western Galilee. Maybe I was a Crusader in a previous life, or a farmer whose world view was bound by sage-redolent hills and the shining expanse of … Read More »
Fig Season
Again, the figs are here. It seems like I’ve been waiting so long. To squeeze and rend their skins, gauge the sweetness in the filaments of flesh, and pop the delicate seeds between my teeth. They will consume my attention throughout their brief season. Ron has draped netting over our fig trees – the birds … Read More »
The Hakura
I recently received a telephone call from a man named Adel, from the nearby Bedouin village of Ayedat. He is in the final stages of submitting his master’s thesis and needed help with editing the English abstract. I frequently edit English texts on you-name-the-topic, but when he told me the subject of his thesis, I … Read More »
Defying Closure
Looking out my window at the full-grown green olives weighing down the branches of our tree, I am reminded that the Jewish New Year does not begin neatly at the end of one traditional agricultural year and the beginning of another. These olives, last of the summer fruit to ripen, will only be harvested in … Read More »