Greetings from your Holy Land Lohr Sapps. This past week saw us attending a birthday gathering, having dinner with friends, catching a silent film in the chapel were Christy presides, and some other awww-inspiring moments.

This coming Sunday marks the start of Yom Kippur, or “Day of Atonement”, in Israel. During its observance much of Jerusalem will be closed and vehicular travel is limited only to necessary public/emergency services. So, we have some shopping to do as we prepare to be hanging out at home and taking the occasional long walk.

Much love to y’all. Peace.

First up, a birthday party in Beit Jala. (The birthday boy turned 88!) The centerpiece meal was a dish of meat, potatoes and veg cooked in an outdoor oven for two-and-a-half hours. Not pictured, sadly, are the pomegranates picked from our hosts’ trees, which varied from sweet to sour to a mix of both. Needless to say, bellies were full by the end of the evening.

Riley being a goof at dinner at Jerusalem Eye.

The view of Jerusalem from upstairs at the Jerusalem Eye.

A screening of Robot Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) at Redeemer Church, with live piano accompaniment. Like many silent films, the acting comes across as overwrought by contemporary standards, however necessary that was to conveying character emotion and narrative tension. But, it remains a uniquely influential film in its use of set design, visual aesthetic, and a twist ending, to create a disorienting and disturbing world that is a touchstone for the horror and and mystery genres.

Seven years later, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis would similarly define the science fiction genre.

A young girl making friends with one of the street kitties that frequent to facility where Riley plays youth league soccer. I’ve seen this particular cat stroll onto the pitch like it owns the place, so perhaps it is the unofficial mascot of the league.

It me?