2023-09

29th September 2023

Festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles)

Though we spend much of our week out and about enjoying the nature of Israel, we draw the line at inviting the nature into the house. We do our best to keep animals, birds, lizards and insects out of our home. Some still manage to evade our defences, as the mosquito bites I have on my arms and legs attest.

Next week though we have a change of policy. For the festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles in English), which starts this evening and lasts a week, we will move out of our home and eat our meals in our sukkah (tabernacle), a makeshift, temporary tent-like dwelling, with a flimsy roof, that we have constructed in the car park. So, we’ll be sharing our meals with all the local wildlife including bees, wasps, hornets, flies and, no doubt, the dreaded mosquitos too.

The religious significance is primarily to recall the forty years of wandering in the desert, living in makeshift accommodation, looked after by G-d, that the People of Israel experienced on their journey from Egypt to Israel all those thousands of years ago. It also serves as a great reminder that we don’t need all the materialistic comforts that we think are so important to our accustomed lifestyle.

In England, the challenge was to stay warm and dry in our sukkah. We had an electric heater but given that the roof had to allow rain to penetrate it, a Manchester autumn wasn’t the ideal place to celebrate Sukkot. In Tiberias with temperatures of 38 degrees (not Fahrenheit) Sukkot is also a challenge. We have a fan, but it will still be rather warm in the sukkah. That said, whether in England or Tiberias, it’s one of our favourite weeks of the year. And, as you can imagine, the children love it too.

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We observed some ants earlier in the week. They’re remarkable little creatures and fascinating to watch as they go about their work. Did you know that an ant can carry 10 to 50 times its own body weight? I struggle to carry a 5kg backpack very far, but if I were to carry ten times my weight that would be the equivalent of carrying a medium size cow.

The ants were doing a good job cleaning the Switzerland Forest of cigarette stubs that had been discarded by thoughtless people.

We look forward to sharing our sukkah with the neighbourhood ants.

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22nd September 2023

The Herald of Autumn

Here in Tiberias, it is still 38 degrees C (or so) every day – but night-time temperatures have now fallen to 23 degrees (or so). We’re just beginning to change from summer to autumn. One sure sign of Autumn starting is the emergence of sea squills (aka sea onions) - long flowering shoots that reach a meter and half or two meters in almost no time at all.

The Talmud says they’re food for gazelles, but these days they’re considered quite poisonous and are actually planted by some folk in their gardens to keep away deer and rodents. The Talmud says they are food for gazelles – I think gazelles and deer have been seen eating their leaves – but certainly will stay away from their flowers.

In Hebrew the squill is called chatzav, which means to chisel, because they chisel their way through rocks.

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There are plenty of hornets (Oriental hornets) about at the moment and they seem rather keen on the squills.  A builder who is doing some work for us, told us that he was attacked by several hornets a week or two ago, which stung him multiple times and necessitated a hospital visit to attend to the stings. So, be careful!

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Here are some photos of the shoots, taken this week in the Switzerland Forest and a photo of the leaves (from last December), which come after the shoots.

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In my Jerusalem Report article last week, I wrote:

Recent research (published in the journal Current Biology in January 2020) has shown that African Grey Parrots are kind to each other. This will no doubt be troublesome to Darwin’s “Survival of the Fittest” model for evolution.

A cousin in America wrote to me:

“I think I would disagree a little with your point that altruistic behaviour conflicts with Darwin’s survival of the fittest. I remember an old scientist friend, telling me that he had watched the way Emperor penguins huddled together in the antarctic to keep warm. He said they continually rotated, with those in the middle going to the periphery. And ants join arms to make chain bridges across water to allow the others to cross. These examples increase the species chance of survival, though not necessarily every ant in the bridge.”

 

I replied:

“I’m not a scientist, but my Google research suggests that indeed Darwin was troubled by evidence of altruism in animals, for example, worker bees sacrificing themselves to protect their hives. There are many other examples too of apparent altruism. It’s well known that meerkats take it in turns to act as sentries, exposing themselves to predators, but able to warn their friends of a potential threat. And birds take turns to fly at the front of the flock, while others benefit from flying in the slipstream of those ahead.

When I discussed with Miriam, she suggested that the penguins and ants, as well as the meerkats and flying birds are not acting in an altruistic fashion. Rather, they are working together for the common good of the group. True altruism is where birds or animals help others, to their own cost. The experiment with the grey parrots that I referred to (without giving details) found that a parrot was prepared to give tokens that it had accumulated that could be exchanged for food, to other parrots.

Research has shown that meerkats are perhaps not acting altruistically at all. The sentries only take up their guarding position when they have eaten to their full satisfaction. And actually, being the sentry gave them the best chance of escaping from predators. It could be that grey parrots and other animals and birds are also not acting altruistically but are doing what they perceive is best for them.”

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19th September 2023

The bird migration season has just got under way, so, during the last week or two Miriam and I visited Ramat Hanadiv, the Arbel, the Hula Valley and, of course, the Switzerland Forest, hoping to see lots of birds.

Israel is right on the flight path for birds fleeing the cold winters of Europe on their journey to Africa, where it is somewhat warmer. For safety reasons they prefer to travel over land rather than over the sea, and Israel, which forms a land-bridge between Europe and Africa, becomes the obvious route. It is truly mind-blowing to think that 500 million birds pass through Israel in the autumn and the 500 million travel back again in spring. The 500 million aren’t all one species – in fact, there about 550 different species that are involved in the long-distance trek. If 500 million travel through Israel during the autumn, which let’s say lasts 100 days, then on average the daily throughput is five million. If they were flying 24 hours a day, then every hour there would be more than 200,000. There are some days when we’re out and about and look up to see and hear hundreds of birds flying overhead, but never, ever, have we seen anything like 200,000 in any one hour. And remember this 200,000 per hour is an average for the full twenty fours of each day for 100 days. So why don’t we see them? Where are they all?

Broadly speaking, if we think of the 550 different species that fly through Israel, as being either big birds or small birds, then the birds that we see are the big birds – cranes, pelicans, storks, flamingos, eagles, buzzards, kites and so on. We see them for two reasons – firstly they’re so big, it’s hard not to see them and secondly, they tend to travel during daylight hours. It’s easier for them to travel when the air is warm because they make use of the thermals in the air, which allow them to rise and fly, expending little effort, in much the same way as gliders do. But these birds that we see, the big birds, are by no means the majority. In fact, the vast majority of the travellers are small birds. They’re small enough not to be visible, and particularly they’re not visible because they travel at night. Not making use of thermals, they don’t need to travel during the day, when they are more at risk from predators and more at risk of overheating in the heat of the day. So, when we’re asleep, millions of small birds are flying over, completely out of our sight.

We saw pelicans fly over Ramat Hanadiv and at the Hula. We saw black storks, honey buzzards and black kites, fly over the Arbel and from quite some distance we spotted a very small bird, at the Switzerland Forest, a spotted flycatcher.

These pictures are of a black stork and a honey buzzard.

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14th September 2023

In Israel this Shabbat/Saturday and Sunday we celebrate the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), as do Jewish communities all over the world. These two days are a time for prayer and contemplation to reflect on the past year and to look forward to the coming year. As on almost all special Jewish Holidays, it’s a time when families and friends come together and feast. We have some nice food customs – one is to have a slice of apple dipped in honey in the hope that we will have a sweet New Year. Another is to eat pomegranates, for which various reasons are given, but I’d like to share with you what’s in my mind when I see pomegranates.

In the pomegranate tray in the supermarket, we see a large beautiful red fruit, but we don’t get any sense of the sort of tree they grown on. When we see pomegranate trees out in the countryside (as we did this week) or in people’s gardens, it’s startling to see the large, luscious fruit, with its beautiful crown, growing on a small scrawny bush. It makes me think that however small we are, however little we have, we can give a lot, as does the pomegranate bush – for me, this is one of the great Rosh Hashannah lessons.

Miriam joins me in wishing you a Happy and sweet New Year of good health and happiness, wherever you are.

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10th September 2023

Some months ago (29^th January) I referred to the stork, in Hebrew chasidah. The Talmud (Chullin 63a) tells us, that the chasidah is so-called because it does kindness (it is a chasid) by sharing its food with its companions.

Do storks really show kindness to others? It is difficult to know for sure, but recent research (published in the journal Current Biology in January 2020) has shown that African Grey Parrots are kind to each other. This will no doubt be troublesome to Darwin’s Survival of the Fittest model for evolution, but for us, it gives reason to believe that if parrots can be kind to each other, so too can storks.

In Israel we see two kinds of storks – particularly during the bird migration seasons. The black stork and the white stork – the white being far more common. We sometimes see them roosting on lamp posts at the side of highways or even on electricity pylons – where, they presumably stop to recharge their batteries.

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6th September 2023

Purple Gilly Whompers

I recently discovered that the great blue heron (not a bird that we see in Israel – it lives in America) is fondly known, in some parts, as a gilly whomper.

I have tried hard to get an understanding of the term gilly whomper, but Google doesn’t give much help. I know that a gilly is a Scottish fisherman’s assistant or hunter’s assistant, and I believe that to whomp, is to hit or slap. So, I have an image, in my mind, of the great blue heron creeping up behind the fisherman’s assistant, slapping him on the back and pushing him into the river, so that the heron can take the fish he’s just caught. Can any of my American friends, or other friends, give me a better reason for this wonderful name?

We don’t see great blue herons in Israel, but we do see the rather smart purple heron, which I shall now always think of as a purple gilly whomper.

Here are some recent photos of purple gilly whompers.

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3rd September 2023

Once a week we collect our grandchildren from their kindergarten in Netanya and when their parents (our daughter and son-in-law) come home from work we return home. Our journey home, on Route 2, takes us Northward along the coastal plain, and we then turn off Route 2 near Zichron Yaakov to travel Eastward to Tiberias. At this time of year, we reach the Zichron Yaakov junction during dusk and more often than not we see scores, or even perhaps hundreds of glossy ibis heading Westward in the direction of the nearby coast. I guess they’re heading for their Ibis hotels to spend the night roosting. During the day, we see them in the fishponds near Zichron Yaakov where they forage in the mud and shallow waters for worms and small crustacean. Their long down-curved beak is perfectly adapted for this sort of foraging. They’re a large black bird (with brown plumage during the mating season), related to herons, with a distinctive flying profile, long neck and beak to the front (where else?) and feet protruding behind (where else?). Thousands upon thousands travel through Israel on their twice-yearly migration, but a significant number like it here so much that they’ve taken up permanent residence.

There is a legend that Moses used ibises during the war with the Ethiopians in the days before he fell out with Pharaoh and had to flee Egypt for his life. Moses led the Egyptian army over land towards Ethiopia, a route that the Ethiopians didn’t consider passable because of the multitude of venomous snakes. Moses used the ibises to kill off the snakes, thus allowing his army to pass unhindered and surprise the unprepared Ethiopians. This legend, or perhaps it is historically true, is recorded in the writings of the famous historian Josephus in his book, The Antiquities of the Jews, written almost 2,000 years ago. Whether true or not, it is certainly true that Egyptians revered the ibis and one of their gods, Thoth, took the form of an ibis-headed man, which I’m sure would have frightened the Ethiopians considerably, if they had seen such a sight.