I’ve started to research in earnest for the paper I’m going to present at the Oxford Symposium this summer. The subject of the symposium is markets, and I will talk about the market in Nazareth as a site of pilgrimage, not just for Christians visiting the site(s) where the Annunciation is believed to have taken … Read More »
galilee foods
Relating to Wheat
These spring days, the roaring of combines rumbles in the background – rending thick fields of wheat into neat rows of shorn stalks. In the pre-industrial order of local agriculture, not only would this method of harvesting be unfathomable to a farmer watching from the side, but also the timing. Why would anyone cut down their good wheat … Read More »
Spring Fodder
How to catch an acute dose of spring fever – open the bedroom window at 4 AM; when the chill, citrus blossom-drenched air surges into the room, inhale deeply until intoxicated. Winter is my favorite season here – the magical emergence of new seasonal growth that we experience from December, in other parts of the … Read More »
The Other Side of Paradise
On these late winter mornings, surveying each new day I feel like I am living in paradise. The weather is so temperate, the landscape lush and forthcoming, the wheat fields exude vitality. Back west, my family and friends are hunkered down in the cold and snow as I gratefully soak up the winter sun. The … Read More »
Rest and Refuel
Ron came home the other day, full and contented after an excellent meal at one of our favorite gas-station restaurants – Nimmer, near Golani Junction. You may be raising an eyebrow, like I did when I first moved to Israel, about the prospect of eating in proximity of gas pumps. But as it turns out, … Read More »