August 2010.
Shloimy!
WHAT DID YOU DO?
Have you been touching stuff you're not supposed to touch?
Have you?
Have you been doing things you're not telling me about?
Listen, Shloimy,
Just because I'm not in the office any more, doesn't mean you can do anything you want.
Understand?
I am talking to you, Shloimy,
Because
Do you know what happened to me today?
I said,
DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?
Shloimy, I am right here.
In the desert.
I can see in every direction.
I can see for miles.
And do you know what I saw when I woke up this morning?
I saw--
NOTHING!
Do you know why I saw NOTHING?
Because there was no sun!
I looked out towards Jerusalem--that's Jerusalem, at the top of the picture, that ridge.
Do you understand?
The sun was
Missing!
Do you see that tower up on the left, at the left end of the ridge?
See it?
Behind that tower, Shloimy , maybe 1,000 yards behind and below it, is the Har HaBayit, where you see the Dome of the Rock that sits on the Temple Mount.
Shloimy, listen to me. I had 5 seconds to take this picture--in a bus moving at 45 MPH--5 seconds to find it, focus and snap, before the road drops down, and the view disappears. Pretty nifty camerawork, eh?
Shloimy, this is our holy place.
Okay, so you want a better view?
Here's a picture taken on the same bus--going in the other direction. Here, I had maybe 10 seconds to snap. This picture also gives you a better view of the area surrounding the Gold Dome that is on the Har HaBayit:
With its Western Wall--
Where Jews from all over the world come, and succumb to the emotional intensity of this spiritual place--
And you did what?
WHAT WERE YOU TOUCHING?
I stand on my roof balcony and all I could see was
Grey?
No sun?
Just grey stuff,
You know, up in the sky--
WHERE THE SUN IS SUPPOSED TO BE?
Shloimy, I said,
WHAT DID YOU DO?
Oh, wait.
Grey, fluffy, cotton-candy
Up in the sky--
Say now, that looks familiar.
I think I've seen that before.
Standing on my top balcony, looking at the sky above those hills of eastern Jerusalem there, in the backround--
I know I've seen that stuff before!
You know, back in Pittsburgh?
What's it called?
Smoke?
No.
Fog?
No.
Smog?
No.
Wait.
I remember--
Those are called clouds!
That's it.
Clouds.
Wait a minute, Shloimy.
Just wait one minute!
I don't care what you call those things,
The question still stands--
WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE SUN?
What?
You want to me turn around, face the other direction, and then look up?
Okay, but I don't see wh.......say, Shloimy, the sky looks really different over here.
Wow.
Oh, right.
The sun is behind the clouds.
Sorry aboul that.
I forgot.
Haven't seen a cloud since Pittsburgh.
That's what the desert is like, you know?
No clouds.
Just sun.
All the time.
Except at night.
Gosh.
Just look at those pretty clouds up there.
Cute little buggers aren't they?
Look, they're even moving.
What?
Moving?
SHLOIMMMMMMMYYYYYY!
WHAT HAVE YOU TOUCHED NOW?????
Suddenly sunless in the desert,
Tuvia
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