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Hi Panda,

[I wrote what follows a few days ago while I was still under the weather and didn't get the chance to post it. I'm going to edit it a little, but otherwise I'm going to leave it as it is].

Here is the beginning of the fall. Not as beautiful and colorful as autumn in New England, but it definitely has its charm. I have no photo that shows how autumn looks like here, so I'll post something entirely different: Jerusalem in September.

I was in Jerusalem for a couple of weeks, visiting Oori's family. The photo above is taken from a cafe in the old city and shows Temple Mount. The dome of the right (not perfectly visible) is the Al Aqsa mosque, and the dome on the left is the Dome of the Rock, the shrine where the Foundation Stone lays. According to the Muslim tradition, from this stone the prophet Mohammad rose to heaven, and according to the Jewish tradition, the Arc of the Covenant used to sit on this rock in the Jewish temple. In addition, from this rock the world was created--I am therefore posting here a photo of the center of the world! The Wailing Wall, in case you're interested, is between the two domes, you can't see it in the photo because it sits too low.

I sat in this cafe, in front of this view, for a long time sipping tea on the day after my food poisoning. As soon as I felt better, I so wanted to go out of the house and walk around the city. I was so happy to be able to be out and about that anything I saw seemed magic and beautiful, and since I still had not recovered all of my energy, I just wanted to sit everywhere and look around. Of course, on that day, I thought of you a lot. I thought how you too--and for such a long time now!--on the days you feel more energetic must look at the world as a magic place to explore. I'm not trying to say that I know what you feel or I have a good idea of what you're going through, I just think that for a few moments I was able to put myself if not in your shoes, in shoes "close to yours" (at least, I tried). I sent you all of my best vibes, thinking of your scans coming up and the many steps of your trying way to recovery.

Good vibes resonated everywhere in Jerusalem. I know this is not the idea one gets from reading the news from the Middle East, but the feeling I got was very different. It was the end of the Ramadan and the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Even if you are not among those who fast during the Ramadan month, knowing that so many people around you are, and that they are in general exercising moderation (and through this are aiming at spiritual purification) gives you a lot of food for thought on patience, modesty, and spirituality. In addition, seeing people getting ready for the New Year was much more heart-warming than it ever is for our New Year. It's not a commercial event; again, it's spiritual. The New Year is a moment of renovation in a deep sense, just consider that it is the first of eight days in which people amend their behavior toward other people and toward God and ask for forgiveness both to other people and to God, until the last day, the Day of Atonement, when they also fast. People were happy in the days before the New Year. The evening before you could see the people in the streets and buses going home calmly and with a smile. I don't think I ever experienced this for our Christmas or New Year.

So, I tried to absorb all that while thinking of you and tried to funnel it in your direction. I believe that if you didn't feel the warm wave of good energy flowing your way then, you are going to feel it soon.

A hug.