Gethsemane 1934

Maria Magdalene (Mary Magdalene) is the Russian Orthodox Church located on the Mount of Olives, in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem.
The church is dedicated to Miryam of Migdal, a follower of Jesus. Maria Magdalene was the first to see Christ after he was resurrected, and was a crucial and important disciple of Jesus, and seemingly his primary female associate, along with Mary of Bethany, whom some believe to have been the same woman.
The church was built in 1886 by Tzar Alexander III as a commemoration for his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, in the traditional tented roof Russian style, including seven onion shaped golden domes. Photograph dates from 1934

reprinted from March 2013

The Fighting Ramos Brothers

On Friday night I caught up with Steven Ramos at a local hotel. Steven was there to support his brother Robert, who was making his fourth showing as a professional fighter. It was a tough fight, with Robert and his opponent battling to a draw. Before the fighters had even exited the ring, the promoter hinted at a rematch. As tough as that fight was, Steven has a tougher one coming up this November. He will battle the winner of the Democratic primary, either Tatiana Tooley or Peter Schweyer, for the new 22nd State House seat. Steven Ramos is a Republican Hispanic running in a Democratic stronghold. If Steven loses, look for rematches down the road, the Ramos brothers are tough.

The Main Event, a photo by molovinsky

A History Lesson from Ukraine

The famous photograph above is called The Last Jew in Vinnitsa. It was taken in Ukraine in September of 1941, when the Nazis shot every Jew in that city within five days. The flyers ordering Jews to register, distributed in Donetsk the other day, harken back to the Holocaust. All together, over 750,000 Jewish men, women and children, were shot to death in Ukraine during the war. Out of a population of 4.3 million, Donetsk currently only has 17,000 Jews. The flyers were a provocation of unknown origin, as opposed to a real threat, but they did make world news.

In Jerusalem, The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, a small order of Protestant nuns formed after the war in Germany, is closing it's retreat for Holocaust survivors. The order originally had come to Israel to work in hospitals as repentance for the Nazi crimes against the Jews.  Although the last of the  survivors is passing away, hatred is alive and well.

Jeopardizing Your House for Ocean Spray

Unknown to Lehigh County residents, one of the reasons Ocean Spray moved here was to avoid costly upgrades to their pre-sewer treatment plant. When you're in violation of New Jersey environmental standards, what do you do, you turn to Donny Cunningham. Here in Sap Valley, we invited Ocean Spray with incentives and called it progress. They, along with the other new bottling industries attracted by Cunningham and LCA, will now jeopardize your home. Rather than expand the sewer treatment plant, homeowners are being forced to block their plumbing safety net, their floor drains. Up to a decade ago, floor drains were mandated by code so that if a pipe broke, your home was protected against flooding. Although nothing has ever gone down my floor drain, I must now block it to comply with new regulations. The thinking is that a drop saved here, and a drop saved there from thousands and thousands of homes, can spare the LCA the expense of enlarging the sewer plant, or building an additional one, and still meet EPA standards. Hell, there's even enough capacity left to invite Ocean Spray. Now, if your hot water heater springs a leak, it's tough sh*t for you.

Sitting Down with Bennett

                                                                           photo by K Mary Hess 

Subscribers of this blog may recall that recently I profiled two people who hope to succeed Ed Pawlowski as mayor, Siobhan Sam Bennett and Charlie Thiel. Yesterday, I sat down with Bennett at The Benner Mansion, her bed and breakfast, and she elaborated on her thoughts about Allentown. Although she benefits from being the first and only bed and breakfast in Allentown, she knows that distinction signifies a stagnate tax base.  She recognizes the NIZ for the boost that it will provide, but she believes that it will not be a silver bullet by itself, and that many more small businesses need to be cultivated. She has no doubt that the perception of the school district and the city's future go arm in arm. While the perceptions of both are currently negative, she knows that there are many positive assets, which can be branded for success. She cites the many cultural institutions, such as Symphony Hall,  the art museum, the historical society and the Allentown Band, which are unique for a city this size. The school district's gifted and honor programs, along with it's rich music and art tradition, must be featured. The demographics must be viewed as an opportunity for preparing for the diversity in our changing country. Recognizing these assets, and branding them to middle class home buyers, is part of her formula for revitalizing Allentown.

Photography by K Mary Hess

When Kahane Came to Allentown

He told the Jews gathered in Allentown that their leaders were worms, that's how the controversial rabbi spoke. When Meir Kahane came to town in the summer of 1990, none of the Jewish institutions would give him space to speak. Before emigrating to Israel, he had formed the Jewish Defense League in NYC in 1968. He lectured that turning the other cheek was a Christian concept, and that the minimum take away from the Holocaust was that American Jews should own a gun, and know how to use it. His views in Israel about nationalism on the West Bank were much more controversial, and he was jailed there for incitement. As of yesterday, the authorities in Kansas City were not prepared to call the shootings there a hate crime. Kahane would have no doubts about that. His speech in Allentown was one of his last. He was assassinated later that year during a speech in NYC.