Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

The past few weeks and months, I've been spending a lot of time on my blog and on Twitter. Reading Tweets, reTweeting them, posting photos and links to articles I'd read online, sharing some of my views and opinions with the world. I use my blog to share photos and use Twitter to read and post about what's going on in the world. Oh, and I use Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends! Of course I also use email to stay updated on current events and to keep in touch with family and friends, however I use social media more. Until I stopped doing so for a few days. Last week, I decided to take a break from the world of Twitter, blogging and Facebook. Partly because I've been playing Grand Theft Auto V on the PlayStation - it's addictive, that game! - and partly because I wanted to spend more time reading books than posting and sharing on social media. And also, because spending so much time online doesn't always feel 'right' any more. I'm not th...

Today, the news is full of violence, death and destruction. At a Shiite mosque in Kuwait, at a factory in France , a coastal resort in Tunisia. In Israel, in Kobani in Kurdistan. People are dead or dying, people are wounded, people are crying, people are hurting. And why? Because some believe that they are more right than others? Because some believe that their truths are more valid than others? Because some believe their interpretation of religion or God's laws are more correct than another's? Because some believe that it is up to them to terrorise, kill and destroy? At least 27 28 are dead and 36 wounded in Tunisia . In Kobani in Kurdistan , 150 or more dead and many wounded. In Kuwait , last death toll I read mentioned 5 24 dead and 15 wounded. In Israel too, people have been attacked, people die. Not by the dozens usually, so the news doesn't speak about it. Or perhaps the news simply doesn't care as much about innocent Israelis as about innocent British or F...

Jerusalem is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the most fascinating cities on the planet and has, for a long time, been very near the top of my list of Cities To Visit. Thousands of years of history, religion, culture, devotion, prayer, longing and joy make Jerusalem a complex and inspirational location. How can one resist the beauty of this amazing city?! Jerusalem's Archeological Park – excavations site at the foot of the Temple Mount, revealing thousands of years of the... Posted by ‎ Noam Chen - Photographer | נועם חן - צלם ‎ on Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan My rating: 5 of 5 stars I've put this book down countless times since I started reading it, intending to start again from the beginning and take notes. It's almost like I'm afraid that without doing some serious prep work first, I might miss something or not quite understand the historical context of a situation. Yet the book keeps drawing me back in: Looking at it turns into reading a few sentences turns into reading another chapter. The writing style makes the book easy to read, there are plenty of in-text references to ensure I don't need (to take) notes and learning more about the revolutionary Jesus that Aslan describes keeps me coming back for more. "Zealot" bring the Holy Land of Jesus' time almost close enough to touch, which makes it an entertaining, interesting and thought-provoking book. UPDATE: Having read through the Notes section and finished the book, I am even more amazed at t...

Just logged on to Twitter, saw Jerusalem was (is) a trending topic. Decided to head straight to Ha'aretz to find the headline story to be: Bomb explodes in central Jerusalem. As tears flooded my eyes reading the article, I just wondered one thing. WHY??? Why do humans feel the need to kill and maim each other to get their point across? Why does violence seem to be the answer and the solution instead of the problem ? Why??? Bomb explodes in central Jerusalem Bomaanslag bij busstation Jeruzalem

The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish/Arab Divide by Susan Nathan My rating: 5 of 5 stars I picked up this book as it looked like it would be very interesting to read. Insider-stories such as this one usually give an account of life-on-the-ground that is not always portrayed in the mainstream media, and I was interested in this new viewpoint. My fascination with the Middle-East has a lot to do with its religious history, and a lot to do with its people. This means *all* people, which is why this book appealed to me. The writer, Susan Nathan is a Jew and a former ardent Zionist who  moved to Israel in 1999. She writes (p.39), "The object of my desire was to make aliya, the Hebrew word for 'ascent', an idea that in returning to Israel a Jew is fulfilling a divinely ordained mission." She then realised that there was a large non-Jewish population living inside Israel - mostly Palestinian Arabs who had lost their homes and lands yet gained citizenship ...