The Pomegranate Juice Vendor

Some friends know I took part in a long-ago planned 10-day trip to the Holy Land. This 9th journey in the framework of Freiburg's city partnership with Tel Aviv took place from October 30 to November 8, 2015. It was organized by the Freundeskreis (Circle of Friends) Freiburg-Tel Aviv-Yafo e.V. and guided by the charismatic Johannes Reiner.

I don't know how many blogs I shall produce about my trip to Israel but let me start with a light one. It deals with the place where Jesus miraculously multiplied bread and fish:

When Jesus heard what happened, he privately withdrew by boat to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed their sick.

As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."
Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
"Bring them here to me," he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14:13-21)

At Tabgha near the Sea of Galilee, the place of the miracle, Catholics erected a church run by Benedictine monks.

The new Church of the Multiplication was consecrated in 1982.
The mosaic in front of the altar shows a basket with bread and two fish.

A close-up of the mosaic below the altar (©Wikipedia/Berthold Werner)

Restored 5th-century mosaics

Bread? That rings the bell of my popular blog about the Freiburger Brotmarkt.

In Israel, whenever there is a cluster point of tourists, you will meet a man producing juice from pomegranates. The juice vendor takes a fruit, cuts it, and places one half on the pomegranate squeezer.

With an impressive swing of his arm, he makes the juice flow:

The guy didn't look right at me, but what were his thoughts?

The freshly made pomegranate juice is yours for 10 New Israelian Shekel (3 U$). It tastes like a mixture of apple (Granatapfel in German sic!) and grapefruit juice.

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