Panoramic Israel [antikvár]

0., f generation passes away, says the book of Ecdesiastes, and another generation comes, but the land abides forever. Humans come and go, but is the land as solid as it looks? Does it really remain unchanged? Look around you and you will see a land in a state of constant unrest, a land ever changing. Observe Israel in the early morning hours: strong scents of freshness, the cool moisture of dew, soft dark shades, from turquoise to royal blue, hushed up voices, slow drowsy movements of humans and animals that have just woken up. Noontime Israel is very different. Everything is fuller and louder, sweaty and hectic. The roads that were silent black ribbons at dawn almost vanish under the heavy load of noisy cars. The air becomes dense and the light turns bright, revealing, almost merciless. Finally evening-and-night-time Israel Huctuates between silence and noise, between nature's darkness and man-made light, between the fatigue of workers and the adrenalin of amusement seekers. The lights get gradually dimmer and dimmer. Cool shadows wipe the sweat off the land's brow and hide yesterday's scars until the break of dawn. It is not only the succession of day and night that changes the land. Think of the changing of the seasons - the endless cycles of growth and decay. Pass through the southern part of Israel, the Negev, during the short season of spring and colors of dark brown, bright green, gay red and yellow will fill your retinas. Return a few weeks later and it is as if someone has covered everything with a layer of monotonous, burnt up, hazy, dull brown. The misleading abundance of winter waters in rivers, in pools, in huge puddles, in seasonal waterfalls gives way to dry river beds that do not preserve even a hint of moisture. The white, purple, pink and red flowers disappear leaving bare, dusty branches in colors of grayish green. In the winter the land is covered with sounds and sights of northern birds - storks, and wagtails, quails, even pelicans. Then tliey all vanish. The migrating birds return to their homelands, leaving behind them the humble sparrows and other local birds. But the most dramatic changes in the landscape are man-made. Forests appear and disappear. Pine trees and eucalypti appear alongside the ancient terebinths and cypresses. Hedges of South