CATS

Cats....No, not the play, which I did see one time on Broadway many years ago, and I think it freaked my kids out when they were young. Well, think about it. You have people with painted bodies slinking around the aisles of a theater, purring, and snarling. That freaks you out.

Nor am I referring to the cats of Egypt who had God like status as the goddess "Bast." Of course you've probably heard the joke about the difference between dog theology and cat theology. When dogs think of their human owner they think, “You are God. Thank you for feeding me.” When cats think of their human owner they think, “I am God. Feed me.” According to a Wikipedia article; "As a revered animal and one very important to Egyptian society and religion, the cat was afforded the same mummification after death as humans. Mummified cats were given in offering to Bast; in 1888, an Egyptian farmer accidentally uncovered a large tomb containing tens of thousands of mummified cats and kittens. This discovery outside the town of Beni Hasan contained around eighty thousand cat mummies, dating back to 1000-2000 BC.

The reason I bring up cats is because they are all over Jerusalem. Everywhere you go there are cats slinking about. I guess they are for rodent control. But I am not joking.

There was an article in the local Jerusalem Post newspaper today: CAT SCAMS PET SCAN.... “For three days, Rambam Medical Center imaging technology experts couldn't understand why their positron-emission tomography (PET)/ computerized tomography (CT) scanner was malfunctioning. When technicians arrived and opened it, they found a purring cat inside. The feline apparently turned off an internal switch and delayed the examination of dozens of patients.”

I found a pride of cats (I know there are lion prides, how about cats?) at a local park. They were sunning themselves and climbing all over an older gentleman. I'm not sure if he comes to the park to feed them, or if he owned the cats (technically I guess no one owns a cat). Anyway, I thought it was a good picture and an opportunity to comment on one of three things I find ubiquitous in Jerusalem that we don't have in Adel, Iowa.