|
To the phrase "cistern that doesn't lose a drop "there is a double meaning.
It describes a well for collecting rainwater, a well that is carved out of the rock or dug in the ground. The walls of the cistern where solidly constructed of stone and limestone. Thus, the water was prevented from seeping through.
This definition also serves as a metaphor for the yeshiva scholar, precocious, who does not miss a word of what he hears from his teachers. Cisterns, that is, wells etched out of limestone have been found in Israel over the last thousand years. Some people believe the existence of the well's 3000 years ago is what enabled mass settlement along the mountain range. This led to the stability of the nation of Israel. Whatever the real reason, most homes built in Jerusalem in the beginning of the XX century included a cistern in the courtyard. Yearly rainwater was gathered into the cistern and it was used as drinking water by all the members of the household. So too, our cistern, Habor. Now that it has been renovated and painted, it is again a cistern that dos not lose a drop.
But this time in the metaphoric sense.
 
|
Note of the architect