A few pictures...

...From Yom Kippur.

Would it be bad if I said that my favorite day here in Jerusalem is probably Yom Kippur? It's just so peaceful. The eternal din of engines and horns and sirens is finally silenced as everyone, religious and secular Jews alike, take a day to rest and reflect. It's a little magical. The smell of flowers is noticeable as the odor of exhaust dissipates. Children ride their bikes down the middle of the street, laughing together. Groups of people, families and friends, dressed in white, forsake the sidewalks in favor of walking on the street.

It was a good day to explore a little and take some pictures.

When I went to the library a little later I was surprised by how silent it was. Every little noise I made seems to make a racket. Then I realized that there was no ambient noise of traffic and horns floating in. It made a huge difference.

Alas, the city has now returned to its normal noisy state...until next year...

Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls

Every now and then it's really nice to get out of the city for a little while. I mean, I do enjoy Jerusalem...it's so different from any other place I've lived, and there are so many layers of history...Nevertheless, I find I'm still rather a country girl at heart, and I always enjoy visiting a few of the less inhabited locations around the country.

One such opportunity came this Saturday. For student activity day we headed north to the Golan, to the Gilabun Nature Reserve. As hikes go it wasn't all that strenuous or exciting, but it was still a pretty cool place to visit. It has:

1. Remains of a Syrian military base (you know, barracks and trenches and such)

2. Remains of a village (named Dvora, I believe) which dates back at least to the Talmudic period and was probably inhabited until about 50 years ago. Remains of a Jewish Synagogue are found in various buildings in secondary use.

3. Two waterfalls, Dvora and Gilabun, one of which is supposedly the second largest in Israel.

4. Pools under the waterfalls in which one can swim and cool off.

5. Bramble bushes with tiny black berries that taste like...blackberries. Go figure.

6. Popsicles at the end of the hike. (Thank you Dr. Wright!)

And to top the day off, our bus had a minor break-down by the Sea of Galilee...so it felt like a staff trip, and Larissa and I got to dip our feet in the lake as we waited for the bus to be fixed. What more could one ask?

Sallah Shabati

Tonight at Middle Eastern Movie Night we watched Sallah Shabati. The main character is played by Chaim Topol, of Fiddler on the Roof fame. Besides being an informative movie, giving a glimpse of life in Israel in the 50's for many of the immigrants, it was rather hilarious. I found myself giggling in numerous places, probably annoying the other people watching who apparently took it very seriously. (Sometimes, I think there is something seriously wrong with either mine or other peoples' senses of humor. Oh well, what can you do?) I think, though, that one of my favorite parts was knowing just enough Hebrew to begin to understand some of what they said. It made reading the subtitles more entertaining as I thought, "Hey, that's not quite what they said." Or "They skipped translating that line!"

Speaking of Hebrew, on the way home tonight two ladies asked me for directions in Hebrew. Apparently I'm starting to look like I belong here? The funny thing was, I think I actually understood where they wanted to go, and I think I actually pointed them in the right direction. Hopefully, anyway. :)

In other unrelated news, I now have a phone, so if you want to call me or be called by me, let me know and we can work something out. :)

A recurring thought

As I live here in Israel, hear stories, and talk to people, the desire and need for peace in this conflicted region is clear. However, daily it also becomes clearer that peace is complex. As I talk to my flat-mates, I find their words reflecting my thoughts: there will never be peace...apart from Christ. Only in Christ will Israelis and Palestinians both be able to let go of their victim-hood and their demands long enough to truly live at peace.

There is work being done and progress being made by organizations working to reconcile believers from both sides. One such organization is Musalaha. Here's an encouraging article I read on it, too. It's good to know that the whole Christian community hasn't forgotten about "us" here.

Life and Breaks

September 20, 2009

This past week has been just a little bit crazy. Part of that craziness has included the impossibility of finding a good internet connection anywhere. Campus is always a little iffy, and now our ISP at our apartment has apparently decided we don't exist and therefore will not be allowed to access the internet. These sorts of things have conspired to keep me from updating my blog. *gasp* "Oh, the humanity!" as Adria would say.

Anyway...let's see if I can find a few points of interest to recount.

Most of the week I have spent searching diligently for Beit Aven. "Clearly a Biblical sight of significant proportions," you think, having never actually heard of it. Hint: Look here. That might give you an idea of what we're trying to find. It's not that simple, though. There are several issues involved in the search, such as...

1. When the Bible uses the term "Beit Aven" is it always refering to an actual town named "Beit Aven", or is it using it as a derogatory name (House of Iniquity) for some other place with its own name (like Bethel)?

2. What is the proper way to understand the geographical references given in the Hebrew Text?

3. Beit Aven is close to Ai, Bethel, and Michmash, which would seem to make it easier to find...if we were certain where Ai, Bethel, and Michmash were located.

4. Beit Aven is somewhere in the West Bank, which makes it difficult to do any further archaeological research. But that's ok, because

5. We're not necessarily sure of when Beit Aven should have been occupied. It depends on how you date the conquest of Joshua...and that's a whole other issue.

6. Add to all this that people have been searching for Beit Aven for over 100 years now. At least 8 different sights have, at one time or another, been put forth as a possible location for Beit Aven. Most of them have been discounted, but there are still a few that are fiercely argued for and against among scholars.

That should give you an idea of what my semester is going to look like. :) We'll be done looking for Beit Aven after this week, but other dilemmas are yet to come.

Outside of school things have been a little crazy too.

I went with a couple friends to David's Citadel this week. It's sort of a museum/park, and I'd never been inside before. It's really quite beautiful inside,

with grass, lovely panoramic views of the city, and good information on the history of Jerusalem from ancient to modern times.

One of my flat-mates had a family friend show up, needing a place to crash for a few days. She's a nice lady, and we've enjoyed having her, but it was a bit of a surprise and added to the chaos just a bit. The night she came, 3 other people were over at my house, and the juice man came. Some how there must be a rule that Thursday nights must be chaotic.

Here in Jerusalem it's "Holiday-Central." The Muslim month of Ramadan is just coming to and end, accompanied by much feasting and rejoicing. At the same time the Jews are celebrating their New Year - Rosh Hashannah.

(Apparently, it's traditional to have round challah for Rosh Hashanah. I don't know what it normally looks like, but this is my attempt.)

Yom Kippur is next week, and then Sukkot will be upon us in no time...which means the rains are coming. In fact, they are here. Apparently it rained a little in Jerusalem yesterday, which is an occasion for great rejoicing.

I, however, was not in Jerusalem to appreciate that rain. Another of my flat-mates rented a car this weekend so she could see "the pretty" outside of Jerusalem before city life drove her crazy. Yesterday she kindly took the rest of us along on an adventure.

We got a little bit of a late start...which was ok. It was Shabbat, after all! We headed down south of Jerusalem, skirted Hebron, waved at Arad, and stopped at Mampsis/Mamshit, one of the Nabatean cities of the lower Negev. The Nabateans were really a facinating people, and they left some impressive ruins.

(This is the "Market" which reminded me of the fairgrounds back home...)

Of those, Petra is of course the most famous, and the most spectacular, but Mampsis was fun to visit. We ate lunch there before exploring. They had some "impressive" staircases, a dam, a couple churches with some nice mosaics, a fresco, and a couple sweet stables. I would live there, if I were a horse. (I'm not, for the record.)

From there we drove to Be'er Sheva where we first stopped to get a new rental car. The breaks on ours were making a funny sound...so with remarkable ease (especially considering the holiday) we traded it for a different one.

We paused again to get ice cream and then proceeded to a park commemorating the last successful cavalry charge in history: the Charge of the Australian Light Horse Brigade. The park had one statue and a couple informational signs to commemorate the event. They also had some pretty sweet playground equipment. I would play there if I were a kid. For that matter, I would play there if I were an adult. Actually...I might have made Adria ride the merry-go-round with me... :)

We then set off in search of a Turkish bridge (build in 1914-1915 for World War II, according to our map...hmmm....) We some how managed to totally miss it as we drove past the first time...so we back-tracked, looking for wadis that might possibly have Turkish bridges over them. We stopped at 2 such places, parking the car in random locations and tramping off over hills and around trees, trying to spy a bridge. We were close to giving up when, "Oh hey, is THAT the bridge?"

In retrospect, I really don't know how we missed it so completely the first time driving past. Or how we could have thought it would have been over those little tiny wadis that we found. Oh well, we had a good walk, and we did eventually find it.

We then scurried off to Ashkelon to watch the sunset on the ocean. It was beautiful.

We had to stop for dinner, though, before heading back up into the hills. Cameron had been going on and on about wanting french fries...so we stopped at the first McDonald's we found. Oh the joys of greasy salty food.

Now it's Sunday. Luckily for me, the majority of the students are off on a field study today, which means that now that breakfast is done, I don't have to do much until I start on dinner. I might even get to go to church!

Minute Observations

1. Apparently, Hebron Road is Wedding Central right now. I have seen at least 4 decorated cars on the walk to and from my appartment in the last few days, some of them in the process of being decorated, some being used by the wedding couple, and some just sitting in readiness. They're nicely decorated, too. None of the plastic wrap, shaving cream, and tin cans that are seen in the states. Nope. These ones employ tulle and ribbons in matching color schemes and attractive designs.

2. Many people here seem to wear large amounts of scent. I often pass people on the sidewalk and can smell them for several seconds after they've passed. Back home there always seems to be the occasional woman who sits behind you in church and infuses a 10m radius with her perfume, but it tends to be the exception rather than the rule. Here it appears to be more of a rule.

3. Everyone here has little plaid suitcase-like carts for carrying things too and fro. We have two at my apartment. They're really quite useful, especially in a place where walking and public transportation are the main ways to get around. They make me laugh, just a little, though. I mean, they're ALL plaid patterned, and usually in some combination of blue and red. Someday I'd just like to see one orange and green flowered attrocity.

4. We live a nearly vegitarian existence here. This is partly because on of my flat-mates has issues with the meat here. Even without that, though, we probably wouldn't eat much meat. It's fairly expensive here and if you want to be kosher, meat and milk products can never be eaten together. Thus, it is fairly common all over the country to have meals utterly lacking in any meat product, a happenstance that would be shocking to many males I know in the states. Instead, we eat lots of bean products: lentils, falafels, and hummus! Americans eat too much meat.

There are my observations of the day. :) Now I need to get to work on research and decide what to do with my life, stuff like that. :)

Morning

7 am.

Bang, bang, bang!

Scraaaape.

Buzzzzzzz.

Ah, the refreshing sounds our our upstairs neighbor commencing with his excavations...ahem, I mean remodeling.

7am? In an apartment building with neighbors fore and aft?

Welcome to Israel, I guess.

Out on our balcony, intermingled with the sweet smell of jasmine, I catch a wift of sawdust on the breeze, a fragrant reminder of construction back home. Only the strains of country music are missing.

Good morning!

What I learned today

1. Feet will mutiny if left to their own devices while you are working up above.

2. Things turn out better when you totally don't follow the recipe...or have the ingredients the recipe calls for...or even have a recipe.

3. New kitchens are hard to get used to...especially when their normal state is one of chaos and disorganization.

4. Cookies are more appreciated in foreign countries:

Student: "These are the best cookies I've ever had!"

Me: "You haven't had very many cookies, have you?"

5. "Family" movie nights at Beit HaShum are quite enjoyable.

6. The Muppet Movie has an amazing amount of TERRIBLE puns...and occasionally reminded me of Mathnet.

7. Finding books online about people like E. H. Palmer is spectacular.

8. I need to regularly give myself a talkin-to to keep myself from being stupid in various ways, shapes, and forms.

9. I need sleep. Soon.

Good night! :)

Christian Communities in the East

Today I went on my first (and probably one of my only) field studies this semester.

I admit, I didn't enjoy it as much as it probably deserved. It was hot, I was tired, and I'd already been to many of the churches and monasteries that we visited. Still, some of them were new, and some of the old ones were seen under different circumstances, so it was interesting.

This particular field study was for the Christian Communities in the East class, taught by Petra Heldt. She is very passionate about both the eastern churches and the Jewish people, so quite a bit of today was spent learning about how there is dialogue and cooperation happening between various Christian and Jewish groups (sometimes also Palestinian).

We visited...let's see if I remember...

1. The Monastery of St. John of the Desert, a Franciscan monastery. Apparently, the Franciscans have been in the country for 800 years now, according to Petra, the only Catholic group that was somehow allowed to stay after the Muslims kicked out the Christians. It was fun to see this sight while not dodging raindrops.

2. The "Moscovia" Monastery? Not quite sure of it's name...but its a Russian Orthodox Monastery. With a fairly new church (build since the re-unification of the Red and White Russians in the land) with beautiful gold domes.

3. The Visitation Church (celebrates where Mary visited Elizabeth and sung the Magnificat, and where Elizabeth and John hid from the soldiers who came to kill John). Claim to fame: The Magnificat on a wall in hundereds of different languages.

Side note: At this point (and a few others in the trip) we discussed non-cannonical stories about John, Jesus, Mary, and Elizabeth. Very interesting. I think it's a bit unfortunate how little we in the west know about our "roots" in the east.

4. The Monastery of the Sisters of Zion. By this point in the trip I was quite warm, quite low on blood sugar, and quite unable to give my full attention. But they had some pretty flowers. :) (And, from what I did hear, it sounds like they do some good things in the land.)

5. LUNCH!

6. The Monastery of the Holy Cross. I'd been here before as well.

7. Syriac Church in Jerusalem. I'd also been to that compound, but this time we met with a different guy and actually got to see their church. I didn't realize that they also claimed to be built over the location of the Last Supper. Of course, for every event that took place in this land, there are at least two sights that claim "It was here!"

8. Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As I've already spent several hours in this church, I felt less guilty when I skipped out early and went home. I was a bit exhausted.

And then I came home...ah...a relatively cool flat, and really cool flat-mates, are good to come home to. :) Just for kicks, here's a picture from the road outside my apartment of sunset over Jerusalem.

Today the heavens were opened and the angels sang

In other words, I visited a library. No, I visited THE Library. It is arguably the best library in the Middle East on Middle-eastern and Biblical subjects. It was pretty sweet. All the second year MA students at JUC share two library cards to this rather exclusive library, so I will get to go back to do research at various times this year.

However, after that highlight, a few clouds also rolled in.

I agreed to cook for the school on Sundays. I think I will enjoy it...but I'm a bit nervous about becoming familiar with the kitchen and planing meals that I will be able to fix by myself, with limited ingredients, in a new environment, that will hopefully be not to similar to other meals served that week. We'll see. It will also take time...which could be at a premium this semester.

I also had my first class today. It was a bit of a fiasco, but I won't go into that here.

Then I had my second class. It was a little better, but I think I'm in the first stages of syllabus shock.

I also need to come up with a thesis idea...or else just not do a thesis. So many hard decisions. Lord grant me wisdom!

Oh, and for those of you who participate: "RABBITS!"