Goreme

It was close to 7am and we had been traveling all night.  The sun had risen and was lighting up the pleasant land scape of field and a few gently rolling hills.  A few hot air balloons hung in the distance, the only indication that we were nearing our destination, famous for its unique geology.

Suddenly the bus took a turn and began descending.  At last we could see the funny pointed rock formations that make this region so unique.  Within a few minutes we had arrived in Goreme, famous for its rock formations and for the large Christian community that inhabited them in years past.

There seem to be no end of places to explore.  Apart from the scenery, which is spectacular,

many of these little rock teepees were carved out and used as ancient houses or churches.  (Our hostel room is in one of these many caves.)

I'm sure that months could be spent exploring everything.  We've been here but a day and have yet to see much of anything but the most famous site: The Open Air Museum

They say there are thousands of churches in this region, which may or may not be true (perhaps depending on one's definition of church?  We don't necessarily know how all these churches and chapels were used).
Nevertheless, there are certainly a number of churches, and some of them have dramatically preserved frescoes (or something like frescoes) decorating their walls.  Probably the best preserved of these are in the Open Air Museum.

Fresco from (I think) The Dark Church

Lots of groves and niches...and not sure what everything was used for.  Maybe this was a table?

Really fun blue color in this one.

 So far Goreme is pretty well worth it.  

Historic Quilt

Family history is a subject of which I seem to know very little.  The more I learn of it, the more I realize there is to know.  Still, I pick up pieces here and there.  One of my more recent acquisitions included a tactile experience.   

If I got the story right, this quilt was given to my mother by her grandmother (or possibly by a great aunt...I'll need to check my sources.)

The note that accompanies the quilt (partially pictured above), though difficult to decipher, tells the story of the quilt.  "It was made by my mother (name) and my grandma (name) in about 1886 out of my dad's brother (name) army blankets of Shilo."  Just in case any question remains, part of the note clarifies: these were blankets used by soldiers during the Civil War.

I think that is one thing I enjoyed so much about Israel - being able to see, touch, and feel history.  There is very little of that in Montana where most history doesn't go back more than 200 years tops.  Sometimes you can find arrowheads that might be a bit older, but that's pretty much the limit.  This quilt is no where near as old as some of the ruins I saw in Israel, but it's still a clue to the past, a picture of what life was like then, a reminder that the men who used those blankets and the women who sewed them together were as real and as human as you or I.  

Idealistic Israelis

Over the course of my most recent field study (Historical and Social Settings of Modern Israel with Kaplan) we had the opportunity to visit a number of Jewish "institutions" (for lack of a better word), some of which were over 100 years old.  In terms of modern Israeli history, that's about as old as things get.  These sites, mostly kibbutz-like, are today no longer operational except as tourist sites, though some of them carry on the work under the same name at a nearby location.  We, however, only visited the historical sites.  At each of them we were met by fairly young and idealistic Israelis who told us about the historical importance of the site and how they see in it hope for the future.

The first such site was Old Geshur, located on the banks of the Jordan River, the border between Israel and Jordan.  It was founded by young, idealistic Jews before Israel was a nation.  The railway ran by it, located as it was by three bridges across the Jordan (Roman, Turkish, and the most recent British railway bridge).  It was destroyed twice, and after the second destruction that site was abandoned in favor of one slightly farther from the border.

This is the dining hall at Old Geshur, one of the few remaining buildings.

Another important aspect of this location was the joining of two rivers nearby: the Jordan and the Yarmuk.  The rivers actually join in Jordan at a place called Naharaim (two rivers.)  In 1920,Pinchas Rothenberg, a Jewish Russian engineer came to Israel with a dream: build a dam to supply Israel with electricity.  The site he choice was Naharaim.  It took years to get the Jordanians to agree to allow them to use the land, and then it took time to build the dam.  Finally, in 1932, it was opened.  It supplied 80% of Israel's electricity for the 16 years it ran.  When war broke out in 1948 it was damaged and permanently shut down.  Still, today it remains an example of Israeli determination and ingenuity.  The young woman who showed us around found in it beautiful inspiration and hope for the future.

In the middle of the picture you can still see the remains of the dam and power plant, in Jordan.

The second site was the Kinneret Moshav.  It was started over 100 years ago during the second aliyah, mostly by Jews in their early 20's or younger.  Their goal was not only to change the landscape (at which they succeeded) but to change the country, with the view that change starts with oneself.  Kinneret was a training farm, intending to teach young men and women the skills they would need to survive in Israel, especially agriculturally.  Many people who started there went on to be very influential in Israel's history, including Rahel,  possibly Israel's most beloved poet.  She is buried nearby where a large number of Israelis can visit her grave every year.  The kibbutzim (and similar things) are arguable the only successful socialist experiment the world has known.  These young, idealistic Jew dreamed of building the ideal society, starting in their little kibbutz or moshav and spreading from there.  While this has obviously not happened to the extent that they may have wished, the young Israelis who work at the historic site today still see hope for the future in the examples of those who went before.

Here our guide, Av-Shalom, shows us a picture of what Kinneret looke like before they changed the land scape.   Today, trees are numerous.

A third site was Tel Hai, in the Huleh Basin, a site of legendary significance in Israeli history.  When it was formed the boundary between French Lebanon and British Palestine was not finalized, but the Huleh Basin was under French control.  It was a time of conflict between the French and the Arabs, and the Jews at Tel Hai were caught in the middle.  There was thought of abandoning it, but this idea was rejected by those who argued that facts on the ground would determine borders.  Eventually, through a series of events not totally understood, a tragedy occurred and several promising young Israelis died at Tel Hai and it was abandoned anyway.  Whether the Jewish presence there played any role in its eventual inclusion in Israel is uncertain, but it has helped to form policy to this day.  The young lady who showed us around talked about the importance of "building your own reality," finding her example in the young people who had been at Tel Hai.  Something is always in your way and you have to find a way to get around it.

The restored/rebuilt Tel Hai building.  Farming was done in nearby fields.  

It was interesting to visit these sites which have had such an impact on forming the national consciousness of Israel.  One can see echoes of these young Jews of 100 years ago, what they did and how they thought, in current political policy.  It was interesting to see their "descendants" - ideologically, if not biologically - trying to carry on the dream in a new generation.  I will not claim to agree with everything they thought then or now, but it was a interesting perspective to see.

Abu Ghosh

Today there are roughly 1.3 million Arab Israelis in Israel. They represent approximately 20% of the population. About 82% of them are Muslim and the remaining 18% is divided almost equally between Christians and Druze. They are living in a state which makes attempts to be both Jewish and Democratic, leading to some interesting conundrums.

On Saturday I went on a Field Study to Abu Ghosh, the only Arab village allowed to remain along the Jerusalem Corridor during the war of 1948. There we met with their Head of Education, Issa Jaber who told us some of the history of the town and offered some insight about how it was to live as a Muslim in a Jewish state.

We met him at our first stop of the day: the Church of Notre Dame de l’Arche d’Alliance. The church was built over the remains of a Byzantine church - ceramic tile work is still visible in many places. The current church was built in 1917 and commemorates the house of Abinadab in Kiriath-jearim where the Ark of the Covenant stayed for 20 years, until David brought it to Jerusalem. (See 1 Samuel 7 and 2 Samuel 6). The church even has a picture of David playing "the organ" before the ark.

The church is visible for miles around, along with the statue that sits atop it: Mary, holding Jesus, standing on the Ark, facing towards Jerusalem.

The Christian population in Abu Ghosh is basically non-existent. The church is kept up by a few nuns who live there and run a guest house, but no services are held in the church. It does see use, however, twice a year when the town has its semiannual Classical Music Festival.

Our second stop was also a church and monastery. This church, the Church of the Resurrection, dates back to the crusader period, for the most part. It was built on top of a fort of some sort constructed by the 10th Roman Legion. It commemorates the New Testament site of Emmaus. The tradition connecting this place to Emmaus is quite late, as far as traditions go, and therefore seems rather unlikely to have settled upon the correct location, theologically appealing though it may be. At any rate, the church has some lovely, newly restored, crusader-era frescoes and wonderful acoustics.

After this second church Issa took us to his house where his wife had spent all morning preparing an amazing lunch for us. Throughout our time with him he told us about various issues affecting him and his community. Education is a huge issue for him, as the head of education in Abu Ghosh. Biblical studies are required in the curriculum prescribed by the state, as well as Jewish history and literature. Islamic studies are not required, nor is space alloted for Islamic History and Literature, which is clearly something of an issue for the Islamic community. It would be like America being required to teach Chinese history and literature - instead of American history and literature.

We also learned about various other pars of life - marriage traditions and the importance of coffee. (Note: never serve coffee until nearly the end of the visit, make sure to use sugar, and if you are offered coffee, drink it!)

Over all, it was a refreshing visit. Abu Ghosh has a very unique history in Israel. It's a nice contrast to Jerusalem where religious tensions always run high, especially in this recent news. Issa reflects the general desire there for peace among the three major religions of the country as a chairman of ICCI.

After we left Issa and Abu Ghosh we stopped at Castel (pronounced kast-el...like it looks, but coming from the same word as castle). Castel was a site of great importance in April of 1948 as the Jews fought to gain access to Jerusalem. It also has great grass.

On top we took some time to discuss the events of April 1948, the taking and re-taking of Castel which allowed the road to Jerusalem to be held for 11 days. We then looked around at the view. For a geography geek like me it was a great view.

It was a good day. Quite informative. Lots to think about. And, of course, as on any good field study, there were flowers:

Historical Rights

I was perusing head lines in the Jerusalem Post today when I came across this quote (from this article):

"You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to recognize the incontestable Jewish nature of Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs."

Yes, actually, such recognition might flow much more easily if one is, in fact, not a biblical scholar.

Let me back up a little. Recently, Rachel's Tomb (in Bethlehem) and the Cave of the Patriarchs (in Hebron) were placed on Israel's list of Heritage sites. There are generally two responses to this action.

The first reaction is the one taken by the Palestinians, and much of the rest of the world. This is a political move to attempt to claim more Palestinian land for Israel and should not be tolerated.

The other reaction is the one taken by the author of this article. Historically speaking, the Jewish people are connected with the Old Testament and the stories of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Bible records the burial of Rachel near Bethlehem and the burial of Sarah and various other members of that family near Hebron. As these are the tombs of their ancestors, they should clearly have the right to revere them.

A lot of the question comes down to Historical Rights. Everyone in this land who tries to claim it bases their claim in history. In recent history, Palestinian refugees claim houses in Israel (currently occupied by Jewish Israelis) as their ancestral homes, where the lived until 1948. Looking at more ancient history, Jews claim Jerusalem as their capital, citing it's defeat by King David 3000 years ago. In return, Palestinians claim Jerusalem, claiming to be descendants of the Jebusites who controlled it before David. Does history give rights in the present day? And if so, what layer of history do you choose?

The author mentioned above continues his argument, trying to emphasize that the Jewish layer of history predates that of all other claimants, and therefore is the one that counts:

"Sites such as Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs are part of the national and religious patrimony of the Jewish people, and we do not need anyone’s permission to renovate and maintain them. Our reverence for these sites and attachment to them predates Muhammad and precedes Jesus, and no one has the right to lecture us about where and how we choose to serve God."

There is, however, a bit of a problem with his argument.

Let's start by looking at the Cave/Tomb of the Patriarchs. To quote Ehud Netzer from The Architecture of Herod, the Great Builder, "To the present day there is a general consensus among scholars that this structure in Hebron, which is well preserved and perhaps even intact, was built by Herod [the Great]." Admittedly, Herod does still precede Jesus and Mohammed, but not by much. Of course, the fact that this structure was probably built by Herod does not mean that it is not built on top of the Tomb of Machpelah. Tradition may have preserved the actual site, and Herod may have built on top of it, trying to please the Jews. Or, maybe, Herod just built on a random cave with no connection to the Patriarchs. It's hard to say how much validity the Jewish claim to this site has, at least in the ancient past. We'll let it pass for now and move on to Rachel's Tomb.

Rachel's Tomb, clearly of relatively modern Islamic construction, is a sheik's tomb. Again, there is a possibility that it was built on top of the site of Rachel's tomb, but in this case the archaeological connections are even more uncertain.

So do the Jews have the right to claim these sites as heritage sites? Maybe, maybe not. Within more recent history, these sites have probably been revered by the few Jews living in the land for over 1000 years. I know less about modern history, but at the very least, they have apparently been revered for the last 100 years. Does this give them a right?

I'll leave that for you to ponder. I have no easy answers.

I would really like it, though, if people claiming historical rights would check their historical facts.

Gezer: A lesson in Middle Eastern Diplomacy

This last Saturday I went on another field study, this time around the region of Benjamin. It was again my second time on this trip (with only a few minor changes in itinerary), so you can re-read my original thoughts here if you want to review the area we covered. This time, instead, I am going to offer a few thoughts on the Biblical site of Gezer, our last, and possibly my favorite, stop of the day.

Gezer lies in ancient "no-man's-land" - in sight of the hill country of Israel and in sight of the Philistine coast. Both wanted it, but its safe to say that neither had it...at least not for long. During the time of David it was apparently under Canaanite rule, and though he managed to expand his kingdom greatly, he didn't make it quite that far.

Why was Gezer such a sought after city, the proverbial belle of the ball (locally speaking? Simply put: trade. Gezer was along the ancient international highway. Traders and armies regularly passed this town: Egypt, going to fight Syria (and vice-versa); spices, fresh off the windy desert, bound for Tyre; so on an so forth. This was a route that could enrich whatever kingdom controlled it. Control over even one city on the route would have been a huge boost for relatively small kingdoms like Judah and Philistia. However, its great value also entailed great risk: there was always someone with a bigger army, ready to snatch it away. In the game of Risk, it would be Europe: you bide your time, stacking up armies and then fight hard to take it all over in one turn, only to be utterly annihilated by your opponents in the next round.

There are, however, a large number of towns along this route, of roughly equal strategic importance...except to the kingdom of Israel. The easiest routes from the coast to the capital city of Jerusalem is through the Aijalon valley, and the mouth of the Aijalon valley was guarded by Gezer. Safety, as well as riches, were on the line for the kingdom of Judah.

Eventually David died and Solomon, his son, became king. Solomon was not a man of war and would have no hope of capturing Gezer on his own. He used other methods of expanding his kingdom, most of them apparently involving marriage. The Bible records that he had 700 wives. Most of them were princesses of a sort, married to validate his control over a region or to seal a covenant with a neighboring kingdom and effectively widening Solomon's range of influence.

One such marriage just happened to be to a daughter from a very powerful empire: Egypt. The fact that such a marriage occurred gives us reason to believe that at this time either Solomon was very powerful indeed, or Egypt was very weakened, or possibly a combination of both. Very powerful kings did not give their daughters in marriage to very weak kings, from whom no help could be expected. Thus, at this time at least, it seems that Israel and Egypt were on roughly equal footing. For her dowry, the king of Egypt conquered Gezer and gave it to his daughter.

1 Kings 19:15-17 tells the story:
And this is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the LORD and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer. (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife; so Solomon rebuilt Gezer).

Archaeologically, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer all have something in common: they all have 6-chambered gates, which seem to date to about the time of Solomon (thus, they are called, "Solomonic gates" - original, no?).

So, through this alliance, Solomon gained Gezer. This gave him relative safety from attack from the east, and probably also increase his income from taxes immensely. Egypt, in return, was likely allowed safe passage through the area, and possibly given a break from the tolls. Everything seemed happy.

Then Solomon died. His son Rehoboam became king in his place, but he was not the son of the Egyptian princess. Things had changed.

1 Kings 14:25-26 tells the story:

In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.
He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made.

What the story doesn't tell us is something that is obvious with a quick glance at the geography. Shishak would have come up from Egypt travelling along the coast. To get to Jerusalem from the coast he would have gone right past Gezer, the place his father conquered and gave to Solomon. He must have reclaimed it in the name of Egypt and kept right on a-trucking up to Jerusalem. Who knows if there was even a fight? Technically, the city belonged to Pharaoh's daughter as her dowry. Perhaps there was even a small Egyptian outpost there who just opened those big "Solomonic Gates" and let the rest of the army in to refuel before climbing up to Jerusalem. Maybe that was the plan all along.

It's clever. Sneaky. And in a place where Jacob is a hero for tricking Esau and Laban, its very Middle Eastern. It is good to be friendly, to form alliances...but everyone is always looking out for their own interests. If friendship will serve that, then friendship it will be. Until something more profitable comes along. It doesn't sit well with our western mindset, this trickery and two-facedness, but it fits with this land, both now and then.

Western Wall Tunnels, Part 1

This last Thursday evening I went, with my Rabbinical Thought and Literature class and our professor Rabbi Moshe, to the Western Wall Tunnels. For those of you unfamiliar with this site, let me give you some background information.

You will doubtless remember from long forgotten Sunday school lessons, that David (and Joab) conquered Jebus (Jerusalem) and made it his capital. (Hint: for a refresher, see 1 Chronicles 11.) This is the area today known as "The City of David," on the Eastern Hill, located between the Kidron Valley and the Cheese-maker's Valley. Of course you also remember the story a little later of the plague that God sent on Israel that stopped when David offered sacrifices on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24). Keep in mind that threshing floors are high points, and the closest high point to Jerusalem was directly north (the upper part of the Eastern Hill). Add to this 2 Chronicles 3:1 ("Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.") and we have the beginning of our story in the beginning of the temple. The majority view is that Solomon's temple (the first temple) was built due north of the City of David, under the area where the Dome of the Rock is now.

Of course, between Solomon's time and our own there are dozens of layers of history. The first temple was destroyed by the army of Nebuchadnezzar in 586BC. It was rebuilt ("Second Temple") by Ezra, and was finished about 516BC.

Then Herod the Great came along and decided that temple needed improvement. It was, perhaps, the most ambitious building project he ever undertook: it wasn't finished until 60AD, over 60 years after Herod's death. It was, at least, a stunning complex of buildings when finished, one of the wonders of the ancient world. However, in the planning stages, Herod was not content to merely use what nature had supplied. No. The hill upon which the current temple stood was not big enough for the grandiose structure he desired to erect. So he began by expanding the hill, fashioning vaults and filling in earth, creating a platform grand enough to hold a glorious temple.

That temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Today, all the remains is the platform, upon which the Dome of the Rock now sits. The only piece of the original hill that is still visible is the rock inside the dome, from whence it draws its name.

(Note: at this point I should mention that there is still some amount of scholarly debate over where the temple actually was, and if the structure which is today called "The Temple Mount" ever actually held the temple. However, the case stated above seems to be the majority view, so for the sake of this blog post, we'll assume they are correct.)

I suppose it is reasonable that the Jews would revere the platform upon which their most holy site had stood, but why the Western wall (which, by the way, they never called "The Wailing Wall")? The answer, of course, lies in classical rabbinic literature: "The Shekinah is in the west." Probably because the Holy of Holies would have been on the western side of the structure, the western wall of the structure is now the most revered.

Which brings me (finally) to the tunnels. When the Jews first gained control of Old Jerusalem and the Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock area in 1967, one of the first things they did was bulldoze an area west of the Western Wall, giving Jews the opportunity (and the room) to visit the wall for the first time in years. However, they only cleared a relatively small area, compared to the length of the wall. The tunnels start just north of that plaza and continue on, exploring the extent of Herod platform, under the modern homes and places of business of the people of the Arab Quarter. Parts of these tunnels are open to tourists (by appointment) and that's where we went.

Now that you have enough background information, I'm going to pause for the night and continue these thoughts in a second post tomorrow.

Diaspora Museum

This last Friday I went on a field study for my "History of the Jews in the Medieval and Modern Periods." We went to the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. We spent a good 4 hours there, and probably would have stayed longer if they hadn't been closing early because of Sukkot.

To summarize, the museum looks at various aspects of life for Jews in the diaspora and attempts to answer the question of how they remained essentially Jewish, in spite of 2000 years separated not only from their homeland, but also from each other as they were spread across the globe. They put the answer into 6 "Gateways," which, if I remember correctly were:

1. The Life cycle (birth, circumcision, education, bar mitzvah, marriage, etc.) and the the yearly cycle (Rosh Hashannah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, etc.)

2. Communities, separate from the peoples with whom they dwelt, including their own governmental structures.

3. Remembering (both persecution and accomplishments)

4. Faith (and places faith is expressed)

5. Culture, as anchored in language

6. Among the Nations (and their history as connected to some of the places they were dispersed)

The museum finished with one final gate:

7. The Gate of Return

It was an interesting museum, different because it had very few real artifacts, but many imitations to assist it in the story it told.

Here are a few pictures from the museum:

The Hebrew in the back ground has the heading "Lo Tov" (no good) and clearly the scene in the foreground is that of a wedding. Not to fear, though. The conclusion is not that marriage is not good, but rather that "it is not good for man to be alone." (Genesis 2:18)

In the "Faith" gateway they had a number of model synagogues from all over the world. This first one is from Florence, Italy.

And this one is Chinese.

These two statues are called Ecclesia and Synagoga and I'm sure you can guess what the represent.

Such is the picture of Judaism under 'Christian' rule.

This next picture is an illustration of a passage from the Talmud "If two grasp a garment."

A menorah near the end of the museum - Welcome back to Israel!

After the museum closed we ate some lunch in the Sukkah. Then we went to Old Jaffa for a little while and just explored. If nothing else, the water the is beautiful.

It was a good trip. I got to hang out with my sister AND learn a lot about Judaism and the history of the Jewish people. I'm only auditing the class, but I'm looking forward to learning all sorts of things in there this semester.

Second Temple Shephelah

Just a quick post to recount the last field study of the year (excepting Jordan).  

This last Thursday (the30th)  the Second Temple Class, accompanied by our professor, Dr. Yigal Levin, went into the Shephelah for a day trip.  Though I've spent nearly two semesters here now, and though the shephelah is vitally important for Judah, I've only spent part of a day there  in all of our field studies (not counting the day at Lachish), so it was nice to go and catch a few places that we've missed along the way.

Our day started at Maresha/Marissa/Beit Guvrin.  Technically, Maresha and Beit Guvrin are different sites.  Maresha is the tell that was occupied until Hellenistic times, and then the city moved down the hill and became Beit Guvrin during the Roman era.  It's an important site, for many reasons which I don't feel up to ennumerating at the time, nor would you probably enjoy it if I did.  At any rate, much of the remains in the area are underground - man made, often bell shaped caves.  Some were carved and used as columbariums, some as olive presses, others as cisterns or storage area.  They probably also played a strategic role in the Bar Kokhbah rebellion.  There are also some tombs with beautiful paintings of animals, both mythical and real, dating to the Hellenistic period.  The original paintings are mostly destroyed, but thanks to some photographs and paintings of the paintings, they have sort of been "restored" and are visible today.  We also visited an amphitheater at Beit Guvrin.

The next stop of the day was Mizpeh Mishoah (I think), a sort of look-out/fire-watch-tower area.  Good view, good lunch.

After lunch we stopped at nearby Khirbet Etri, a Jewish village of the Hellenistic and Roman periods, a bit off the beaten track.  There was probably a synagogue there.  We crawled through another fun little tunnel.  

We paused along the road and walked along a Roman road for a short time.  

Our last stop was, well, I'm not quite sure of the name, at least in historical terms.  The sign said Mata Forest.  I think it's mostly a picnic site.  There is the remains of a one building visible, dating probably to the Islamic Era or later.  An any rate, the building just happens to be on a beautiful mosaic floor, from a Byzantine "wayside chapel." The mosaic had been defaced during the time of Islaam, and then rebuilt in a haphazard manner.    This is also the traditional site of Goliath's tombs.  So we all threw three stones at the tomb.  

I really haven't done that great of a job recounting the day, but it was really enjoyable.  Beautiful day, vineyards, fields, and flowers.  Rocks, caves, and sunlight.  Interesting history lessons, coming at the end of a class on Second Temple history.  Who knew that history could be so enjoyable?  :)  It was good.  

Archaeology of Jerusalem...

March 15, 2009

Today we had yet another field study, this one for Archaeology. We were going to look at the Southern Wall excavations, but due to the rain, we headed instead to the Wohl Museum. This is another place that I had been to on my first visit to the city and hadn't yet re-visited. I don't remember much about my first visit, but I have no doubt that we were given more information this time around. :)

From the late 40's to the early 60's the Jewish quarter in the old city was under the control of the Jordanian government and by the time it was re-take by the state of Israel in the 60's, much of it had been destroyed. Some of the buildings were at least partially salvageable, but many were only rubble. These later buildings were cleared away in preparation for re-building. However, before construction commenced, the Israelis realized that this was a rare opportunity to "look under the skirt of the city" (as my professor put it) and so they commenced to excavate on these newly cleared areas. Nahman Avigad was in charge of the excavations. About 30 different areas in the Jewish Quarter of the old city were excavated. They found a variety of different finds from different periods, some dating all the way back to the Iron Age (or First Temple Period). After the excavations were finished, buildings were, of course, placed over all of these sites. However, in many cases the buildings were built so that the discoveries under them would still be accessible. In the case of the Wohl Museum, one specific time period is conserved for display - the second temple period. (Everything else was either removed or coverd up so as not to confuse visitors.)

What Avigad found in this area, and what we subsequently explored today, is a few very large mansions: rich, luxurious, and apparently belonging to Jews, as evidenced by the numerous mikvaot (ritual baths). We saw quite a few mosaics, pillars, frescoes, various household implements, and coins. All of these things were likely destroyed/buried in 70AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. They give us quite a lot of insight into the time in which the New Testament was written. I won't bore you with the details of what kinds of pottery was used for what, but rest assured that we were given very detailed explanations of things that you never even knew existed. :)

We then ventured out in the rain again (not hard rain, just enough to make my notes completely illegible). We looked a little at excavations near the temple mount, and then at excavations along the modern day southern wall. It's an incredibly complex city. Everywhere you look there are archaeological remains, and most likely the remains are a mixture of 3 different times (and probably 3 different religions). Even on our own campus we have remains of a tower and a wall that were part of the "First wall" from Hasmonean times. One could study this city for a life time and not even begin to know all of her secrets.

It was a wet and cold morning, and I was glad to get home, but it was good to learn and soak up a little of Gabi's knowledge of the city.

Second Temple Field Study

March 14, 2009

Today we had a field study for our Second Temple History class. However, one of the sites we went to is only available to the public on Saturday, and our professor for this class, Dr. Yigael Levine, is a religious Jew. So Dr. Paul Wright led the expedition.

Our first stop was at Hyrcanus, a fortress in the Judean Wilderness, first build by the Hasmoneans, I believe, and then later used and improved by Herod the Great. Hyrcanus just happens to be in a sort of heavy artillery firing range. There is an Israeli military base nearby, and 5 or 6 days out of the week the relatively level ground in this area is bombared by various and sundry weapons of "minor" destruction. On the 7th day they rest from their bombardment and various and sundry non-religious Jews and Gentiles are free to go exploring. Which we did. We drove the bus quite a ways into the valley (possibly the valley of Achor?) by Hyrcanus and then hiked the rest of the way back. Hyrcanus is a pretty typical Herodian fortress, in that it is a tall, lonely hill, connected to any nearby hills only by a small spur or saddle, over which water from the aqueduct comes. Matt, Elise, and I climbed up a nearby hill, looking for what had at one point been some sort of monument, perhaps a funerary monument. We ended up skirting around Hyrcanus on a sort of ridge route and coming to the actual fortress by way of the connecting spur. We were able to see part of the aqueduct on the other side of the ridge. We also came across a hole dug in the ground, too regular to not be man-made. I wish I knew who dug it and why!

Hyrcanus, unlike Masada and Herodium, is really not well kept up or reconstructed, so there is less to see of the actual physical ruins. There were some nice mosaics, though I'm not sure if they're Herodian of Byzantine. Either way. There were also some cool rocks - agates, purple one, and green ones. (Yeah those are the technical names.) I really want to know what the green ones are. They reminded me of copper, but copper isn't exactly common in this area of the world...so I wonder.

At any rate it was a fun place to visit, a bit of the beaten trail, and I even found a...well...not exactly sure what it is. A bullet like object? Some remnant of the army's bombardment.

We paused by the Old Jericho tell on our way to our next stop to eat lunch. It was welcome.

We then took the bus part of the way up the "original" road between Jericho and Jerusalem. We didn't get very far before we had to stop and walk. We didn't have to walk as far horizontally, but the vertical distance to our next location was nothing to sneeze at. Well, really, it wasn't that bad, compared to Montana. This was another of Herod's fortresses, "Cypros." No, I don't mean Cyprus. And it's pronounced "kip-ross," named after Herod the Great's mother. According to Dr. Wright, NO ONE visits this site. Though again, I think it used to be an Israeli army base. No longer. Again, not many visible remains, but it did have an amazing view of Jericho. On both hills we talked about their history, their purpose, Herod, Herod's family, etc. Both were "fortresses," but were more than that - with all their luxury and splendor, evidences of which are still evident, these were pleasure palaces. Places for Herod to escape the pressures of political life, or for him to entertain Roman guests away from the prying eyes of the disproving Jews.

Back in the day, a few years ago, Physical Settings classes would always hike down the Kidron Wadi. Recently the road has been bad, and so most recent classes haven't been down that road or seen the Monastery on it. Since we had some extra time and energy, we headed west from Cypros to see St. George's Monastery. I had taken the road past it when I was here with my family, 10 years ago, and that was one of the only places that I hadn't yet re-visited since coming to school here. So I was excited to see it again. At first I thought we would just look at it from across the wadi, but then Dr. Wright decided that we could take the time to walk down to it and then continue the trail down the wadi. It's a really beautiful area, in spite of the fact that its in the Judean Wilderness, possibly because of the aquifer that still brings in spring water. We actually got to go inside the monastery and see their relics and the chapel build around the cave that is supposedly "Elijah's cave." I didn't get to do that last time, so that was pretty exciting. After that we continued down the wadi to Jericho, eventually met up with our bus, and came home.

(This is looking back at Cypros, the highest hill in the background. In the foreground is a Palestinian boy riding a pink bike.)

It was a lovely day, weather-wise and just in general. Not too hot, but still some sun, new and unusual places to explore, fond memories revisited, a chance to hike (about 7 miles), and some good friends to share the experience with. It was a good day.

The Church in the East

Today I went on my first “real” field study of the semester – and it was for a class I’m not even in: History of the Church in the East. It was a class that I wanted to audit because I know very little about the history of the church, especially before the reformation, which is really rather a sorry state of affairs. However, I decided that for sanity’s sake, I might be better off not taking the course. So instead, I just joined them for their field study today.

It was a rather different flavor of field study than those I had experience thus far, which is to be expected. I really enjoyed it, though.

First of all, I’d like to say that I really like Petra Heldt, the teacher of the class. She was very welcoming of me, a visitor to the class, which I appreciated. She is well known throughout the Christian community in Jerusalem (and Israel) and well respected. I think she has connections pretty high up with pretty much every denomination in the country. She’s pretty spunky, in addition to knowing a ton about all sorts of things, which made the trip fun. The only problem is that she talks very quietly and at times I was unable to hear what she was saying.

Secondly, I’d like to say that I’m really glad to have an umbrella this semester (thanks mom!) While we were blessed enough to be inside whenever the rain (or hail) really started pouring down, it was still handy to protect against the softer rain.

Our morning started by Jaffa gate where we met up with Petra. The best sight there was the Jewish men with their fancy hats covered in plastic bags (while still on their heads) to protect against the rain. Knowing how expensive those hats are, I guess it makes sense. It’s just odd. In my part of the word, hats are to be protection from the elements, not protected from the elements. Oh well.

From Jaffa Gate we proceeded on to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (or the Church of the Ressurection). Before arriving there we paused to talk a little about the iterations the church has gone through. Originally it was much longer and was entered from the east. Today it is smaller and is entered from the south. It also now has two mosques right next to it (in addition to being owned by a Muslim family), one the Omar mosque and the other something like the Strangulation mosque, I believe. Indeed, in many ways the Muslims are very purposeful in their attempts to strangle Christianity. It is felt very strongly by some of the Christians we visited today.

(These two pillars used to be one really tall one in the original church.)

Once inside the Church we looked around, visited various stations of the cross and various parts of the church owned by various denominations and learned about their significance, their traditions, their stories. We even saw the sword of Godfrey the crusader which, I believe, is still used today to knight the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. There is a lot of really meaningful symbolism throughout the church, which we Protestants tend to miss. Probably one of my favorite things was at the site of Golgotha in the upper level of the church. You enter the room(s) and all you see are pictures of Christ, being nailed to the cross, or of Mary and John weeping as Jesus dies. And in the midst of the great sorrow and pain of these pictures you look up as if to ask God, “Why?” And then all across the ceiling you see mosaics celebrating the resurrection. What a good reminder that we as humans tend to look only horizontally and all we see are pain and suffering. When we remember to look “up” to God, that’s when we see the whole picture more clearly.


We then left the church and went up above it, through an Ethiopian church, to a roof where the quarters for the Ethiopian nuns and monks were located. We continued on to the Coptic Church where we were welcomed by the Arch-Bishop of the Coptic Church in this region. How impressive is that? He was a very nice man. We sat in a beautiful (though chilly) sort of grand hall and were served juice, cookies, and tea (in china, no less). We were able to ask him some questions. I don’t specifically remember anything he said, but it was encouraging. I think my general attitude towards the Orthodox Church has been changing. While I still don’t necessarily agree with their theology (or theologies, since there are many orthodox churches) or how they do things, etc., I think many of them are truly our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we should be more willing to cherish them as such.

From there we ran, through the rain and rivers running in the streets to a Syriac church were we met with another man. I don’t think he was quite as high on the totem pole, but that’s ok. :) He told us a little about his church, and I think he really shared his heart – his discouragement and even despair about the state of the church, about the persecution they’ve undergone and are still enduring, about all the talk among church leaders with no real change. We prayed with him for the Holy Spirit to come and renew and revive people.

From there we ran to the bus by Jaffa Gate and headed to the Monastery of the Cross. As the story goes (if I understood correctly) apparently Lot planted a seed, or maybe a stick given to him by Abraham, and it grew into a tree that was actually three different trees in one. He took good care of it and watered it daily. At some point the tree(s) was cut down and used to make the threshold of the temple. Then, when it was no longer needed there, it was used to form the cross that Jesus was crucified on. Apparently the monastery and church are located on the spot where the tree originally grew.

We ate lunch at the monastery in their old (crusader period?) dinning hall. I believe that Petra said at one point there were around 10,000 people at the monastery and they ate in 10 minute shifts. We got to see the kitchen and the huge pots that they used for food at some point too. They were really huge. I mean, I think that I have some huge pots and camp, but they’re nothing in comparison. The vat would fit into these things, oh, maybe 6-8 times? It took two of us to lift one a couple inches off the ground.

After that we went to another monastery who’s name escapes me…but it was dedicated to John the Baptist and we visited a cave that he supposedly prayed in. It was in the Sorek Wadi and we recognized the place across the valley where we hiked down last semester. It’s really a beautiful area, even more so now than it was in the fall, in spite of the rain and low visibility. There we almond trees blooming all over the place, as well as various other little wildflowers. There were also some piles of hail/snow – almost enough to go sledding on…if you had a really short sled… :)

Our last stop of the day was at a church at Ein Karin (the Spring of the Vineyard). This is supposedly the place where John the Baptist grew up, across the valley from the Monastery with his cave. Apparently also, tradition (or something) says that Herod also sought to kill John the Baptist when he was a babe (at the same time he tried to kill Jesus.) However, and angel kept Elizabeth and John safe by opening a hole in a cliff for them to hide in and then closing it behind them until they were safe. However, angered at this failure, Herod had his men go kill Zacharias in the temple instead. I had never heard this story before, so I have no idea how true it is or where its origins lie, but it was interesting. This church had depictions of the Angel hiding Elizabeth and John. It was rather a unique church in a few ways. First, the painting style was quite unique. Petra said that it was fairly recently done (maybe in the 50’s?) and in a very romantic style. I thought it was quite beautiful, but it was very different from all the other churches. It also has a wall with Mary’s Magnificat in most of the major language of the world. I didn’t get to examine them too closely because they were outside and it was raining and we were headed back to the bus. Maybe someday. I liked that area quite a lot.

That was pretty much our day. It was an enlightening experience. In spite of the heavy rain and the wet shoes and cold nose, I’m glad I went.