Back to life

"Hey guys, we're in Egypt" was probably the most commonly heard phrase for me this weekend. We were indeed in Egypt. Not Egypt proper, but in the Sinai peninsula at a little town called Dahab.

We don't really have a spring break here at JUC, scheduling being what it is, but we do occasionally have the odd weekend off. This was one of those weekends. All of the new students were in Galilee for 4 days and us "old-timers" had some time to do something on our own. As an added bonus we had just finished midterms and were ready for a vacation. So it ended up that 4 of us headed down to Dahab for a long weekend.

I would recount all that we did while down there but I'm afraid that it would be terribly boring: "Today I sat and read and wrote and talked and thought and walked along the sea and listened to the wind and the waves and drank tea and played rook." It was lovely, but perhaps not all that interesting to hear about. :) Among all of the relaxing we did have a few adventures, though.
1. For me, coming from a state where public transportation is all but nonexistent, it was a new experience to ride buses and taxis. We had a few adventures in that department. Like the guy that gave us a ride from the bus station to the border crossing at Taba told us that he loved Saddam Hussein, I think because Saddam killed many womens' husbands...leaving more unattached women? Well, then. Or in Egypt trying to talk the taxi drivers into giving us a better price...and failing miserably. Or having problems figuring out what bus to take from the main station in Jerusalem to get back to campus. All sorts of little adventures. :)

2. Snorkeling. Words fail me. Years ago in sophomore gym class they taught us to snorkel. I guess it was a nice break from swimming laps, but I didn't think I'd ever get to snorkel anywhere as cool as the Red Sea (which, for the record, is supposedly something like the second snorkeling location in the world). We rented snorkel equipment for $3 a day and entered the water from the beach. Wow. It was incredible. I mean, for me, to be able to see and breath while (at least partially) submerged in water is amazing enough. And then I saw a fish swimming towards me! I'm pretty sure I squealed in excitement, which isn't necessarily a good idea in snorkeling gear. And THEN we actually started swimming along the reef, with all colors and shapes of coral, fish, and various other creatures. Sea anemones and urchins (echinoderms!) and mollusks of various types. It was absolutely incredible. We snorkeled twice on our second day there, and the wind and currents were fairly strong so we didn't go as far. The next day we snorkeled again, this time in much calmer water, and made it much farther along the reef. I've decided that I want to be a marine biologist when I grow up. Ok, well, not really. But I have decided that I need to learn more about the different sea creatures that I saw and that, given the chance, I would love to snorkel, or even scuba dive, more.

3. As it turned out, because of a couple last-minute cancellations, I was the only girl on the trip...that made for some interesting times...but really, in general, it was good. They were very kind and took very good care of me and even condescended to laugh at my jokes occasionally. It was also nice to get to know some people better in a smaller group. It takes less effort to add to a conversation if there aren't already lots of people taking part in it. I like people, but I think I do better with smaller groups, at least at first.
4. We had really cheap rooms ($4 per night per person) with rather lumpy beds, questionable sheets and towels, no blankets, and public bathrooms in the courtyard which occasionally had toilet paper. Not the most hygienic place I've stayed, but sufficient. It added to the adventure. There were also some pretty cool bugs that hung out in our rooms once or twice. :)
5. I think that this was perhaps the second real "vacation" of my adult life without my family, the first being the weekend my old roommates and I spent at my parents' house in Lewistown. This time, as then, the goal was not to see the sights or be busy doing anything. We did some things, but a lot of time was spent just sitting and thinking or reading or talking. It was lovely to get away from many things, including, of course, school and the work associated with it. In addition, I enjoyed getting away from my computer and the internet. We also avoided the tyranny of time. We had no set schedule. We went to bed when we were tired, woke when we were rested, ate when we were hungry, and sometimes refused to even look at a clock. I started reading Les Miserables which, well, I'm only about 150 pages into it, but it's very touching and thought provoking so far.
6. It was a good time to gain some perspective. This semester has been, well, different in many ways. So it was especially nice to take a step back. I think we humans like to avoid our problems. Which is probably why we like changing our location. We go somewhere else and we say, "Ah, this is the life. If only I could stay here forever." We forget that our problems eventually follow us (or we eventually get new ones). They just take a while to catch up. The newness is exciting and the any discomfort is different than the normal discomfort and is therefore easy to ignore for a while. So we go to our vacation spots and think that if we could stay there forever, then maybe life would be just perfect. But eventually we have to go back home, back to the daily grind, back to normal. And then, though we may be sad to leave our vacation spot, we realize that we are actually glad to get back to home, back to the normality and comfort we find there. We are glad to get back to work because God made us to work. We are, hopefully, even glad to get back to the same old problems, knowing that God allows them in our lives for a reason. So I enjoyed Dahab a lot, but I am glad to get back to Israel and Jerusalem, which I am learning to love more. I am glad to get back to school and have another chance to work diligently and learn a lot this semester and make the most of the time God has given me here.

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.

Happy Purim!

Ask a Jewish person, "What is the holiest holiday of the year?" and what do you expect to hear?

"Yom Kippur" you say, "The day of Atonement is clearly the holiest day of the year for Jews."

Well, maybe. Or maybe, just maybe you'd get the surprising answer of "Purim!"

"What?" you exclaim. "Purim isn't even mentioned in the Torah, much less commanded. It's from a book that barely made it into the Hebrew cannon of scriptures because it never mention's God's name. How could such a holiday ever be considered the holiest one?!"

Well, I'm not sure I totally understand it all myself, but let me try to explain. First, why compare Yom Kippur with Purim? Apparently the full name for the Day of Atonement in Hebrew is "Yom Kippurim." "Ki" means "like," so it could be taken to mean "Day that is Like Purim," giving Purim sort of a higher standing than Yom Kippur just by the names. In addition, Yom Kippur is a day of fasting and mourning over sin whereas Purim is a day of celebration and feasting. Apparently it is thought that it takes more holiness to truly worship God during a celebration than when you are mourning. Perhaps they have a point. At any rate, sometimes Purim is considered the holiest holiday on the Jewish calender.

So today I had a class on Jewish Thought and Practice where we learned about Purim (including why it is considered the holiest holiday) and tonight for a sort of "field study" we all went to Synagogues to experience the evening reading of Esther for ourselves.

"Wait a minute," you say. I thought Purim was celebrated the 13th of Adar...and isn't today the 14th?" You are, of course, correct. In most of the world, Purim is celebrated on the 13th of Adar (March 9th this year). However, the Jews in Shushan assembled on both the 13th and 14th (Esther 9:18). Because Shushan (Susa) was a walled city, at some point some Rabbis decided that Jews in walled cities should celebrate Purim on the 14th. And they have a pretty odd way of deciding which cities are considered walled. At any rate, Jerusalem is one (probably the main one) so in the city of Jerusalem proper, Purim is celebrated on the 14th of Adar.

I can't say too much about the actual celebration itself. Esther is read at night and then the next morning, and then there is supposed to be some sort of great feast involving lots of wine. I have only been to the evening reading, but I can tell you at little about that.

Purim is ever so slightly like Halloween, in that everyone dresses up. I was in down town Jerusalem Monday night and there were quite a few people going about in costumes - cat's ears, farie wings, etc. At Synagogue tonight almost everyone was dressed, well, a little unusually. Colorful wigs and hats were common, as were masks and face paint. Some people continued the theme in the rest of their outfit. There were witches and giant pink bunnies. There were some girls from the IDF with their guns and purple wings on their back - not a common sight in the US! There were children dressed as lions, bears, American Indians, Bob the Builder, Superman, and cowboys.

It was pretty fun to see everyone's costumes. I personally dressed as a carrot. Not the best costume in the world, but really, this is the third time I've had to come up with a costume and I just didn't prepare for that when I packed!

In class this morning we talked about whether or not women should be allowed to read Esther at the Synagogue. Some sources said yes, some said no. Apparently at the synagogue I went to women were allowed to read. I think we had 5 readers (2 chapters each) and I think three of them were women...and they were kind of hard to hear. Oh well.

It was an orthodox Synagogue, though perhaps more, um, "modern" than some. The men and women were separated by a thin curtain, but at least it wasn't women in the back, men in the front. The whole thing was in Hebrew. I was able to follow along a little in the reading. Of course, when the name "Haman" was read, everyone shouted and rattled their noise makers and stomped and otherwise just made lots of noise

to "blot out the name", and that helped me to find where we were when I got lost. :)

It was an interesting experience, for sure. I rather like this excuse to dress up better than Halloween. Perhaps I'll start celebrating Purim more often. :)

Have you ever wondered...?

Have you ever read a Bible story and wondered what in the world was going on? The characters behaved in inexplicable ways, sometimes even seemingly ignoring common rules of morality, and yet it seem to be implied in the text that what they did was acceptable or even praise-worthy. So we sit back and scratch our heads and wonder, "What in the world just happened?"

I think that coming to Israel and studying here at JUC has helped me to understand a few of those stories a bit better. Let me give you a couple of examples from my study this semester and then you can let me know your thoughts.

Let's start with Genesis 38, Ben's favorite passage of this summer. :) For those of you who might have skipped over this passage in your yearly reading-through-the-Bible-plan, here's a brief synopsis:
1. Judah (son of Jacob) gets married and has 3 sons.
2. Judah gets a wife for his first born son, Er. Her name is Tamar.
3. Er dies before having any children.
4. Judah then marries his second son, Onan, to Tamar (practicing levirate marriage), to raise up an heir for his brother.
5. Onan refuses to give his brother an heir (possible reasons discussed below) and God kills him.
6. Judah's third son, Shelah, is too young to marry, so he sends Tamar back to her father's house to wait for Shelah to grow up.
7. For some reason, Judah never gets around to marrying Tamar to Shelah.
8. Judah's wife dies.
9. Judah goes to shear sheep and Tamar hears about it. She veils herself (like a prostitute) and sits by the road when Judah will pass.
10. Judah does pass, sees Tamar, thinks she is a prostitute, and sleeps with her. He leaves with her his "signet and cord" and staff, as promise that he will pay for the services provided. However, she never comes to claim payment, and no one knows anything of a prostitute in that area.
(If this isn't making sense, read the story in Genesis for yourself.)
11. Tamar is found to be pregnant. Judah is told and recommends that she be punished by death.
12. Tamar then brings out Judah's signet and cord and staff as evidence of the man who made her pregnant.
13. Judah sees them and says, "She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son."
14. She bears twins, the first of which, Perez, apparently becomes Judah's heir.

So, we are left with the thought that a woman who seduced her father-in-law is considered righteous? That seems really bizarre.

First of all, we need to realize that culturally speaking, land and heirs were the most important things. These values are echoed throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Er, as Judah's first born would have inherited the main portion of all that was Judah's, as then his son would be next in line. Because he didn't have a son, Onan was to provide one for him. The inheritance would have then pass over Onan (as the oldest remaining son) and gone to "Er's" son (who would have been biologically the son of Tamar and Onan). Perhaps Onan wanted to insure that the inheritance came to him and his sons, thus explaining why he refused to give Tamar children. Later on, by not making Shelah provide Tamar with a son, Judah was also disregarding the importance of the line of inheritance. So Tamar took things into her own hands. She insured that the line of Judah would be properly continued. Perhaps this is the reason that Judah says she has been more righteous than he. She valued land, inheritance, and had a high respect for the way inheritance should be passed (as confirmed by God in the law later). Perhaps.


Example 2: Ruth
This one is a bit longer, so I'll assume that you know the gist of the story. I'm going to focus on chapter 3 and the happenings at the threshing floor. If you recall, Boaz is eating and drinking at the threshing floor. He goes to lie down and once he's asleep, Ruth goes and uncovers his "feet" and lays down. He wakes up later and tells her "Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter. For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich."

Have you ever wondered what was going on here? Why this sneaking about the threshing floor? And why is she blessed by Boaz for doing so? We've been reading through Ruth in Hebrew this semester, and this topic came up as some of us were studying together. Someone made an interesting point, which, if not completely correct, is at least worth consideration.

First, let's look at history a little.
Question: Where was Ruth from?
Answer: Moab! (as you all knew)
Question: Who are the Moabites? How did that people start?
Answer: Why, we are told about this in Genesis 19: 30-38, of course. Another rather disturbing story. Lot's two daughters have no prospects for getting husbands, and without a husband or a son, women in that day were pretty well destitute. Once their father died, they would have been as good as dead themselves. So instead, they make their father drunk, and in nine months, each of his daughters gives birth to a son. The son of the eldest daughter was called Moab and the Moabites are decended from him. So, to put it bluntly, Ruth is the decentant of a woman so desperate for a child that she took advantage of her drunk father.

When Ruth arrived at the threshing floor, Boaz's "heart was cheerful." In other words, he was "drunk as a skunk." And she went and uncovered his reglaim, which our Bibles translate as "feet" but which really can mean everything from the waist down. Ruth and Naomi were desperate. Without a man - a son- they were destitute. It would have been understandable if Ruth had taken advantage of Boaz's inebriated state to get a son, as her ancestor did. But she didn't. She gave him the choice: to act like a kinsman redeemer and provide that son properly, or to refuse and effectively condemn her and Naomi to death. Perhaps this is why Boaz calls her blessed. She had more faith in God than her ancestor, Lot's daughter. Perhaps even more faith than Naomi did when she gave Ruth her instructions. And Boaz rewarded her faith by marrying her, redeeming her land, and providing and heir.

Interesting, at least. I'm not convinced that I fully understand either of these stories yet, but I think understanding the culture in which they took place had helped me have at least a little bit of a better grasp on them. Feel free to let me know where you would agree or disagree or if you have a question.

Samaria Revisited.

(Disclaimer: this posting will have no similarities to the book Brideshead Revisited so please lower your standards accordingly.)

By the way, happy March 1st and Rabbits and all that. :)


Samaria Impressions, March 1, 2009

Last fall, field studies tended to be hot and sweaty. This spring they've tended to be cold and rainy. Apparently some form of dampness is inherit to all field studies, whatever the time of year. Ironic, considering the dryness of the land.

At any rate, today I joined the Physical Settings class for their Samaria Field Study. We followed a route nearly identical to that which we took last fall (Look-out point east of Shiloh, Elon Moreh, Mt. Gerazim, and finally Shiloh). Since I already wrote about them, I will try not to repeat myself as I recount my impressions from today.

My reasons for going on this trip were, perhaps, neither very spiritual nor very accademic. I wanted to go to see this particular portion of the land "clothed in the garb of spring" - the green fields, the flowers, the almond trees in blossom... It was beautiful in the dry brownness of the fall, and it was even more beautiful today. If I had to choose one portion of the land of Israel to make my home, I think I might well choose the area around Shiloh. No wonder the Ancient Israelites tended to center around that area.

Today we were blessed with the unique experience of seeing wadis flowing with water, pools of water standing in fields, and a waterfall in the wilderness.

We were also blessed with a few brief moments of sunshine. There were so many times I wished that we could stop the bus and take pictures. I guess I'll have to go back on my own someday. As it was, I still managed to take an outrageous number of pictures.

However, I did not only take pictures. I did try to listen and learn too.

We visited Pinhas at the Jewish settlement of Elon Moreh again. Not only do we get a great view of the Fari'ah and Michmatocha valleys, but we get an interesting perspective on Jewish Zionism to go along with it. We were talking about him as we left, wondering what he would do if the "Two-State Solution" ever became the reality. Given the choice to become a Palestinian citizen or to leave, what would he do? Dr. Wright said that he would probably have a heart-attack if he had to choose between those two things. Even if forced off the land, Pinhas would continue working to re-claim it for Israel. Then he said (and I attempt an exact quote), "The idea of its rightness [the right of the Jews to possess the land, etc.] is tied to his very being." It made me wonder, what would it take to change the mind of someone so singleminded? Pinhas is not the only one so passionate, either. I think that many of us have some similar passion at the core of our being.

On top of Mt. Gerazim we paused to look over Biblical Shechem and Matt shouted out the blessings from Deuteronomy 28 (see also Joshua 9). As he was reading, the call to prayer started playing from the various mosques below. It was rather poignant, in an extremely sad way: God's promise of peace and prosperity rejected again as we search for our own way of salvation.

We visited the Samaritain Priest on top of Mt. Gerazim again as well. As we drove from there we had another interesting discussion. In a couple classes lately I had heard the teachers claim that the Samaritains now deny that there was every a Samaritain Temple on top of Mt. Gerazim. However, both times I have talked to the Samaritain priest, he seems to freely refer to the temple that used to exist there. I asked Dr. Wright about this and his theory was that they perhaps Jewish universities like to teach that the Samaritains claim there was not temple (in spite of a considerable amount of evidence for its existence) to strengthen the case for a Jewish claim to the land. I suppose that's possible. At any rate, I was struck by the discrepency and reminded that, however intelligent and knowledgeable they are, the teachers here are still biased (most are very zionistic, I believe) and have their own agenda (and/or have themselves been taught by biased sources).

Our final stop was Shiloh, with its green valleys, red poppies, and blossoming almond trees. The lady there complimented us on our bravery in venturing out in the rainy weather. It is apparently the "off" season, in addition to being rainy, so I guess we were the only visitors of the day. It was beautiful. (I'll stop gushing. Sorry.) It was also a good reminder of God's grace and judgement (see Psalm 78).

Over all, today was very similar and very different from the trip last fall. The rain gave us some different views and also shortened the day as people tended to talk less out in the open. :) However, a the sites were the same and much of the information was the same. It was a good day to review, see the land at a different time of year, and get to know some of the new students a little better.

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.