East Again

Walking home from the Garden Tomb This morning I woke up at 4:45 to the sound of Dormition Abbey ringing its bells after they had been quiet since Good Friday. Several of us walked through the dark along the Old City walls to reach the Garden tomb for Sunrise Service. There were lots of people there, and though some thought it was a bit touristy, I actually really enjoyed it. We sang a lot, which seems appropriate for a day of celebration, and the sermon, given by Michael Ramsden, was a good message about the significance of a risen Lord, and how that raises us from death also. Although I am so so glad to be here over the Easter season, what has made is really special has not been so much the setting, but just that the season and its significance is is more seriously remembered. I used to think Christians didn't really have multiple day holidays, but being here has changed my mind. Since Palm Sunday a week ago it has felt like a mix of mourning and celebration. I missed the Ma...

Purim was Yesterday! As an assignment we had to attend a Purim service at Synagogue, it was quite interesting! Purim celebrates the deliverance of Jews in Persia from Haman and the others who sought their demise. During the service, they read through the book of Esther and sing some songs. Here is a report I wrote for it, and a couple videos I took of the service. On Purim, people dress up, adults just as much as kids! It's also known as a holiday for getting drunk...we passed quite the dance party on our way home from Synagogue! Purim Service             The Purim service at Kehilat Kol Haneshama was very different than the Qabbalat Shabbat service. Because Purim was on a Thursday night, not Shabbat, there were many people using electronics, including one man who’s task was to photograph the event, and capture the costumes of individuals at the service. In addition, the Synagogue was brightly decorated with colorful balloons,...

This week is Holy week, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with the upcoming Easter Sunday. This was probably the most exciting Palm Sunday celebration I've ever had! After a morning service where we sang and read the story of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we headed back to JUC for lunch, and then to the Mt. of Olives to walk in the Palm Sunday procession which begins in Bethphage and continues over the mount, down into the Kidron valley, and up to the Old City. There were lots of people there, several thousand, and the procession itself took two hours. There were groups from all over the world playing music and singing, and lots of palm branches waving, so it was entertaining and fun to be a part of. At the beginning of the march, which began in an Arab town, many people were out on their roofs watching the event, or selling palm branches in the streets. There were lots of Israeli Defense Force members along the way also, and one of them, standing on top of a build...

In front of the Rockefeller Today we went to the Rockefeller museum, there was a lot of cool artifacts there, but things were labeled poorly, so it was hard to know what you were looking at sometimes. We had fun though! Among the stuff they had there were some plastered sculls from Jericho. Apparently, after someone died people would go back and put painted plaster over their skull, sometimes with sea-shells for eyes, probably to make the person live again, sort of. It's like the Egyptians preserving the body for the afterlife. They're super creepy, but I took a photo anyways since they were something I recognized. Also at the museum were some metal furniture fittings which Dr. Barchay had mentioned in class. The pieces had letters (Aramaic I think) scratched in them so when someone was constructing the furniture they knew which piece went where. Not much else happened today, a little bit of homework, and a movie night tonight. Reconstructed furniture Letter on on...

Ashkelon, Grid 20 (snake tower on the right) These flowers were chest height on me! It has been a while since I posted last, and part of the reason is that we were away over the past weekend with no internet. We were on a fantastic field Study in the Shephelah, coastal plain and Negev, and stayed in Arad.  I really enjoyed the trip, most the places we went to I had never gone before, and even the places I had felt new in many ways, because I learned new things, and saw things I had missed before. Plus, it is fun to go with a smaller group of people whom you have come to know, and who really care about the religious significance of Biblical sites, as well as the history. I am so thrilled to be starting to understand the geography some, admittedly I still have a lot to learn, but I have come a long way in knowing where cities are, and what the terrain is like, and how it affects the way life transpired in the ancient, and even modern world. I also think that I'm becoming a bit ...

In front of a Hellenistic tomb with Dr. Barkay (Photo Credit to Liz Schrotenboer) I have enjoyed taking Archaeology class under Dr. Gabby Barchay. He is famous in Archaeology, he excavated Ketef Hinnom, where silver amulets with text from the book of Numbers written on them. They date to around 700-650 BC, and may be the oldest text from the Bible we have. These are the sort of things I learned about in class, and now I get to study under the guy who excavated them! Currently he is in charge of a sifting project at the Temple Mt. There has been some illegal building that happened there, (The Muslim Waqf are in charge of the Temple Mount, and are supposed to consult antiquities authorities before constructing or excavating), and as a result a lot of dirt with archaeological remains was dumped. Dr. Barchay is having it sifted, so even if it's not in context, we can still recover some of the finds from Temple Mount. All that to say, it is really an honor to be his student. We wen...

Here is a short essay I wrote for my Islamic Thought and Practice class. Essay 1: The Islamic Revolution             During the time of Muhammad, around 570-632 AD, the Arabian Peninsula was introduced to a variety of cultures and religious ideas, via the trade routes running from the Spice Road to the coast. The main Empires towards the north of the Arabian Peninsula both practiced monotheism, Christianity in Byzantium and Zoroastrianism in Sassanid. To the south west, Arabia was influenced by the country of Yemen, which was polytheistic.             Arabia, populated largely by Bedouin or tribal clans of “Camel Nomads,” practiced a polytheistic paganism which held that the gods manifested themselves in natural objects, such as trees or rocks. An example of this is the worship of the Ka’aba stone in Mecca, which was being performed before the rise of Islam. T...

Shaban's Ring Today was free, no classes. After a run and some breakfast I spent the morning at a coffee shop with Liz, writing a paper. After lunch Stephanie, Susana and I went to the old city to run some errands. After mailing something, we headed to the "Ali Baba Souvenir Shop" a shop in the Christian Quarter which has a good relationship with JUC. Shaban, the man who owns the shop, has stickers and flags from just about every Christian college in the U.S. that I know of. Every time we visit, he gives us free mango juice or mint tea, and also gives us a good rate for exchanging money. Today, after we changed our money he said, "Did you get a ring? Come, I'll make you all one as a gift, I am not busy today!" With that he whipped out a black box containing wire beads and various other trinkets, and proceeded to craft us all matching rings. "Tell your friends to come by when I am not busy, and I will make them one too!" After returning back to...

Shepherd near Jericho It has been a while since I last posted! Things have sped up some with classes and field studies. We also have a short term group on campus now, and that changes up the schedule a bit. This past Sunday we had a field trip to Maresha and several other Israelite settlements in the Shephela, perhaps I can write about it at some latter point. For now, I want to write about an observation I've made, which has been meaningful to me. Wilderness of Judah, probably as green as it gets! I have enjoyed watching the shepherds here. There are people here who still make their living by being a shepherd, and it's not uncommon to see them out in the fields with their flocks. We saw many sheep out in the low hill-country of the Shephelah on Sunday, but even when we were farther east, closer to the dead sea in the Wilderness where there is no agriculture and no settlements besides Bedouins, there were shepherds. Ever since I can remember, one of the so...