O inhabitant of Zion...

If there is one thing I cannot do the same while here in Israel, it is read the bible. Before arriving in Israel, I had to use my imagination or look up maps and images on the internet, but now, I can simply look out my living room or bedroom window. And when that doesn't suffice (and it usually doesn't), I go for a walk. Unless you have experienced this, I cannot adequately describe what it is like to see with my own eyes the very things I have been reading about for years. In some instances not only see, but touch. Wow! Now when I read the bible, and it refers to certain locations, I can actually say "I've been there"; "I've seen that"; it's so much more personal and alive. Yesterday I went in search of the garden tomb, another place besides the Church of the Holy Sepluchre that is traditionally believed to be the possible place Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. Feeling the need for exercise, I walked to the Old City. It was another beautiful day yesterday, almost 80 degrees and hardly a cloud in the sky. I left around 11AM, and it was so quiet; hardly any traffic, which meant a lot less honking, and I only recall one instance of squealing tires. I passed a lot of children playing at a park, and they were all smiles, waving and saying hello. I almost joined them; it's been a while since I've been on a merry-go-round. Once I got to a small area that is home to an Arab market, it too seemed almost deserted and I didn't have to dodge any cars. It was a nice change compared to the usual hustle and bustle, though I admit at times I like that too. I rounded the corner and there was a street leading uphill (imagine that), also lined with goodies on either side. I stood there for a minute, trying to figure out if this street without a name was the one I needed. Once I spotted a European man with a camera hanging around his neck (that screams tourist as much as looking up in NYC) heading up the nameless street, I figured the odds were in my favor. I followed him and sure enough, I eventually saw a sign that read "Garden tomb" with an arrow pointing right. Yay for the guy with the camera around his neck! After walking up a stone walled walkway/street, I found the entrance. It is a very pretty place.

There are many places to sit, and it is a very peaceful place to do so. Though there were about 40-50 people there at the same time I was, it was quiet. They have little signs on the various paths to guide you, and the first one you see to the right reads "Skull Hill", which leads you to a rocky wall that could be the very place Christ was crucified--Golgotha, which of course means "place of a skull". I stood there for a bit looking at the wall, not seeing anything that resembled a skull. At least until I got home and looked at my pictures.

I drew the box for your convenience :)  After walking down a path and smelling flowers along the way (spring is in the air!), I made my way to the tomb.

 

The section on the left is where a body would have lain. Perhaps His. Of course no one can be sure if this is the place where the crucifixion, burial and resurrection took place; the group in England who maintains the garden even states this; they stress what's more important is that the event did happen: Jesus was crucified, buried, and was raised from the dead--He is alive. Some convincing evidence this could be the place: the hill/wall with the skull face; it is located next to main roads for Damascus and Jericho, and since crucifixions were a very public event, this would have been an ideal location; there is a large old cistern not far from the tomb and the hill, giving possible evidence of a working garden at the time of Jesus (in the book of John it says "at the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb"); within this area, all very close in proximity to one another, is an ancient winepress, which suggests the garden was originally a significant vineyard--could all this, the tomb, the garden and the winepress possibly have belonged to the rich man Joseph of Arimathea?

Again, we cannot be sure. However, I lean more towards this being the place than any other simply because there's not a church sitting right on top of it. But that's a whole other blog. I spent the rest of the day walking (4 hours total...needless to say I did NOT walk back to my apt.). I walked to the Jewish Quarter, found the Temple Institute, but they're in the process of moving, so they weren't open. I did find the Temple Menorah on my way to the Western Wall:

 

The days are coming when the Third Temple will be built. Will this menorah be used for that temple? I found this online: "Rabbi Ariel explained, "It, or other Menorahs, will be consecrated when the Temple is rebuilt." The beautiful Menorah, a seven branched candellabra, is six and a half feet in height and was constructed with more than 92 pounds of pure gold." I know in Exodus 25:39 the LORD said it should be made of one talent of pure gold, but I'm not sure what the exact weight of a talent is today; I've always thought around 75 pounds, but some say up to 94 pounds. Regardless, this menorah is an exact replica according to research. The Temple Institue reopens in a few weeks, and I can't wait to go back. After this I made my way to security at the Wall, but I was turned around and told to go back to another checkpoint; once I got to the other one, I realized it, unlike the first one I went to, had a bag scanner. Security has been beefed up over the last few days due to rioting in several places in the West Bank, including someone throwing a little homemade bomb at a police car just outside the Old City walls; being an expert on distinguishing between gunshots and fireworks since living here, I knew what I heard was much bigger than a gunshot or a firework. I read about the bomb the next morning. Actually, the day after I was on the Temple Mount, a riot erupted there, too. Does any of this scare me? No. It makes me a little more cautious and to be more conscious of my surroundings, but I'm not afraid. Living in fear is not living at all. Besides, I know that He who lives in me is greater than he who is in the world. This morning I stumbled across Isaiah 12:5-6 (I thought I had turned to Psalm 12; I love it when He does that), which says "Sing to the LORD, for He has done excellent things; this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!" After I read this I smiled; if I wasn't able to take this literally before, I can now--I am literally an inhabitant of Zion, at least for the next few months. Even more so, whether I am here in East Jerusalem or back in the States, He is not limited by geography; He is still mighty in my midst.

 

Until next time,

 

Stacey

At the very center of the world

My day yesterday (Thursday) started at 7AM. In the company of others I walked to the Old City in hopes of getting on the Temple Mount. I noticed yesterday that no matter how many times I visit the Old City, I still feel a familiar calm and serenity. Before arriving to Israel I had asked others who have been here before, "What is it like in the Old City? Can you feel the tension?" The responses I received were the same and each time I was surprised to hear "It's the most peaceful place on Earth." I didn't expect this answer knowing Jerusalem's turbulent history. I expected the atmosphere to be very different indeed; I assumed it would be thick with tense energy from religions colliding, disputing over claims and rights. But it's not that way at all. Not for me. One night I was sitting with a friend in the Western Wall plaza, waiting for the sunset to usher in the end of another Shabbat. Despite the cold air that comes with the setting sun, I realized at that moment I could sit there for hours. And when I do leave, I feel refreshed.

The walk to the Old City from the Student Village only takes about 20-25 minutes. Yesterday morning the weather was beautiful, already in the 60s, so I couldn't bear to take a bus or the lightrail. I love to feel the sun here. We entered the City through the Lion Gate, one I hadn't been through yet. For the record, I've been through the Jaffa Gate, Damascus Gate, Dung Gate, Zion Gate, and stood in front of the Golden (Eastern) Gate. I still find it amusing to watch cars and trucks maneuver through these narrow streets, and at the same time I am thankful I'm not in the car. I may never complain about city driving again (yeah right).

I guess I will interject here and say a few things about the way Israelis drive. NYC cab drivers do not hold a candle to these people. I don't know if the cars here have functioning turn signals, but they do have horns, gas pedals and brakes. Sometimes the second car in line will honk the horn before the light even turns green because he/she is already tired of waiting. The bus I was riding one day accelerated downhill toward traffic at a stop light. I'm still scratching my head at the logic in that. Thankfully I was braced for the sudden stop. Another time on the way to class I heard screeching tires and looked over to see a man rearend a woman who had stopped for a bus in front of her. He hit her hard enough to rock her car, and she simply looked in her rearview mirror and waited, and he simply sat there and watched. No one jumped out of their cars to cuss out anyone, no fighting resulted. It's definitely not America where people sue at the drop of a hat. My favorite experience watching someone drive would have to be in the Christian Quarter. I came out of a church and was waiting for a van to back up, but in front of him was a man who had no interest in waiting for the van to get out of the way. So the van stops while this man squeezes by in the opposite direction towards me, and due to lack of room when he came around the corner I heard a loud CRUNCH. Yeah he hit the wall. It still makes me laugh.

Early morning in the Old City is my favorite time to walk through. Children are on their way to school, vendors are out getting setup for the day, and the bread smells goooood. And the Muslim Quarter is actually maneuverable! When we reached the area for getting to the Temple Mount, the line was lengthy. After about 15 minutes of waiting, a security guard walked up, asked how many were in our group, and took us past the line in front of us and straight to the second side of security. After a few minutes, we were on the Temple Mount.

The experience overall was very pleasant, relaxing even. We were watched by a couple of Muslim guards, but nothing to really speak of. We were up there for about an hour, and yes I prayed and even sang along with a worship song playing through my mp3 player and I'm still here to talk about it. It wasn't very crowded and the area is larger than I thought. My thought while looking at my feet on the Temple Mount (I look at my feet often here, and think "can you believe you're standing here?") was that though I am tremendously blessed and thrilled with this opportunity of being able to live in Jerusalem for a short while, I am even more blessed and thrilled with the fact that no matter where I go, He is with me.

Shalom,

Stacey

From a mountain top to the lowest place on Earth

Good evening,

I am taking a break from studying for my Hebrew final. Tomorrow morning (Tuesday) is the oral final, and Wednesday is the written final. I don't anticipate sleeping much the next couple days; when they say ulpan is intensive, they're not kidding. I've learned so much over the last four weeks that it hasn't had time to settle yet, it's still a swirly mess upstairs.

This past weekend I was in Masada and Arad. It was AMAZING. The Judean desert is beautiful. I hope to return at some point to stay the night at a hostel type place near Masada and "rent" a camel for a desert tour. The trek up the mountain/hill/plateau (which ever you prefer) took only about 20 minutes and wasn't that strenuous. They do have the option of taking a cable car up and then back down, but we opted for exercise. Once we reached the plateau, I was surprised at how vast Masada is. It would take at least a few hours to see all the ruins of King Herod the Great's winter palaces. One of my favorite spots: the ruins of one of the oldest known synagogues in Israel. It is over 2000 years old, existing during the Second Temple Period. Scrolls were found at the site which helped validate the Dead Sea Scrolls. The weather was pleasant, I wore a t-shirt, but the wind was borderline atrocious. I almost lost my hat several times and it was a little icy. Our stay atop Masada lasted about an hour and a half, and no matter how many times I looked, the view never got old.

View facing east; the Dead Sea is visible at the top, and the "little" square in the right/center is what remains of a Roman base; there were a few of these around the mountain.

Spectacular view looking northeast

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The Dead Sea with the mountains of Jordan in the background

I would have to agree with this sign

The view as we started our descent; notice the cables for the car

After our tour was over, we took the Snake Path down. This path took us over twice as long as the one going up: 45 minutes. It offered breathtaking views and a little anxiety...there were some handrails at the start, but shortly after it was all open; one slip and you got down in a hurry and probably not in one piece. The path is all gravel and rock, with stone steps here and there. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I was surprised to see children on this path. Once we safely made it down and onto our bus, we drove to a beach at the Dead Sea. The water is beautiful and so clear. Although the air temperature was quite nice, the water was cooold. It took me several minutes of inching to waist level before I got bold and just leaned back. Once I regained my breath, I couldn't believe it: I was effortlessly floating. After a while I was leaning back with my arms folded across my stomach.

After exiting the water, my skin turned white once it dried; I've never seen leprous skin but I wondered if that's what mine looked like. I rinsed off best I could under one of the showers on the beach (thankfully it was warmer than the sea), but the salt residue was very greasy, and part of my hair was crunchy with salt. If you ever go into the Dead Sea, keep two things in mind: do not get water in your eye, and do not consume any water. Just saying. I touched my tongue with my finger and it burned.

We made our way west to our hostel in Arad. The girls in the above picture were my roommates for the weekend (the last one to your left is my roommate for the semester). If there's one thing I've done a lot of since arriving in Israel, it's eat. And I definitely ate this past weekend. I finally had red meat for the first time since arriving, and the veggies here are amazing. I may never be able to shop at a WalMart again. After getting some much needed rest Friday night, a large group of us took a walk through Arad to a lookout point. Once again the views left me longing to walk through the desert below.

Well you've had a small taste of what my weekend was like. Back to studying!

Stacey

In the beginning...

Thursday, February 14, 2013 (5773)

Hello,

Since arriving in Israel I have toyed with the idea of starting a blog, but resigned to posting pictures on Facebook. However, I've realized Facebook can be pretty cluttered, and besides I really want to share more than just pictures. I've never blogged before, so it may take me some time to not only get used to this but to also figure out how to maneuver through this thing and make it look nice. So please keep in mind that like myself, this blog is a work in progress. :)

A little bit about myself: I am majoring in Judaic Studies and minoring in Hebrew at the University of Oklahoma, and am currently studying at Rothberg International School, which is part of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, located on Mount Scopus in East Jerusalem.  I received a scholarship from OU to study here in Israel, and I immediately chose Jerusalem.  I arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, January 23. It was my first transatlantic flight, and needless to say I'm not thrilled about having to do it again to get home, but I guess my options are pretty limited so I'll get over it. Thankfully I did not suffer any jetlag whatsoever; this was a concern of mine since we were scheduled to start ulpan the very next day (ulpan is just a Hebrew word for a school to learn Hebrew).  How did I get so lucky?  Well I just didn't sleep.  I left at 4:30 in the morning to go to the OKC airport, and when I arrived in Newark I wandered around and got some lunch. I wanted to sleep on the flight to Israel, but I was blessed with a toddler in the seat next to me who was obsessed with unplugging the earphones I was using to hear the movies I watched on the snazzy little screen in front of me. When she finally passed out, I tried to do the same but I couldn't get my seat to lay back. So after several  5 minute catnaps and some funky airline food, I arrived in Tel Aviv 10 hours later at 0900 Israeli time (they don't use AM or PM here, it's all military).  I took a group bus with other students from the airport to the Kfar HaStudentim (Student Village) in East Jerusalem, and from there we had about an hour to get our luggage up the many steps (everything is uphill in Jerusalem) and to our apartments. Mine is on the 7th floor (8th in America-here they start with floor 0). I unpacked, tried not to let reality set in, and headed back downstairs for a group shopping trip to the mall for food, etc. By the time I sat down and finally had a bite to eat (first meal since breakfast on the plane 15 hours before that), it was almost 2300 (11 PM...you'll get the hang of it). Thanks to being up for 36 straight hours, I slept alllll night and woke up at a decent time in the morning, putting me right on schedule with the time difference of jumping 8 hours into the future.

My apartment has the best view possible: the living room overlooks the city, so I can see the Mt. of Olives, the Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock, the Golden Gate (Eastern Gate), city walls, etc. From my bedroom I can see the Judean hills and on a clear day, I can see part of the Dead Sea. I have four roommates; one is from the Boston area, one from a small village in the UK, and two from France. They're all really sweet.

At 6 in the morning, I am going to Masada and possibly the Dead Sea. I've not yet been out of Jerusalem since I arrived, and am anxious to see more of Israel. For those of you who are not familiar with where Masada is and why it is significant, here is a link to wiki if you would like to read up on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada  I'll be sure to post pictures and hopefully videos after I return.

The picture above was taken from my living room.

Well, that is all I have for now, just wanted to get this ball rolling and I'll see where it goes.  I'll post more soon.

Stacey

Psalm 122