So a Jew, Christian, and a Muslim meet on the Temple Mount ...

The awesomeness of the place I have called home for the past 7 months will never cease to amaze me. This morning, I went with Nathan and Meghan to my last service at St. George's Cathedral and there was a giant group of Irish Catholics visiting. The Episcopalian minister and the Catholic priest did a joint communion so that everyone could participate in the Eucharist. Following the service, we walked through East Jerusalem to the Damascus Gate and entered the Old City.

We walked through the heart of the Arab Quarter and ended up at the Western Wall Plaza. After taking a few minutes to pray at the Wall. We ascended to the Temple Mount. When the Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque are in the news, 9 times out of 10 (if not more!) it's talking about protests and violence and discord. No where did I see that on the Mosque. Curious Western tourists approached the Muslims to ask them questions about the meaning and significance of sites. Every single person there was respectful of the sanctity of the place they were standing and respected everyone who was around them. The sheer beauty of the Dome of the Rock is unexplainable. The location of the Temple is commemorated by the Muslim buildings that now stand there, including an entire shrine, which is actually the oldest building on the Mount, dedicated to reign of King Solomon.

While standing in this beautiful shrine (the Dome of the Chain) we met an interfaith couple who was also visiting. They were from San Francisco and the husband is Muslim and from Afghanistan. The wife is Jewish and from the US. Nathan, Meghan, myself, and this couple stood inside the Dome of the Chain with arab children running, screaming and playing around us, for 30 minutes talking. It was beautiful.

After we were kicked off the Temple Mount (no, we didn't do anything bad, they shut down public access at 10am) we walking back into the Arab quarter and walked up the Via Dolorossa to the Jaffa Gate and grabbed brunch at CafeCafe. At brunch we talked about the nature of God, God's relationship with the followers of other religious faiths and whether or not God is universal -- speaking to all people in different ways with different voices -- or if he is exclusive -- speaking only to people of a PARTICULAR religion. I'll say that I don't necessarily agree with all of the opinions voiced, but the conversation was amazing to have. Talking to people I don't completely agree with about issues of faith is challenging and really helps to give me the latitude and longitude of my location on my own personal path.

Alright, it's time to go back to focusing on school work. Please make sure to check out the rest of my pictures on my Facebook page!

oy!

I'm avoiding the temptation to rant about the crazy anti-Israel things I've read in the past few hours because I will get angry and not do my opinions any justice. Instead, I'm going to post the INSANE to do list that I have for the next 8 days before I leave Israel!!

Thurs: Hebrew class; Skype date with EC; study for Hebrew final

Friday: Hebrew final; clean out room; packing dress rehearsal

Sat: write 3-5 page paper comparing Samuel/Kings to Chronicles; continue cleaning

Sun: last time going to St. George's and breakfast with Nathan and Sofia; Beach??? (pray for good weather for me!); study for Arch of Israel final; finish tracking down dad's movie!

Mon: study for Arch of Israel final; study for Arch of Jerusalem final; laundry;

Tues: last "Books of the Bible class"; Arch of Israel final; study for Arch of Jerusalem final; finish packing; make sure BlackBerry is functioning!!

Wednesday: move out of apartment; Arch of Jerusalem final; copy sources for "Classical Jewish Texts" paper; check out of HUJI; good bye dinner

Thursday: 3am: LEAVE FOR AIRPORT!!!!!!!! tea/coffee with Ellie in London; train to Paris; train to Rome overnight

Friday: ROME!!!!!!

At SOME point, I need to figure where I'm staying for my last 5 days in Italy (see previous post) and while in Italy, reserve my place in the Ireland tour, I WILL need to edit the paper on Kings vs. Chronicles and email it in by Feb 22. Should also email the Letter of Recommendation forms to everyone who has agreed to write a letter for me so far ...

yeah ... I'm not going to be busy at ALL in the next week, am I?? I still can't really believe in ONE WEEK (almost to the minute!!) I'll be leaving Jerusalem behind me (for now) and moving on ... that's actually a rather sad thought.

Jerusalem has certainly been a roller coaster in ALL ways. This city has stretched my boundaries and I can honestly say that I'm not the same person now as I was when I got here (though, people at home, don't worry, you'll still recognize me!!). I'm not going into the introspection that my bidding Jerusalem adieu deserves right now ... I'll save that for another post ... possibly from BG airport which is the next free moment I see ...

Looking forward to a gastronomic adventure!

Well, I'm putting the finishing touches on the Italy portion of the trip (I leave in 8 days, so time is of the essence!) and I must say that I am truly looking forward to the food and the art. I can't believe that in just over a week I will be in Rome, throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain ... and looking at the Arch of Titus, the Vatican, the Colosseum ... In less than two weeks I will be strolling through the Uffizi Gallery, saying "sup" to David, standing inside Duomo ... and in roughly two weeks I'll be riding in a gondola with Ellie and some of her friends from the UNC program in London through the canals of Venice ...

After Venice I am still debating what to do. My gut (which is currently informing me that I have had nothing but a bowl of onion soup today ... ) would love to spend the remaining 5 days roaming around Emilio-Romagno (home to Bologna, Parma, and Modena!) simply eating and drinking. I DO want to see Milan (and briefly entertained spending an INSANE amount of money seeing an opera at La Scala), but I think that two days there will be PLENTY of time to see La Scala, The Last Supper, Duomo (yes, there is more than one in Italy :P), and Museo d'Arte Antica). Especially since one can only spend 15 minutes with The Last Supper and those 15 minutes must be part of a larger tour ...)

I'm thinking that going from Venice to Bologna, spending a day in Bologna (home of pasta bolognese), then going on to Modena the next day, having lunch and the afternoon in Modena (the home of balsamic vinegar) and then having dinner in Parma (parmesean cheese, anyone?) and either staying in Parma for the evening and moving on to Milan the next morning OR taking a train to Milan that evening (it's only a 45 minute train from Bologna to Modena, and another 30 minutes to Parma; it's an 1 1/4 hours to Milan) ... I'm open to suggestions here.

Well, this food-centric blog post has not helped my hunger any ... so I'm off to grab some dinner SOMEWHERE in Jerusalem ... more musings on Italy, Paris and beyond later!

Adventures and language barriers

So, true story ... I've made friends with several Catholic students here at the University. Several of them are students here like me, but there is a group of 35 people (33 men, 2 women) who are here from Rome's Pontifical Biblical Institute. Fabulously nice people, whom I've gotten to know through class and through my interest is seeing what the Catholic mass is all about (it seems super scary an intimidating until you go ... and I really like the people who go regularly so it's kinda like a social outing!!). Anyhoo, we were invited to stay after Saturday's mass for dinner and a tour of the archaeological museum they have! I got to see Alex the Mummy, the ONLY Egyptian mummy in Israel, and several REALLY cool ostraca and sherds and axe-handles 3000+ years old! After the tour we got to see the rooftop view which was AMAZING and then our hosts (several monks and priests!!) invited us to stay for poker and drinks. So I spent several hours in the refractory of the Catholic religious residence, 2 blocks from the King David Hotel (where McCain and Lieberman were staying LAST week when I ran into them on my way to mass with Meghan, Corinna, and Gavin. THAT was odd!) playing POKER and drinking alcohol (people were drinking things ranging from REALLY good Arab beer to hard liquor) with several monks, a nun, and some priests. I have to say, that is not something that I EVER thought I would say I've done.

Another true story, though not nearly so amusing or fun ... the main internet company in this country is Bezek. They are EVIL. Anyhoo, my credit card number changed in October. I called Bezek and TOLD them about the change ... but they failed to change the number. So, yesterday morning they shut off my internet. My Hebrew is decent enough to navigate the website and realize what the problem is. I even managed to get to the page to PAY ... but they wanted my National ID number ... and since I am not an Israeli I don't HAVE one. And my student ID card was NOT going to cut it. So, I spent 1.5 hours on the phone TODAY trying to explain in my limited Hebrew what the problem is (no one working at Bezek today spoke any English). BAsically, the woman told me that she would just have someone call ME who spoke English. 45 minutes later and still no call, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I found a friend who is French and speaks English beautifully if she could translate for me. HER Hebrew wasn't that great ... so she asked her friend who speaks French and Hebrew, but not much English if SHE would do it ... so I explained the problem to Girl 1 in English. Girl 1 explained it to Girl 2 in French, and Girl 2 spoke to the evil people from Bezek in Hebrew. Bill paid, receipt in hand, life is good. It only took 3 languages, but whatever. That's life – C'est la vie – זה החיים

Now that Evil Bezek has been dealt with, I'm off to get my International Student ID Card and then head back to my apartment to make SURE that my internet was turned back on!!! More from Jerusalem later ...

Yad Vashem

Yesterday I went back to Yad Vashem with another friend, and again was intrigued by this museum focus on the roots of anti-semitism and how deep-seeded it was in European culture. Many museum's choose to focus on the sheer horror that was life (and death) in the camps. And Yad Vashem includes some of this ... but it is fitting that the Holocaust museum in Israel focuses not on the camps or the ghettos ... but the face of anti-semitism. What ALLOWED this human tragedy to take place?

Anti-semitism is still alive and well today. It lives on in the concept of the "Jewish conspiracy" when people say that organizations such as AIPAC run the US government. It lives on when Christians state that Nazism was NOT religious it was racial and that that 2000 years of Church teachings played no role.

Many of my Catholic acquaintances are upset by the fact that Pope Pius XII is not given a shining gold star by the Jewish people and Yad Vashem. But why should he be? You can debate the motivations behind his silence until you are blue in the face ... but it doesn't change the FACT that his silence meant that Christians around Europe had to decide for themselves whether or not to shelter the Jews. Many decided of their accord to help ... but most did not and 6,000,000 Jews were slaughtered. Perhaps Pius does not deserve the encomium that has been heaped on him over the past decades, but he CERTAINLY does not deserve to become a Saint. If he had stood in FRONT of the Jews, sheltering them from the Nazi's in St. Peter's Square we would be having a different conversation. But he didn't. He stood behind them, arms opened as if on the cross. Was he judging the Nazi's or the Jews? It depends entirely on whether you're the one being dragged to your death or not.

Sick

Well, it's official. I'm down for the count. Sore throat, headache, sniffles, fever ... the works. Resisting the urge to eat crappy food and opting for the healthy stuff so my system will bounce back faster. There is so much to get done ... I really want go get better FAST so that I have the energy to do it!!

I decided to take the day off from Hebrew and sleep and rest. I watched the most recent Harry Potter movie (which brought on some MAJOR water works). The movies are amazing, but they also have some very interesting theological undertones which are a lot of fun to follow through the series. Brilliant work.

On a completely separate note,

Have you noticed that whenever someone says "I'm not [anti-semitic, racist, sexists], but ..." they are about to say something truly terrible? Everyone has a prejudice or two. It's the one's who can't admit it and feel the need to JUSTIFY it that you need to worry about. The people who KNOW they have a prejudice and ADMIT IT are usually pretty harmless. Actually, they are usually rather enlightened. I wonder what would happen if whenever you heard some say "I'm not anti-semitic, but ... " you turned around and said, "actually, you ARE anti-semitic" ?? Obviously a major breach of politic ... but it would be interesting to see people's reactions (beFORE they started screaming at you, of course).

Nostalgia

It's fun to look back on all the blog's that I posted during my 7 months in Israel. I must say that I wish that I'd been more diligent in keeping things updated. It's always hard to stop and document what's happening when you're living in the moment.

I know that I've changed and matured while here (it's impossible not to). It's similar to making pottery ... you mold it when the clay is still soft, but until you fire the pot it hasn't really taken shape. I would say that living in Israel has been like going through the firing process ... not always pleasant, but the end result is amazing.

I came to Israel looking for one set of answers ... and I am going away with a completely different set. The experiences that I've had here and the lessons I've learned about myself are NOTHING like what I thought they would be. But I think that perhaps THOSE lessons -- the ones that surprise you -- are the most valuable. I came wanting to contribute to the understanding of and conversation about religious through archaeology .... and I'm leaving wanting to contribute to that same conversation through interfaith dialogue and education. I came wanting to learn more about Judaism and eschewing Christianity ... and I'm leaving with a rich understanding of how the two faiths intersect and are related. I suppose I'm a good example of the saying "Man plans and God laughs" because I came here with so many plans ... and one by one realized that my perception of who I was and what I wanted did not accurately reflect my true personality, perhaps even soul.

I think that the most important lesson I've learned is that while having a direction and a plan is IMPORTANT, keeping your eyes and heart and mind open to what life/God/Fate throw your way is equally important. Being blown by every chance wind isn't going to get you very far ... but putting your head in the sand will take you the distance and you'll be miserable the entire time.

Life is a journey, enjoy the ride.

Less than three weeks left in Israel ...

Well, spring has arrived in Israel ... and it's only the second week of January!! It's been in the 70s for the past week or so ... and I'm in the Judean Hills!!! I'm going to miss all of my friends here. It's been SUCH a blast and a privilege getting to know all the people here and just an amazing experience living here in Israel. For example, we went on a field trip for archaeology and the Biblical Narrative on Friday to Hazor ... so during the bus ride (which, btw was GORGEOUS!!!) I read all the Bible passages that relate to Hazor. So I stood on the top of the Mountain and could almost see the invading Israelite army in the 11th century BCE coming up the plane from the south and conquering the city ... I sat inside the ancient Canaanite temple where the fire burned so hot that the mudbricks became as hard as stone ... and could see the Israelites destroying the pagan idols and setting the place on fire ... then they settled on the remains in tents and dug pits for their garbage ... and you can see the places where the pits were dug because the original cobblestone is disturbed. You can walk through the gates that King Solomon built when he refortified the city in the 10th century BCE ... and the extensions of the city wall ordered by King Ahaz. You can STILL climb down in to the massive water system built by the Israelite under the Aramean and Assyrian threats ... and you can sense the impending doom of the Northern Kingdom ... The fields that Canaanite and Israelite farmers tended more than 3000 years ago STILL are farmed by Israelis until this very day.

OH! And I have decided to write a book. I'm not putting the details on the internet because I don't want someone to steal my idea, but if you're curious let me know! Nathan has graciously offered to write the forward for me :)