Ma Nishma?

Hello, my loyal blog readership! First of all, it's looking like sometime this week, the blog will hit 1,000 views! Originally I didn't think this blog would have an audience beyond my mom, grandma, and girlfriend, so I'm rather astounded that I've got this many hits. Thanks for showing an interest in my historical ramblings and goofy photos. (Of course, there might be a sharp drop in the number of photos pretty soon...but more on that later.) Here's a quick glimpse into the excitement of the last week!

Lately I've been making more of an effort to explore the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. The Old City has a pretty crazy history: it was largely destroyed during Israel's conflict with Jordan, and before it was rebuilt the Israelis did some intensive archaeological surveys. They uncovered and preserved some fantastic remains from ancient Jerusalem. Above is pictured one of the most important discoveries: the 'Broad Wall' of old Jerusalem. This impressive fortification, over five yards thick, would have been built by King Hezekiah in the late eighth century BC. Following the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel, Jerusalem experienced and rapid and enormous influx of refugees. These immigrants from the north largely settled to the west of what was the old Jerusalem, the city of David. In order to prepare the city for the incoming invasion of Assyria under Sennacherib, Hezekiah expanded Jerusalem's city walls to include the homes of this expanded population. As significant as this is for the Biblical narrative (just take a look at Isaiah 36-37), this also plays into the Book of Mormon narrative as well. We know that Lehi was from the tribe of Manasseh, and his forefathers may have immigrated to Jerusalem during this period. These city walls would have been the walls of Lehi and Nephi's Jerusalem, the walls behind which the band of brothers hid as they launched forays to obtain the brass plates.

This is me and my crew at the Cardo, which would have been the main thoroughfare through the city of Jerusalem during the Roman/Byzantine periods of the city. As the artistic representation below depicts, the columnaded walkway would have been lined with numerous shops.

Nate couldn't help but hold hands with an ancient babe. 

One of the most interesting stops in the Jewish Quarter is the Temple Institute, run by an organization dedicated to hastening the construction of the third Jewish temple. Check out their website to get a taste of their ideological zeal: http://www.templeinstitute.org/main.htm. As there's very little that they can do in terms of actual temple construction, they've been fulfilling their mandate by preparing all of the vessels for the new temple. Pictured above is the two-ton menorah that they created and placed overlooking the Western Wall plaza. They've completed most of the essential items, and some of their current projects include genetically engineering a 'red heifer' and creating the robes for the Levites. It was cool to see the items they've made as visual aides for imagining what the ancient temple would have looked like. 

Of course, any trip through the Jewish Quarter is incomplete without a trip to the Western Wall. I've already provided a bajillion photos of the plaza, so this time I thought I'd share some new details. The above picture is a close-up of a crevice in the wall. Pretty much every crevice between the ground and ten feet up is filled with small, folded sheets of paper. Jews (and others) visiting the wall often write prayers and then place them in the crevices of the wall. Jewish tradition holds that the Divine Presence, the Shekinah, never departs from the Western Wall, and all prayers offered travel here first (where the Holy of Holies stands) before ascending to heaven, so it's natural that the wall is a place for offering prayers. A few times a year, Jews clean out the prayers and, in keeping with their tradition of honoring any writing that bears the name of God, they bury the prayers in a cemetery.

Not a lot of historical significance here, but a whole lot of patriotic significance. That's me, Stephanie, and Sarah enjoying some legit Fourth of July hamburgers. Our Jordanian chef Akhmed put together an incredible holiday BBQ, which was better than most Fourth of July meals I've had in the States. Brother Huntsman blared a patriotic playlist as we ate, and we had some good carnival-style games afterwards. It was a good taste of home. 

Here's me and Rachel at the Bible Lands Museum! Her and Avery had to put up with me nerding out over vases from Uruk and ziggurat models from Babylon. 

Me in front of ANES Mecca: the Shrine of the Book, at the Israel Museum. This is where the Dead Sea Scrolls are stored. The top is shaped like the top of the pots in which several of the scrolls were discovered. 

The A-Team: Ashley, Andy, and Avery. It's thanks to these two that I haven't turned into Andy the Hutt this summer: they drag me out of bed to jog every morning. This was right before our visit to the Great Synagogue in West Jerusalem. It's one of the largest synagogues in the city, a place were Jews of all levels of orthodoxy come together to worship. They have a synagogue choir which accompanies the service, which made for an awesome experience. 

This photo requires a little bit of of background. David Kramer and I teach the 8/9-year-old Primary class, and they can sometimes be a pretty rowdy bunch. This last Sunday, we had a totally JC student-run Primary: no presidency members or adults from the branch. Our boys were getting a bit out of hand, but chorister Susan Bell was prepared. She whipped out a new singing time activity: the Singing Hat. She explained that whichever class sang most reverently and beautifully would have the honor of placing the Singing Hat on their teacher. Boy, you never saw a set of little kids become so angelic so fast. They sang like altar boys, despite our pleas that they start acting up again. In the end, our class was chosen, and with malicious glee they placed the Singing Hat on Kramer's head. This photo was taken to immortalize his shame.

And, finally, this is a carving at Gethsemane, but its real significance is that it's the last photo my camera will probably ever take. I was trying to switch the flash on for another shot of this when a large tourist group came through, and someone bumped me, causing my camera to tumble to the cobblestones below. I was about to punch the tourist in the face, but then I realized where I was, and I decided it would be more appropriate to slice off his ear instead.

...Ha ha ha, just kidding, just kidding, a little biblical humor there. In short, the lens of my camera won't come out any more, and I'm not sure how or if I'll be able to repair my camera. My traveling buddies have promised to get me copies of the group pictures we take, and I might be able to borrow cameras on occasion, but it's unlikely that I'll be updating this blog as frequently for my remaining month of the trip. Cross your fingers though: if I can find a way to fix/replace my camera, it'll be business as usual. And I hope I can solve this problem, because next week...we're going to Galilee!!!