"And you shall tell your children..."

So with the wave of finals crashing down on us here at the Jerusalem Center, I haven't been able to escape the center since Monday. So what do we do if we can't escape the Center? We have cool cultural experiences within the Center! Today was our last day of our Judaism/Israel class, and we celebrated the momentous occasion this evening with a Passover Seder. Naturally, it is not Passover season, but we're celebrating Christmas in July with an upcoming trip to Bethlehem, so a Passover in June isn't that weird. 

Passover is one of those elements that has held the Jews together as a people for millennia. Regardless of doctrinal preferences or level of orthodoxy, Jews regard Passover as an important yearly event. It commemorates what is arguably the most important event in the Jewish historical consciousness: Israel's deliverance from Egypt. It's a very lengthy, ritualistic affair (we were there for the better part of three hours, and Ophir told us that it was a 'condensed' Seder), but we all loved it. Pictured above is the table setting Ophir had. The plate at the upper left is the Seder plate, which holds several symbolic foods that are used during the meal--for example, the bitter herbs that are eaten in memory of the bitter servitude of the children of Israel in Egypt. The decorative cloth to the right holds the unleavened bread that is used several times during the course of the meal, symbolic of the haste with which the Jews left slavery for freedom.

One of the moments that stood out to me during the night's proceedings was when we recited each of the plagues that God struck Egypt with. For each of the plagues, we took a drop of our grape juice (our stand-in for the traditional wine) and poured it out to remember the suffering of the Egyptians during the whole Exodus story. Ophir told us a rabbinic tradition that when the armies of Israel were drowned in the Red Sea, the children of Israel began to dance and rejoice. The angels in heaven saw this unfolding and began to rejoice as well. God immediately told them to stop, and answered their incredulous questions by responding that his children were dying. It's a strong reminder that God loves all of his children.

Exodus 13:8 records the Lord's commandment that the Jews hold the Passover and use it to explain to their children about the mercy of the Lord in delivering them from opression. Ophir had his daughter there with him tonight, so he was fulfilling the commandment in the strictest sense, but I also felt like he was even more deeply fulfilling the spirit of the commandment by helping us American goyim remember how the Lord helped Israel. It was a good night.

Back on Track

Well, as you can see, we've encountered some issues with the blog. A few days ago, they let me know that I had run out of space on the blog and that I needed to either get rid of some content or buy more memory. I meant to just delete a few pictures from past posts, but with my technical ineptitude one thing led to another, and... no more blog! The good news here is that lack of space is no longer a problem! (And I had all of my former posts saved anyways, so nothing is permanently lost.) I'll try and be a little less photo-crazy from here on out, and hopefully this won't be an issue again. We'll see. 

Despite not having posted for a while, I really don't have too much to comment on. This week and next week are the finals rush for us here in the center: by next Friday, four of our seven classes will be over, and all eight of them will have had a significant exam. It's crunch time. Some classes don't give me much trouble (like Ancient Near Eastern history and Old Testament), but others have been keeping me pretty busy. The good news is that we're rewarded for completing our finals with a trip to Jordan! We're gonna go see Petra!

These first few photos are just of the sunset that we watched from the seventh floor lawn last Saturday. This is the view we have every Sabbath as we're sitting in sacrament meeting. Thus, it doesn't matter if a speaker is less than enthralling, because you're always guaranteed to be edified by the view. 

O Jerusalem... 

Not a bad spot to sit and contemplate life!

The biggest adventure we had was on Sunday, when we chartered a couple of buses and treked down to the Red Sea! We found out that the city of Eilat was renown for its snorkeling, and it wasn't something we could pass up. It was kinda fun to take the group out on an adventure without professors: just a bunch of crazy Mormon college kids. 

 Cousin at the beach!

 The coral right here wasn't too impressive, but once you were actually down snorkeling in the water, it was spectacular. It was like Finding Nemo: Israel Edition. There were so many fish. I was also on the lookout for some Egyptian chariots or armor, but no such luck. 

And of course, since we were at the Red Sea, I couldn't help practicing my water bending skills a bit....

Heir of Moses or next Avatar? You decide!

On Monday we were back on an official, Center-run field trip to Neot Kedumim. The best way to describe this place is as a Polynesian Cultural Center...but for Biblical Israel. Less pineapple and hula dancing, more pita bread and goat herding.

Hah! You thought I was joking about the goat herding, didn't you? We really did spend a fair chunk of our time trying to get goats and sheep to listen to us. Our tour guide pointed out that Israel's two greatest leaders, Moses and David, started their careers as shepherds. As they learned to care for and guide sheep, they gained the skills they would eventually need to care for and guide God's people. Judging from our herding skills, I don't think we have any future prophets or kings in our JC group, but it was fun anyways. 

He split us into two groups and had one group herd the goats to a specific location while the other group herded the sheep in the opposite direction. It turned out that the goats were a heck of a lot easier to herd than the sheep. It makes me wonder why they end up on the left hand of God in the end. They're really not so bad. 

There were lots of really interesting exhibits which, if I had the time and the memory, I would describe in detail. We stopped by a well and discussed some of the biblical stories dealing with wells. One of my favorite spots was by a sycamore tree, where we discussed the story of Zacchaeus, the short publican who climbed up to see the Lord near Jericho. Our guide told us that the fruit of a sycamore tree, the sycamore fig, doesn't grow very big on its own. However, if the figs are pricked as they're growing, they increase fourfold in size by the time they reach maturity. He compared that to Zacchaeus who, when he was taught by Jesus, promised to restore fourfold that which he had unjustly taken during his career as a publican. There were tons of little details like that which helped enrich our understanding of the biblical narratives. 

We spend some time here at a threshing floor, talking about Israelite agriculture in general and the book of Ruth in particular.  

The climax of our visit to Neot Kedumim was a visit with a Torah scribe. Torah scrolls which are used in churches are always handwritten, and they have to be written perfectly, which requires an incredible amount of skill. Our scribe and our guides described the entire process from making the ink to preparing the leather to painstakingly writing each letter with a quill or reed pen. In addition to writing Torah, scribes also write the tiny scrolls that are placed inside mezuzahs (the boxes placed on doorframes) and the tefillin (or phylacteries, the black boxes that many Jews wear during morning prayers). It was a very cool presentation.

 "As it says in the book of Leviticus..."

Finally, a couple of nights ago we got permission to go out at night and explore this "Festival of Lights" thing happening around the Old City. It was definitely something a bit different: the juxtaposition of ancient stone and modern technology was kinda cool.

 If you waited in line long enough, you could play pinball on Damascus Gate. I was severely tempted...

Even the city benches lit up for the festival. When I sat down on this one, it instantly turned Sith red. I guess I'm headed down the path to the dark side... 

And that's about it! Don't expect too much excitement during the next week, but I will try and get some info up, even if it is just insights I'm having in some of my classes. Shalom!