Safety and Prayers

Friends, I owe you a post about our latest field study to Jordan last week (which was awesome) but I wanted to put out at least a short response to the various emails I've been getting, and the news I'm sure you've heard, regarding the missiles from and attacks on the Gaza strip.

Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers and concerns. I am blessed to have so many people interested in my safety and well-being. I am well. I am safe. I am not worried or frightened. I count myself fortunate to be here at this time and be able to hear personal stories of people who live here.

Not everything on the news is accurate. You already know that. You also know that most US news (like nearly all news companies) are selling stories and tend to be biased, reactionary and overly dramatic. I think it is important to know everything that has happened recently and not just the "big stories." There is a very helpful timeline available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/11/who-started-the-israel-gaza-conflict/265374/

I am living on modern Mount Zion - only a few yards from the Old City wall. This means that there are numerous mosques, churches and synagogues nearby. It is a holy city for both sides and the old city is rarely, if ever, the target of attack. Can you imagine the world war three that would take place if the Dome of the Rock, the Western Wall, or the Holy Sepulcher were to be damaged or destroyed? No one wants to deal with that. My particular building is built against the bedrock of the mountain (solid stone wall - it ain't budging) with four foot thick stone walls surrounding us (they are also not budging). Our school was at one point an army barracks during the Jordanian war. It is one of the safest places to live in Jerusalem.

A little information about the missiles/rockets that Hamas uses: they are cheap and have lousy aim. If they manage to hit anything at all, Hamas tries to make it appear that it was their target, but here is the problem: they can't have targets because they can't aim the stupid things. Also, the rockets do not go very far. I was in the Old City shopping on Friday when the air-raid siren went off. Everyone I was near started laughing - that is how unlikely they feel it would be if Jerusalem were to be hit by a rocket. Hamas wouldn't aim in this direction, but they also don't have the range to hit anything here. Two rockets had in fact come towards Jerusalem from Gaza (they say it was on purpose, I think it was a mistake) but they hit in open land 10 miles outside the city. They can't reach this far.

Israel has a tool that they call the Iron Dome - it intercepts rockets fired from Gaza towards Israel with a 90% interception rate. You may hear in the news that Gaza has fired 400 and some rockets and wonder why you hear very little about the destruction in Israel - it is because the vast majority are blown up midair. Also, Israel has a lot of open land and most of the rockets that have landed somewhere have landed in the desert or unoccupied farm land.

If you followed the link earlier for the timeline, you may have noticed that the number of Gazans who have died or been injured is extremely higher than that number of Israelis dead or injured: part of this is because of the previously given reason that most rockets fired from Gaza do not succeed in harming human life - another is that Gaza is a very densely populated city. It is slightly more than twice the size of Washington, D.C. and has a population of 1.6 million people. Israel is firing on it from air and ocean and is considering a ground invasion. Any shelling or shooting within Gaza will have a high civilian death toll, especially when the attacking army is indiscriminate of what they hit.

I appreciate the prayers and thoughts of people back home, but I especially ask that you turn your prayers towards the people who live here, the ones who cannot leave, the ones who are seeing their home and families torn apart because of governments and hatred that they have been taught. The psychological and emotional ramifications for both Israelis and Palestinians of being constantly insecure within their own homes and being unable to protect their family or loved ones will be felt for many years to come and is often used to fuel hatred and further violence. Both sides in this conflict believe that they merely responding to the provocation of the other side.

There is an old world thought that involves retribution that shows up in Genesis 4: when an offence took place, the victim was avenged seven times what had been done to them. But in Exodus 21:23-25 God limits the revenge that can take place: his people were no longer allowed to escalate the damage, they could only do to others the same as what had happened to them, "an eye for an eye", etc. And then Jesus came around and further limited revenge: Luke 6, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." But the world we live in doesn't operate by Jesus commands, rarely do Christians even follow them. The current situation in Israel is a perfect example, just look at that timeline. It's not even eye for an eye - an article written in 2009 described the Israel/Gaza conflict as "an eye for an eyelash". (Great article - could have been written this week, it's strange how things work in cycles. See http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/israeli-war-eye-for-an-eye-this-is-an-eye-369876 .)

 41% of Israelis believe that Palestinians want to conquer and destroy the Jewish population. 62% of Palestinians believe that Israelis want to extend their borders to cover all the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River and expel all of the Arab citizens. Of course there is no peace here – both sides are afraid of the intentions of the other and live in fear and suspicion. You cannot find peace with people if you are afraid and distrustful of them. The biggest hindrance to peace in Israel is that people don't know each other, they don't know the motivations and desires of the other side and so they tell themselves that the only way to have security is to "get them before they get us".

I won't preach long, but there's some stuff on my mind that needs to be said: This land, particularly this city (as I mentioned in a previous blog) is central to the worship of three main religions. Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift." Our sacrifices and worship of God are personified in our relationships and treatment of others - he wants our obedience more than he wants our worship and sacrifices (1 Samuel 15:22). Hosea 6:6 - "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.", and Proverbs 21:3, "To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." Is the picture clear yet?

In Luke 10 a religious expert asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life and Jesus reminded him of what the Jewish law said, by loving God and loving his neighbor. The man asked who was his neighbor, and Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. At the end of the parable he asks, “Which of these three (the priest, the pharisee or the Samaritan) do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” and the expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
I don't want to take a side - I am sympathetic to both peoples and I am hoping and praying that they will be reconciled to each other. I want peace. I hope for an end to madness, violence, destructing, fear, hatred and spite. Out of hatred for the Other, each side is destroying itself. Both lose. Please pray that God's Will be done. Whatever that means. I trust him completely. I believe that my God's greatest desire is to see people turn from destruction to love. I believe that he wants to restore his creation to the "very good"ness of how he created it. This world is not as it should be or was meant to be and I believe that he will restore it, that he has already begun to do so. But it won't get better if his people don't care. It won't change if those who follow him are only concerned for their own safety. It won't be restored to peace if we take sides. Hold both sides accountable by all means, but hold on to mercy. I received a beautifully short letter from a friend the other day. She encouraged me to "love God and love others, let mercy lead and in every footprint leave a drop of grace." My prayer for you is the same.

Shalom and Salaam. All my love.

Galilee

Tel -Beit She'an in the background where Saul's body was hung by the Philistines. Roman Scythopolis in the foreground - a shining example of all a Roman city could be. (I'm standing on the top of the amphitheater).

 

 

The amphitheater at Scythopolis. Our class had been dismissed to wander and explore the city at will. A small tour group was sitting on a few rows and asked some of our students to give them a performance: so they got a loudly belted-out "Amazing Grace" and some "Sound of Music." They seemed amused.

 

 

 

View from Mt. Carmel (where Elijah made built an alter, God sent fire out of heaven to consume it, the prophets of Baal were killed, etc.)

 

This didn't show up as well as I was hoping. It's a really nicely preserved - other than a few large dents from collapsed walls - mosaic hallway and adjacent room floor.

 

 

 Head waters of the Jordan River at Tel-Dan. Beautiful mountain stream - and it tastes like bottled water. There were wars fought over this water - ancient and modern. It is right on the border with Lebanon and outside the National Park there are several mine fields that have yet to be cleared.

 

 Sea of Galilee at sunset, viewed from the mountain where Jesus gave his "Sermon on the Mount"

And the next day, we got a boat ride across it! 

Fertile land near Sea of Galilee and a crop duster practicing its run.

 

The Cliffs of Arbel overlook the International Highway - a huge trade route then, and now. Jesus gave his "Great Commission" from here.

Caves in the Cliffs of Arbel - rebels were trying to hide out in these and resist Herod the Great's rule. Let's just say Herod didn't let them stay there. But the caves have been continually used - some have been built up and fortified with what looks like crusader-era walls and windows. Of course, we know this because we climbed up to them.

 

Class on the Nazareth Ridge at sunset. We were pointing out various mountains I think. This is known as the leaping mountain. One of the stories of Jesus tells of when he was teaching at Nazareth, said some outrageous stuff, and the people tried to kill him. The Bible says that he passed through the midst of them and escaped, but according to local tradition he jumped off this mountain -and flew.

 Sunset via the view from Mt. Bental (old volcano in the Mt. Hermon chain up north). We could see everything from here. Including Syria. I'm one of the little heads poking out on the right somewhere.

Sea glass hunting at Caesarea with friends. We got tired of the ruins and rocks and went for beach life instead.

 

 My stash.











 

 Herod built aqueducts all the way to Caesarea - and yes, of course, we climbed them. There was no sign telling us we couldn't, but the other tourists seemed rather appalled.

And the trip ended with gelato - limoncello to be exact. Four days in the north = great trip. I have lots of thoughts and queries that I wrote down but which haven't made their way into blog format yet. Hopefully soon. For now, we are off to Jordan for another four days: pictures to follow.

 

More old stuff and cooler hikes.

Our most recent field study saved the best for last. The day started with a climb up the Roman siege ramp to Masada - a three-tier palace Herod built overlooking the Dead Sea. Herod was big on escape routes and mostly built this palace as a refuge for himself in case of revolt. But he made sure that if he ever needed to use it, he would still be able to live the high-life: Masada is an ornate three-tier palace on a cliff face, it has access to a huge water source via aquaducts built into the sides of the mountain, it has multiple bath houses, columns, colorful frescos, mosaic floors, etc. He also filled it full of food - lots of food- but he never needed it for protection against Jewish rebels. Ironically, the rebels took it over after Rome destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD and holed up there for over a year, living off all the supplies Herod had stashed there.

 

Masada was the last stronghold of the rebellion against Rome in Israel and was home to over 960 people when Rome finished their siege ramp and burnt through the walls. According to the historian Josephus, when the Romans finally made it into Masada they found it lifeless - the rebels had made a suicide pact and killed themselves and their families in the night to prevent being taken as captives. It has become a symbol in modern Zionism (theme of refusing to live as slaves to any people, fighting till the end for a land of their own) and many people have their Bar Mitzvah celebrations here. While we were having class, there was a military fly over and one of the planes tipped its swings to us, thinking we were a celebration group. (at the bottom of the photo you can see the recreated siege weapons Rome might have used here).

 

View from the lowest tier looking up at the other two - notice the columns and frescos? Okay, now ignore the really colorful frescos - they are all new.

 Mosaics

 

Herod liked fancy - this is a thermal bath house: hollow floors, clay pipes lining the walls, arched windows, colorful frescos, wow.

 

 Next stop was Ein Gedi - a shorter hike than the day before, also a cooler one.

There were at least three waterfalls for us to go swimming in. And across the street was the Dead Sea, umbrella showers, weird floating/inability to swim, and salty, mineraly mud. Ummmm.

I prefer the waterfalls.

 

Last stop: Qumran, home of the Dead Sea Scrolls for several centuries. There are a multitude of caves in the surrounding area where people not only hid things but also hid themselves. The area around the Dead Sea, including Masada, Ein Gedi, Qumran, etc. was a place mostly used for spiritual retreat and exiles, rebels hiding from authority - even David used this place to hide from Saul (1 Sam. 24). It's a wasteland, but a beautiful one.

 

Old stuff and cool hikes

Hey friends. I forgot I had a blog. So I forgot to post stuff to it. Oops. Life has picked up pace with midterms, more trips, and daily excursions. We have also (finally) begun an archaeological dig on campus which is taking up a lot of spare time.

 

The dig is happening right where our drive way used to be - early this summer they were putting in water pipes and discovered a what looked like a small wall and the top of what appeared to be a 1st century arch (being Jerusalam, and this being Mount Zion, every dig - even for water pipes - must be observed by a specialist in ancient remains). So everything was filled back in until a proper dig could be organized. All of the laborers on the dig are students at JUC - many from the archaeology class - and we are being overseen by an archaeologist from the Israeli antiquities department. Today was only the second day of the dig and we are about three feet deep. We found some interesting things - ask me later about it, I can't post findings online.

(View of the Mediterranean from Ashkelon - a big place for kite surfing, apparently)



Our last field study was to the South and we spent three days exploring sites near the Elah Valley (between Gath and Bethlehem where the fight between David and Goliath took place), the Philistine city of Ashkelon, the craters of Mahktesh Ramon, the Canaanite and Israelite ruins at Tel-Arad (including an Israelite temple - the only one ever excavated), and the amazing ruins of Lachish. We hiked through the Wadi Zin, swam in the Dead Sea, crossed lines and swam under waterfalls at Ein Gedi, etc. etc. etc.  

Ashkelon has the oldest arch in the world - which is really impressive because it was made of mudbricks around 1850 BC. The arch was next used by the Romans nearly 2000 years later.

 

Oh yeah. We went swimming in the Mediterranean at sunset. (Riane and Jacqueline with me)

 

My feet in the Mediterranean - felt warm, but in a refreshing way. Extremely salty water!

 

Markers at one of the sites (I think this was the city where Samson met Delilah) - they mark the layers for each level in the excavation.

 

The ruins of ancient Lachish (destroyed by both Assyria and Babylon). We had class on the fortress walls.

 

Overlooking Mahktesh Ramon: there are 3 mahkteshes (craters) in the Negev, Ramon is the largest.

 

Tel-Arad is both the location of an ancient Canaanite city (foreground) and a later Israelite fortress (background). It's out in the Negev with little resources so archaeologists believe that this location had a different climate during the Canaanite period. The Israelite fortress was basically part of an early-warning system in case of attack from Egypt. It was destroyed and rebuilt multiple times.

 



Think your kitchen is small? Try cooking in a Canaanite one!

 

Hiking in the Wadi Zin. We went from the bottom of the canyon...

...to about half way up...

...to the very top.

 

 



Shaped by the Land

Last Saturday we had a fun hike through Galilee, near where we had hiked before but on a completely different trail. Supposedly, this would be a leisurely two hour hike which many Israeli's take their children on. Sounds easy, right? Yeah, you should beware Israeli children. They kick butt on trails. I don't.

It was a beautiful trail - waterfalls, green hills, lots of trees, great view, gorgeous. In all honesty, it was the best hike I've ever gone on. Not because it was beautiful, not because I was having a blast, not because it was easy. It wasn't. But I've never learned so much as I did on this hike. A lot of things "went wrong". Meaning: they didn't go according to my expectations. And when things don't meet my expectations, I complain. A lot. And when I complain, God usually points out something obvious.

 

When I found myself hiking alone at one point I began to pray and list to God all the things that were going wrong and why I was unhappy: I'd run out of water, my fingers were swollen like little sausages and I could no longer bend them, I had no idea how much longer I'd be out there, it was hot, I had rocks in my shoes, I was hugging a mountain for dear life, and it was so late that there was no way I would make it to the bus in time to go swimming. I don't like hiking - I like swimming. The entire point of me coming on this hike was the condition that we would go swimming after it. Blah. blah. blah...

 

Cool thing about being alone: once you've run out of things to say, you have to listen to what God has to say. There is no way to drown him out or distract yourself. So then he says, "So you're thirsty, huh? And who calls himself Living Water?" Yeah, you do, God. But I'm still thirsty. "And who said that they wanted to be shaped by the land? To gain a better understanding of what is written in the Bible and the meaning it had to its authors?" Yeah, okay, that was me. Before I was thirsty. And before I had rocks in my shoes. When I was sitting in air-conditioning and drinking coffee. "So take the rocks out of your shoes. Isn't this what you wanted? This used to be a highway - this is the same road people traveled on for thousands of years. This is what it feels like to travel by foot. Alone. On a nice day when the sun is out. You are being shaped by the land." But I can't see the end. I don't know if I can make it. "You'll make it. Stop whining - it's not like no one knows where you are. Just keep going." But I can't see the end! I've been walking for four hours, twice as long as I thought. Where is the end?...silence.

 

Funny guy, God is. After about three minutes I came around a bend in the trail and could see the highway and the bus waiting for me. Still forty-five minute's walk, but I could see the end. Five munites later the trail ended and dumped me onto a dirt road. I laughed. Okay. I'm clearly going to make it. So I was thirsty for an hour or two. So reality didn't conform to my expectations (does it, ever?). What great pictures: I was hugging a rock for dear life. I was dry and was thirsty for water that wouldn't run out. I was on a journey and didn't know where the end would be, what it would be like, or what shape I would be in when I got there. I was hiking alone and had no idea when I would run across other hikers. It was nice to see other hikers, there were about 40 of us out there, but we all traveled at our own pace and didn't stay together for long.

 

 Hmm. Sounds a little like life. Sometimes we enjoy where we are, sometimes we focus on everything that isn't as we expect it or want it to be. But it's still beautiful. And God is still listening. And he is still wanting to shape us into a people who he can better use. We can talk to him whenever we want. But be aware that instead of changing our circumstances, he may just tell us to change our attitudes. He may be asking us to refocus and take our eyes off of ourselves and our own problems and recognize the journey we are on. He constantly gives us opportunities to be transformed out of the whiny people we feel like being and become a new people. It's not all about us, and once we realize that we can see that the journey itself is really beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur - the only day I can sit at my leisure in the middle of a road and only worry about being hit by bicycles or baby strollers. No one drives. It's great - and super quiet. I went for a walk with some friends just to enjoy the quiet everywhere. The question we had was what do Israelis do on Yom Kippur? They don't drive, they don't bathe, they don't wear leather shoes or eat or drink. So what do they do? They go to synagogue and sing. They pray. They read things. They go for long walks with friends. The country is completely shut down, completely quiet, but everything feels purer, less distracting and busy and stressful. It is a day to stop and think and repent of sins and refocus ourselves. Even non-practicing Jews take part. It's an amazingly peaceful feeling when everything shuts down and there are absolutely no demands for the day. I wouldn't mind doing this once a year - or even once a month. Once the sun goes down, life begins again - big meals, party, and WORK. They have only two days till the Sabbath begins and all work must stop, and then less than one day till Succot begins on Sunday evening - the Feast of Booths to celebrate the harvest, and they have to build all the booths before the festival begins. I walked to the Western Wall that night to see if anything was happening - there were few people at the wall itself but there were a lot of men out and about cutting down massive palm branches and assembly metal structures to lay them on. A professor later told us that they will be working through the night for the next few nights to get everything ready in time. 



 

The Amazing Race

Have you ever watched the Amazing Race? I loved that show – I thought it was totally awesome, but I never really wanted to be a contestant. I thought many of the contestants were terribly rude and insensitive of the people and cultures they encountered and for all of their traveling they seemed to learn surprisingly little about the places they went. And their planning! They were often terribly ill prepared for the situations they found themselves in. It was fun to watch, if for no other reason than to think, “I will never travel like that. Ever.”

Now for my confession: I was that person today. I felt terrible about it, too. Today was our field study to Samaria and our class rents a bus and we go out looking just like tourists – but tourists with notebooks and lots of old maps. The bus left at 7:00 AM. My roommate and I were not on it. We had both set alarms on our phones, the typical way of waking up, and assumed we would wake up to the ringing of both alarms at 6:15 AM. We woke up at the same time – but it was at 7:45 AM. Both our phones had died in the night (mine was on the charger but the charger wasn’t plugged in!) The sun looked way too high in the sky to be 6 AM. Oh, no. We missed the bus – we missed the all day field study – we missed the bus! Everyone on campus was gone.

So we threw on clothes, figured out where to find a taxi, grabbed some breakfast and were out the door. Riane (my roommate) had charged her phone enough in the ensuing panic to be able to call our professor and figure out where to meet them if we could get there within the hour. My phone still doesn’t make calls in Israel. We stopped the first taxi we saw and asked him how much to drive to Shiloh, intending to barter the price down a bit. But this taxi driver, the only taxi in sight, spoke no English. The first person I have met in Israel who speaks no English at all. So we hop in and start driving – and then realize by his phone call to someone else that he doesn’t know where Shiloh is- and we didn’t either. We had no address, just a copy of an ancient map with the word “Shiloh” printed on it in English. Eventually it got figured out and Riane says, “Okay good. The faster we can get there, the better. Fast, fast, fast.” I add, “To-da’ ” – thank you in Hebrew, the only Hebrew word I know other than ‘excuse me’. Apparently he was familiar with the word “fast”.

We were making good time and I started to relax. The drive would cost us 300 shekels ($75) but we would still make it to class. I dug around in my bag for my water bottle and realized I was missing something – an important something. I didn’t have my wallet. I had left it on the counter where I made my breakfast sandwich. I have never, ever, lost my wallet. What a day for firsts.

Riane – thank God! – had enough to cover the entire cab fare and her phone lasted long enough to find our class. We found our bus, found our class, missed very little of the day (but didn’t get to see ancient Shiloh), got to see Shechem, Mt. Gerizim (the Samaritan’s holy mountain), a Samaritan synagogue, and ancient Samaria itself. But upon reflection, I realize this day could have ended up entirely differently. I was in a taxi cab going across the country into the West Bank in search of a bus. I had no usable language skills, no cell phone, and no money. I was that awful contestant on The Amazing Race, only I had no camera crew to back me up if I got into trouble. Praise God for his protection, his providence, his mercies.