Wow, it's been an awesome week here at the Jerusalem Center! We've had so many wonderful classes and cool experiences, I don't even know where to start!
Well, lets start with the classes. We have four of them: Ancient near East history, Israel/Judaism, Palestine/Modern near East history, and Old Testament. All of them are awesome for different reasons:
Ancient near eastern history is just fascinating. We had to memorize 25 different dates of significant events in the east, ranging from 2000 BC-1453 AD (Birth of Abraham and the fall of Constantinople, respectively). We also read parts of Gilgamesh, and it was really cool. I don't know how accurate it is, but if we stick to that, there has been civilization on the earth for literally hundreds of thousands of years, until a flood came and wiped it all out. Anyways, its pretty cool, but the more believable oldest civilization is called Sumer, and learning about that was equally fascinating.
Israel/Judaism is also really really cool. He started the first day of class with two questions: What is Judaism? and, When did it start? We answered one at a time, and got numerous answers for both questions. Turns out the second question depends on the first one- if you consider Judaism as a people, as in the descendants of Judah, well, then obviously it is something like 1700 BC, when Judah was born. If you consider it as a religion that started when the Mosaic law was revealed, you are looking at more like 1200 BC. If you say it is a religion based on Rabbinical interpretation of scripture, than it is shortly after the time of Christ. If it wasn't a standardized religion until the publishing of the Talmud, then it started in 500 AD. Really interesting to see the answers and perspectives of one simple question.
Palestine is probably my not-as favorite class. I still think its really interesting, but, we've only had one class of it, and the one reading assignment was horrendous. Not that it wasn't interesting, just really really dense.
Old testament is really cool, our teacher, Brother Woods, knows the scriptures very well, and is great at making class not just a biblical history/information lecture, but a really spiritual experience. f
So, some cool stuff we've done this week was first, a field trip! It was called the "Jerusalem Overlook" field trip, we basically went to different sights around the city, all of which had nice overlooks of the city. The first one was called the Augusta Victoria church, it was really cool, and very much had a European cathedral feel to it. We also went to Navi-Samuel, the place where Samuel is traditionally buried, and where the crusaders apparently camped right before they captured Jerusalem.
Besides, we just had a pretty normal week, I went into the city again, but honestly, I'm going to try not to as much this week, the homework load is pretty significant, we have to read alot of stuff for all our classes.
Another really cool thing this week was Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday. We went to the Western Wall (sometimes inappropriately called the wailing wall) to pray before the Sabbath and see the festivities. It was a really cool experience. I'm sure we'll learn more about where the tradition comes from, but people write down prayers on pieces of paper and put them in the cracks of the wall. So, I of course did so. If you've never done that, it is really cool to write down a prayer! It really makes prayer feel more sincere and thoughtful when you write it down. It was definitely a spiritual experience. They made everyone wear a yamacha at the wall, and they provided free ones for everyone. Up by the wall, they had a side room with a library, and some seriously elaborate Torah scrolls. It was awesome.
So, as you know, Saturday here is the day we observe the Sabbath. I have seen on my mission and in other experiences, that to some people, which day we observe as the Sabbath is very important. More important, it seems, in some instances than actually observing it. But, doing it on Saturday here has made me think about that a little more, and realize that what is really important is how we observe the day we dedicate to the Lord. Another fun thing is, I got a calling! I am a Sabbath school teacher. Its great, I've wanted a teaching calling since I got back from my mission, because I've missed teaching so much. I gave the lesson today and got lots of compliments (although maybe that's not a good indicator, people seem to say nice job even if it was bad) but I feel like it went well.
Oh ummmmmm.... Pictures. Yeah that will happen soon.
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