What a neat week! There are so many cool things that happened. First off, last Sunday we had a student organized activity, in which we all went down to the gulf of Eilat/ Aqaba, and went snorkeling. This whole weeks there has been tons of jokes asking if “Eilat” was “a lot” of fun. (Pronounced the same.) I must admit I was a perpetrator of these puns. Anyway, it was neat because we traveled down to the south of the land of Israel through the Negev desert, stopping at Oasis that have been there for thousands of years. We know that Lehi traveled this same way because he reports that his family went down and traveled “on the borders near the red sea”. We could see just that area across the sea into Jordan. Rest stops have been built around those oases and so it’s probable that the same places we stopped, Lehi stopped. We got up early in the morning and took a bus down (no teachers!) and we all rented snorkeling gear and got into the water. We only had enough for half of us so we took turns but it wasn’t much a problem because there was a stronger current and a wind and you got tired pretty easy. But I easily spent 2 or 2.5 hours scuba diving total. Most of the coral or cool fishes were about 15-20 feet down so I did a lot of diving, while popping my ears half way so I could swim down. I wouldn't say it was the best scuba-ing on earth but it was something I’ve only had the opportunity to do once before so it was really fun. There were still lots of colorful fishes, and neat reefs. By the end I was so tired I could hardly swim- that’s when I knew it was time to go back to the beach. Afterward we drove a half hour north to a Kibbutz (communal living community based off of socialist ideals where people share everything) that was very famous for its dairy and milk cows and we had dinner there. Afterwards we had ice cream (sold in a separate place from the rest of the food.) Anyway it was a great day.
The next day was super neat. That would have been the Fourth of July. We visited some appropriate sites for the dates as well, as I will explain. The first site was the Herodian, the hilltop fortress of Herod the Great and subsequent Herods. Apparently earlier in his life he was being chased by Hasmoneans trying to kill him, and at that some point his old mother almost died, so when he came out victorious he built that fortress to commemorate it. To do it he basically took the top off a nearby mountain and built up that one. Some people say he was paranoid, but he had reason too, he was very hated by the people of his day. It’s surprising how much of this fortress, along with the palace that he built, that still remain. A huge artificial lake about the size of two Olympic size swimming pools with an artificial island in the middle still stands, along with tons of rooms from his palace, not to mention the gigantic fortress he built on top of the hill. I have some amazing photos. Also I learned how to paste several photos together with windows photo viewer so I may include some of those. Also there was underground tunnels built by Jewish zealots when they took the fortresses, built to try and surprise attack Roman soldiers in the tunnels. It didn’t work out too well for them. This is the third gigantic fortress of Herod we’ve visited: one in Jordan, one in Jericho, and this one outside Jerusalem. At the first one we visited I was really surprised at the opulence of it, this one was even more opulent. Herod taxed the crap out of his people, and while they lived in super small little hovels, he was living in humungous pleasure palaces. Even the temple he built was the largest temple complex in the known world at the time, according to one of my teachers. Anyway, it was appropriate to visit the destroyed fortress of a tyrant on the Fourth of July. Our teacher told us a story about a guide in Egypt who asked “what do you do in America when the president won’t leave office?” As much as they tried to explain it to him, he couldn’t understand that American presidents do leave office when they’re done. America is great.
After that we crossed over into Bethlehem which is in the West Bank (only a few miles outside Jerusalem) and visited Bethlehem University. It’s a Catholic sponsored school but is attended mostly by Muslims. Its kind a symbol of Palestinian Nationalism since during the intifadas students protested and were killed there. We watched a propaganda movie, then we got to ask students there questions, and then have time to also talk to the students. It was neat.
After that we went to lunch at this restaurant that was designed like a Bedouin tent with pillows and such. The food was really good. Outside there was a man selling little cheap nativities made of olive wood. They were small but much cheaper than anywhere else in Bethlehem. (Bethlehem shops-> expensive.)
After that we went to the Church of the Nativity, the oldest Christian church in the Holy Land. It’s situated in Bethlehem where the original Bethlehem was, and below there is a grotto which would have been used to hold animals. So if Christ was not born in this grotto then it was one nearby. All other Christian churches in the area were destroyed by the Moslem conquest, but they saw depictions of the wise men like Persians from their part of the world and decided not to destroy it. However, the church has been rebuilt or changed several times.
Afterwards we went to a little field outside of Bethlehem, a place the Jerusalem Center calls Shepherds’ Fields, where we could see Bethlehem in the background, and fields where shepherds still tend their flocks. (You can see the poop and wool lying around.) There weren’t shepherds there at this time but there was one guy who wanted a dollar to pet a lamb. It was a really neat little field that has gone undeveloped because it’s right on the border between the West Bank and a Jewish Settlement. Anyway, it was nice to sit there, ponder, and learn a little about the site. Of course we know that Christ was born at Bethlehem, we also know David grew up there and he himself was a shepherd. He for sure would have had his sheep grazing at one point in the field. Also he slew a lion somewhere in the vicinity (back when lions lived here). We had a devotional where we sung Christmas songs. It was really neat to ponder and reflect what happened in a small village those many years ago, with the modern one sitting in front of us. I came away from that with a new appreciation for pilgrimage and the Holy Land. Up to this point I’d looked at the Holy Land as a place other people were fighting for or wanted. Many Jews have the attitude “Jerusalem is ours and it belongs to us” and same with many Muslims in the area. I came away thinking “Hey Jerusalem is mine too! It doesn’t belong to any one religion or people, but shared by many.”
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