I really enjoyed living in Jerusalem.  When I think about it now I realize that there is a lot that have learned in the past couple of months and I’m still sorting through the experiences and data.  When I arrived at JUC Dr. Wright said something during orientation that I think sums it up well.  He said that this semester we would be packing a tool box that we would be unpacking for the rest of our lives, as far as data regarding the historical geography of Israel and experiences and so on.  During the semester the modern political tension really caught my attention.  I watched the entire city stop for Holocaust Memorial day, in order to stand for a moment of silence in remembrance of those who lost their lives and loved ones during the Holocaust.  The whole city of Jerusalem literally stopped.  The traffic stopped.  The pedestrians stopped.  It was a haunting thing to see an entire city come to a complete halt and to hear the wind blowing over the silence, and to see people get out of their cars and just stand in the middle of the street.   I cannot begin to imagine how something like the Holocaust has left a dark stain on the memory and lives of Jews all over the world, but especially in Israel while they are facing modern conflict with neighboring countries that sometimes openly state their desire to see their demise.  On the other hand, my memories of spending time in the West Bank enabled me to see the political, economic, and internal struggles of a people who have been caught in the midst of greed and corruption, both on domestic and foreign fronts, resulting in oppression and bloodshed.  The focus of the semester, however, was to spend a semester in Israel studying its history in ways that are only possible on location.  I crawled through the tunnels that were dug during the Bar Kokhba Revolt by Jews who were trying to hide from the Romans circa 132-135 A.D.  Reading about these tunnels could never compare with crawling through these tight spaces and turning the flash light off for a couple of minutes in order to better understand the conditions of a persecuted people who lived underground for several years.  To be visiting these sites and reading these historical texts and dealing with the question of how we know what we know about these people and their culture and how the material remains that they left behind can help us answer these questions (i.e. what was found in archaeological excavations, etc…) has been such a great experience.  It really gives me a familiarity with the context of the land of Israel (and Jordan) and the history of the Bible that I couldn’t have gained in any other way.  There is a strange sense that I have left lingering in my bones, a certain deep, mysterious, and bittersweet feeling that comes from living in a land plagued with a history that has been full of conflict and oppression, yet also full of messianic hope and expectation.  It makes me grateful to know that history is moving towards resolution, though not from our efforts, but through a means that is much more reliable.

Honeymoon recap

The time has already come and gone for me and Elise to travel around Israel, enjoying each other’s company after being apart for 4 months.  We started our trip at Tel Aviv, then traveled to Jerusalem, Tiberias, and back to Tel Aviv again.  Ben Baird helped us out by giving me a ride to the air port to pick up my lovely wife, and also by giving us a ride back to the hotel in Tel Aviv.  What a great guy!  After, we all went to dinner at this Israeli tapas place around the corner.  It was the perfect way to end the semester with Ben and begin the honeymoon with Elise. 

                The following day Elise and I walked along the beach and talked for a good while.  We wandered down to Joppa and read a bit from Acts 9-11 in the New Testament where Joppa is the setting for some of the events and then grabbed lunch.  Tel Aviv has this really great combination of feeling like a big city, and still having the smaller local beach bum vibe on the coast.  I think it really helped to make Elise feel at home.  After a couple of nights in Tel Aviv, spontaneously wandering around the beach and eating at some great restaurants, we were off to Jerusalem.  We travelled via taxi to the central bus station and continued via bus until we got to Jerusalem.  From the bus station at Jerusalem we took the light rail to Zion square where we had reserved a bedroom in an apartment for a couple of nights. 

                Our stay in Jerusalem had a bunch of hiccups.  When Elise arrived in Israel I was still getting over a bad throat infection and she caught what I had.  By the time we were arriving in Jerusalem it was really beginning to set in.  We wandered around the Old City for a bit and visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher that afternoon.  On our first full day I had planned to take Elise in to the West Bank to see the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and meet up with some of my friends from JUC.  We had to stop by a local clinic and pharmacy in the morning.  It was nice to get back in to Bethlehem one last time, and with Elise, but I know that being in the West Bank for the first time can be a bit of a strange new thing.  With all the stories on the news and the reputation that the West Bank has for conflict, along with the stark contrast in cultural and economic surroundings, it’s easy to feel uncomfortable at first.  Fortunately, when we got to Roy and Vidia’s house, we were greeted by fellow JUC friends and we had a nice lunch and dessert in a very welcoming environment.  After lunch we went out to the Church of the Nativity and walked through the market, where there was some tension between our group and some locals due to an extremely inappropriate gesture that some random guy thought he could get away with.  The following day we started out early by going up to the Temple Mount.  Fortunately, there wasn’t much of a line at all.  It was pretty amazing to be up on the Temple Mount.  I had studied it so much this semester in my archaeology class.  While we were up there a fight broke out between two guys, both Muslim, but it seemed like a pretty regular thing.  After the Temple Mount we wandered into Solomon’s Quarries and over to the Garden Tomb.  We walked along the Cardo and found an artist colony area that Elise had been looking for, it was a lucky find!  The next day was Shavuot, a Jewish Holiday.  We didn’t expect everything to be closed, even the ATMs!  We ended up walking to the Israel Museum, but it was a really fun walk and we got to talk and catch up some more.  The Herod exhibit was excellent and the Archaeological Wing was also a really fun time, even for Elise!  On the way back we stopped at a nice little restaurant and got some food.  Elise ordered a small mixed drink that had gin and tonic water in it.  I sipped on it and found out that I am very allergic to tonic water.  The following day we went to the Archaeological Park to see the walls of the Temple Mount and then we picked up our rental car and I finally got to show Elise around the JUC campus. 

                After lunch we drove to Tiberias in Galilee.  It was a pretty nice drive, except for the mandatory baggage check at the check point.  It was nice to drive for the first time in four months.  Getting around Jerusalem was a little tricky as I was used to walking everywhere, but I had an excellent navigator (Elise!).  The Sea of Galilee was a little hazy and every day we were there it got a little worse, but the weather was nicer than Jerusalem (which was pretty cold, unexpectedly).  It was nice to be in Jerusalem, but I had planned so much and there were so many unexpected setbacks.  It was good to be in a new area with fewer structured plans for each day.  The room at the hotel wasn’t as nice as we thought it would be, but it was still a pretty good room.  Breakfast was also pretty delicious at this hotel, as was the breakfast in Tel Aviv.  On our first full day in Galilee, we slept in, as it was much needed, and got a late start.  We went to the Tel Dan nature reserve and wandered around.  We saw the best preserved Middle Bronze age Canaanite arched gate and we got to see the Israelite remains of Dan.  The best part was that it was all tied into a wonderful nature hike.  The afternoon was tranquil, just what we needed.  While in Galilee, Elise introduced me to her favorite ice cream bars in Israel.  At first I thought it was strange that she remembered this ice cream from about five years ago, but after trying it I realized that Elise, as an ice cream enthusiast, had a good reason to remember how good it was!  On the next day we hit all of the sites that carried some tradition of Jesus being in the Galilee, and we even visited the boat found and preserved for over 2000 years in the Sea of Galilee.

                Our last stop was revisiting Tel Aviv.  We drove over to the coast, left our stuff at Tel Aviv, and went to Ashkelon so Elise could see where I would be spending the rest of my summer.  After spending a bit of time there we went back to Tel Aviv and returned the car.  As soon as I pulled into the Avis parking lot, an employee backed up into our car.  It was hilarious, although not that the time.  We had been so careful to take care of the car and then as soon as we pull up someone runs into us and it was one of the Avis employees! Hahaha!  The next day we relaxed on the beach and went to the local markets.  There was a lot of really good and really cheap fresh lemonade mixed with mint leaf.  I also got to introduce Elise to freshly squeezed pomegranate juice!  It was so delicious.  Our time passed so fast. I can’t believe that it is already over. 

                We took a cab to the airport and we said our goodbyes and I waiting to make sure that she got through checking the bags alright.  Then we discovered that, unlike in airports in the U.S., you can accompany passengers into the food court and shopping areas.  Elise and I had breakfast together and prayed for a safe flight, asking God to take care of us while we are apart for the next two months.  On the way back I tried to get back to the apartment without taking a taxi, since I had left all my bags at the apartment so I could travel light.  I was surprised to see that there weren’t any shuttles running to Tel Aviv, but there was a train.  It only took me to the edge of the city of Tel Aviv, but when I got off I found a bike rental place and figured I would be adventurous.  As long as I rode in the direction of the sea I thought I could find my way without a map.  Thank God I was right.  It was nice to ride around the city and along the beach.  It was quite adventurous, but everything was so different because Elise was sitting on an airplane flying half a world away.