Go'el

The most helpful tool that I have encountered for understanding the Old Testament is a basic overview of kinship structures and the Levirate law. I don't pretend to be an expert, but I would like to say a word about go'el because it helps me to understand the Atonement in a new light. (If you like what you hear, I recommend further research. Wikipedia and the Bible Dictionary are decent starting places).

From what I understand, the firstborn recieves a double portion of the family inheritance and also recieves a responsibility to care for the family in instances of widowhood or slavery. This near kinsman is referred to as "go'el" or "redeemer" because he has the right and responsibility to redeem his kin from situations in which they cannot free themselves. The Old Testament is replete with examples of go'el which foreshadow the coming of Jesus Christ, the Firstborn who inherits an equal portion with the Father, and who is our Redeemer.

If I am not incorrect, the principle of go'el should also prove to be enlightening when we read Isaiah's metaphors about Israel as a forsaken bride. In ancient Israel, widowhood was a socially devastating position. The place of women in society was such that widowhood rendered them helpless. Christ, our go'el, is help for the helpless. I am thankful.

Friday To-Do

Modern Near Eastern Studies ends at 2:50, and by 3:15 the fourth floor foyer is full of students bedecked with backpacks and waterbottles. Maps are strewn, lists of sites referred to, and groups are negotiated.

"Have you been to the Temple Mount yet?"

"I was thinking about the Church of the Holy Sepulchre."

"Anyone want crepes in West Jerusalem?"

This is how Friday evening in Jerusalem goes down.

Weekends in Provo will never be the same again.

Turkish Delight

Hagia Sophia

Although the squishy sugarry squares are admittedly tastey,Turkish Delights are not half so enchanting as the country whose name they bear.

For anyone who craves world travel, might I persuade you to move Turkey to the top of your list of wished-for destinations? Maybe it was a trick of the season--perhaps Turkey is not so charming in weeks other than the end of May. Maybe my tour guide cunningly led us through only the greenest fields, the tallest mountains, and the quaintest villages. Maybe there are fewer than hundreds of impressive ruins, or perhaps the mosques don't look so grand in the snow. Maybe the locals aren't all as kind and helpful as the ones I met. But from everything that I saw, heard, and tasted, Turkey is a delight!

We followed in the footsteps of the apostle Paul and John the Revelator, opening up the New Testament and sitting where Paul sat, singing where he was persecuted, and trying to make our hearts a little more like his. We could not preach of Christ boldly as he did (being contrained by Jerusalem Center agreements about proselyting), but we rejoiced in Christ, read of Christ, and enjoyed the creations that bear witness of Christ.

Topkapi (Sultan's Palace)

Turkey in a Week:

Monday - Istanbul: Blue Mosque, Sultan's Palace (Topkapi), open Bazaar, Bosporous Cruise, Underground Cistern, Dinner overlooking the Marmara Sea

Tuesday - Troas: Ruins of Troy (reading Iliad at the place where Heinrich Schleiman supposes it would have taken place), evening on the sea

Wednesday - Pergamam: Temple of Athena at Assos (darling village!), Trajan Temple Acropolis, Rug Factory (ridiculously expensive, but impressive), Asclepion, beachside hotel

Thursday - Ephesus and Miletus (refer to Ephesians and the books of Paul in the NT): Devotional at the Ephesus ruins (incredible!), Miletus ruins, evening at a hotsprings hotel, an unexpected 5.9 earthquake

Friday - Bursa and Pamukale: natural springs at Pamukale, early sacrament meeting in Bursa, open bazaar for Turkish delight

Saturday - Istanbul: Grand Mosque (the largest in Turkey), Nicea (!), Haggia Sophia, fish dinner

Temple of Athena Ruins

Old City Jerusalem

(Sorry this is a couple of days late! Blogger has been having some issues so I couldn't post Jen's last letter; but here it is now):

Dear blog,

Here's a little taste of Old City, Jerusalem. This is by no means representative of the varied experiences that exist for the intrepid traveler, but it brought a little smile to my lips this afternoon.

Given vague instructions to visit "the Tomb of the Kings" and not knowing what it was, our group of five students searched out a green door in East Jerusalem where we were supposed to knock loudly for entry. Speaking through an intercom, we indicated that we would like to come inside, and a female voice said that they were open. We knew that a fee was required, so we offered 5 shekels per person for entry. The woman quickly revoked the "open" status and announced that they were closed for the day. We upped the bid to ten shekels per person, and she retorted that now they were closed--forever. Not knowing what to do (but now thoroughly intrigued as to what lay behind this green door), we debated about putting on our best foreign accents and approaching the woman with a new strategem.

As we were preparing to bargain again with the mysterious voice behind the intercom, a bus pulled onto the sidewalk and scattered us from our places at the door. A man hopped out and unlocked the door, took our ten shekels, and left us without explanation.

Bemused but satisfied, we wandered around a stone courtyard with a few watery tombs. It was an anti-climatic find after our exciting entry process, so, feeling like we were missing something, we called our professor for further instructions. He told us to find a hole under some messy looking scaffolding, which we did. A crate was covering an opening in the ground, and he said that we were to remove the crate and climb inside. It all seemed a little shifty, but we did as we were told, and by the dim lights of our camera flashes and cell phones, we explored a few rooms in an incredibly creepy old underground tomb. I still have no idea what it was and we will have to go back again with flashlights and more shekels to discover the place further, but it cheered my day considerably.

Happy Wednesday. This is life in Jerusalem.

Love, Jenny :)

Interloping in Their Sacred Spaces

I lay my right palm on the stone wall for a quick moment before pulling it back. There are other women pushing to the wall on Friday evening to usher in Shabbat, and I don't want to be the insensitive tourist woman who keeps them from their sacred wall. The cracks are filled with folded slips of paper, prayers of centuries. Sections of the wall are worn and stained from human touch. It's obvious that the Western Wall is made sacred from human prayers and wishes.

But it is not quite my own sacred space, and that feels strange.

I wish, more than anything, that I wasn't wearing a purple shirt among the black-clad women. I wish that I spoke Hebrew and had a Psalm book in my hands. I wish that I had the sense not to turn my back to the wall, an oversight that I rectified when I noticed other women shuffling away from the wall backwards. I wish that I could interrupt the chanting to ask what they are saying and how they are feeling, and what exactly it means to them to sing and chant and rock back and forth, and to touch the wall.

Our instructors told us that it would be insensitive to refer to the wall as "the Wailing Wall," and I agree. It was, on whole, a place of celebration. Wailing is too woeful a word for what I heard at the Western Wall. The teenagers touched the wall and then moved toward the back of the crowd where they danced in circles and sang, holding hands and jumping up and down. Throngs of Israeli soldiers loudly chanted and laughed. Men and women gravitated to the wall, muttering prayers or hiding thoughtful secrets behind their silence. As tourists, we watched the people and touched the wall and wished that we could sing along. They didn't seem to mind, but it made me thoughtful. What is this thing called religion, that makes us willfully enter into rituals and celebrations that have no reward except communion with God and man?

Interloper I may be, but I am glad of it. I have my own sacred spaces, and I love them. I am glad that others have sacred spaces and rituals and beliefs. I am thankful to usher in Shabbat at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

P.S. For anyone that is enamored by sociology, I kept thinking about Emile Durkheim and his "collective conscience," and I think it is no coincidence that he was of Jewish upbringing. The Western Wall was the best example of solidarity that I have ever witnessed.

Coursework

New Testament/Old Testament:

We start with Old Testament and work through New Testament, augmenting our studies with fieldtrips to relevant geographic sites (see Field Trip course below). I'm amazed that, as exotic and sacred as the Holy Land is, it is still the Spirit that endows my experience with meaning. I love being in the city and looking out on the scenery, but my best insights this week came when I was alone with the Book of Genesis, with the Holy Ghost as a guide. I'm thankful that when this experience is all over, I will still have the Spirit as my companion and teacher to help me feel close to God.

Ancient Near Eastern Studies:

With the illustrious archaeological scholar Professor Jeffrey Chadwick as our guide, we are pummelling through a rather intensive course about the region's archaeology, geography, and history. Our flamboyant professor is teeming over with facts about the Holy Land, and it is a treat to have him along on fieldtrips to spout wisdom about the places and practices that we see. As a sidenote, I noticed this evening that Professor Chadwick is friend to the scruffy local felines. He greeted one at dinner by "Nicole," which endeared me to him. Our largest assignment in his class is to visit dozens of sites within the city, ranging from the Temple Mount to the Holocaust museum to the open market for fresh falafel. It's definitely my favorite assignment, and it will take all semester to complete.

Modern Near Eastern Studies:

This course is designed to provide us with various viewpoints about the current issues of the Middle East, so we have a Jewish professor and a Palestinian professor, each presenting the modern regional history from their own perspective. Bashir Bashir, my Palestinian professor, was described to us as "a fiery young leftist," and I am not at all disappointed by his lectures. He is a political theorist, so our discussions have great theoretical undercurrents. Today we discussed how Palestine and nationalism are relatively new constructions, and what sort of ramifications this has for the identity of Palestinians and the region as a whole. Ophir Yarden, my Jewish professor, compliments the Arabic viewpoint with Hebrew history and current affairs.

Hebrew:

Shalom! Introductory Hebrew is very introductory, but that is precisely the level I need. Our instructor told us that Hebrew is an incredibly sensible language, (thanks to Ben Yehuda for renewing it) and I am delighted to find that she is correct! We learn several letters, a vowel, and a handful of phrases every day. We also sing Hebrew songs, talk about an item (like "show and tell"), and discuss the culture. We will be visiting Mt. Herzl and the Holocaust museum as part of the course.

Field Trip:

Our first fieldtrip was to five or six observatory sights throughout the area. The land is full of tels (hills) and wadis (valleys), so you can see a vast distance from any height. We learned to recognize the tribal lands of Ephraim (our homeland, as our professors tell us) and Benjamin, as well as the site of King Saul's palace, Gibeah (a number of battles occurred there), Bethlehem (we sang "Silent night" as we looked out over Bethlehem), Mount Moriah, etc, etc. Next week we are visiting Jericho and the surrounding areas. We also enjoy impressive weekly forums. This week we heard from Yigal Palmor, the spokesman for Israili foreign affairs. He was surprisingly personable and humorous (for a diplomat), and it was neat to hear the state of affairs from one who knows them well. It was, of course, a very one-sided take on the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and I look forward to hearing the opposing viewpoint in future forums.

Firsts

Hey friends, I finally heard from Jenny! Here's her first post--appropriately about firsts:

First time on a plane:
I was delighted to discover that my stomach is quite at ease at high elevations, and I was shocked at how comfortable the hard slab floor of JFK airport is. Of the eighty students in our group, the 16 of us who took Delta (now dubbed the "Sweet Sixteen") ended up getting delayed for over 24 hours in New York. We spent the night in a quiet(ish) gateway, and would you believe it, we are best friends now! The sixteen of us were very tired, very smelly, and very grateful to arrive after our 50-hour trip to Jerusalem.

First Old Jerusalem excursion:

The first time I went through the Old City, I was horrified. We were warned over and over about savvy pick-pockets, crazy drivers, and men who like to harass tourist women. I was too worried to appreciate the bustling streets, the exotic food vendors, the incredible architecture, and the varied locals. I visited the city again for the second time today, and I am entirely enamored. I exchanged my American money for shekels at Aladdin's Money Change (Aladdin is pronounced "Allah-Deen"), and then I set out with a couple of friends to buy shampoo and postcards. Getting lost in the gated portion of the Old City is a worthy way to spend the afternoon, if you ever get the chance. The vendors recognize students from BYU Jerusalem, and they call out to us, telling us that they like Mormons and that they will give us good prices. My favorite salesman today kept pulling me aside to show me wall hangings. He'd pull out his calculator and ask me which one I liked best, and how much I would pay for it, "because you are a nice lady, and I want you to have something." My spending sensibilities probably drove him crazy, because although he struck a good bargain, I insisted that I never buy on my first trip. I think we will probably go back and give him real business later.

First sacrament meeting in Jerusalem:
The back wall of the Jerusalem Center chapel is three floor-to-ceiling arched windows that overlook Old Jerusalem, and it is the most breathtaking view that I have ever beheld. I was overwhelmed on Shabbat to look out on the city and sing "The Spirit of God." How grateful I was, singing "God Loved Us, So He Sent His Son," to have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I am also grateful for a new call to serve as a primary teacher in the Jerusalem Center branch!

First stay at the Jerusalem Center:

Three favorite things: 1.The apartments in the Jerusalem Center are pods that branch out of an open-air enclosure, so outside of our bedroom/bathroom, we are always exposed to the sounds and smells of Jerusalem. 2. Virtually the entire north-western side of the Jerusalem Center is made of huge arched windows. The view of Old Jerusalem assaults you from any floor and almost any classroom. 3. The Oasis cafeteria is without a doubt the best food I have ever encountered. Our cooks are all local Palestinians, and we have hummus, pita, lamb, tuna, melons, grapefruit, figs, fresh vegetable dishes, soft mozzerellas, curries, and dozens of other new and delicious foods at every meal. It's a party in the mouth, three times daily.