Sabbath

Well as many of you have a realization the Jewish faith has a Sabbath day when they have many restrictions on what and how you can do things. At JUC we sort of do a Sabbath celebration on Friday nights with a special dinner and reading of some scripture and sometimes Jewish prayers that talk about the importance of the Sabbath rest. We take some time and talk about the customs and practices that have evolved over time for the Sabbath and why the Jews feel that it is so important. I thought I would share a couple pictures of what it looks like for us.

For us it begins with a prayer and a candle lighting. We then sing a couple songs and read scripture. We then break bread together and drink from the cup and enjoy a time of fellowship and a meal. After dinner we have a worship time that is called vespers with music and some scripture reading. Well, as today is the Sabbath here in Jerusalem I will turn from the normal full day of homework to a day a leisure and peace and spend it in God's word. God Bless each of you.

Jerusalem to Jericho to Gezer Mon Sept 24

Today was an amazing trek through the heartland of Israel. We started out in Jerusalem and traveled down to the Wadi Qilt, that drains the east side of the Mt of Olives and climbed down into the Wadi (for those who don't know a wadi is just what they call the drainage valleys of the mountains) and then walked/climbed our way to Jericho in the Jordan River Valley. We took a bus from there up to the Benjamin Plateau and climbed up to Nabi Samwill which is the highest point in the plateau in the midst of old Gideon. We then traveled down to the coastal plains (by way of the Beth-Horan ridge route which was important all throughout the OT) of Gezer and watched the sun set over the Cis-Jordan mountains (the high country of Israel).

As we climbed down into the Wadi there was an amazing monastery at the bottom with small rock houses built into the cliffs almost the entire way down to Jericho.

(aqueduct)

(wadi bottom)
Also Herod built a aqueduct that runs from the Jerusalem area and runs the length of the wadi all the way to his palace at the edge of the Jericho plain. Around the aqueduct is the only green in the wadi except spare areas in the very bottom where enough dew settles to provide water for plant life. It would have been a hard life as monks in the wadi. There is little water, no place to grow anything even if there was water, and only lizards to eat.

You only had small rock caves for shelter, and it gets pretty cold in the winter, enough that it snows in Jerusalem from time to time.

(looking out the wadi at Jericho)
As we exited the wadi into the plains of Jericho it was a welcome site of green and life. Right at the edge of the plain was a Palace complex built by Herod complete with pools,

(banquet hall

(bath complex)
bath houses, gardens, and two large banquet halls. From there you could see almost the entire Jordan Valley, from the Dead Sea in the south, to the Trans-Jordan mountains in the east, and several miles up the Jordan/Rift Valley. Would walked down and stood on the top of the OT Jericho tell that is still being excavated and saw the oldest stone structure on the earth that has been found. It was built around 2500 BC and it is the tower and section of the wall surrounding the city known to exist of Jericho.

We then got on the bus and headed up into the Central Benjamin Plateau where Saul was and the base of his kingdom was formed, and his hometown of Gibeah was. From the high point on the plateau of Nabi Samwill you could see the entire plateau, all the way to Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. It was an impressive view and really brought home the importance of it as a strategic location. It also overlooked the two main road ways of the Israel high country, the Central Ridge Route and the Beth Horan ridge route. Almost 60% of all the stories of the OT take place in this Plateau so you can really begin to understand its importance. Also being the flattest portion of the high country it is the most cultivated area of the hill country and so it provided the majority of the crops for the entire nation of Israel.
(Ruins of Gibeon around Nabi Samwill)

We then descended down into the Coastal plains to Gezer the doorway into the hill country, or looked at from the other way the central hill countries main way down to the sea. Right on the foothills before the coastal plains Gezer held the Beth Horan ridge route either for or against those in the central hill country. It is beside the Aijalon Valley and was the place of many battles and conquest by Israel, Egypt, Philistines, Babylonians, and Assyrians.

(Solomonic 6 chamber gate at Gezer)

Gezer played a major roll in the history if Israel, and later Judah. As we sat and watched the sun set over the mountains we read through Joshua and the battle that took place in the hill country and out onto the plains were Joshua called to God to have the sun and moon stand still over the valley of Aijalon so he could complete his victory.

(Large standing stones in Gezer)

It was a great end to a long day.

(Moon over the Aijalon Valley)

Sept 22 Sat

Hey today is the end of Yom Kippur here in Jerusalem. It is the day of Atonement for the Jews where they spend lots of time studying the Torah and praying trying to get in good with God so they can get their name written into the book of life. The Jewish parts of town and all government and public services have been shut down since Friday afternoon for this. Tonight they all gathered down at the wall to celebrate the ending of Yom Kippur with some dancing and singing. Unfortunately they do not allow cameras down by the wall during special days so I have no pictures to share. But if you can imagine hundreds and hundreds of men dressed in white from head to two (to represent their spiritual cleanness) dancing and chanting and singing facing the wall, some reading sections from the Torah or the Tanauch. Many others, not so religious Jews, come and sit on the hill before the wall talking and watching, some pray but most just sit and watch.

It has been very quite around Jerusalem for the past 24 or so hours. It is sort of illegal to drive a car during Yom Kippur. We were told that if you are caught driving that people will literally stone your car as you drive. Emergency vehicles are allowed, but some of the more fanatically religious Jews still throw stones at them as the race to the emergency. This seems odd to me, but we were told that last year a man having a heart attack died as people discussed with the Rabbi if it was ok to call an ambulance for him on Yom Kippur. Some of the beliefs and practices here are outside of what I can comprehend and seem very odd, but that is just how things are.

One of the things that really continues to bother me is what feels to me like disrespect for their own holy places. For both Jews and Muslims the entire city and especially the Temple Mount is a holy place. Yet throughout the entire city and even down at the wall and on the temple mount it is not unusual to see people dumping trash. I don't mean your normal every day littering that we see in America, I mean bags of trash. There is no real regular garbage pick up around here, like we are used to in the states, so there are piles of trash littering the entire city.

For a little extra flavor to the city, in the area of the meat market in the old city there are innards and other odds and ends from the butchering just thrown out into the streets. To really understand this you have to realize that in the market the street, or should I say sidewalks, are only just wide enough for three people to walk shoulder to shoulder, and most places there are shops on both sides. So byproducts just thrown into the walking area get all over everything, and are only a few feet removed from the products for sale. You can also imagine the smell and attraction for flies and other pests that this would be. Needless to say the Old City is not the cleanest of places, and has some unusual smells that permeate the streets in the heat.

Ok enough about that. On a lighter note I also read an article on a friends site that I thought was interesting and I wanted to share it with you all. Click on the link and read it if you have a few moments. It is about a guy who decided to try and live an entire year following every rule and restriction that is in the Bible. He has, what I would call, a unique perspective. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20910659/site/newsweek/?gt1=10357 I wouldn't pull any theology from it but it was interesting. I pray you are all having a great weekend.