Milah Monday

Due to technical difficulties with my blog, posts are a couple days behind. Also, I am foregoing Temunah Tuesday this week because all I've done is sit in class and study. But next week is vacation so there are sure to be some great pictures!

And now to Milah Monday!

Word/Phrase #1
צריך שניים לטנגו
Pronounced: Tza-rikh she-neye-yim le-tango
Meaning: It takes two to tango!
Sentence: Ok well it is already a sentence. And I think it's pretty awesome that the phrase has been translated into hebrew.

Word #2
מזגן
Pronounced: Mahz-gahn
Meaning: Air Conditioning
Sentence: This has been a very hot week in Israel. I am grateful that my apartment has מזגן.

Biblical Archaeology Tiyyul

This week in our Biblical Archaeology class we went on Tiyyul to two archaeological sites: Tel Tzafit and Tel Lachish.

The first stop was Tel Tsafit, which has been identified as the ancient city of Gat. This was a really cool site, it's one of the five Phillistine cities in Israel. The rest of which are much closer to the coast. In Modern times, the city was inhabited by a Palestinian village prior to 1948. When they left, their stone houses were still intact. A wonderful example of how history quite literally builds upon itself.

In 2005, archaeologists discovered a shard with writing on it with letters similar to those that make up "goliath". While this does not absolutely prove the existence of Goliath, archaeolgists hypothesize that Goliath lived in Gat.

This picture is a view of Gat from the top of Tel Tzafit. For more information, check out Tel Tzafit's wiki site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gath_(city)


This is Tel Lachish which was most recently excavated only a few weeks ago. It doesn't look like much from this shot, but that hill is several layers of important history! pretty cool for a nerd like me.

This is the entrance gate to the city of Lachish. I have to admit, a lot of times when we visit these sites, it all looks like just a pile of rocks to me. Tel Lachish was the first place it "clicked" for me. With just a little bit of imagination, I felt like I was standing in this ancient city. I walked up the pathway that its citizens walked on, I stood in the houses that they lived in, I hiked the summit to their meeting places.

In the distance in this picture is one of the lookout towers at Lachish. in the foreground is 1 of three guard posts right inside the gates. (don't quote me on that...it was a long day in the sun, but I'm pretty sure that's what they were). An interesting fact about the Lachish excavation: the archaeologist only excavated half of these guard posts- he left the rest for future generations of archaeologists who will undoubtedly have better tools and testing techniques. How cool is that!

Milah Monday

Word #1
חניון
Meaning: Parking Lot
Pronunciation: cha-ni-yon
Sentence: This past Shabbat, the Haredim staged a very loud and angry protest against a חניוןopened on Shabbat so that people can visit the Old City.
**note- I looked it up, there are no rules against protesting on Shabbat. apparently protests do not count as work.

Word #2
חבילה
Plural: חבילות (pronounced cha-vi-lot)
Meaning: Package
Pronunciation: cha-vi-lah
Sentence: I love getting חבילות! The last couple of weeks I have gotten חבילות from my friends and family for my birthday, and it is so wonderful receiving mail from back home.

Word #3
גלויה
Plural: גלויות (pronounced glu-yot)
Meaning: Postcard
Pronunciation: glu-yah
Sentence: Last Shabbat, I wrote about a billion גלויות and sent them to family and friends back home. If I do not have your address, send it to me and I will make sure to send you a גלויה.

City of David

Last week, my Biblical Archaeology class went on a tiyyul (basically a fieldtrip) to the ancient city of David. One of my favorite things about living in Jerusalem is that an ancient location like this is only about a 5 minute walk from where I go to school. We walked through Gehennah, which has a lot of folklore attached to it from Biblical times- namely where the Pagans would do child sacrifices. most recently it was a slum until the City of Jerusalem turned it into a park. We then walked the ramparts of Jerusalem, on the walls of the old city of Jerusalem, on the same stones that have been walked on for many many years by our ancestors. The City of David was excavated (and is still being excavated) by a woman who believes she has uncovered David's Palace. Where, according to tradition, he looked down into the valley and saw Bat Sheba bathing on her roof. Whether or not this story historically took place, it was pretty amazing to be standing on or near that place.

In the City of David, as in most of Jerusalem and Israel, the modern city has been built over the ancient ruins. In this picture, towards the bottom is the City of David, but all you can see are the modern houses built right on top of the ancient city. This is actually how most ruins in Israel are found: someone wants to develop the land, and when their bulldozer hits a Tell (a site where several ancient civilization ruins are found right on top of each other, it looks like a hill) and according to Israeli law- all archaeological sites must be excavated and the findings must be given to the antiquities department. But people waste no time building over sites. Also in this picture, if you look very closely up near the top of the hill, you can see the United Nations Middle East Headquarters!

I have often mentioned in this blog that I do not like to take pictures of some sites because it is so difficult to accurately portray its beauty. And this picture is a great example of that. It is an example of either a terraced wall from the Late Bronze Age or a stepped-stone wall from the Early Iron Age (4 hours of lecture is a lot..I have a hard time remembering it all). Basically it is a fortified wall at the edge of what was supposedly the Palace, in order to keep the right people in, and the wrong people out. And yes, I know it just looks like a pile of rocks, but it used to be a thriving city I promise. OR some really strong people decided to play tricks on us and put all these rocks together and pretend it was important. the Jury is still out.

This picture is actually pretty cool. At first glance it looks like another pile of rocks. However, if you look closely, you can see a horizontal line in the rocks that stands out from the rest between what look like cement square structures. This is the destruction layer from when the Second Temple was destroyed. It is so amazing for me to see things like this. An entire section of History so important to the Jewish People, in a meter tall pile of rocks. This picture is also an excellent demonstration of the juxtaposition of Old Jerusalem with Modern Jerusalem. The ancient City of David on the bottom, including what may be the ruins of the Palace of David Himself, and a house built right on top of it. I also have the utmost respect for archaeologists who can look at these piles of rocks, and put the pieces together that teach us so much about our History.

A big issue back in David's day was water. Particularly in Jerusalem, where there really is very little water. Even today, most of the water for Jerusalem comes all the way from the Kinneret in Northern Israel. Back in the day, they dug an impressive well to gather water from below. The Gihon Spring was the major source of water for the City of David. However, the spring was in teh Gihon Valley which technically was outside the city walls. Let me remind you that Jerusalem is VERY Hilly. Imagine for a second carrying several buckets full of water at a 100% incline in the 120 degree (farenheit) temperature, many times a day. The ancient Israelites were not stupid, they put in place several ways to solve this problem. Including the Siloam Channel, many reservoirs including the Siloam Pool which is still in the Gihon Valley (not used for that purpose anymore), and most importantly Hezekiah's Tunnel. On our Tiyyul, we descended into Warren's Shaft which was dug to allow residents of the City of David to access the water during war times when they could not go outside city walls. I do not have any pictures of the shaft or tunnel, because I spent the entire time trying not to have a claustrophobia attack! The tunnel was small enough that every extremity was touching rock even when I held them close to my body. Our group opted out of the Hezekiah Tunnel tour, because water still flows through the tunnel and is thigh-deep. But if you are ever in Jerusalem, that tour comes highly recommended. I've included a picture from the website of Warren's Shaft. Also, if you are interested in learning more about the City of David, visit this website: http://cityofdavid.org.il/about_eng.asp

Temunah Tuesday!

Temunah Tuesday is on Wednesday again this week- my apologies. Rabbinical School is busy!

this is a sign at a construction site that says "thank you for your patience" (See milah monday for the word for patience). If any of you have spent time in Israel or with Israelis, you will understand why I think this is so hilarious. Israelis are notoriously patience-less.

A Great Miracle Happened Here!

Ok, maybe it's not a miracle, but still very exciting to see. Compostable tableware at a restaurant!

Some friends and I ate lunch at a new sandwich shop on King David Street called Ariela- if you are in the area, stop by. It's a cute little outdoor restaurant run by a family. And when I say run by a family, I mean the 8 year old son took our order. Yay Israel. The food was fabulous, and everything was compostable. for a few minutes, I actually felt like I was in Portland again.

Ok that's it for Temunah Tuesday this week. But I am going to post another entry today on our City of David trip which will also have lots of pictures!

Milah Monday!

Happy Monday!

Word of the Day #1

שפעת חזירים
Meaning: Swine Flu (literally "Pigs Flu")
Pronounced: Sha-fa-at cha-zir-im (at least I think that's how it's pronounced, I've only seen it in writing in the newspapers here, never actually heard it said on the streets.)
Sentence: As of this week, 5 Israelis have died as a result of שפעת חזירים.
Interesting Fact: Pig is not Kosher and is not readily available in Jerusalem. Ok that's not the interesting fact. But here it is- The Israeli government wanted to rename the swine flu שפעת מקסיקנית , or The Mexican Flu. However, due to protests from the Mexican government, the name has stayed the same.

Word of the Day #2
סובלנות
Meaning: Tolerance
Pronounced: sov-la-noot
**not to be confused with last week's word סבלנות which means patience. Yes, this is why I spent 5 hours a day in Hebrew class, to be frustrated by the very subtle nuances of the Hebrew language.
I have posted this word in honor of a recent incident that ocurred in Tel Aviv two weeks ago. A Saturday night, a gunman entered a center for Gay teens and opened fire, killing 2 and injuring many more. It was a very very tragic attack, and the gunman is still at large. The Center in Tel Aviv was a safe haven for gay teens in Israel, and it is heartwrenching to think that such a tragic event took place there. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the survivors and their families, as well as the GLBTS community of Israel.

Temunah Tuesday

Retail Therapy Edition!

My new violin! I walked into the store (the equivalent of Milano's Music in America) and said 'give me the best violin you have'. The man handed this to me, and said that will be 800 shekels. which is 200 dollars about. I feel like I am in elementary school again, but it feels great to play again! I haven't thought of a name for this one yet....but I'm open to suggestions.

My new Water Bladder and Hiking Pack! It is a 3 liter bladder with a drinking hose, and the pack holds a ton, but it's still slim and light. We are starting a hiking group, and I cannot wait to break in my new pack!

A birthday present from my sister. It says "I carried a watermelon" and if you cannot tell me what movie that quote is from, we need to seriously reevaluate our friendship.

And Sof Sof (finally)! I have officially been placed at the HUC-JIR Stateside Campus in Los Angeles, California! Once back in the states, I will be spending 4 years studying in beautiful and sunny LA!