Week 1

We arrived at the moshav here in Israel 6:30 PM Sunday night in Israel. First thing Monday morning was orientation. The place we are living all semester is on a moshav, about eight miles northwest of Jerusalem. The moshav, Yad HaShmonnah, was started by Finnish Christians in the 70's. Yad Hashmona” means Memorial to the Eight, named after eight Jewish refugees in WWII, seven of which were murdered in Auschwitz. Because it was the Finns who handed these men over to the Nazis, the Finnish founders of the Moshav wished to somehow atone on behalf of their nation for the surrender of the eight to the Nazis, and they viewed their contribution to the Land of Israel as a public request for forgiveness. More about the moshav, and pictures can be found at their website: http://www.yad8.com/index.php.

After orientation we went for a walk to a local village, Abu Gosh, and Kiriat Jaariim, a place northwest of Jerusalem, where the ark of the covenant stayed for 120 years (1 Sam. 7) before David moved it into Jerusalem (II Sam 6). A church stands on the site today, built by the Catholic church, and on a clear day Jerusalem can be seen from the hill.

Tuesday we went into the Old City in Jerusalem and visited the Citadel, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the pools of Bethesda (John 5). Every Shabbat, or Saturday I will return to the Old City, where we will spend time after Assembly, which is what they call church here in Israel. It is called either congregation or assembly rather than church because they disassociate it from the Catholic church.

Out of my four classes, Land & Bible, Jewish thought & Culture, History of Modern Israel, and Archaeology, so far I have only attended L&B, and Modern History. Land and Bible is the class we take most of our field trips for. We will have our Old Testament walk on Sunday, in which we will also be going through Hezekiah's tunnel. Here's a link to learn more about the tunnel http://www.bibleplaces.com/heztunnel.htm .

For now,
~Lacy