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| So I have been here in Israel for 13 days.
A quick run down of what's been going on:
Day 1: meeting at Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C., followed by flight to Israel, arrival in Tel Aviv and then Jerusalem on Shabbat. We had Shabbat dinner with David Nekrutman a modern Orthodox Israeli who used to be in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in NYC. We then walked to the Kotel (Western Wall) to pray, and walked back. Everyone walks during Shabbat, cars are not kosher :)
Day 2: During Shabbat we first found a non-kosher Aroma (Israeli version of Starbucks), which meant that it was open, got lunch and coffee. Then we went up the Mount of Olives and got to look at the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives. In Scriptures, the Messiah is going to return from the Mount of Olives to the Temple Mount, and so we were able to look at that. We then went down the mountain to Gethsemane, and Dominus Flevit, the Church of Tears, finishing in the Garden Tomb, by were Golgotha could have been.
Day 3: Was a day full of meetings with "Important Personages." We started the day off at the Jerusalem Municipality where we were received by the Senior Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Yigal Amedi. In the afternoon we went to visit the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) where we met with MK (minister of Knesset) Josh Reinstein, who is head of the Christian Allies Caucus in the Israeli government and we personally met with three more MKs, all from different parties within Israel. In the evening we met with Dmitri Radyeshevsky, who is the head of the Jerusalem Summit, and Itamar Marcus who runs Palestinian Media Watch (CRAZY stuff that is being broadcast on Palestinian TV). Oh, and I was interviewed by Ynet.news, an Israeli news agency
Day 4: We went to the Shalem Center, and met with author Michael Oren (Six Days of War), sometimes Harvard prof, Princeton alum. His most recent book is called Power, Faith, and Fantasy focuses specifically on the evangelical/Christian roots of the US (masonry aside), and how that has played into modern day support for the State of Israel. Then we went to the International Christian Embassy (my work place come August 10th) and my new boss, and Bridges for Peace (another Christian organization).
Day 5: Holocaust Museum, Yad Va Shem (which means hand and name) and we also met with a Holocaust survivor...enough said, INTENSE
Met with another Christian journalist Stan Goodenough <www.jnewswire.com>
Minister of Foreign Affairs also met with us. He's Druze, they wear funny pants (google it and you'll see).
Day 6: Reception at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, met with a bunch of people. The onslaught of dignitaries is beginning to fuzz into one collective whole
WE WERE RECEIVED BY THE CHIEF RABBI of JERUSALEM. He is the POPE of Jews. I think this may have been the first time in history that CHRISTIAN students met with the Chief Rabbi. That was AMAZING, and he blessed us several times. A blessing from the chief rabbi, I'll take that. He did not shake the girls' hands....they don't allow opposite genders to touch unless they are married, or family
Day 7: Traveled south, met up with bedouin brothers...HILARIOUS. They, uh, apparently are not "nomads," they just travel through their "family's" land. Oh and if you give them the US military budget for a year, they will fix all our problems. That night we slept in a "bedouin tent" in the desert. Oh, and we went to Gaza, and met with Israelis from Sederot who DAILY receive kassam rockets from there friendly brothers in Gaza
Day 8: Went to Masada, chilled
Day 9: woke up at 4 am to hike to the top of Masada, where in AD 70 over 1000 jewish people chose suicide over Roman subjugation, went to Ein Gedi, and the Dead Sea
Day 10: Qumran, where Dead Sea Scrolls were found, and Galilee. We went out for a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, danced on the boat (well, I danced) and learned how to play in a drum circle. THE SEA OF GALILEE!!!
Day 11: Galilee holy sites, including Capernaum, and Peter's house
Day 12: Golan Heights, and we met with kibbutz people
Day 13: Today we went to Nazareth and met with an Arab Christian woman. Nazareth is a sad story. All the Christian sites in Israel are falling apart, and it is really our (Christians' fault) Later we went to Mount Carmel and met with this awesome pastor who's church is comprised of all nations, and including Arabs AND Jews worshiping and serving together. Furthermore, they are sheltering about 20 some Sudanese refugees, the CUTEST children. The church is on Carmel, where Elijah called down fire from heaven. And we arrived in Tel Aviv. We went for an evening swim in the Mediterranean, and that brings us up to now.
Next time I will put up pictures, and reflections
let me know what your thoughts are....on Israel.....this could be an interesting discussion.
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| So the next time I see all y'all, it will be fromYerushalayim....
Of course, in a classic soap/chick movie moment, today is all grey and dreary, like it's going to rain. It's like that song from Grease, "It's Raining on Prom Night" except it's not the prom, and it's not raining. I think the word for the metaphor I just TRIED to make is Hyperbole....because it's such a stretch....
All righty folks, that's all from Boston,
Uh..........Good night and good luck :p
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| So, three more days. Yesterday, I had a brief panic attack that was triggered by having too many clothes. I am bringing one large suitcase, one carry on size and one garment bag, for 4-maybe longer, months. It's a lot of clothes IF I was just packing for one season or one occasion, but I needed to include dance practice, dance performance, summer business, summer casual, fall business, fall casual, and winter (although winter there is not as extreme, it still gets cold) business and casual. It just so happens I"ll be there during several season changes....so in light of that, one suitcase, one carry on, and one garment bag, not too bad....
My friends AM and J came up to visit from Queens/Manhattan last night :) So sweet, they are AWESOME, and we had a most serendipitous evening. It started with me ordering sushi and the sushi people accidentally making a California roll, so I got a free roll, turns out that's the only kind of roll AM will eat. Then we went to see Harry Potter (so good), and because I had bought tickets for 7 ppl, in two rounds, one of the tickets was free. Anyway, everyone who was going happen to live along the same street, so picking up was simple, and then when we arrived at the theatre, the line had already begun moving. It was pretty packed, but J's brother was able to save 7 some seats (good for him) so we had kick-ass seats even though we arrived just before it started.
Now that I've bored you with the ins and outs of serendipity....
Just a few more small boxes to pack.
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| SO.......
I have officially entered the "freak out" stage. 6 days, haven't started packing, and I'm taking the GREs in less than two hours.
Let the good times ROOOOOOLL
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Lifetime
