Hello Family,
Sorry this letter is so late! Starting with Monday, July 29, I went
to the Temple Institute after class. The Institute is a group of Jews who are
preparing for the third Temple by making all the decorations, clothes and
artifacts they need to perform all the ceremonies. All they need is the Ark of the
Covenant (which, according to Brother Jackson, is in the Lutheran Church of
Augusta Victoria) and a Temple, and they are ready to move in! It’s an
extremely controversial group who are a little too zealous, but it was
interesting to hear what they thought of the Temple.
On Tuesday we went on a field trip of the Jewish Quarter of the Old
City. We saw a bunch of 1st Century mansions buried under the
current city where many of the wealthy priests of Christ’s time most likely
lived. They excavated it all, put a roof over it, and built a bunch of new
buildings on top. That’s just how it works around here. Then we went to the
temple mount excavations. On the south side of the temple mount are the remains
of the stairs that lead to Herod’s Temple. There is another wall and ramparts
built perpendicular to the temple mount that we walked on after. After we were
set free from the field trip, I wandered around the old city with some girls
who wanted to do some shopping.
Wednesday was the Christian Quarter Field Trip, so we visited some
of the churches in that part of town: Holy Sepulcher, Lutheran Church of the
Redeemer, Russian Orthodox Church of St. Alexander Nevski, and the Church of
St. Mark. I’d been to all the churches except the Russian one before, but it was
nice to learn a little more about the sites from my professor. After the trip,
Julie, Marissa and I visited Schindler’s grave, King David’s tomb, and tried to
see the Tomb of the Kings, but it was closed for renovations.
After class on Thursday, we went to see the Church of Mary
Magdalene and the Grotto of Mary. I’ve wanted to see the Magdalene Church for a
while, because it has these great golden domes and is right next door to
Gethsemane. The Grotto is across the street from Gethsemane, too, so we stopped
in. It’s one of the supposed sites for Mary’s grave. The church is quite far
underground and is more interesting than I thought it would be. It has 3
different alcoves with relics and stuff. Almost attached to the church is
another grotto that is another possible site for the Atonement. It had some
cool frescos on the ceiling from the Crusader period, around 10th
Century AD.
Friday, we were stuck inside the JC all day. That night we had
“Jerusa-Prom.” There was a box of fancy dresses in the closets of the JC, so
music was put on in the gym and people could take pictures with their dresses.
Marissa and I decided to be each others’ dates and abstained from prom.
Instead, we did Dead Sea Mud facials and played Qwirkle. We did get pulled in
to the dance for 30 seconds and twirled for that half minute before we snuck
out.
Saturday was church, as usual, but my friend Neoma was visiting for
the weekend, so I hung out with her all day. I don’t know if any of you
remember me talking about her from working at the library or Hebrew stuff, but
she is studying Hebrew in Haifa this summer and came down to see Jerusalem.
I went to the Israel Museum on Sunday. We had an assignment for
Ancient Near East to find all the items on his checklist. It was a really nice
museum, full of cool artifacts I recognized from places I actually knew about!
That was probably the best part of seeing it all: knowing the context of the
stuff and often having firsthand experience with the places. I kept thinking,
“I’ve been there! I know who that is and what he did! I understand why that’s
significant! I sat on that artifact’s replica!” It was great. My group wandered
our way back to the JC. Some of my group had shopping to do, so I just followed
along. That evening, Neoma was back at the JC after spending the day with some
of the other Hebrew students. Marissa and I taught her Qwirkle and just talked
all evening. (I totally creamed Marissa both rounds, which is quite the feat!
She’s really good!)
That was last week! I’ll write about this week’s adventures soon!
Love,
Kelby
