This Year in Jerusalem

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At the end of Passover seder (meal which commemorates the beginning of Passover) Jews traditonally recite the words "L'shanah haba'ah b'Yerushalayim!" This means "Next year in Jerusalem!"

December 31st, 2010 found us peering into 2011 from the City Centre section of beautiful Jerusalem. We will be spending the first several months of the year in this one-of-a-kind city.

The U.S. New Year does not coincide with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year that occurs in September. 2010-2011 is the Jewish year 5771. Nevertheless, we found ourselves bringing in the American year in a popular nearby restaurant called Focaccia, where we enjoyed a very inexpensive but delicious meal. At midnight there was a little hooplah from the waitstaff and a few customers. "2011" and streamers adorned the restaurant as part of the celebration.

When we arrived at the restaurant, I said to Bill, "I would like to sit in a quiet corner." Since the restaurant was packed and noisy, he said, "You had better ask God for one because I don't see any available." I did and we were soon led to a cozy spot on the second tier of the restaurant. God is concerned about the little things in our lives, as well as the big things! This reminded me of a time when I told God I would like some flowers. We do not normally buy them and I thought they would add some cheer to our RV. The very next church we arrived at gave us flowers! They were so pretty and I knew it was a divine gift.

After dinner, we took a walk down Narkiss Street. A young man and two young ladies asked us for direction. Very funny. I did, however, have a detailed street map of Jerusalem. I asked them where they were going. The young man replied, "To a party at the house of a friend." As we parted ways, Bill said, "That is what I used to do at 1:00 in the morning."

Our apartment is located in the trendy area of town, where a lot of young people hang out. When we headed into our apartment building well after 2:00 in the morning, some people were still waiting in line for their turn to get into a bar. It seems that people are the same no matter where you go. As we sat in Focaccia and observed the other patrons, I said, "This is just like America, just a different language is spoken." Bill agreed. Same, same. People are looking for love, acceptance, happiness, fulfillment. Not everyone finds it. You have to look in the right place.

I spent nearly all of this last day of 2010 cleaning and organizing our apartment. (Evidently the recent storms had deposited a lot of dust in every nook and cranny of people's homes.) We unpacked our suitcases and trunks. The apartment is very tiny but we like it. We are not yet set up to cook. Our refrigerator freezes if left on all the time, and we have not yet figured out how to operate the stovetop that is on the balcony, so we have some things to work out before we can begin cooking our own food. I will post pictures of the apartment in a future blog.

It rained today. We took a break from cleaning and went out in search of lunch, which we found in the form of pita bread stuffed wth falafels, cabbage and other goodies. (Falafels are considered "street food" and are budget-friendly. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon and most of the shops were closing so the proprietors could be home in time for Shabbat (Sabbath). People were hurrying to make last minute purchases such as flowers or bread. As we sat under a canopy on Ben Yehuda Street and ate our falafels, people did not seem bothered by the rain. This is their winter, in which rain is welcome and needed, especially by the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) which has been dangerously low for years.

Day One

After a stressful day packing and completing final chores, we left St. Louis armed with less than three hours' sleep. Those of you who know that airplanes and Bill do not get along well will be happy to hear that he did much better than normal, thanks to God, a Hyland Air Sickness Homeopathic, wristbands, and a quiet and uneventful flight. As our plane neared Israel and the sun began to rise in the east, several Jewish men on the plane donned their prayer shawls and phylacteries, got out their prayer books, faced Jerusalem, and quietly prayed.

We arrived in Tel Aviv about 9:30 a.m. Our sherut took us down Highway 443 toward Jerusalem. Bill enjoyed a nice conversation with a young Jewish American who had also just arrived in Israel for vacation. I asked him how to say "delicious." (That is a very important word!) He said "tie-eem " means "tasty." At one point, when the sherut had to stop for traffic, a man approached the driver for a light. Though by now the driver could continue driving, he took time to exchange some formalities and light the man's cigarette while traffic started to back up behind us. One indication that we were now in a different world, one where human interaction assumes a different dimension than America's norm. We were the last passengers to be dropped off, landing at the intersection of King George and Hillel. We spent nearly the entire day with a friend, who showed us around and took us through the paces with procedures of the college we will be helping with while we are here.

While walking down Ben Yehuda Street, a little group of cheery young people asked us if we would like to buy homemade cookies to support a school trip they wanted to take. We chatted with them for a few minutes, then bought two of what they called "American" cookies. I must say that my cookie was one of the best chocolate chip cookies I had ever eaten. "Tie-eem!"

We met our building manager Boris, who is a Russian Jew. His small dental office is next to our apartment. His English is not great and he heard our names as "Sophia" rather than "Sylvia" and "Ferrin" rather than "Bill." Later, I saw him in the hall and he said, "Tell Ferrin I said hello." When in a foreign country, communication takes on a whole new meaning! So for now on, with Boris, we will be "Sophia" and "Ferrin."

We were fighting fatigue but, other than a brief nap, we forced ourselves to stay awake throughout the day. Then, we got so busy that we did not get to sleep until 1:00 a.m. We were able to sleep five hours, still feeling fatigued but ready for Day Two. (If you have ever had jet lag, you can identify with such a bizarre sleeping pattern!)

Caves of the Prince

Drive west through Amman, Jordan, past 8th circle. Maneuver through a village called Wadi Al-Seer, then drive about eight more miles, into country so beautiful and quiet that congested Amman seems thousands of miles away.

The hilly countryside is dotted with olive groves. We wait as a shepherdess herds goats down the street. Seemingly unattended vegetables lie along the road and children stare as we drive by; not many tourists venture out this way.

Missouri, where I grew up, is known as the Cave State (Think Jesse James’ hideout.) With over 5,500 caves in the state and my parents’ inclination to take us to really cool nature-oriented places, I like exploring caves. But none of those Missouri caves were as significant to me as Iraq Al-Amir (Translation: Caves of the Prince) that we visited last year with Scott and Suzi. The Prince referenced was Tobiah, one of the famed opponents of Nehemiah. These caves and the surrounding land were the ancestral domain of his family.

Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and gates of Jerusalem, with the permission of King Artaxerses I, who supplied Nehemiah with necessary building materials. Tobiah the Ammonite, Sanballat the Horonite, and Geshem the Arabian were angry about Nehemiah’s objective (Ne 2:10). Tobiah and Sanballat were appointed Persian officials and - although Nehemiah had the king’s blessing - they employed several strategies to try to defeat Nehemiah's objective.

1. They ridiculed him and demeaned his work (Ne 4:1-6).
2. They accused him of insurrection to the king (Ne 2:19).
3. They tried to intimidate him and put fear in his heart (Ne 6:9; 6:19).
4. They conspired with others to catch the Jews unarmed. When the Jews became aware of the plan, they prayed and armed themselves. When their enemies realized that the plan was discovered, they abandoned it (Ne 4:7-15).
5. Tobiah was married to a Jewish woman, and his family tie made the men of Judah loyal to him instead of Nehemiah (Ne 6:17-19).
6. They hired a man to advise Nehemiah to enter the temple to protect himself from his enemies. This was not acceptable according to the laws of God. If Nehemiah would have done this, he would have brought a reproach upon his impeccable reputation (Ne 6:10-14).
7. They invited him to meet with them in the plain of Ono in the land of Benjamin, about 30 miles northwest of Jerusalem. (Ono is the modern village of Kefr ‘Ana, about five miles north of Lydda.) Chances are good that the proposed meeting was not to be a cozy coffee house chat, but a method of taking Nehemiah prisoner or doing him harm (Ne 6:1-4).

None of these things caused Nehemiah to lose focus. He kept building the walls that had been broken down and the gates that had been burned with fire. He did not concede to discouragement and opposition. He prayed. He worked. He solved social problems.

Eliashib the priest had allowed Tobiah to occupy a spacious room in the temple; Nehemiah discarded Tobiah’s belongings (Ne 13:4-9). Perhaps Tobiah was so antagonistic toward Nehemiah because he knew he had no legitimate right to be involved in Israel’s affairs. He was an Ammonite and was unable to trace his genealogy to pure Israelite origin (Nehemiah 13:1; 7:61-62). Nehemiah plainly told Tobiah, Sanballat, and Geshem that they "have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem" (Ne 2:20).

I had read that there were two Aramaic inscriptions with the family name “Tobiad” inscribed in the outer rock walls of the caves, but we’d only seen one. As we were leaving, Bill happened to turn around and saw the second one near another doorway so we got pictures of the two identical inscriptions.

I completely disagree with one guide book which stated that if I scrambled up to the caves I would “find very little to get excited about: most are malodorous, and there's nothing to see but the view across the fields and a single ancient Hebrew inscription beside one of the cave entrances...” The caves were fascinating and the beautiful hillsides provide one of the prettiest views in Jordan.

Except for the occasional cry of a shepherd, a dog barking, or the distant sounds of people talking, all was quiet around us. It was incredibly easy to imagine how things must have been here approximately 2,500 years ago. Some of the cave walls are blackened from long ago fires. One of the caves is equipped with rock-hewn seats around the perimeter of the room; this cave probably served as a council and fellowship room. The rocky, terraced hillsides are ideal for grazing flocks and growing food.

How long did Tobiah live here? We cannot know. Perhaps this was his childhood playground, the place where his children were born, and a conference center where he hosted area leaders as they gathered and discussed their world affairs. If these caves could speak, what stories they could tell. But the caves and their two simple inscriptions are quiet, unwilling to reveal the secrets of the Tobiad family, urging us to be content with the biblical account of his life.

It is enough to be inspired by Nehemiah's constant refusal to be distracted, discouraged, intimidated, or afraid. He refused to believe the lies - both obvious and subtle - of his enemies. Nehemiah's enemies tried a variety of strategies in hopes that one of their tactics would catch him off guard. But nothing worked. The walls were erected. The gates were built. Mission accomplished.

Jerusalem - The Heart of the Biblical World

During our recent trip to Jordan, I was blessed to visit the most controversial city on Earth: Jerusalem. Rebuilt eighteen times, a place familiar with bloodshed and division, the "City of Peace" is unlike no other place on the planet.

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Since my visit to the Land of the Bible, reading the Word takes on meaning that it did not have before. It's not that I believe more than I did before. It's just that I can picture the written events taking place in a way that I could not before. I can picture the battles, the discussions, the miracles.

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It's like hearing about the Gettysburg events. Before I visited Gettysburg, of course I believed those events took place. But, when I walked on the very fields, I could visualize what before had just been historical words on paper.