Home, Sweet Home

The three most important things about where you live: the kitchen, the bathroom, and your roomates. Although there are six of us in the suite, we like to think that Jonah does a good job of representing us all.

The Temple Mount

The Dome of the Rock is easily the most beautiful building in all of Jerusalem, and perhaps all of Israel. Interestingly enough, the Muslims had Christans construct the building for them, and it is for this reason that the Dome of the Rock is an eight-sided place of worship--modeled after the common design for a church during that period. The Temple Mount, upon which the Dome of the Rock is located, is much more relaxing than its fellow holy places--the holy place of the Jews, the Kotel; and that of the Christians, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Temple Mount is very much an oasis, and is the largest open space in all of Jerusalem. From the pictures you can see the impressiveness of the Dome and also of the Al-Aqsah Mosque, which is adjacent to the Dome. Women and children especially congregate in the grassy and shady areas of the Temple Mount to spend the afternoon reading, talking, and generally mulling about. It seems peaceful. Under current law the Temple Mount is open to visitors from 9:00 until 3:00 and is patrolled by Israeli securtiy forces. Most Jews will not go up onto the Temple Mount for fear of standing in the place that once was the Holy of Holies. It is said that the the Dome of the Rock is built on this location. The Dome of the Rock is the third most holy site in Islam follwing Mecca and Medina.

Brilliant...there are no words!

Pushme-Pullyou, and Tel Aviv

Ahh Tel Aviv, a place where the beer flows like wine and beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. Three of my suitemates and I traveled to Tel Aviv last weekend because of the beach, and the girls, but mainly the beach. It's a funny thing about the people in Israel. They are nice. They are nice to Americans. Even the girls who walk around with M-16's for a living are nice to us civilain guys studying abroad here. In fact we met several Israeli girls at the beach during the day, and later that night they came with us to enjoy the night life of Tel Aviv. The key word here is nice. But that all changes when you are waiting in line. If any harm comes to me in Israel, I am convinced that it won't come from an entafada, political and religious radicals, or heaven forbid some katusha coming from the north. Oh no, I fear that my end will come from some little old lady whom I meet waiting in some line in Israel. It's a jungle out there, waiting in line. It can be for anything. The bus to Tel Aviv, for example. To begin our trip we had to take a bus. The bus is safe, but the line could kill you. Israeli's are pushy in line, to the point where it is a disappointing aspect of the culture here. I know it probably happens in the US too, but I have noticed it quite overwhelmingly here. Because of this my friend Andrew didn't make it on the bus to Tel Aviv on his first try. He got pushed back far enough in the line that the bus ran out of room and he was left behind. But despite all, Tel Aviv, and the rest of the country that I have seen so far is beautiful. The beach is sunny and the water is warm, and there are great places to hang out and eat right on the shore, a perfect spot to watch the sun set over the Mediterranean. Just watch out for the lines.

P.S. notice the picture of the guy with the paddle hitting a small rubber ball back and forth to a partner. You are decisively not Israeli if you don't play paddle ball on the beach. Sorry Italy, it's bigger than soccer.

Stepping on Cultural Toes: Circumcised on the Eighth Day

This is my cup. I drink out of it. Water, orange juice, milk, you name it. It's pretty big...big gulps. I like and it is blue, so that makes it even better. But here's the thing. I shouldn't be drinking out of this cup. It's almost sacreligious. Well, actually, it is sacreligious. You see this cup originally had two handles; you might be able to see the remains of the second one on the side of the cup facing the camera. The cup had two handles beacuse it is used for ceremonial hand cleansing. The religious Jews use these cups to wash their hands before going to to pray at the Kotel (Western Wall). Yea, oops, exactly. But I didn't know, I am sorry, I really am. So I did what any good Jew would do; I circumcised the forehandle of the cup on the eighth day.

What Hebrew is like...kinda.

S, ON OF M FRNDS HR, ZCH MSS, HD TH BRLLNT ID OF WRTNG BCK T EVRYONE H KNWS AT HM WTH TH PRPSE OF DMNSTRTNG TH BST H CLD IN ENGLSH, WHT IT MGHT B LKE T RD THNGS IN HBRW. H DD S B TKNG OT ALMST ALL TH VWLS; S THS MSSGE...OD T ZCH. THNGS HR IN JRSLM AR AMZNG, ND THS WKND M STMTS ND I AR PLNNNG T G T TL AVV. PCTRS FRM THS ADVNTR ND A TRP T TH TMPL MNT TO CM SN. TH TMPL MNT IS TH LCATN F TH DM F TH RCK ND TH AL QSH MSQ. I HV STPPD ON SM CLTRL TS HR, T B SR, SPCLLY S I BGHT A RLGS, DBLE-HNDLD, PRFCTN CP FR TH PRPS F DRNKNG ND PRCDD T RMV ON F TH HNDLS FR MR STLSH BVRG CNSMPTN. WLL, I D NT WNT T B T LNGHTY IN THS MSSG, SNG THT T HS N VWLS N T, S SHLM ALL ND TK CR.

-DVD

Here we have the Zion Gate, one of the eight gates that leads into the old city of Jerusalem. The old city is surrounded by a stone Crusader wall, which was built by the Turks. The stone around the archway is riddled with bullet holes coming from the War of Independence.

And then of course we have the hot Israel army girls, more than willing to pose for a photo or two. The other two pictures come from Ben-Yehuda Street, the "Time Square" of Jerusalem, wher you can go to bars and yes, smoke hookahs. The last picture of the Israeli flag with the Islamic minaret in the background shows how closely these two different and sometimes extreem cultures live together.

Shalom, Israel! These pictures were taken at the Kotel (the Western Wall/ the Wailing Wall). Despite the fact that it is known as the wailing wall, there is not a whole lot of wailing that goes on there. Most of the time people are praying and the men go into a special archway to study Torah.

The soldiers in the green uniforms are recent graduates of the IDF training program.


The man walking towards the camera is perhaps pne of my favorite men at the Kotel--he's got Hustpa, if you ask me.


At 7:00am tomorrow morning (Sunday the 13th) a ceasefire goes into effect as the UN decides on the makeup of a 15,000 member peace-keeping force. Hoprefully peace will follow. Lachietriot.

Lebhar in Israel

So I have been the country for a day and a half, and although there is war going on not more than a hundred miles away, life seems relatively peaceful here in the city. Hebrew classes start tomorrow--6 hours a day, 5 days a week. I desparately need the language, so there is no complaint there. I live on Mt. Scopus in the Hebrew University dorms--northeast of the old city. The Mount of Olives is right next door and the call to paryer echoes through our flat five times a day. Beautiful time of year, hot, but not too bad, and cool at night, which is good for sleeping. Move in and registry was pretty boring, so more exciting things to come. Oh, and we happened to find a falafel stand (how can you not in Jerusalem) and they had Al-Manar on the television (that is the Hezbollah TV station)--best terrorsit falafel around, hah. Shalom, shalom, more later.