Arriving jet lagged, we tuck into dinner at St. Georges College in Jerusalem. Pilgrims, longing for a deeper spirituality, come to St. Georges College from all over the world. Since 1962, clergy and laity from 92 countries and 96 faith traditions have attended St. Georges for either short-term or long-term courses. My first impression of Jerusalem is one of expansion. Its new suburbs came into view many miles before we reached the old city from the west. Fortunately, most of the new architecture maintain a connection to the past through the use of native stone, like the buildings at the Hebrew University to the east of the city. One can almost forget that this land was reclaimed from the desert. And then one looks to the east of the city where Israel ends and the vast wasteland begins.

A little more about Henry: He's very knowledgeable. He knows so much about the Holy Land, the life of Jesus in historical/theological context and the contemporary issues in Israel/Palestine. He also helped us understand Jerusalem's significance for Judaism, Christianity and Islam (our Special Study Program incidentally is titled "Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths.") Let me try to paraphrase his introductory lecture. There are four ways to interpret the scripture: literal, allegorical (allegory), tropological (moral), anagogicac (secret) i.e., the "peshat," "remex," "drash," and "sod." On the literal level, Jerusalem is in Judea. On the allegorical level, Jerusalem is the church. Morally, Jerusalem represents the human soul. On the secret level, Jerusalem is the city of God and is the mother of us all.

The Revd. John Tidy is the interim dean of St. Georges. He has a dazzling smile and a sunshine personality that melts even the coldest hearts. Actually one remembers his prayers, which though very meaningful, tend to harp on certain sentences and repeat them in several different versions throughout the same prayer. We did a playful satire of him in our farewell entertainment on our last day in Jerusalem. Maybe his long prayers are what you call "positive reinforcement." He speaks with a British accent.

Camels can travel many days without food or water. They carry more weight than horses. Also, a well-designed camel saddle has more room to carry whatever extra gear you are packing than a horse saddle does. Camels may also have more endurance, although of course training level is important. Israel's desert camel tours are popular and the Negev desert region provides a more than perfect setting for such adventures. I got to ride on one later.

(Maddie a punchbag for Fish?)

We toured Jerusalem today and got to see from a distance the Judean Desert, the Al Hasq Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and the West Bank. We walked to Damascus gate, the Jewish quarter, and the New gate after a salad lunch at the college. The Old City has a total of 11 gates, but only seven are open (Jaffa, Zion, Dung, Lions' [St. Stephen's], Herod's, Damascus [Shechem] and New). The main entrance to the city is the Jaffa Gate, built by Suleiman in 1538.

On Mel: She's quite the exquisite southern belle. She likes donning cheerful-looking flowered pink dresses. But make no mistake because she can probably throw a grenade better than you do. She'll be graduating this May and going to the U.S. army. A great way to visit the Old City is simply to wander through the labyrinthine paths and let yourself get lost. For safety reasons, we were told not to travel alone and to be careful about wandering beyond the main thoroughfares of the Muslim Quarter. It is also prudent to explore during the day, though the views of many of the sites -- when you know how to find them or so I've heard or seen (i.e., during "The Stations of the Cross" on our last day) -- are often best at night. The Stations of the Cross is a popular devotion used by individuals or groups who wish through prayer and reflection to follow Christ on his way to Calvary.

The separation wall at Abu Dis made me sad. An ugly concrete wall has divided the good people from the bad there, the prisoners from the free, the blue (Israeli identity cards) from the orange (West Bank ID cards). The division is not absolute. Despite the absence of a gate, an evil decision in and of itself, infiltration occurs under the noses of the Border Police patrols swarming all over the village. Meanwhile, the people are humiliated, bullied, battered, made to sweat and covered in dust.

(L-R): Ashley, Candice, Terry, Me, DJ, Laurel.

We got the chance to see the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum, which is home to the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient manuscripts that were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves near Khirbet Qumran, on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea. They are approximately two thousand years old, dating from the third century BCE to the first century CE. Most of the scrolls were written in Hebrew, with a smaller number in Aramaic or Greek. The vast majority of the scrolls survived as fragments - only a handful were found intact. Nevertheless, scholars have managed to reconstruct from these fragments approximately eight hundred and fifty different manuscripts of various lengths. We also went to the museum's Art Garden, (in picture above) designed by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, and extending over five acres. It is characterized by terraces built from agricultural heaps of boulders which recall the terraces that are so widespread in the hills around Jerusalem, and the archaeological structures which may be found in the landscapes of the Judean Hills. The surface of the Garden is covered with a layer of small stones that recall Zen gardens in Japanese monasteries.

We celebrated New Year's at Dean John's apartment with wine and finger food before heading to the rooftop to watch the fireworks.

Israeli food is delicious! The "Israeli salad" of tomatoes and cucumbers cut in very small cubes, the "falafel" (Made of balls of chick pea mush, which are then deep fried and typically served in a pita with a variety of toppings. It has often been called Israel's national snack), olives, olive oil, wheat, chick peas, and yogurt are either Mediterranean or Middle Eastern additions. Under the influence of Jewish dietary laws, pork and shellfish are left out of the Israeli cuisine. Thank God for Shwarmas though! I experienced my first Shwarma in Jerusalem and it brought tears to my eyes. I knew then that I wasn't sentenced to eat falafels for my entire stay. A truly heavenly concoction with divine inspiration. Warning: It is pretty addictive. The shwarma is a rolled sandwich traditionally with lamb, chicken or vegetable filling.

"And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial... an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." ( Isaiah 56:5) We went to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial after lunch. The Yad Vashem is the Jewish people's memorial to the murdered six million and symbolizes the ongoing confrontation with the rupture engendered by the Holocaust. I found it to be a very powerful artistic and human experience. Most of the art were created in ghettos, hideouts, camps, on the run, in forests, and in places where one would consider artistic endeavor impossible. While some works of art were lost, thousands more were preserved, against all the odds.

Approximately 1.5 million Jewish children perished in the Holocaust. They are specially remembered in the Children's Memorial, an underground cavern in which the flickering flames of memorial candles are reflected in an infinity of tiny lights within the prevailing darkness. Next to the Museum of Holocaust Art lies an auditorium. I ventured inside and saw shoes... empty shoes of women, men, and children whose lives were destroyed simply because they were Jews. There's a similar exhibit at the U.S. holocaust memorial museum in D.C.

The site is in remembrance of Oscar Schindler, who rose to the highest level of humanity, giving Jews a second chance at life. Schindler employed hundreds of Jews under the disguise of armament specialists, buying the products on the black market and delivering them to the Wehrmacht. He was arrested on many occasions by the Gestapo, but released repeatedly. With perseverance, he achieved the impossible - the release of a transport of Jewish women from Auschwitz.

(L-R): Candice, Me, Laurel.

"Be'er Sheva, Masada, come on pretty mama..." We're at Be'er Sheva - the ancient Tel and "Abraham's Well" en route to the Negev Desert. Beer Shebe, situated on the southern boundary of Judea is referred to as the dwelling-place of Abraham. Abraham and Abimelech made a treaty there, whence it derives its name Be'er Sheva, the "well of the oath." As early as the days of Samuel, Be'er Sheva was an important place, since it is stated that the sons of Samuel "were judges in Be'er Sheva." At the time of Eusebius and Jerome, Be'er Sheva was an important garrisoned city. After this, however, it fell into decay; and now nothing remains of it but the well, the name "Bi'r es-saba," and some unimportant ruins.

On Candice: She's dramatic and yet poetic in her expression. Soft, curly hair; kindly, thoughtful eyes. Still I cannot fathom why she is grasping her head in this manner. Maybe she's excited about the well. Or maybe she's cold. Yeah...the winds can get a tad bit chilly here.

We ascended Masada by foot via the Siege Ramp and toured the excavations. Excavations at Masada revealed exquisite buildings, most of which were built by King Herod. So what is so significant about Masada? According to Henry, our instructor, Masada is important because the Jews fought the Romans there. But more than that, it was at Masada that Hellenistic culture met Semitic culture. The two cultures focused on opposite and, one might contend, complementary world views:  Hebrew thinking is based on will, juridical concepts, and on the concrete, empirical reality of place, time, and tradition; while Hellenism, despite the divergent emphases of Plato and Aristotle in pre-Hellenistic Greece, focused on being and an emphasis on timeless, abstract, immaterial reality. These cultures were to dominate Near Eastern and Mediterranean culture for the millenniums to come.

(L-R): Maddie, Terry, Me, Claire, Candice.

King Herod, who ruled under Roman patronage, chose Masada as a place of refuge from potential enemies both at home and abroad. On Masada, he built fortifications and splendid palaces for himself and his entourage. We descended Masada by cable car. It was at this instant that Candice told me about a friend whose ear drums popped during his ascent in a cable car. He had to be brought to the hospital. I've a weak heart. Thank you for sharing the tale :)

We departed for Ein Gedi and immediately went floating in the Dead Sea. All you want to do is walk backwards into the sea, sit down and relax. Do not fret if you're unable to swim. The unparalleled buoyancy and warmth of the water has everyone floating. Why? The Dead Sea has a lot of salt in it. Salt water is heavier (denser) than regular water. People can float in regular water, but since salt water is even denser, it is even easier to float in the Dead Sea. Recognized as a mini-universe with its own micro-climate, the Dead Sea is the saltiest and most mineral-laden body of water in the world. The Dead Sea is also the lowest point on earth and the world's largest "Natural Spa." Historically, the Dead Sea Basin is the site of Masada, Mount Nebo and Jesus' Baptism site, among many other historical features.

(L-R): Claire, DJ, Ashley, Terry, Me. (The Residential Life and Housing Services (RLHS) group picture.)

We toured the excavations at Qumran, the ruins of an Essene monastic community located near the northwest corner of the Dead Sea, near which the Essene library (Dead Sea Scrolls) were hidden in caves. The architecture of the site indicates a highly communal lifestyle.