Galilee

No one had the endurance to read through my Intifada essay and I don't blame you. I haven't gotten the grade back yet and it is worth 80% of our grade. I am a bit nervous about it.

I am in the Galilee. The lake has actually taken back its Old Testament name as the Sea of Kinneret. It claims to be a "sea", but really it is just a big lake. I love it. It reminds me of Utah Lake except much less swampy. The beaches are beautiful and covered with sea shells.

On the first day, we went on a boat. They played Baptist Praise music and everyone danced and sang along. I took a video. We read about all the things that happened on the lake itself out of the New Testament as we sat in the middle of the lake. Jesus walked on water there and so did Peter. Jesus calmed the sea a few times. Jesus also preached out of a boat to the people on shore back when people wanted to make him king. It felt amazing to look out across the beauty that Jesus grew up with.

That day we went to the Mount (or hill) of the Beatitudes, the hill where Jesus fed the 5000, the place where the pigs jumped into the sea, the shore where the resurrected Lord cooked fish for his apostles and Peter jumped out of his boat, and to Capernaum, an early center of the church. I can't possibly write about everything that happened that day. I imagined Jesus walking around and teaching on the spots that we went. The view from the hillsides would blow you away. I have heard that in the spring, "consider the lilies of the field" takes on completely new meaning. I read the sermon on the mount and reflected as we sat on the Mount of the Beatitudes. We read the account of everything that took place in each of the places we went. Capernaum has a giant church built over Peter's house. Peter's house converted into a church very early. The giant church has stilts holding it up so that you can look down into the remains of Peter's early church-house. Jesus taught in a synagogue nearby that we also visited.

It has rained almost all of the time we have spent here. I enjoy it. It reminds me of the Oregon coast a bit. Monday is supposed to clear up and have good weather. We went hiking through old Jewish towns on Thursday. It says that Jesus went to all the synagogues round about in the New Testament. We saw two synagogues, one was the oldest in the holy land and the other was the best preserved. The synagogue looks a lot like an early Christian church because they both adopted the same Basilica style. On Monday, we went to a synagogue in Nazareth that Jesus probably pronounced his messiahship to the people in his home town. We sang some hymns and the curator came and told us how much he appreciated that we didn't sing Amazing Grace. I really liked the synagogue because it looked very much like it must have back then. You could imagine Jesus reading Isaiah at the front and then sitting down and proclaiming, "this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."

In Nazareth we also saw the Church of the Annunciation and a church on the site of Joseph's workshop. The Church of the Annunciation was enormous and on the lower floor had access to a small cave where the event supposedly occurred. I loved the church. They had artwork from all nations both outside and inside the church. The one from the USA had a very artistic flair. Sometimes I feel that building a church on the site can ruin your ability to imagine what it felt like when Jesus was there. I did not feel that way at all with the site of the Annunciation. If the church is pretty enough, it is perfectly fine with me. Other sites (like the place where Jesus fed the 5000) have little tiny churches on them. In my opinion, if you are going to build a church where Jesus walked, you have to go big.

We stay in a hotel complex run by a Kibbutz. The food here absolutely blows me away every time. I love the meat, the bread, the rice. I love the ice cream and the fish. The shower always has hot water and we can see the sea from our window. I have my own room. I could stay here for months. I am going to regret leaving this place.

We have a midterm on Monday. I am glad that we can stay here, but I wish we didn't have class. I don't get nearly the same amount of knowledge out of a three hour class every other day when I am exhausted from a field trip the day before as I would from a normal schedule.

I miss you all!

Scott

Two Intifadas

Equal Rights for Palestinians

            The second intifada of the Palestinians resulted in poor gains and massive casualties; the next Palestinian resistance must not follow the same patterns and should gain insights from the differences between the first and second intifada. In the past, Israel has not lost international support despite successfully undercutting every Palestinian attempt to obtain rights. The Palestinian cause must gain, as Nelson Mandela described the support for his cause, “almost universal support… from virtually all political persuasions and parties” (Said, 2001, 411). In order to achieve this kind of international sympathy, Palestinians must frame their plight in the universally understood cause of achieving equal rights. This paper does not discuss the feasibility of such a movement, but merely argues the practical benefits of such an approach. As an aid to this movement, leaders should learn from the lessons of the differences between the two intifadas. In the struggle for human rights, Palestinians should utilize successful elements of the first intifada including the involvement of grass roots leadership, the successful methods of non-violent protest, and positive western media coverage.

            In the struggle for human rights, the Palestinians must adopt the pattern of the successful grass roots movement of the first intifada as opposed to the Palestinian Authority leadership of the second. The first intifada relied heavily upon, “an extensive network of local committees” (Smith, 2001, 369). This network of local leadership eventually formed, “the unified command,” referred to as the UNL (Smith, 2001, 369). Prior to the first intifada, the PLO attempted to repress local leadership to maintain their status as the sole representatives of Palestinians, but the difficulty of organizing resistance on the ground forced the PLO to cooperate with local leadership (Smith, 2001, 369). The first intifada successfully boycotted Israeli goods and businesses in the territories (Smith, 2001, 370). Women organized to support the intifada and often took jobs outside the home in order to support their families (Smith, 2001, 370). The NIHC of the second intifada attempted to play a similar on-the-ground organizational role to the UNL, but failed because the groups that made up the NIHC had “long since lost their mass support” (Hammami, 2001, 403-404). The Palestinian Authority similarly failed to “provide basic organizational and logistical support to the civilian population” (Hammami, 2001, 404). The effective methods implemented by the local leadership of the first intifada appear curiously absent from the second intifada under Arafat’s strategy of “standing back and allowing [the protests] to escalate” (Hammami, 2001, 402). Hammami argues that Arafat’s actions reflect his true aim of “maintaining the PLO as representative of all Palestinians everywhere” and that Arafat has done so by diluting the democratic process (Hammami, 2001, 403). The local leadership of the first intifada rallied the population in effective and widespread protests, which the Palestinian Authority completely failed to accomplish during the second intifada. Future successful protests must utilize local leadership in a similar manner to the first intifada in order to have success. The United States, European countries, and Palestinians have lost faith in the credibility of the Palestinian Authority because of their connection to terrorism in the past. A popular Palestinian movement seeking equal rights organized by local leadership would receive much more sympathy. In addition, the recently liberated Arab countries would identify strongly with such a movement. The Palestinians have an opportunity to utilize their experience from the first intifada of organizing under local leadership to achieve civil and human rights.

            In light of the achievements and influence gained from the non-violent protests of the first intifada, as well as the backlash of the use of violence and terrorism in both intifadas, Palestinians should unilaterally eliminate violence and separate themselves from violent protestors. The excessive response by the Israeli military to the non-violent protests of the first intifada “[stirred] public criticism within Israel” and “[caused] accusations of lying to be hurled at the military leadership and Rabin” (Smith, 2001, 370). The protests also led to international discussions including “[recognition] by many Arab and Muslim States and by the Soviet Union” (Smith, 2001, 371). Furthermore, American Jews met with Arafat and PLO officials (Smith, 2001, 371). These developments eventually led to an American recognition that the Palestinians had met the United States’ demands to enter the peace process followed by the Palestinian case coming before the UN (Smith, 2001, 372). Although these developments did not lead to the formation of a Palestinian state, they did signal the only progress made towards that goal at that time (Smith, 2001, 373). In contrast, the violent and terrorist acts leading up to the first intifada undermined the Palestinian cause in the eyes of the international community. For instance, in 1985, a Palestinian assassination squad, claiming to belong to an elite PLO group, killed three Israelis in Cyprus (Smith, 2001, 364). Just a few months later, PLO members commandeered a cruise ship and murdered a disabled American Jew (Smith, 2001, 364). These events, along with Israeli bombings of the PLO headquarters in Tunisia, led to the cancellation of peace talks with Great Britain as the arbitrator (Smith, 2001, 365). Violence during the second intifada led to increased difficulties for everyday Palestinians (Allen, 2008, 1). In response to Palestinian violence, Allen describes the establishment of checkpoints in the occupied territories moved at random,  initiation of the construction of the separation barrier built through Jerusalem, destruction of Palestinian property, and disabling of communication infrastructure (Allen, 2008, 1). According to Farsakh, since the second intifada, Israeli settlement has expanded by over 4% per year (Farsakh, 2011, 418). Notably, non-violent protests did occur during the second intifada (Hammami, 2001, 399). These events failed to bring about results, perhaps due to the majority of news coverage focusing on the violence (Hammami, 2001, 399). Non-violent protests clearly must overwhelm violent attacks in order to progress the Palestinian cause. Said asserts that the intermingling of violence with non-violent protests has prevented Palestinians from claiming the “moral high ground” and has obscured the validity of the Palestinian cause in the West (Said, 2001, 412). Hammami argues that violence and especially the involvement of Palestinian security forces “allows for greater justification for the use of Israeli military force” (Hammami, 2001, 396). In order to end Israeli occupation and achieve equality, Palestinians should return to the effective non-violent protest methods used during the first intifada. Violence has only weakened the Palestinian state infrastructure, leadership, and credibility in the international community. The Palestinians must eliminate violent outbreaks to present a united front to the world. As seen in the second intifada, intermixed violence and non-violent protests do not have nearly the same impact on achieving Palestinian objectives as the early non-violent protests of the first intifada. A popular Palestinian movement must unite under a common banner of peaceful protest in order to appeal to the hearts and minds of people around the world and gain concessions from the Israeli government.

            In a Palestinian movement for human rights, Palestinians must make use of the unprecedented news coverage from the second intifada, but with the tone of the media coverage in the first intifada. During the first intifada, the West Bank and Gaza became a topic of interest in the western media (Bishara, 2008, 8) The first intifada changed the western view of Palestinians from refugees and terrorists to “children of stones” who fought one of the most sophisticated militaries in the world with rocks (Bishara, 2008, 8). United States public opinion moved in the direction of favoring the Palestinian cause (Bishara, 2008, 8). In contrast, the second uprising largely failed to portray the Palestinian side of the conflict (Hammami, 2001, 399). As Hammami points out, the western media did have incidences of publicizing the Palestinian non-violent resistance in the second intifada, but the media often overshadowed these episodes by subsequent Palestinian acts of violence (Hammami, 2001, 399). Hammami also asserts that the Palestinian Authority did not have a strategy for influencing the western media (Hammami, 2001, 399). Said suggests that the lack of attention to the western media differentiated the Palestinian cause from the successful South African cause of ending Apartheid (Said, 2001, 412). In their appeal for human rights, the Palestinians must combine the tactics that led to western support during the first intifada with the massive media coverage of the second intifada. If executed properly, the coverage of non-violent protests requesting equal rights could lead to economic restrictions for the state of Israel until they comply with Palestinian demands. The success of this strategy relies heavily on having popular non-violent demonstrations covered by the international media. Violence against Israelis will distract the media and lose the support of the Western public. Palestinians must present a non-violent united front demanding equality to the rest of the world in order to achieve their aims.

            In conclusion, Palestinians can gain much from the sacrifices they have by renewing the grass roots leadership, the non-violent protests, and the positive media coverage of the first intifada. These elements will aid them in their bid for receiving the rights given to the rest of the citizens of Israel. A widely publicized, non-violent movement under local leadership would resonate with American and European powers as well as with the Arab world. Palestinians would exhibit their own unique brand of heroism as the poor conditions and injustices perpetrated by the Israeli government came to the attention of the public in the international community. Through leveraging the successful elements of the intifadas, Palestinians can stand up and successfully demand their human and civil rights.

Works Cited

Allen, Lori. “Getting by the Occupation: How Violence Became Normal during the Second Palestinian Intifada.” Cultural Anthropology, 23: 453–487. Jul. 2008. Web. 13 October 2011.

Bishara, Amahl. "New Media and Political Change: The Case of the Two Palestinian Intifadas." Cadmus.eui.eu. Cadmus EUI Research Repository, 4 June 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://hdl.handle.net/1814/11487>.

Leila Farsakh. "The One-State Solution and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Palestinian Challenges and Prospects." The Middle East Journal 65.1 (2011): 55-71. Project MUSE. Web. 13 Nov. 2011.

Hammami, Rema, and Salim Tamari. "The Second Uprising: End or New Beginning?" Journal of Palestine Studies 30.2 (2001): 5-25. Print.

Said, Edward. "The Only Alternative." Al-Ahram Weekly Online No. 523 (2001). Print.

Smith, Charles D. Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. Print.

A few more pictures...

In a Bedouin tent. They gave us delicious herbal tea and showed us how they make the blankets you see on the ceiling.

This is a picture of me looking at my elbow. We are at an unrecognized Bedouin village in the middle of nowhere. We had a few Israeli plane fly bys because the Israeli's keep their nuclear weapons nearby.

Pictures!

I am going to steal some pictures that other people have taken of our group. I will probably upload some of my own someday.

Eilat

The Herodian. Herod is buried here.

Can you find me? This is at the church in Bethlehem University.

Church of the Nativity. Oldest practicing christian church. You can see caves that Jesus may have been born in. If it wasn't there, it was in similar caves nearby. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin here. Jerome's Vulgate Bible is the basis for the KJV.

Bethlehem as seen from a Shepherd's field. We saw sheep!

Roman theater in Amman. We sang lots of songs here.

Bethlehem

Lots happened in Bethlehem. The Herodian, one of Herod's palaces sits on a hilltop where you can see the dead sea, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem. The Bar Kokhba Revolt of 135 AD headquartered in the Herodian. You could see the tunnels they used to hide in and attack from. They also recently found Herod's grave there. We took lots of pictures.

We spent a few hours in Bethlehem University with the students there. They showed us a video about a girl who lived in Gaza, but could not go to school. They took her case to the Israel Supreme Court, but they told her that she could not come to school. The other people in Gaza also can't go to school. It takes an hour to get from Jerusalem to Bethlehem University (7 miles away). It is a christian university with about 70% Muslims. They loved talking to us because we are from America.

The church of the Nativity is the oldest active church in the world. It has been running since Justinian built it in the 6th Century. Jerome translated the Vulgate Bible into Latin from the original documents inside the caves below the church. The caves are near Bethlehem and Jesus was probably born in the cave, or in one nearby like it. We sang Christmas songs and looked down into the cave. It is hard to feel the spirit with tons of tourists taking pictures, but I tried to remember lots of smelly animals and a small baby.

After leaving Bethlehem, we went to a Shepherd's field nearby and looked out over the city. As we sang Christmas hymns, sheep walked right behind us. It felt amazing to consider the shepherds sitting down, looking up into the same stars and seeing angels of God declare the good news. We had some time to think there. I love living in this special place.

Jordan (continued)

After the treasury at Petra (where the grail is in Indiana Jones), we walked down the canyon and saw everything else. There is a whole cliff side full of the same type of architecture as the treasury. I will have to find some pictures. I can't describe it. Later, we went to the top of a giant mountain and saw another building cut out of the sandstone even bigger than the treasury. The Byzantines used it as a monastery, but it was originally built as a memorial of the Nabataeans defeat of the Greeks. We went to a few overlooks after that where you could see the desert for miles.

In Amman, the capital of Jordan, we went to a mixed salad place where they make ice cream mixed with fruit. We met up with a student studying abroad in Jordan from BYU. She knew a bit more Arabic than we did. We went to Hashem's, an Arabic McDonald's that served Falafel and french fries and hummus. Our BYU student guide said they eat practically nothing else and have a 60% rate of diabetes. We also had some delicious sugary cheese stuff. We ate a lot that night. I felt a bit sick the next day.

We went to Jerash the next day and saw the "best preserved Roman city in the world". I have actually seen quite a few Roman cities now, and I believe them. We saw a live gladiator show with a chariot race and roman legionnaires. We learned a lot from that show about the ancient Roman warfare. I saw a very well preserved theater there. I could imagine Romans sitting in a packed theater listening to Greek plays. The whole city still stood because no one ever built anything on top of it. When the Roman empire moved their capitol to Constantinople, the trade routes changed and Jerash became pretty much useless. Most of the buildings still remain in fairly good condition.

One of the most interesting things about Jordan is their close involvement to the Palestinian conflict. Over 50% of Jordan's population is made up of Palestinian refugees. The queen of Jordan is Palestinian. Jordan held the West Bank until Israel took it in 1973 (ish). A King of Jordan was assassinated in Jerusalem because of the conflict. The Kings of Jordan have attempted to negotiate a settlement for the Palestinians for over 30 years. It was interesting to hear our tour guide, our BYU guide, and locals talk about it. They all love Jerusalem, but they don't even say the word Israel.

Jordanians, Romans, and Nabataeans

We went to Jordan last week and had a grand time there. The people there loved us. They had a cheery attitude for the most part. I hope they come to a better agreement with Israel. The people hate Israel. We met some BYU students studying in Jordan. They said that the people say, "the Muslims have the truth. The Christians have most of the truth, they have just a few things wrong. And the Jews, they are evil." I can't really say I blame the Jordanians, considering their history with Israel. Maybe I will write all about that someday.

Petra exceeded all expectations. The Nabataeans built Petra between 300 BC and 100 AD. They controlled the trade routes between Rome and India and Egypt. They accumulated a lot of wealth from this trade. They had no slaves and had incredible systems for gathering water. You could see the open water channels and clay pipes that they used to gather water. We walked through a natural opening in the canyon and the treasury opened up before us. Indiana Jones found the holy grail there.

To be continued...

Eilat

We had very high expectations before going to Eilat. Every single one of the students opted to go. We had a blast. Some people saw lion fish. I saw a stingray and lots of big rainbowy fish. The beach felt amazing. It felt like a politically tumultuous version of Hawaii. I tried to get into the Hiatt hotel, but they made it difficult. The girls all went shopping. I took lots of pictures because my parents asked me too. I bought an underwater camera and a t-shirt. The t-shirt has a shark on it, but we did not see any.

On the way back, we stopped at the dead sea for a potty break. We went to bathrooms to potty, not the dead sea. We went during Sukhot, the Jewish holiday, and we saw lots of people at the dead sea camping. A couple of local young men walked into our bus. I got a little worried, so I went in. They were standing in the front of the bus talking to some girls just as cool as clams. I didn't realize before I went in that there were only girls on the bus. They backed off when I came up, but they didn't leave. Professor Ludlow walked in behind me and they left fast. I felt like a hero, but kind of a lame one.

Hezekiah and Today

We went to Hezekiah's tunnel. Hezekiah had it built in the 8th century BC. It brings the water from the Gihon spring into the city and feeds the pool of Shiloam. They found the pool just a few years ago. Jesus taught there. John 7-9 (maybe) is a sermon he gave while at the pool of Shiloam during Sukhot (sp?). Right now, the jews are celebrating Sukhot, so that is pretty cool. It used to be a pretty big deal. The tunnel is full of water and I sloshed through it in my bare feet. I am still wet. It was a blast. I might go again sometime before I leave.

Today, we went to the separation wall. It was interesting and depressing. Our Arabic teacher asked us what we thought and we said it was interesting and educational. He responded, "It is horrible." He said there are 20 year old men who have never left their small city and cannot leave. For some, it is a very large prison. Our guide, a famous Israeli political advisor is against the wall, but said that it has decreased suicide bombings. They need to start talking about peace.

Love,

Scott

Origins of Islam Essay

My father suggested I post my essays. Don't feel obligated to read them, but if you are interested, feel free.

Islamic Doctrine and Conflicting Contemporary Practices

Although polytheistic traditions in the Arabian Peninsula influenced Islam greatly, monotheistic doctrines formed much of the basis for the new religion (Berkey 71). As Berkey eloquently stated, “Islam itself from the beginning represented a close if problematic fusion of political and religious authority, in which condition it once again constituted less a rupture with the Christian Roman past than… an opportunity, as it were, to do Constantine one better.” (42) Islam assimilated and enhanced more than a unified political-religious authority. The five pillars of Islam, specifically the Shahadah, the Hajj, and the Zakat alter the doctrine of practices that existed in the Arabian Peninsula prior to the emergence of Islam in an attempt to improve conditions of the lower class and unify the Arab people. The Shahadah defines the nature of God in response to considerable confusion surrounding the topic, the Hajj introduces needed restrictions on the pilgrimage to Mecca, and the Zakat restructures the distribution of wealth.

Although obviously reforming the common practice of polytheism, this passage of the Koran illustrates that the Shahadah responds at least in part to the confusion surrounding the nature of the figure of Jesus Christ: “It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! when He determines a matter, He only says to it, "Be", and it is” (Qur’an 19:35). This verse or “aya” (Chittick 97) directly responds to the Christian concept of Jesus of Nazareth. In addition, the meaning of the word Shahadah and its use in the Koran have direct comparisons to the Christian doctrine of accepting Christ as your savior. According to Murata and Chittick, Shahadah means “to testify” or “to bear witness” and the Koran often uses the term to denote “the sense of giving witness” (113). The Shahadah, while parallel to declaring Christ as the savior, follows the same theme as the passage above and directly contradicts the Christian notion of Jesus and declares “There is no god but God” (113). Debate over the nature of God in Christian circles had divided the church for hundreds of years before the emergence of Islam (51). Through the Shahadah, Islam declared boldly the nature of God and then left no room for argument by adding, “Mohammed is God’s messenger” (113). Stopping all future revelation eliminated the possibility of future false prophets obfuscating this doctrinal point. The Shahadah also gave all Muslims a common banner to rally towards despite differences in class, language, ethnicity, and geography. All Muslims everywhere recited the same Shahadah in the same language. To this day, most Muslims agree that pronouncing the Shahadah is the only necessary requirement to accept Islam (113). With the Shahadah eliminating all confusion over the nature of God and uniting Islam with the commonality of repeating the same phrase, Islam has remained much more cohesive over the centuries than either Christianity or Judaism.

The Hajj both unified the practice of and placed restrictions on the pilgrimage to Mecca (Chittick 116). Prior to the emergence of Islam, Mecca received pilgrims from the surrounding areas visiting the Kaba, a black stone understood by Muslims as the same stone given to Abraham by the angel Gabriel (Esposito 156). Soon after conquering Mecca, tradition tells us that Mohammed destroyed idols housed in the Kaba and restored it to the proper worship of Allah (156). Mohammed instituted many requirements for a proper pilgrimage to Mecca that make apparent that the pilgrimage needed restrictions to prevent the mistreatment of those left behind and to preserve the sanctity of the journey. For instance, the pilgrimage required that one arrange for his or her family and other dependents to live comfortably in case he or she never returned (Chittick 118). The Hajj also limits the requirement to make the journey to Mecca only once in a lifetime (117). This contrasts the requirements of Judaism, which limited the frequent requirements of temple worship to Jerusalem. The Islamic pilgrimage also prohibits jewelry, perfume, sexual activity, and hunting which may have characterized the activities of pilgrims prior to the Islamic codification of the laws for the Hajj (Esposito 156). These requirements brought about piety and unity among Islamic pilgrims. The conditions necessary to make the Hajj demonstrate an innovative solution to many problems associated with pilgrimages prior to the spread of Islam.

The Zakat revises the Judeo-Christian notion of charitable giving to institute economic reform. Judaism and Christianity gave a tithe, or ten percent of an individual’s income (Powell 1). The principle of Zakat removes the notion of a flat tax for all adherents and taxes only those who own a business or property (Chittick 116). The Zakat requires 2.5% to 10% of all ones’ profit every year and its collectors can distribute it for only very specific purposes (Chittick 116). This policy clearly attempts to reconcile the practice of unequal distribution of land endowments prevalent before the emergence of Islam (Michalopoulos 37). According to Powell, the institution of Zakat in modern Islamic countries has a positive correlation with wealth and economic equality (Powell 29). The revolutionary idea of a wealth tax in the time of Mohammed appeals to many prominent tax scholars today (Powell 50). As shown in an exhaustive economic analysis of the Zakat, the reforms in certain geographic conditions benefit both the rich and the poor (37). According to Michalopoulos, “The Islamic economic principles allowed the Muslim lands to escape from a state of constant feuding and flourish in the preindustrial world…” (37) As shown by economic analysis of Michalopoulos and the continued success of the Zakat today, we can conclude that the Zakat successfully improved upon the common economic practices in the Arabian Peninsula and can even provide insight into current taxation policy (37). 

The Shahadah, the Hajj, and the Zakat show significant reforms to contemporary practices in the Arabian Peninsula. These basic tenets of Islam define the nature of God, codify the practice of pilgrimage to Mecca, and invent new structures of redistribution of wealth. The source of the doctrines of Islam does not receive attention in this paper, but from a secular perspective, they alter existing practices with the purpose of unification and improving the lot of the common population.

Israeli Cultural Center

Today we went to the Israeli Cultural Center :). Just kidding, but Thomas joked that it was kind of like the Polynesian Cultural Center. We herded sheep and ground up Hyssop. I learned a lot about different kinds of plants mentioned in the Bible. They had many different varieties of little grass huts. I forget what they were called. I got to wear the breastplate while someone read the Torah. I don't know exactly what the point of the breastplate was, but it was very heavy. It reminded me of holding the shield at youth conference when I was a kid.

Some of the plants had very typological meaning that I did not know about. For instance, Abraham, David, and Christ all tasted Hyssop at significant moments. It symbolizes humility because it is a very small plant (like a weed) here in the holy land. I have some now. It tastes all right. We also talked about how almonds symbolize determination. I learned what a cistern does and that many of the romantic stories in the old testament occur at wells in ancient Israel. I think herding the sheep was my favorite part though.

I fell asleep during the bus ride home. I have a bunch of homework due tomorrow, so I will get started on that now.

Love,

Scott

Turkey!

Little did I know that Turkey has a lot to offer. Istanbul, previously Constantinople, housed the largest Christian empire in history for 1,000 years. Until St. Peter's Basillica, Haghia Sofia in Istanbul was the largest church in the world. It made me think a lot about the apostasy. These people had the idea of temple building, they even had large marble jars filled with olive oil, but they didn't know what to do with them. The blue mosque sits across the street from Haghia Sofia and rivals it in size (although it is smaller).We also went to the largest Mosque in Turkey later in the week in Bursa. The blue mosque has much more ornate decorations than the blue mosque. I didn't capitalize it because they actually call the blue mosque something else as the official title, but people call it the blue mosque because of the blue decorations inside.

We walked around the streets of Istanbul our second night there. I had "the best baclava in the world" and ice cream and turkish delight. Turkish delight tastes like the inside of a jelly bean covered in powdered sugar. It tastes great, but if I were Edmund, I would betray my siblings for a box of See's instead.

We went on quite a long tour of Turkey over 7 days. We visited Troy, Ephesus, Miletus, Assos, Nicea, Bursa, and other places. I enjoyed walking where Paul and John the apostles walked and reading about there journeys in the lands we travelled through. We reenacted the seen where the silversmiths of Ephesus attempt to condemn Paul on the site where it occurred. The ampitheatre still stands. Sting actually performed there once.

Every restaurant we went to had exactly the same food. I know all the varieties and qualities of lentil soup and tasteless sausages. It actually impressed me how they managed to have the same dishes at every restaurant in Turkey. We stopped at a mall type building and I ate Burger King. I noticed that across from the Burger King they had a fast food restaurant that served lentil soup, rice, tasteless sausages, deep fried potatoes, and meatballs without sauce, just like every other place we had eaten at. One of the first nights we ate at a place across from the Bosphorous (the canal that separates the Asian and European sides of Istanbul) and had Sea Bass. A lot of people did not appreciate having their food stare at them. I love fish and I appreciated the break from lentil soup.

We stayed at the nicest hotels everywhere we went. One of the hotels had hot springs piped into a swimming pool. I love hot springs. The pool had a giant man made volcano that sprayed the hot spring water down on us. It got really hot. Some of the pools got so hot you could barely get your feet in. We went up to Pamukkale the day after. It basically served as a tourist attraction for Romans. They have beautiful white cliffs that archaelogists believe expanded under the Roman engineers. They have a series of pools that the Romans routed the hot springs into. Two little asian women asked to have me in a picture with them there. I was flattered :).

I may write more about Turkey later. Feel free to ask questions about it.

I love you all,

Scott

A Typical Day

In a typical day, I wake up late and then eat a quick breakfast. Then, I go straight to Old Testament with Brother Harper. He is a genius. Then we go to another class. We have Jewish history, Islamic history, and ancient history. I like that stuff. Later in the day we have Arabic. Usually we wait around for an hour after class, eat lunch, and then go out to the city. In the evenings we do normal things like exercise and study. The classes are pretty rigorous. I am doing pretty well in all my classes though. I love the old city. I love walking on the ancient paving stones and passing the places that Christ walked. I love seeing all the different kinds of people and getting accosted by street merchants shouting, "Mormons! Mormons! Come see my shop." Everyone knows who we are here.

Shabot Shalom

I probably spelled that wrong. It means happy sabbath in Hebrew. Today I woke up late, barely ate breakfast, went to choir and then went to church. We sang the prelude hymn. I am singing in the choir because they perform a Christmas concert at the end of the semester for the public. I am super excited for that. It is also good to sing right next to Thomas because I really have no idea what I am doing.

Then, I was sustained as a Primary teacher in sacrament meeting. I am super excited! I am teaching the 9 year old boys. It was cool to talk to them about their baptism. There are two of them, but usually we have three. It was so nice to not have to go to Sunday School or Elder's Quorum. They had the chastity lesson. We ate candy and cookies and sang, "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam." One of the boys is a little genius. He played the piano by ear for an opening hymn. The other kid, Ivan, has a lot to say. He has very interesting nightmares and enjoys telling stories. We have heard that the boy that didn't come this week is a handful. We heard it from the Primary President, and the other boys. Luckily, we have two teachers and two kids to work with. I figure one of us can pin him down while the other teaches. Just kidding. But seriously. But just kidding.

After church, we went to the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden and the Garden of Gethsemane. The Orson Hyde Memorial is a rock with some writing on it in a garden. It took Orson Hyde a year and a half to get to Israel and he almost starved to death. He got here and dedicated the land for the return of the Jews. Now, they are there. Some people aren't so happy about it, but I don't think they are going anywhere until Christ comes.

The Garden of Gethsemane is probably my most spiritual place in the holy land. It is quiet and peaceful. You can walk through the trees and read the account of Christ's suffering there. There are two gardens. One you can walk through and a lot of Mormon prophets have felt the spirit there. The other one is the traditional site. There is a tree in the traditional site that dates back more than 2,000 years. Christ suffered somewhere at the base of the mount of olives and that tree was just beginning to grow when it happened. It is cool to think about.

We changed money after going to Gethsemane. Aladin, the money changer, asked us if we were Jack Mormons. I felt a bit guilty after that. We are leaving for Turkey tomorrow. We should have done it earlier, but it closed earlier than we thought it would on Friday (for the sabbath).

I ate four ice cream bowls at dinner tonight. They don't serve lunch on the sabbath. I love the ice cream here. They have pistachio flavor with pistachios in the ice cream. I am a huge fan. The meals here are incredibly well prepared. We have a bunch of options every day. Today, I had fish and chicken over some kind of grain with potatoes.

I love everything about this place. I didn't imagine anything like this experience. Everyone should go.

Schindler, Ramparts, and Trees

Today we went to see Schindler's grave. He saved about 1900 Jews lives during WW2. I didn't know the story, but it was amazing. It is cool that one man could make so large a difference. At the same time, one man also led to the death of almost 6 million Jews. We also walked around the city on the ramparts. We saw a big contrast between East and West Jerusalem. I am learning about Islam and it is very interesting. It is interesting to me how little we talk about it in the church. I believe the church wants to hold off until we can go into those countries legally.

 

Yesterday, I didn't get to go out into the city. I am still feeling sick and I took a long nap. They also schedule our day in a way that makes it difficult to go out sometimes. We don't have public transportation, so it is hard. Anyways, I played basketball last night and I have a giant blister. I put a bandaid on it, but it is still uncomfortable.

 

Also, I ran into a tree today. I was walking and watching someone else talk. It had a metal grate around it and I hit the tree with my whole body. It scratched up my hands pretty good. I took a picture. My right ring finger still hurts. My face is okay though.

Wandering Through Jerusalem

I am getting a little bit better. I forgot to finish this email earlier. I am back. Today is Sunday. I am wearing a suit, which (this is when my computer died).

 

The suit was a bad idea.

 

Today I walked all over Jerusalem. Some people went to Tel Aviv today. Apparently, they have an amazing beach there with water at the perfect temperature. I am glad I went to the old city though. I haven't really had the chance. We went to the Dome of the Rock (outside), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (where Christ was crucified), the ramparts (the walls), and all over East Jerusalem (the moslem side). We had a blast. I didn't plan on buying a chess set, but I did for 80 shekels. It is about 3.5 to 1, so about 25 dollars. It is made out of olive wood and it is magnetic. I decided that is what I wanted already and then this guy offered it for that price. I had already turned someone down for 180 shekels, so I was surprised to find it that cheap.

 

I had a blast today and now I am exhausted. I had a hazelnut kit kat bar, which was amazing. I also had a Falafel. It was okay. And we had Baclava. They said it more like Bakklawa. It was delicious. I also had this cheese kind. I love eating in the city. It was good to hang out with Thomas all day. We had a blast.

Jericho

Today, we went to Jericho. We saw the place Jesus wandered for 40 days and 40 nights, where the walls fell down, and where the first city ever built stood (the oldest one they have found anyway). There is a tower there that dates back to 8000 BC. We also saw Herod's winter palace where he died. He had all kinds of illnesses including worms in his testacles. That was my personal favorite, but there were a lot of bad things that happened to Herod before he died. He killed a lot of people.

It is incredibly hot in Jericho, which explains why Herod made a winter palace there. We all sweated a lot and wanted to stay in the bus. We did hike around quite a bit. There was a cool monastery on the side of a cliff. St. George's Monastery. It had lots of cute blue roofs. We also aggravated a merchant when we didn't buy anything from him. We were a bit confused by his anger.

 

As we were driving past the incredibly hot Judean wilderness today, we saw some boys playing soccer. My buddy Jeff said, "Look at those brave, brave children." The poor goalie was sitting down looking miserable in the heat. I thought he would sink into the ground. I am grateful to live in an air conditioned building.

The Arrival

I got in to Jerusalem late last night. We flew through Athens and Istanbul into Tel Aviv. It is beautiful here. Surprisingly, it feels a lot like everywhere else. The weather is amazing. It has made me realize more fully that the people in the old and new testament are just people like us. The conflict today is very much like the conflict then. The religions have changed. I love the churches. Previously, I was always a little disappointed that all of these great sights have churches built on top of them. We sung in the Augusta something or other today and the acoustics blew me away. I love looking out at the old city from my room. I am looking at it right now.

A Return to Academia

I am in Jerusalem. I like it a lot. It has given me an opportunity to return to academics. I feel like a scholar again. We study everything theoretically and analytically. Business classes all apply very closely to the real world. I like studying for the sake of learning new things. It feels very old-fashioned.

 

I am still not really over my jet lag. To compound the issue, I woke up with a sore throat this morning. I feel sick. I took some Mucinex, but it still bothers me. I might take a nap even though it may destroy my sleep cycle that I have worked so hard to create.

 

Yesterday, we went to Hebrew University. We had a student come and talk to a group of us. He wanted to spend time with American girls. We told him that there was no way to contact us and he was disappointed. I felt a bit bad for him. He seemed nice and hopeful. We are not supposed to tell people anything pretty much and I forgot what I was supposed to say. We didn't tell him anything he could use to find us, but it reminded me to be more careful.

 

I love looking out the window and seeing the wonderful view every day. We can see the place where Christ ascended into heaven, where he was crucified, and where he was buried from our bedroom window. It is amazing. I love walking the streets and hearing about the politics. I love politics. Yesterday we had a forum where an Israeli foreign affairs spokesperson came and spoke to us. He had a lot of good points. I love talking to people from both sides. I am constantly shocked by how one-sided people are. Mormons can be so stubborn. There is nothing about being Pro-Israeli in Mormon doctrine, but somehow people seem to be stuck on the idea. That is not to say that I am Pro-Palestinian. I am fascinated by both sides and I think it will take time and leadership and creativity for a proper solution. It is also interesting to meet the people involved in this conflict. They are very different peoples. There is a lot of diversity within each group. It is obvious to me that one of the purposes of this center is to educate students on both sides of the conflict. Unlike a mission, where we are removed from politics, I believe this experience highlights and celebrates informing the participants in political ideas and opinions.