Hell Freezes Over

"When hell freezes over." is a term thrown around every once and awhile--probably not by anyone who reads my blog, but by some people. The colloquialism is meant to describe the impossible--however in my present condition it represents the all too painful reality.


I have heard tales of all the snow that people are receiving and have quietly chuckled to myself. Despite the unusually cold weather here, I have only needed to ever wear a jacket. Two days ago I woke up to see a veritable winter wonderland outside my window. While it was beautiful, I merely groaned and rolled over to stare at the wall and pretend it was nothing more than a dream.



Also by way of note, the reason I say that hell truly froze over is because there is an actual hell here. Which sets up nicely for my next story.

A couple of days ago, on one of those perfect days we have here I decided to Hell. It is a part of Jerusalem where the Kidron and Hinnom Valley meet. It has some symbolic meaning (obviously) since it is the lowest part of the area. It contrasts with the Temple Mount on Mt. Moriah and Mt. Zion which are two of the highest points in the city. Just for reference the valleys converge at the southeast corner of the city--very near where David's Jerusalem was located. The valleys are lined with cemeteries because the area is prophesied to be the location of judgment. Apparently everyone is anxious to be first in line for that day.


While in Hell, we came across a really interesting situation. We were walking by a goatherd when we saw him grab a goat by its feet and flip it on its back. It wasn't all that odd until he tied the legs of goat. Some of us thought that we were going to witness an animal sacrifice or something--right there in Hell. Much to our surprise he simply reached in the goat and pulled out a pair of kids. It was so crazy. For some odd reason I felt a need to pet the kids--odd i know, but for a couple of shekels the guy let me take some pictures. It was a pretty cool experience.


The other experience I wanted to share deals more specifically with the Temple--sort of. To set this up, let me remind you of a little history. When David became king he had the challenge of unifying Israel both politically and religiously. Part of his solution was to establish Jerusalem as the political capital and make it a religious center by moving the Ark of the Covenant there. It worked and the kingdom became unified.

On the the modern era. We went to a mount outside of Jerusalem called Mt. Herzl. It is located just above the Holocaust Museum. There is this really interesting parallel with Mt. Herzl and Mt. Moriah (the Temple Mount). I have already mentioned another David, David Ben-Gurian. When he became president he was faced with a similar problem that faced King David. Israel had just beat the Palestinians and were trying to establish a nation. The Jews had been separated from the Holy Land for nearly 2,000 years. They needed to establish a new identity and claim on a land they once inhabited. David Ben-Gurian brought the remains of Herzl to the mount. He was the man who began the Zionist movement. He established Mt. Herzl as a place similar to the ancient temple. It became a focal point for modern secular Jewish "worship." Obviously, there were no ordinances performed there, but they do most of their political ceremonies there.


Around this site large cedars were planted by dignitaries from countries that recognized Israel as a new nation, to stand as a witness of the action. The cedars are to parallel the cedars of Lebanon used to construct the ancient temple. Visiting the site I was really struck with how elegantly the Jews seem to mix symbolism into their society. Despite the fact that such references to ancient Israel are deliberate they are not tacky nor do they feel contrived. I mentioned this to Mom the other day and she mentioned how this seems to be part of their biblical heritage. It is neat to feel like I am witnessing the fulfillment of Biblical promises.

SEAGL (The Five Valleys)

I wish to apologize for not updating my blog these past few days. I have wanted to, but I have also been waiting for some pictures to be able to supplement the writing.

Not very long ago we went on another geography-type field trip. I have heard some interest in this area from some people, so I will write a little about it. There are five main valleys that lead from the lowlands up into the hills. I would tell you the names, but they probably wouldn't mean much to you. These valleys were significant though because they were the main battle grounds for much of the ancient Israeli/Philistine conflict. We visited the site where Samson grew up and where he set fire to the fields of the Philistines' and wrestled the lion. In fact his whole story pretty much took place in one small valley.


Another slightly more well known valley is the Elah valley, which may cause something in the back of your minds to stir a little. This was the place where David fought Goliath. We did a little reenactment that I have included below. For those of you concerned, not rocks were actually used in the this shot. And if there were, I would have had more luck if I was facing the other direction since almost all of my shots seemed to go directly behind me. We took the pictures because there is an artist in our group who plans on painting the scene--so who knows, one day I may be hanging on the wall somewhere.


This is a picture of a site known as the Bell Caves. They are actually mines that are the sources of chalk used in making of plaster. I think the only reason we went there was to sing some hymns, but it was also just a cool place to see.


This other picture, I just wanted to include because it was just fun. These are some tunnels that where made for some reason--I really don't know why. They have no historical significance, but they were really fun to crawl around in. It was really narrow for the most part, in fact many places I had trouble fitting in. It really brought out my more adventurous side. Lots of climbing, lots of dirt, and lots of exploring.


This was a short blog. I have a big hole to work myself out of, but at least it is a start.

Meaningful Moments

With a title like that I almost feel like I should share some gushy sappy moment that would tug on the old heart strings. Well, if you are expecting Rich's Middle Eastern version of Chicken Soup for the Soul it isn't going to happen. However, I wanted to not talk so much about places that I went in Egypt, but things that I experienced. This may be my last post on Egypt, because there is always so much else to tell, but we will see how I feel about that later.

First a moment specifically for Mom (don't worry it will be short). On our way down to Egypt we made a couple of stops. To completely understand this let me give you a little background on the geography. We came from Jerusalem, which is located in the hills. The area isn't really all the fertile, but it is green and not desert like. As we moved south we entered some lowlands that were similar to the midwest--very green and lots of farms. A little further south things get ugly. This area is known as the Negev. You look around and pretty much all you see are rocks and I am not joking. There is nothing. Ok, moving on. Here we visited the grave of David Ben-Gurion.


Ben-Gurion was the first Prime Minister of Israel and is referred to as the George Washington of Israel--hence is inclusion in my post today. He was very popular and easily could have maintained power for himself, but after a time he decided to retire and become a farmer in, of all places, the Negev. He devoted the rest of his life to developing methods for people to farm and live in that part of the country. I placed a stone on his grave, because it is a sign of respect. I suppose it has to do with how they used to bury people in that time by piling stones on them and to care of the grave you place a stone on it to prevent animals from getting to the body.


Now to Egypt. Here is just a quick snippet. Below is a picture of some authentic food in the area. It was a really cool restaurant that instead of wall had hanging carpet. All the pitas were cooked in a wood burning stove by an old lady who likes to make that noise that is usually associated with "Kill the infidels!" Luckily, she didn't say that--she just tossed us a pita.



On to Luxor. This was a rather exciting place. First of all, the city thrives on tourism (I think that is what every person is geared towards there). On the street there are hundreds of carriages that we used to see some of the sights as a group. The organized trips were great (as you can tell by the smiling faces in the picture). They are really nice to you, they even let me drive. This wasn't a good idea, because I was really driving, not just holding the reins.


Ok, so the carriages are good right? Wrong. They are evil--pure evil. Later in the evening we wanted to do some shopping in an open air market. We left the hotel and were immediately offered a ride in the carriages to where ever we wanted to go. It was pretty cheap so we decided to go. We all hoped on (there were about twenty of us, so five carriages) and headed off. We when arrived, the open air market didn't look like an open air market, in fact it looked like a seedy tourist shop located on a dimly lit street. This was of course not the open air market. Naively, we got out and investigated. The carriage drivers ushered us in--apparently they had some stake in what was going on because they were all buddy buddy with the shop owners. We quickly realized that this was not where we wanted to go so we all left and started walking away. This was a problem, because apparently we didn't buy anything and we were supposed to. We tried to pay our drivers and leave (even though we didn't know where we were, but they wouldn't have it. Pretty soon all the Egyptians started arguing with each other. It as possibly one of the scariest moments in my life to find myself surrounded by about fifty Egyptians screaming at each other in Arabic--obviously arguing over us. We wanted to leave, but found it really difficult. Eventually we got the drivers to take us away, but they refused to take us back or to the market. They just took us from one shady store to the next. Our American patience quickly ran thin and we began yelling in English (not nearly as scary). Eventually we just got off in an area that we knew and decided to walk home. After we got off we found out that the first place we stopped at was part of the Egyptian mafia. The whole thing is a big con to rip off the tourists. They get you to buy stuff to see where your money is and then little kids (who are everywhere) steal all your money. So, rule to the wise--the carriages are evil.

The thing you should do in Luxor is go on the boats. We got out on the Nile and had an awesome dance party. The teachers were in a constant state of worry because many were hanging off the boat and dancing on the top level or aka roof. I defiantly recommend doing that when you are in Luxor.



The last thing that I will write about is Mt. Sinai, but because it was so awesome. We woke up around 2 a.m. so that we could make it up to the top for the sunrise. This was one of the most anticipated events, for me, of this whole trip. The hike wasn't all that bad. The area is pretty harsh though. There isn't much of anything except rocks there, I can't imagine how the it must have looked to the Israelites. I feel a certain amount of pity for them. Egypt really did look a lot better than the waste land that we were walking through, and once you were on top, that was all you really could see. I was glad to have some time to sit and ponder and enjoy the beauty of the moment.

Return from the 8 Day Exodus

I arrived back in Jerusalem two days ago and have struggled since then to find a way to share my experiences with everyone. There is simply too much to tell in one post--so be expecting more.

First, I think it is simplest to go over just some of the sights that I have seen. Now bear in mind that even this is somewhat edited and I am really just going over the highlights, which is sort of like picking your favorite flavors of ice cream.

Site Number One (in no particular order): The Pyramids

There is no way this would not make the highlights. We had a somewhat unique experience there, mainly because it was freezing cold and even slightly rained. They told me I should feel lucky--well, I didn't (is that wrong?). I think I would have been happy with lots of sun like they have every other day. Now, some people may be offended, but the pyramids are really just a pile of rocks, albeit a really big pile of rocks that is really old. We were able to enter in one of the pyramids. I do have some bad news though, there are no boobie-traps in the pyramids. And by none, I mean that there are not even old ones that have already been set off. Thanks Indiana Jones for setting unreal expectations for me.

Despite the lack of large rolling stones, slowing collapsing walls, and nests of poisonous snakes, the pyramids really exceeded much of what I ever imagined. These are structures that are really old--they were old when Abraham went to Egypt. All of sudden being 26 didn't sound all that bad. After we playing around there for a bit we all took camel rides. I have included a video that doesn't have any sound (don't worry I wasn't saying anything important or even all that funny), but I thought it was somewhat cooler than some of the pictures.

Here is a little cultural tidbit for everyone as well. They pyramids are surrounded by a rope and are guarded by soldiers to prevent anyone from climbing up to the top. It was once acceptable for people to climb up there, but in the last few years the government has really starting cracking down on people. So, as I was walking by them you can imagine how I felt when a guard motioned to me and sneakily pulled the rope down with with foot to allow me to cross. He was armed with an Uzi and I kind felt like the whole thing might have been some sort of trap, but there was no way I was passing this up. I hopped over and started climbing up. I didn't get all that far before I was yelled at by the soldier--apparently the offer was only to go up a little ways. I took a quick picture and started coming down. When I got back I started walking over to the bus when the guard stopped me. He held out his hand and said "basheesh" which is sort of translated as "tip." I guess the fact that he was carrying and automatic weapon made me feel generous so I gave him a dollar. This is just a small example of an important principle in Egypt. Nothing is free, but you can buy anything.

Site Number Two: Karnak Temple

I will probably embarrass myself on this one slightly, but I never really knew this place existed. It apparently was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, who knew right? It also took a little over 1700 years to build. I know, I know, that sounds pretty unreal, but go ahead and check--it really took that long. The complex is gigantic. Every inch of stone is covered in hieroglyphics and the color in many places is still vibrant. The over all structure is very similar to the tabernacle design. There are three different sections with varying holiness associated with them culminating in the holy shrine.

The columns in many places were over 24 meters high. I think I could have easily spent all day there just gaping at everything. Egyptians had a flair from making things look grand. Here are just a couple of examples for you.

This other picture may not seem all that interesting, but let me explain. The scarab is a very sacred icon to the Egyptians. It has a lot of meaning especially in regards to fertility because it contains both male and female sex organs. They made this pillar with a scarab on it and according to our guide if you run around on it five times you are blessed with wealth, if you go around it seven times you are blessed with marriage, and if you go around it eight times you are blessed with lots of children. Any guesses how many times I ran around it? That's right, zero--who needs that stuff anyway, I just took pictures (kidding--I made 16 laps just to be safe). I suppose if any of that stuff happens now I will know why (apparently the Egyptians had it right).



Site Number Three: Citadel Mosque

I really couldn't leave this one off the list either. It is located in Cairo up on the hill. The mosque serves as a government fortress as well as a mosque. I don't know if you noticed or not, but it looks a lot like Hagia Sofia in Constantinople. That is mainly because Muhammad Ali sent artists to study architecture there to help design the building.


This is the outside of the Citadel Mosque. There is actually a really large courtyard in the inside that I didn't really show. It is a really big building.

*I have a video that I want to add here, but I am having trouble loading it so I will leave it off for now.

We also learned a lot about Islam there. I think as a religion we have a lot of common ground. It is hard sometimes to get an idea of what these different religions are like from books, but being able to talk to the people and actually observe the religious practices have helped me understand a lot more. The people at the mosque were really helpful and kind. They even wanted pictures with us and were constantly welcoming us to Egypt.

Ok, so I really only covered three sites out of way too many to really describe. I have a couple of other things that I want to share, but those will have to wait until later. Hopefully I can get them all in before we go to Jericho--it seems that if too many days go by I will not ever be able to catch up.