O Jerusalem!

Greetings from Jerusalem! Arrived here yesterday evening around 5:00. Checked into the Casa Nova hotel inside the walls of the old city near the Jaffa Gate. It is a church/monastary/pilgrim's hotel built by the Italians in the early (I think) 1900's. Beautiful place. Everyone there, including all of the guests I have seen, speak Italian. * I am writing this from the Jaffa Gate Hostel, where I plan to stay the 1st and 2nd. (Could only get Casa Nova for two nights.) It is quite a bit scruffier, but okay. Located in a beautiful part of the city. Walk out the front door and see the Tower of David. * Am hanging out with four dig team members. Last night I sat with one of them on the roof of the Petra Hostel and enjoyed a nice visit while overlooking the Old City. Church of the Holy Sepulchre only a fungo shot away. (Not one of my shots; one of Stover's.) Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock about as close as when I stand in my front yard and look over at the bell tower at ACU. Amazing. I was fearful that I had unrealistic expectations of Jerusalem because everyone I have spoken to has said it is the most amazing place. But they were correct - it is amazing. * It does, however, resemble a war zone in that machine gun toting young people are everywhere. Most are wearing uniforms of the IDF, but some are not. There are many tour groups of American Jewish highschoolers here. Each tour group has their own guard. Some guards look like sixteen year old mall rats, complete with flipflops, torn jeans, t-shirt and baseball cap - except that they are casually carrying large, black automatic rifles. * The peace of last night's rooftop visit was shattered by a boom. I flinched involuntarily and looked behind to where it had come from. Fireworks were being shot over the Tower of David. I told Jason that at times like these I wish they would give a person a warning before shooting off fireworks. * This morning I saw the room where the Last Supper occured, saw Shinleder's grave, and walked bent over for 40 minutes in the cold spring water through Hezekiah's Tunnel. (Google search for info. on this.) * My best to all.

Tomorrow: last day on the tel

Last day on the tel tomorrow and I must say I will not miss moving dirt. Everyone was excited because we found the ancient temple floor in two of our squares today, and I tried to get excited about it, but just couldn't. This has been an interesting experience and I am glad I have done it, but three weeks is enough. We will be back at kibbutz at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon, then board a bus for Tel Aviv at three. I plan to catch a bus to Jerusalem and stay there for a few days before returning to the USA. * Many people here upset over the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier and the difficulties this has caused. IDF back in Gaza. * Tonight we had a end-of-session party. I had a good conversation with some Jews (American and Israeli) about the Holocaust, the State of Israel, and the current situation with the Palestinians.

Nazareth

After work today instead of riding back to the kibbutz with the expedition team I cleaned up as best I could in the bathroom at the gift shop, put on some clean clothes, and rode to Nazareth with the Megiddo guard. This man lives in a Bedouin village outside of Nazareth and agreed (through Dan, my interpreter) to drop me off at Nazareth on his way home. * I am glad I got to see Nazareth. It is a very interesting place. I hung out for a few hours in the Old City, where the Biblically historical sites are. The places I saw were the Catholic Church of the Annunciation (Large, modern - built in 1969 - beautiful, with an archaeologically preserved grotto where it is believed by some to be the place where Gabriel visited Mary with The News.) Also The Church of St. Joseph, built on what was thought to be Joseph's workshop. I then walked through the old market area as I headed to the next site. The old market area is interesting in that the narrow streets wind up and down in a way in which one could easily get lost, which I did. It is also interesting in that the shops are set inside what looks like grottos from hundreds of years ago (and they probably are) and basically all the merchants are selling is cheap stuff from China. After hiking up one of the steepest paved roads I have ever been on I realized the error of my ways and asked directions. Found an English speaker who set me right. Walked back down to the Church of St. Gabriel (Greek Orthodox) where perhaps the actual visit of Mary by Gabriel occurred. This was a beautiful old building with almost all interior wall space painted in frescos. While there a man began to pull on the rope which rings the large bell in the tower above. Shortly thereafter two priests entered wearing long robes and tall, cylindrical hats, and swinging their containers of incense. I stood back when I realized it was a funeral. Six men carried in the body of the deceased man in a shallow, crudely built wooden casket with no top. This they placed in front of the alter. Twenty or thirty men gathered around (no women present) and chanted and sang along with the priests. Interesting experience. * Old City Nazareth is almost fully Arabic. It is a combination of a few modern stores and hotels, lots of centuries old buildings and streets, and many broken down slums. Mary's well, where Mary almost certainly came to get water (it was the only water source in Nazareth during the time of Jesus) was full of trash. * When I got ready to come back to the kibbutz I found a taxi driver and negotiated a price for transport. Since he did not speak English we used sign language and writing. (Fortunately we both know Arabic numerals!) He said 150 shekels. I countered with 130. We settled on 140. * While driving through Nazareth proper I saw several IDF members with their M 16's patrolling the streets.

Home team bats last

Imagine if the Texas Rangers held a lottery and the winner was afforded the privilege of suiting up and traveling with the team for three weeks, being in the dugout during the games, and acting as assistant bench coach. Imagine also if the person who won wasn't really into baseball, but had entered the contest for a variety of alternative reasons. During a tense and crucial part of the first game the person turns to Buck Showalter and says "home team bats last, right?" - That's how I sometimes feel with this group. World class archaeologists leading the dig. Archaeology, anthropology, and ancient Hebrew majors digging. And then there is me. * My three weeks of digging will end this Thursday. Many of the students on the team will stay for the second session, which is a four week session. Replacements for us "three weekers" will arrive this Saturday. At lunch the other day a student said "I feel sorry for those three weekers who have to leave." - The thing is that the people who are into this stuff get really excited about it. Myself - I think it is interesting, but not as much at they. So, we are digging along and someone scrapes some plaster with his pitiche. It might be significant! The area director and his assistant are called. They come and look at it. Maybe get into the square and check it out for themselves. The command goes out - get out the leveleer and calculate a new height. Write up a new loci in the notebooks and open a new bucket for pottery, bone, flint, and artifacts. Everyone's excited, and I am thinking "come on people, it's not like someone just hit for the cycle." * So this archaeology stuff is largely lost on me, but I am doing the best I can. (As I was writing this I had to ask a girl nearby to remind me of the name of that mini-pick axe that we use - the pitche. I probably misspelled it.) I prefer the large pick axe anyway. Nobody but Hai can match me when it comes to doing damage with that thing.

Decline of the kibbutzim

The hipppies gave communes a go in the 60's, but couldn't make them work in the long run. The Jews have made them work since the first commune (kibbutz) was started in southern Galilee in the early 1900's. But they are now on the decline. Like many aspects of our modern lives, they are being privatized. Ramat Ha Shofet, the kibbutz where we are staying, is no longer a true kibbutz. The dining hall is run by a private concern, as are the store, laundry, and swimming pool. The original kibbutzim were truly communal - to the exent that parents didn't even raise their own children! Children were put into a residential nursury at birth, and parents were allowed to see them only a few hours a day. * All members of the kibbutz shared in the various jobs required to keep the kibbutz running. To make money they usually operated a business of some kind - fruit orchards and dairys were popular businesses for this purpose. The members of the kibbutz lived in small, unassuming apartments or dorms. They had few possessions of their own. They did not even own their own clothes. All clothes were kept in a central area near the laundry. When a member needed a shirt or pants, they would go there and get them. When the clothes were dirty they would turn them in for washing. The clothes would be washed and placed in the central room for someone else to pick up and use. (I am not sure about the underwear. Hopefully they did not share those.) Hai, a born and raised Israeli who works in my area, says that the kibbutzum represent the heart of the Israeli culture. He regrets their decline, but is not surprised by it. "People want their own place," he said. "They want their own stuff."

Decline of the kibbutzim

The hipppies gave communes a go in the 60's, but couldn't make them work in the long run. The Jews have made them work since the first commune (kibbutz) was started in southern Galilee in the early 1900's. But they are now on the decline. Like many aspects of our modern lives, they are being privatized. Ramat Ha Shofet, the kibbutz where we are staying, is no longer a true kibbutz. The dining hall is run by a private concern, as are the store, laundry, and swimming pool. The original kibbutzim were truly communal - to the exent that parents didn't even raise their own children! Children were put into a residential nursury at birth, and parents were allowed to see them only a few hours a day. * All members of the kibbutz shared in the various jobs required to keep the kibbutz running. To make money they usually operated a business of some kind - fruit orchards and dairys were popular businesses for this purpose. The members of the kibbutz lived in small, unassuming apartments or dorms. They had few possessions of their own. They did not even own their own clothes. All clothes were kept in a central area near the laundry. When a member needed a shirt or pants, they would go there and get them. When the clothes were dirty they would turn them in for washing. The clothes would be washed and placed in the central room for someone else to pick up and use. (I am not sure about the underwear. Hopefully they did not share those.) Hai, a born and raised Israeli who works in my area, says that the kibbutzum represent the heart of the Israeli culture. He regrets their decline, but is not surprised by it. "People want their own place," he said. "They want their own stuff."

Tiberias

What do baseball coaches do on days when their team is not playing? They go and watch other teams play. What do archaeoligists do on their day off? They visit other dig sites. I went with a group to a dig site on the border of Lebanon yesterday, then down to a dig site at Bethsaida. The Bethsaida site was cool because of its Biblical connections. Spent the night with several group members at a hostel in Tiberias. (Had dinner of "Saint Peter's Fish" at lakefront restaurant.) Arose at 5:30 this morning and rented a bicycle which I rode up to a Crusader Castle where I sat and enjoyed the espresso that I had bought from a sidewalk vendor. I then rode 15 kilometers along the shore of the lake to Capernaum, the city that Jesus moved to when he left Nazarath. Home to several apostles. Nice place. Visited the site nearby where Jesus told Peter to "feed my sheep." Then to where Jesus increased the fishes and loaves to feed the multitudes. Then a tough, hot ride up to the Church of the Beatitudes, built on the traditional site where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. - All interesting places. * Back to Tiberias where I swam in the Sea. (The Sea of Galilee is below sea level and the weather there this weekend was Houstonish. Still. Hot. Humid. Hurtful.) I tried to walk on the water but I was so hot and sweaty from my ride that my heart wasn't in it. I really wanted in. Therefore I sank. (Perhaps also there were other reasons I sank.) * Am back now at the kibbutz in the Carmel Mountains (hooray for dry, cool air) and will be back to work tomorrow. * Love and peace to all.

T.G.I.T.

Thank goodness it's Thursday! The work week in Israel runs Sunday through Thursday. Friday is a holy day for Arabs, Saturday is the holy day for Jews. We are now off duty until Sunday morning, which makes me happy because I am tired. * Tomorrow I will board an expedition bus with other workers for a trip to the Sea of Galilee. Plan to spend the night in Tiberias and return to the kibbutz Sat. even. * A dozen or so Arabs have been hired to haul dirt in Area L (Solomon's palace and stables.) They sit at picnic tables on the outskirts of the area during breakfast. This morning they started clapping in rhythm and singing a song. One of the women in the group got up and started to dance an Arab folk dance. It was cool looking. * A group recently got together in a sheroot (ten person cab) for a trip to Nazarath. Since they were wearing shorts they were not allowed to go into the Church of the Annunciation (the church built supposedly on the site where Mary received the visit from Gabriel informing her that she would bear the Christ child.) The girls went to a store nearby and bought large scarves which they wrapped around their waists - and thus were let in. When the boys saw this they went and bought their own scarves and wrapped them around their waists, but were still denied entry. Boys in skirts not wanted in the Church of the Annunciation. * Yesterday evening three young people and I hired a taxi and rode into Yoknean for a falafel (Middle Eastern "sandwich" featuring deep-fried chickpea balls and salad on peta bread) because we were getting tired of kibbutz food. Nice change of pace the falafel. * Today I didn't work in a square, but hauled dirt in buckets and a wheelbarrow. Hauling dirt is the hardest job on the tel. After a while Mollie, a nice 19 year old Jewish girl from the Northeast, asked if I needed a rest. She volunteered to spell me for a bit. I told her I was fine. "Are you sure," she asked. "Yes, I'm okay." "Well, let me know if you need a break." "Okay. Thanks." "And wear your sunscreen. And drink plenty of water." "Mollie," I said, "you are acting like a typical Jewish mother." She gave me a big smile and said "I'm in training."

Thank you readers

Mucho thanks readers for taking a moment to write to me and to let me know that you are tuning in. Always nice to read your comments and to know that you are sharing in this experience with me. * Dear Fam: I love and miss you. Look forward to seeing you again in a couple of weeks and showing you pictures of my time here and telling you about it. * There are approx. 70 college students on the dig team. Most of them are under 21 years of age. The legal drinking age in Israel is 18. Many students are taking a bit too much advantage of their opportunity to go into the kibbutz store and emerge uncarded with armloads of beer and wine. Occasionally renders them uneffective on the tell the next morning. * Some in my area are calling me McGyver for my tendency to grab my Leatherman and rig whatever needs to be repaired - tent poles, new tie downs for the tent ropes that keep the tent from flopping in the afternoon wind, equipment repair, etc. * Students converse about various things on the tel to overcome the boredom of digging, and to distract themselves from the discomfort of the heat and dust. I thought today about my girls when they were playing "Saved By The Bell" trivial pursuit. "When was the first time (so and so) showed up on the program?" (Answer.) "Wrong - he didn't show up until episode five of the second season." * I was able yesterday to educate a bit. Girl asked the group "what the heck is Juneteenth?" No one knew. "It's on my calendar," she said. So I explained where that "holiday" came from.

Alter

I work in area J. The temple area of the tel. The middle of this area is dominated by a Canaanite alter from around 2,000 BCE. This was 1,000 years before the children of Israel crossed the Jordan to take possession of this place. The alter is made of thousands of soccer ball sized stones. It is four feet high and 40 feet in diameter. This is where the high priest of the temple (perhaps a temple to Baal) would sacrifice animals. This morning when I arrived in our area a bit after five o'clock I climbed up onto the alter, and as I looked out over many miles of the fertile Jezereel Valley drank some Starbucks coffee from my thermos, played a few notes from my shakuhachi, and said a prayer of thanks to God for allowing me to be here.

Jael

Several of the students on this trip are Jewish. One Jewish girl from New York is named Yael. (Pronounced YA el.) She is named after Jael, who Denise told me is a hero to Jewish people. Judges 4. Big battle. Opposing commander trying to escape. Falls asleep in Jael's house. Jael drives a tent stake through his skull and into the ground. This occured near here in the Jezereel valley. * Two booms heard this morning from the direction of the West Bank. I was afraid that perhaps the Israeli airforce had dropped bombs, but I saw no indication of explosions. Jets streaked by. I think they had flown over the West Bank and broken the sound barrier just to annoy the Palestenians. * Hot, hard work digging and hauling dirt. Very similar to the labor I used to do for the Texas Highway Dept., only here tour groups will gather on the bluff above our dig site and watch. Makes you feel like you are doing something important.

Shabbot

Shabbot is Hebrew for "the Sabboth." Few people here, even if you are speaking to them in English, call it "the Sabboth." We were released from responsibilities yesterday at 1 p.m. I and two other guys hired a taxi to take us into a city about ten or 15 kilometers from here. Just to get off the kibbutz and see a local town. The only stores open were liquor stores and small grocery stores. I saw a can by the cash register of a store where I was buying water. Phillip, an American Jew, explained to me later that this is for those who would contribute to a fund designed to keep Hassidic Jews in college so that they do not have to serve in the military. Hassidic Jews are opposed to the idea of Israel being a state because they believe the Kingdom will not be restored until the messiah comes.Some Hassidic Jews are 50 years old and still in college. We could not get a taxi back, and thus had to walk. No biggy. The weather was nice and the view great.* People in this country know which towns are Jewish and which are other. I was talking to a person here at the kibbutz about which towns nearby to visit. They would say "that's a Jewish city, everything will be closed on Sabbot." Of other places, like Nazareth, "that is a Christian/Muslim city. It will be open." "How can you tell the difference?" I asked. They shrug and say "it is very confusing." - I hope to join a group hiring a small bus to take us to Nazareth today. * Denise is a 60 year old staff person who makes me laugh. She is the quintessential Jewish mom. When going through the buffet in the dining hall I have heard her say to a college boy "get more food. Look at you! You are so skinny I can hardly see you! Eat! Eat!" * The swimming pool is 200 yards from my bedroom. We keep our windows open for a breeze. (No air conditioning, but we don't need it.) No need for screens because no mesquitoes. A party for local kibbutz and towns people began at 10 last night. Loud music. Drinking and dancing. I awoke at 4:30 this morning and it was still going on. I dressed and walked over to investigate. People were leaving, but over 200 of them were still there partying on. There was an ambulance and security guards at the entrance by the parking lot. One security guard glared at me and spoke. I said "English." He looked at me for a few seconds and said something about speaking Arabic. He, an Israeli, had spoken to me in Arabic because evidently he thought I was Arabic. This would explain the glare. There is a good deal of prejudice here. Since he was wearing a 9 millimeter handgun I decided not to grab him into a headlock to try and teach him a lesson. That plus the fact that four of his dangerous looking friends were looking on. And it is Shabbot. And I am a pacifist. - Otherwise I would have taken the guy down.

Judiasm

One of the interesting aspects of this experience is the high educational level of many of the college students who are participating. One of these is Dan, a student who speaks Hebrew and Arabic. He is from the USA, but can converse with the Jewish natives, and then go over and have breakfast with the Arabs who are working on the tel and converse with them in Arabic. He is an orthodox Jew, and I have enjoyed asking him about Talmudic law. It is amazing to me. The kibbutz is kosher, but not as kosher as Dan. We have meat lunches and dairy dinner. I noticed that Dan had a plastic disposable plate as he stood in line at the dining hall. I asked him why he had brought his own plate. He said that he cannot eat off of a plate that has had dairy and meat both on it. He briefly explained to me the law. If the plate is made of ceramic (something that comes from the earth) and you have eaten meat off of it, you can bury the plate and leave it for 4 days, then unearth it, wash it, and eat a dairy meal off of it. If it is made of metal you must heat it until it is red (right before it begins to melt) then you may use it. - Since Jews are not allowed to work on the Sabboth, many hotels have elevators that stop automatically on every other floor. This way Jews can ride the elevator without having to push a button, which would be working. They may have to get off on the floor above or below the floor they want, but they just walk the stairs to get to their floor. (Walking stairs is not considered working.) * I met an Arab man named Mohammad who speaks passable English. Enjoyed visiting with him. Asked him if he could go with me to show me around Jenin, a large Arab city in the West Bank near us. He said that he would not be allowed through the checkpoint. I later met a young man here in the kibbutz who recently finished his manditory three years of service in the Israeli Defense Force. He was stationed near Jenin, and worked that checkpoint occasionally. I asked him if he could get me through the checkpoint, and perhaps accompany me on a walking tour of the city. He said no, that he would only go into Jenin with other soldiers and in an armored vehicle. -- I may decide to give up on the idea of visiting the occupied territories because it is too dangerous.

Daily schedule

Awake at 4 a.moo. Make coffee, eat snack of peta bread, peanut butter and jelly. All 90 of us in the expedition on two buses at 4:40 a.m. Drive 15 minutes to the Tel Megiddo. Climb up to our work site. Set up tent cover. Get out tools. Start to work. Dig. Put dirt into buckets. Dump dirt into wheel barrels. Dump dirt into old dig squares. Drink water. Early and often. (Today I wore my 70 oz. Camelback. Refilled it 3 times.) at 8:30 a.m. walk off of tel to park area for dairy breakfast of bread, tomatoes, boiled eggs, fruit of some kind, corn flakes. 9:15 a.m. climb back up to work area and get back to it. 11:00 a.m., much needed break, as team members beginning to show signs of fatigue. 1: 15 p.m. clean up work area. Lock away tools. 1:30 p.m. walk down and board buses back to kibbutz. Eat lunch in nasy, dirty, sweaty clothes. Meat lunch. Free time. Swim. Shower. Rest. 4:15 p.m. pottery washing. (Much pottery collected. Pottery sherds just lying around on the tel. Pottery was like the plastic bottle of ancient civilization.) 7:00 p.m. Dairy dinner. Crapes, cottege cheese, salad, tomatoes. 8:00 p.m. Evening lectures by world class archeology scholars. After lecture I come over here to the kibbutz office and wait for someone to finish with their computers so that I may borrow and write. It is now 10:15 p.m. and I am headed to bed. Tired, but happy to be having this excellent experience. * To be on the tel and look over to my left to see a clear view of Nazareth. (I never knew that Nazareth was built on a hillside.) Slightly to the right of that Mt. Tabor, where Jesus was transfigured. To the right of that Mt. Gilboa where Saul and Johnathan died. To the right of that Jenin in the West Bank. As we are working all day in one of the most fought over areas on the planet (Josiah, the last righteous king in the lineage of David, was killed here by Pharoah. (Read 2 Kings 23:29-30.) jets of the Israeli Defense Force are taking off from a base nearby and heading with rockets loaded under their wings for the West Bank and elsewhere. Seems almost cruely appropriate. This area is still being defended by the armies of waring groups. * Am off to bed. I will not edit this. Sorry for mistakes. Thanks everyone for your prayers and your love.

Shalom

Greetings from Israel. I arrived here at the kibbutz Sunday night, having traveled for 27 hours. Unfortunately my luggage had traveled only about one hour. I filled out Lost and Found forms at the Tel Aviv airport. The man who worked at that office took my information, made a few clicks on his computer, looked up at me and said, "Your bag is in Dallas." So for two days I made do with only what I had carried on board the plane, washing my clothes out in the shower every evening and wearing them again the next day. Fortunately my backpack arrived today. It felt like Christmas! Especially to get the Starbucks coffee I had packed, which means no more instant coffee for me. * This experience of digging in the Early Bronze area of Tel Megiddo is one of the most interesting and coolest things I have ever done. I arrive at the dig site every morning and hang my day pack on a rock jutting from a wall that was built approximately 1400 BCE. (For some perspective - the Parthanon was built around 447 BCE.) * That's all for now. It is 10:15 p.m. and I must get to bed. The bus leaves for the tel every morning at 4:40 a.m.