Trip to Tel Aviv

Well, It's been awhile yet again. It seems like that is how this is going - no posts for a week then a flurry of them!

Yesterday the History of Modern Israel class (which I'm not taking) took a field trip to Tel Aviv to see some sites relating to the founding of the Jewish state in 1948. Even though I'm not in the class they allowed me to tag along. A lot of other people tagged along as well, so I was in good company.

The first place we stopped was the home of Chaim Weizmann, who was the first president of the modern state of Israel. He was apparently very good friends with many famous people including Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Harry Truman. He was also a brilliant chemist that helped the British war effort by engineering new ways of manufacturing chemicals used for armament production. By the end of his life, he had acquired over 120 patents for his work in Chemistry! Throughout his life Chaim Weizmann had a fascination with western culture and loved traveling around the world, especially to Britain and the United States. Even though he loved the west, his heart was always in Israel. In fact, the efforts of Chaim Weizmann were largely responsible for the United States recognizing the existence of the state of Israel when it was created in 1948. However, his love of the west ultimately caused him not to become the first prime minister of Israel, as many had wanted. They believed he was to easily influenced by non-Jewish thinking. Instead, the office of President, which is more of an honorary position than a political one, was created to honor this man who had contributed to much to the establishment of the Jewish state. Here are some picture from his house.

From Tel Aviv Trip

From Tel Aviv Trip

Chaim Weizmann was eventually buried on his property in Rehovot. His wife Vera was buried beside him when she passed away several years later.

From Tel Aviv Trip

The next stop we made was at David Ben Gurion's house in downtown Tel Aviv. Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, was a much more modest man that Chaim Weizmann. He moved to Israel very early in his life and never had an urge to travel, unlike Weizmann. It is interesting to compare the differences between these two patriots. Chaim Weizmann loved western culture and would often travel abroad to foreign countries, while Ben-Gurion was more of a homebody. He moved to Israel when he was very young and basically never left, but lived a humble life fighting for the founding of his country. Unlike Weizmann who achieved a doctorate in Chemistry before the age of 20, Ben-Gurion never earned an academic degree in his life. However, he was an incredibly brilliant man speaking 11 languages fluently. He apparently learned enough German in 1 week to carry on a conversation with a German delegate (a fact that is disputed by some. I have no comment)! I have to admit that I skipped out on the tour of the David Ben-Gurion house (I just stayed for the talk at the beginning. But I'm not in the class, so I didn't have to be there!) and went to the beach instead, which was 1 block away.

From Tel Aviv Trip

And if all that wasn't great enough, the highlight of the day came next - the Latrun tank museum. And by tanks I don't mean the things fish swim in... I mean THIS!

From Tel Aviv Trip

The Latrun Tank museum and memorial is located at a fort that protects the only road up to Jerusalem from the coastal plain (or at least it was the only road. There is a new road that goes up to Jerusalem a different way that has been built just recently). This was a fort that the Israeli troops attacked and tried to take at least 3 times over the years and failed every time. When they finally did capture it, they snuck up on it and fired upon the main fortress for 20 minutes before realizing it had been abandoned by the enemy several months before (I guess military intelligence is and oxymoron in every country). Upon taking the fort, the Israelis turned it into a museum and memorial for all the troops that have died fighting in the IDF Armor Division since 1948. Their names are etched in wall at the museum that is reminiscent of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC. The names of the fallen soldiers are etched in black to symbolize the black color of charred steel in which these men died. The rest of the wall is silver in reference to a Hebrew poem that says the state of Israel was not given to the people on a silver platter. The silver color of the wall makes reference to this poem by saying that they men who died are the silver platter upon which Israel was founded.

From Tel Aviv Trip

The inside of the fort has also been made into a memorial for the soldiers who have died. There are pictures of the soldiers inside with their names, how old they were when they died, and some of their stories. The idea of this place is that no soldier is forgotten. After visiting a very somber inside, we went outside to a veritable playground. The fort is laid out in a circle and all around the edge there are over 160 tanks that can be climbed on, jumped on, and driven (well, maybe not that one). We had a blast out there! Here's proof.

From Tel Aviv Trip

From Tel Aviv Trip

From Tel Aviv Trip

(Rival dorms... Hotchkiss and CDUB)

From Tel Aviv Trip

So, we had a great day, but it was really nice to get back and sleep. Just about everybody fell asleep on the way home because we had such a great time. Also, I got to speak some Hebrew with the bus driver, Moshe. That was cool. BTW, click the link on the bottom right of any of the photos to see some more. God Bless! Baruch Hashem!

Advice from Israel...

If you learn something new, you should pass it on. You should especially pass this information on if it will be beneficial to those who will hear this information.

I have acquired information that I believe might be very useful to others. Here it is.......

"If you ever go to Israel, don't eat the hot dogs!"

I really mean that. Sparing you the gory details, I have learned from experience that hot dogs are a bad thing to eat in Israel.

Valentine's Day

Yesterday was Valentine's day and I missed Whitney a LOT. So, I thought I would just say that she's wonderful and I love her and miss her very much! So, here are some pictures of us! Happy Valentine's Day!

Approaching Jerusalem...

This past Thursday we went on a field trip around the city of Jerusalem, but not in it. The idea was to see all of the different ways there to get to the city from other parts of Israel. We called it the Jerusalem approaches field trip because we studied all the approaches to Jerusalem. I have posted some pictures of our trip in a flash slide show instead of individually. The slide show runs through the pictures pretty fast so you might have to pause and flip through them manually if you want to view them for longer. And hit the little words bubble button on the slide show and the captions for the photos will toggle on and off.

After every one of our field trip, we are required to write a 1 page summary of what we did on the trip. Here is the paper that I wrote for this field trip. Sorry if it's a little bit long (sometimes you have to go 11pt font, single spaced, .9inch margins and it's STILL a page a and a half!). Hope it's not TOO boring!

One last thing... I reformatted blog by making it a little bit wider. Let me know if it works or if does weird things when you try to view it.



Beginning our Jerusalem approaches field study by stopping at the site of Bethphage. This is the most probable site where Jesus was taken up into the glory cloud after his death, crucifixion, and resurrection. It was here that the disciples asked Him about when He would restore the kingdom to Israel. His response was that they didn’t need to know about the times of the kingdom, but they would be clothed with power – the Holy Spirit – and would be his witnesses all the way to the uttermost parts of the earth! After his ascension, two angels appeared to the disciples and told them that Jesus would return (Luke 24, Acts 1). Also associated with Bethphage is Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He began in Bethany and headed toward Jerusalem. As soon as he crested the Mount of Olives and caught sight of Jerusalem He began to weep for the city. He wept because the city rejected its long awaited Messiah and would soon be destroyed (Luke 19).

From Bethphage we could look over the modern wall separating the west bank from the rest of Israel and see the town of Bethany. Bethany was the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. It was the town in which Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead after remaining in Transjordan “too long” and allowing Lazarus to die. We then find out from Jesus that this was allowed to happen so that God would be glorified (John 11).

After Bethphage we continued to the Mount of Olives and caught site of the Old City from the east. We saw the Kidron valley between us and Jerusalem and we also saw the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. We learned that the reason Judas sought Jesus in the garden was because the religious leaders needed to capture Jesus while he was alone and away from the crowds. If they had arrested Jesus in sight of the crowds, it would have incited a riot. Instead they proceeded with the trials at night so that nobody would know anything about it until it was too late.

From the Mount of Olives we continued on to the Hinnom Valley on the west side of Jerusalem. We stood on a bridge over the valley and were almost literally standing with one foot in Benjamin and one in Judah! On the ‘shoulder of the Hinnom’ we saw the remains of a tomb in which the oldest extant copy of any portion of Scripture was found – a silver amulet from the 6th century BC with a portion of the priestly benediction from Numbers 6 inscribed on it.

From the ‘Shoulder of Hinnom’ we continued on to Bethlehem. In Bethlehem, we read the story of the census going out from Caesar Augustus that all the world needed to be taxed. We learned that the ‘inn’ that Joseph and Mary were rejected from was not an inn in the sense that we think of it, but more likely a guestroom for visitors from out of town. We also went to a field just outside of Bethlehem and read the story of the Shepherds to whom the birth of the newborn king was announced. After hearing the chorus of angels singing praises to God Most High, the shepherds went to Bethlehem to visit the newborn king. The angels only left the shepherd a couple of clues on how to find the newborn king, so they probably had to ask around town for awhile before finding the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (Luke 2).

From Bethlehem we continued on to the desert fortress of Herod the great called Herodian. This was a fortress built by Herod the Great to keep and eye on the Judean desert and the ascent of Ziz. It is also the final resting place of this man who was considered to be the “king of the Jews.” My favorite part of the day was the irony of singing praises to the real King of the Jews – Jesus the Messiah – in the cisterns under the palace of the earthly “king of the Jews” – Herod the Great.

From Herodian we traveled to a field outside the village of Tekoa – hometown of the prophet Amos. Here we learned about Amos’ message to the people of Israel – turn to the Lord and live. We also learned that Amos’ use of references to nature is very consistent with him having been a shepherd and having lived outdoors for much of his life. We also learned about the attack the Ammonites, Edomites, and Moabites mounted against King Jehoshaphat. When King Jehoshaphat learned of the impending threat against the land, he inquired of the Lord and was told that this battle was God’s battle. Following in the instructions of the Lord, Jehoshaphat went to the ascent of Ziz (the ancient road from En Gedi to Tekoa) the next day with the singers at the front of the Army! He was fully trusting that God would fight this battle. When they reached the other armies, they saw the victory of the Lord because God had caused Israel’s enemies to turn against each other and destroy each other. All the Israelites had to do was collect the plunder, a task that took them 3 days to complete (2 Chronicles 20)!

The final stop on our trip was the valley of Rephaim. It was this valley that the Philistines used on one occasion to mount an attack on Jerusalem. David found out about the plans of the Philistines and inquired of the Lord about what he should do. The Lord told David to go around and cut them off from behind. When David obeyed the Lord and cut off their way of escape, the Philistines went up through the central Benjamin plateau and retreated down the Beth Horon Ridge route (2 Samuel 5)!

Tension

As we have been traveling around Israel, I have noticed that there is tremendous tension between the Arab and Palestinian peoples. This was no new revelation, but the proximity in which this tension exists is astounding. There are places where Jews and Arabs live literally just a couple hundred yards from each other, but would never even think of going to the "other" part of town. This just shows that what the Bible says about the end times (all of the surrounding nations around Israel wanting to drive her into the sea) is true. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. This is a city that desperately needs your prayers.

Here are some photos that hopefully give you a small taste of the tension that exists in this land. I have finally found a good way to post pictures, so there will be more of them coming!

Some various photos...

These are some pillars in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem. They are the remains of a main street called the Cardo. It was called this because the street was the 'heart' of commerce in Byzantine Jerusalem.




This is a staircase from the cemetery in which Oskar Schindler is buried. It overlooks the valley of Hinnom which Jeremiah prophesied would be called the 'valley of slaughter' after the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. His prophecy came true in the year 586 BC and the nation of Judah was carried off into exile.

















Blogger is acting up right now making it hard to add captions to the posts... I'll update this as soon as it's not being dumb anymore! In the meantime, enjoy the pics... and you can make up whatever you want about them before you really know what they are. you could tell your friends "See! Here's a staircase from mars. There really ARE Martians!"