Yad VaShem

This is a statue commemorating the life of a man who ran a Jewish orphange. Instead of running to safety this man stayed with the children and tried to protect them.

I am taking a Jewish Civ class from a Jewish professor who lives here in Israel. The class is really interesting, we have gone through the history of the Jewish people from Old Testament times through... well right now we are talking about the 1940's. The last few days we have been talking about the holocaust. We took a field trip the other day to Yad VaShem, the holocaust museum. It was quite the experience to walk through the museum and here the stories and testimonies of those who lived through the holocaust.

Olive picking and crushing

Lucky me! This semester is the only semester during the year that students are able to pick olives, crush them and make olive oil! After the olive oil separates from the water all the students will be given their own vile of consecrated oil to take home.



Picking Olives

Buckets of Olives


Crushing Olives

Olive press

Olive Oil

Feild Trip

Last Monday we took a field trip to Beth Shemesh, Azekah, Elah, Bet Guvrin, Lachish, and Micah's caves.

This is the valley of Elah where David slew Goliath


Me and Ali with our slings. We were trying to slay Goliath and unless Goliath is on the ground three feet in front of us I'm pretty sure we failed.

Here is Ali inside one of the huge caves

Shabbat at the Western Wall

Today was an amazing day! We were able to go to the Western Wall for the beginning of Shabbat. Normally we aren't allowed in the Old City after sunset, so this was a special event. All of the Jews at the wall dressed up to start their Shabbat. It was a very fun experience to watch them start the sabbath day. While we were at the wall we met three American Jewish girls from New York. All three of the girls were college age and very friendly. They answered all of our questions about their culture and religion and then told us where the best places to shop are. We learned that there is an American Apparel in Jerusalem along with a Top Shop! I can't wait to go shopping for American clothes!

While we were talking to two of the girls about their religion all 5 of us Mormon girls found that we have a lot in common with the Jewish people. It was pretty difficult not to talk about our religion while we listened to what they had to say. It really is unfortunate that we can't even mention the Church over here. We all really wanted to tell the girls about our common traits. Oh well, it was so interesting to talk to the girls and learn a little more about the Jewish culture

Midterm Haikus

This week was the week of midterms. To help us remember some of the concepts for our Ancient Near East class Ali and I came up with some Haikus:

Classic old kingdom
Lasts 500 years
4th dynasty pyramids
After Imhotep

First intermediate
After Pepy II
No ma’at chaos

(modified Haiku)
Middle Kingdom Thebes
All men can be Osiris
New great god Amun
Rejuvenate the Pharaoh
Golden age trade routes
Turquoise and copper

Egypt unified
Until internal weakness
And invasion came
End of the middle kingdom

Hyksos Sheppard kings
Semitic stronger weapons
City Avaris

New Kingdom Empire
The great 18th dynasty
Thebes and Akhtaton

Ziggurat temple
Writing, temple scribe school, math
Units of measure
Priests nobles freemen peasants
General assembly
Democratic city state

Hammuabi’s Code
First complete code of the law
More harsh than before
Poetry prose poetry
Title liberty

The Haikus worked, we both used the Haikus on our tests!

Roshhashana and the end of Ramadan

Wednesday October 1^st was a day of Holidays in the Old City. The Jews were celebrating Roshhashana (the Jewish New Year) and the Muslims were celebrating the end of Ramadan. Just a little side note: I am so happy that Ramadan is over!!! Stores stay open past 2 in the afternoon and the Muslims aren’t trying to convince me that I am getting a good deal from them just because it is Ramadan. Anyway the old city was so quiet and empty due to the holidays. It was so peaceful to walk through the old city without a million other people. We were able to see and find things in the Old city that we have never seen before. To celebrate Roshhashana we decided to go to the Western Wall and watch the Jews worship. The men were singing, dancing and clapping while they prayed, some of them were actually wailing, they were all dressed up in the different traditional suits and hats, it was quite the experience. Right next to the wall was a little synagogue that we decided to go in. The service looked like a lot of fun, it was very similar to the wall, the men were dancing, singing, and clapping while the women prayed quietly to themselves.

The streets of Egypt

A neighborhood in Luxor


Some of the apartments in Cairo

The inside of an apartment in Luxor