Israel Day 5: Benjamin Field Study

I know this is a day late, but I was just too tired yesterday to write anything. It was a long, hot day. But fun!

The first thing that struck me today was just how quickly the topography can change. In the span of about 17 miles, we went from the hills of Jerusalem to the Wilderness, and then to the oasis of Jericho with the Dead Sea within sight. I had not expected for the terrain to change so dramatically so quickly.

I also did not realize just how close everything is. Granted, modern roads make the distances fairly easy to traverse. Without them, many trips would take much longer because passing through a wadi is so difficult. But ignoring that, the distances are still pretty close. This was especially apparent to me in Beth-shemesh.

One site I really enjoyed seeing today was all of the Bedouins out in the Wilderness. What I had expected to see were men in robes riding camels and living in big tents. Instead, I saw guys in jeans with cars, trucks, and SUVs. They had animals, but the pens were made of tin roofing material. I never did see a tent. It makes me curious to learn more about how Bedouins live in modern times.

As Dr. Stone was talking about the life of Samson, I realized just how close many of the places mentioned in the story were. I could see the main places from where I sat at Beth-shemesh. I had not expected that at all. This just reinforces how close many places are. At the same time, I understand why places that are close together “as the crow flies” are still very far apart for all practical purposes.

Something else that really struck me was just how strong the tensions are here between various people groups. The most apparent one to me was the Israeli-Palestinian tension. I really noticed this in Jericho. In Jerusalem, most signs are in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. In Jericho, everything was in Arabic and English with no Hebrew present. I see this contrasted with the Jewish Quarter of the Old City where signs are primarily in Hebrew and usually English. I was also surprised at how easy it is to tell if a community is primarily Muslim. All you have to do is look for a minaret. I had not appreciated all of these subtle differences before coming here. Part of me just wants to scream, “Can’t we all just get along?!”

A happy surprise for me was seeing the archaeological site at Gezer. The reason for this is that I’ve never really found archaeology all that interesting. I know I’ve mentioned it before in other impression reports, but I’m still amazed at how interesting I’m finding the archaeological aspect of this trip. A major highlight for me was when Dr. Richter walked over to show us a handle to a vessel she had found. After looking at it for a minute or two, she gave was able to tell us what period it was from and what it was probably used for. She then commented on all of the pottery shards we were walking on. I hadn’t even noticed them! I did not expect to just look around and see pieces of pottery that were thousands of years old. I was also stunned at how much can be learned from studying things like the remains of a gate. It didn’t look like much to me, yet people were able to learn a lot from those remains. It makes me want to take a class in archaeology!

A major cultural experience for me today was the beginning of Shabbat. I’ve had Jewish friends in the past, but I never realized just how important Shabbat is, especially here. As we were coming back from our Benjamin field study, I noticed that the area around JUC was fairly busy with lots of people and cars moving back and forth through the city. By the time we hit sundown, things had changed drastically. The streets were quieter, there were fewer people moving about, and most importantly, there was no loud music. Every night until now, there was been loud music being played from a venue located somewhere below the school. On Thursday night, it was most definitely live music that was sometimes good and sometimes very bad bordering on painful to listen too. Tonight, there has been none of that. It’s actually been quite peaceful. It’s like a totally different world.