A Month's worth of updates from a poor blogger.

So it’s been over a month since I have last blogged or sent an update about what I’ve been doing. Lets try and catch up…
January 17th was Shabbat once again. We had our church meetings. After church we have time to ourselves until dinner. Brother Wilson tries to invite students to have a snack with his family so they aren’t “starving” until dinner. That day I was one of the students that were invited over to his family’s apartment. They gave us pitas with cheese melted on top and tomatoes to top it, if we wished. As we ate we discussed our majors and the scriptures. It was really nice to have our religion teacher right there to give us insight on certain passages. After our snack, I went up to the library and checked out a copy of ‘Jesus the Christ’ by James E. Talmage and ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen.
On Shabbat evenings we have branch prayer with all of the students and the ward members that are there (AKA our faculty). We sing hymns until everyone arrives and then we have the occupants of an apartment or two introduce themselves in any way they please. Some have stated what brought them here to the Center. Others have told a story about themselves and had their buddies act it out behind a blanket (as if you had taken a snapshot of the scene). It can be very hilarious. Afterwards we have announcements and a spiritual thought and then someone says the prayer. It is nice to do this together because we all kneel and it brings us closer together.
It has become a tradition after branch prayer to play SIGNS. It is a great game in which everyone picks a sign for themselves. One person is in the middle and is trying to find the person who is it. Someone in the circle starts it off by doing their own sign and then passing it to someone else by doing their sign. To accept the sign, the person must then do their own sign and then pass it again. The object of the game (as far as the people in the circle are concerned) is to keep the person in the center in the dark as to who has the sign. If the person in the center finds out where the sign is then they have to tag the person that has it. This can be hard if it is being passed to someone across the room. I never really liked to play this game, but playing it with this group has made me come to see the joys it can hold. It is much easier to play when everyone keeps the same signs. The more outrageous the signs are…the more exciting the game is. My sign, for example, is the kick. So to receive the sign I have to kick my leg up in the air and then pass it on to someone else (who might have the sign of a monkey, a wink, a slam dunk, or a shimmy).
Jan 18th: Today I went out into the city with the Wilson’s. Kim Wilson invited me to accompany her family to a couple of sites that they were visiting that day. Our first stop was the Great Synagogue. They have one of the largest Mezuzot collections in the world. They have amazing stained glass windows crafted by Regina Heim of Switzerland. We were given a tour by a rabbi from the Bronx of New York. He gave us a tour of the lower levels and explained the parts of a synagogue and the services that were given there. I’ll write more in detail about what he said soon. The website for the synagogue is http://jerusalemgreatsynagogue.com/. We then walked to King David’s Hotel. This Hotel was bombed by the Hebrew Resistance Movement, Irgun, on july 22, 1946. The British army was being housed in the hotel at the time because they were running the country. Warning calls were made to the hotel for them to leave but they were dismissed. After 25 minutes, the bombs exploded. The entire west wing was destroyed and 92 people were killed. Only a few days later, all British military servicemen were pulled from Israel. Today, this hotel is still one of the most luxurious hotels in Jerusalem. It is rented out by the President of the United States when he comes to stay in Israel.
After we walked through the hotel, we walked to the botanical gardens behind the hotel and found Herod’s Family tomb. This is where some of his family members that he killed were possibly buried. The tomb was found empty though. I think that some archaeologists don’t believe that it is Herod’s family tomb. Even if it isn’t…it is a great example of a tomb with a round stone that can be rolled in front of the door.
We then walked back to the car and drove to West Jerusalem to get Falafels. Falafels are fried balls or patties that are made of mashed chickpeas. Those aren’t so bad. To make the complete “Falafel” though…there are a few other things added to it. First you take a pita or a tortilla. You place 3 falafel balls in the pita and stuff the pita with salads, pickled vegetables, hot sauce, humus, and French fries or any combination of such. It definitely has a unique taste and it will take a while for me to acquire it.
After this ‘fast food’ trip we went to visit the Knesset. The Knesset is basically Israel’s governing body. We tried to take a tour of the building. The staff had such a hard time trying to find the English tour group. I don’t know why…but they did. They tried to put us with the Hebrew group. That wasn’t very fun. After about ½ the tour was over…they finally found the English group and put us with them. We were just in time to see the room where the Knesset met and worked. We were then “herded” into a grand hallway that contained tapestries made by Marc Chagall. Many of my fellow students think that they are ugly, but they are very symbolic and beautiful to the mind. There is also floor mosaics crafted by him. The room houses the “Independence Scroll”. It is akin to the Declaration of Independence in its purpose. David Ben Gurion wanted Israel to declare independence before the sun set on Friday, which commenced the beginning of Shabbat. He didn’t want to wait another weekend, but they didn’t have the document written. So he settled for the next best thing. He had the 12 members of the Administration that were with him sign a long, blank piece of parchment. What he read in the ceremony was a typed version of their declaration of independence. The document needed to be signed before the deadline that the British had set for them to create a state and once Shabbat started, no one would sign it because it would be breaking the Sabbath. So when Israel declared independence they didn’t even have the document. Interesting huh? Here is the website for the artwork in the Knesset: http://www.knesset.gov.il/birthday/eng/KnessetBuilding2_eng.htm.
I came back to find that my roommate, Lindsey, had finally received her luggage. Nothing was missing or damaged!!! We were all so happy.
January 19th: Today we had a double portion of Hebrew. I walked in with my quad (my scriptures) and my teacher became interested. She asked to look at them. She said that she had never seen a set of scriptures that were that large. We then had a discussion on the scriptures and books that had the name of God in them. She explained to me that Jews hold books that contain God’s name in high regard. They never set it on the ground (even in a bag) or throw it away. They are even kept in a special case. If it come into disrepair then they take them to a synagogue and then they are buried. Krister Stendahl coined the phrase “Holy Envy”. By this Stendahl meant that you should be willing to recognize elements in the other religious tradition or faith that you admire and wish could, in some way, be reflected in your own religious tradition or faith. This is definitely a religious tradition that I will try to emulate. Treating your holy books with more respect is something that we all need to brush up on from time to time.

TO BE CONTINUED...