Reaching the end

Shalom chaverim,

Tomorrow, we leave Israel late in the evening, but for now, I will talk about today.

This morning, at breakfast, many of us were still responding to the Holocaust museum. It started as a discussion between Adam and me and then Professor Arnold was part of it. Others would listen in occasionally. Adam and I started in on a very involved discussion about the appropriateness of singling out the people who did not do anything but could have to help save lives in the Holocaust. Some of the question was...is it the place of a church leader to say something, knowing that it may put their followers in danger? Should we point fingers at these people knowing that other genocides have happened and are still happening and the world is still not responding? Does it even serve a purpose to point at the people who did nothing in this one event? This came about because much of the museum and our guide did talk about how the world did nothing and many many people did nothing and some people even thought it was deserved. I still maintain that we should point out who did nothing. The church leaders should have said something. People will follow a leader, so you have to give them a choice for good. You have to stand against evil. I do not want to lead a church someday that lives in evil and allows evil to continue, so I will lead a church to save lives, whatever it takes. They have the choice of what to do, always, but I will not stand by and let evil happen without even opening my mouth. I cannot accept that this is ok. I cannot accept that the countries with the opportunity to do something needed to plan carefully for as long as they did. They could have saved lives. Then we moved into discussing other genocides. We talked about whether or not the Holocaust is unique, should it be as set apart as it is? Why aren't we pointing at the people who can do something but do nothing today? My only answer is that things should be done. Yes, it is wrong that nothing happens in many cases, but that should not stop us from pointing at the people of the Holocaust. We should remember those who helped and those who didn't as an example for how we should act. Many people today just don't take the responsibility that such remembrance must bring. That does not excuse anything, nor does it mean we should forget those who did nothing in the Holocaust. They can be an example for what we should not do as much as the people who helped can be an example for what we should do. Just look at how many people died. How many could have been saved? Today, how many people can be saved? Is the Holocaust unique? I don't know. I just know that by learning about one genocide, perhaps we can remember the others and do something.

Now, on to a happier topic...We spent the morning in museums. First we went to David's citadel and the museum attached. One thing that struck me about the museum was that in about 10 small rooms it attempts to cover about 5000 years from Canaanite period to now. I have to admit, it bothered me a little. I just can't understand how a museum can cover that much in so little time and space and do any sort of justice. All the museums here (as in all museums everywhere) are very slanted in one direction. Most here are Zionist slanted, and I think by covering so much time so briefly it would be even easier to slant. It makes me wonder how much information I have missed in museums because it didn't fit their spin on history (this applies to every museum, not just in Israel). I didn't notice as much of one in this museum as at some others, but it just felt vaguely uncomfortable to me.

The next mseum we visited was the Israel Museum. Outside was a giant model of the city of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period. Some parts were incorrect because it was built before certain excavations and some parts were certainly somebody's interpretation, but it was still pretty cool. You could see the Temple, Herod's palace, the Antonia Fortress, and many many houses. You could see how Jerusalem was truly on a hill and how that might protect it. Today, Jerusalem is so sprawled out that the hill is hard to see as the location of the city.

When we went into the museum, we went to what is called the Shrine of the Book. It holds many manuscripts, many of which are Dead Sea Scrolls or found in the desert. I trailed Prof. Arnold there so i could hear his comments on each exhibit. Some of the cool things we saw there were the clay pots some of the scrolls were found in, some TINY leather tefillin worn by the men of Qumran, and some of their other everday artifacts. The tefillin were cool because of how small they actually were. They were perhaps a centimeter by two centimeters and completely flat. Today, tefillin are big black boxes, about two inches by two inches by two inches. Prof Arnold pointed out that it really brings to mind Jesus' comment about not having your phylacteries big or you fringes long. We also saw a number of manuscripts from the DSS. I could see where people had made corrections in the texts or used a different type of writing to write YHWH, the name of God. It was pretty cool to see, I just wish I read Hebrew so I could read them. We also saw the full length of the scroll of Isaiah that they found. We could not actually see the scroll. It was taken out for preservation purposes, but we saw a very detailed picture of it that was completely rolled out so you could see the length. The thing that shocked me was that it was written completely as prose, not poetry. I had not realized that, and I don't understand why our English translations tend to put it in poetry form. I also expected a scroll of Isaiah to be much longer than this. Perhaps if it was in poetry form, it would have been longer. In any case, it was pretty cool to see the oldest manuscript that we have of the book I wrote my thesis on. Once again, I just wish I could read it. We also looked at some codexes from later times, like the Aleppo Codex.

After we left the Shrine of the Book and had lunch in a very busy marketplace, we went to the Garden Tomb. Here, we actually had one of their guides show us around, as per the site rules. He was very definitely talking from a Christian stance rather than academic. It didn't bother me, but then I didn't listen to him much since I knew the site. I listened enough to tell if he was saying something new or different. He mainly told the stories. We saw a rock that some speculate might have been Calvary, then we saw the tomb itself. It was all set in a beautiful garden. While walking between Calvary and the tomb, I was chatting with Adam about the site. I asked what he thought, and he said that he wanted to wait for more evidence. I said, that I don't know that this is the real site, I also don't know that it matters. What matters is that this garden is a very nice place to remember. It doesn't need to be historically accurate to do that. Not five minutes later, our guide said exactly the same thing to the group, in almost the same words. I know he didn't hear me, and I think it was part of what he says to everybody. All in all, I think it is a good place to remember and pray. Some groups have communion there. I think it is a place that can be more accessible to people not comfortable in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, like most Protestants. I can definitely identify with and understand the need to have somewhere of that type. For that reason, I think I am going back tomorrow and spending some time there. I got some funny looks when I sat apparently staring off into space. I was asked if I was ok and asked why i wasn't moving around. Oh well, I will be glad to go back tomorrow, but today was still a good experience. It was beautiful there. Our guide at one time said that when we went into the tomb we would not see Jesus in there, but we can take him in with us, just please bring him back out to share :). Jakob (7year old) asked me why God didn't help Jesus and save him from dying. I said, he did, he brought him back. Before I had a chance to continue, he said "How?" I said, "I don't know, how does God do anything?" He said, "Are you going to take Jesus in there?" I said "Sure" Then Jakob ran off. I think everybody should spend days with a very inquisitive 7 year old child. It really makes you think.

We were back at the hotel fairly early today, and tomorrow is our last day here. Some people are going to Bethlehem, some are spending tonight in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, I think that I will spend some time in the Garden Tomb then do my final shopping and pack, perhaps also walking the ramparts of the city if my knee can handle it.

I'll see you all soon!!!

L'hitraot.