Weird Things Happen Here

I just thought I would take a few minutes to let you know how strange and quirky of a place Moshav YadHashmonah is. First off, its a living community outside of Jerusalem founded around 1950 by Finnish Christians. If that is not quirky enough, there are always random bizarre things happening almost every single night. So far, I've experienced on the Moshav:

- either a wedding, bar mitzvah, or other form of celebratory party outside on the patio...every single night.

- said parties have featured such entertainment as Israeli pop music, accordian players, and a bagpiper in full Scottish regalia.

- a visit from the foreign minister of Finland.

- a lunch stop for a group of tourists associated with Benny Hinn.

- and to take the cake, tonight towards the end of dinner, there was a circumcision taking place on the opposite side of our dining area.

I couldn't make this stuff up. There is always something interesting happening around here. It makes me wonder what other odd things I'm going to witness.

Though it is pretty cool being here. No more than half a mile away on a hilltop lies Kiryat Yearim, which was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept until it was relocated to Jerusalem by David. I'm actually outside looking at it right now.

By the way, this is a picture I took from a hilltop at the Moshav early on a foggy morning...

Another Day

Today we went into the Old City and walked around with more of a New Testament emphasis. It was a good day, with a lot more time spent in museums (with A/C) rather than, say, on the original temple mount steps in the blazing sun. This is going to be a short post, so I'll just put up some pictures.


Don't worry...we haven't converted to Islam. But the Dome of the Rock is still a beautiful building, and it sits right over the probable place of the Holy of Holies on the Temple Mount.

This is the first Protestant church in Israel. It's an Anglican church built around 1850, and they work on Jewish outreach.

We went to the Western (Wailing) Wall again. This time it wasn't Shabbat, so I was able to get some pictures.
















Cameron and I eating fresh pita outside the Damascus Gate.
















This is the non-traditional site of Golgotha and the Garden Tomb. The traditional and more probable location is at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. But it was still neat to go to and remember Christ, His work on the cross, and His resurrection. This is their supposed Golgotha, followed by their supposed Garden Tomb.



































A coonskin moment at the Garden Tomb. He is risen indeed!




















When we got back this evening, there was a wedding party going on here at the Moshav. I feel sorry that this guy at the party has to share his name with a certain someone else.

















UPDATE:
Actually, I found out the next day it wasn't a wedding party. There was actually a tour going through Israel funded by Benny Hinn, and they stopped at the Moshav for lunch.

Fast Times at Yad HaShmonah

The past few days have been pretty busy. I'll fill you in pretty quick here, and I might even show you a few pictures if you promise to be good.

Two days ago, we had some free time in Old City Jerusalem. I went to the Wailing Wall, which was quite an experience. In addition to the prayers and the notes at the wall, there was a synagogue in a tunnel against the wall full of Orthodox Jews saying prayers, which I explored for a bit. I also bartered with a merchant and snagged an intricate wooden chess set. I'll tell you what, some of those Arab merchants can be pretty ruthless in their barter tactics.

Yesterday we spent all day in Old Jerusalem looking at some of the sites relating to the Old Testament. We walked around the destroyed Temple Mount, which was pretty cool. That place was absolutely huge. We read the Psalms of Ascent while standing on the Temple Mount steps, which was also really neat. We also went to a few other sites not related to the Old Testament, such as the traditional site of the Upper Room.

Probably the best part was slogging through Hezekiah's Tunnel. For those of you who don't know, when the Assyrians came up against Jerusalem, Hezekiah built a wall to fortify the city (which we saw the remains of, also) and dug a tunnel to channel water into the city. So we started on one end, sloshed through the dark and watery tunnel underneath the City of David, and ended up at the Pool of Siloam (which was also the place where Jesus healed a blind man in John 9).

Also today, we went to the model city of Jerusalem before its destruction by Rome in 70 AD, located at Hebrew University's (I think) museum. We've been getting all these maps and diagrams of what everything looked like, and saw the ruins of much of it also, so I found it interesting to see a realistic representation of it in its original state. But perhaps the coolest thing I saw at the museum today was the Dead Sea Scrolls. They house a good portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls, so I was able to take a look at some really old manuscripts of Isaiah.

Okay, you've been pretty good, so here are some pictures:

This is a section of the remains of Hezekiah's wall. It used to be a lot taller.






















The Hinnom Valley to the south of the Old City.
















A Coonskin Moment atop a pile of rubble from the Temple Mount.
















The Pool of Siloam at the end of Hezekiah's Tunnel.





















The tombs of David. Might he have been buried here?

















The Temple atop the Temple Mount at the model city. I felt like Godzilla walking around.