Yom Kippur

This evening marked the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. As said, it began this evening at sundown, and lasts all day tomorrow until sundown. Yom Kippur was the day when the high priests would make the sin offering for atonement of the entire nation of Israel in the temple. But today, since there is no temple or sacrifices in modern Judaism, they instead offer prayers in lieu of a physical sacrifice.

What makes Yom Kippur interesting today is that the whole country literally shuts down. Everyone, whether they be secular or Orthodox Jews, spend the whole day inside their homes resting and fasting, hoping that their personal atonement can tip the scales of good deeds in their favor. Since the whole nation has shut down, we were hanging out on the freeway earlier tonite. No one is out driving, except for the occasional ambulance, police car, or Arab taking advantage of the empty roads by hot-rodding.

Singing A Song in the Key of the Dead Sea

So we just got back from an overnight camping/hiking adventure at the Dead Sea and En Gedi. Quite exhausting, but a great time nonetheless. The Dead Sea was pretty fun. People are right; it is impossible for you to sink in the Dead Sea. And its hard to actually swim also, because you keep getting pushed to the surface because of all the salt. All you can do it float around like human canoe. And the water had so many minerals, it felt like I was swimming in baby oil. I felt pretty funky after getting out.

The evening was really good. There aren't any cities around for a ways, so the stars were quite bright out. I spent a good deal of time laying on my back and just looking at the constellations. I'm really looking forward to the nights in the Negev in the coming weeks, where I am literally camping in the middle of nowhere in the desert. There should be some great stars out there.

This morning, we went hiking around En Gedi, the ancient city in the tall, dry mountain wilderness around the Dead Sea. It was really dry, and I'm glad it wasn't extremely hot like it often gets. Hiking around those desolate areas really gave me an idea of what David felt like when he was being pursued by Saul for ten years in that area. Just trying to survive out there for a short period of time with no one chasing you would be difficult enough. It really made me think about how he had to fully rely on God at that time. There were, however, a few streams here and there, which formed little pools with vegetation and shade around them. Those were pretty fun.

The sun rising on the Dead Sea. The mountains on the other side are in Jordan.

Buck, Eric, and I are being bros at En Gedi. You can see the Dead Sea in the background.















Meghan and I are probably doing something dumb here.















I'm acting like a Tusken Raider in the wasteland of Tatooine. "Ururrhurgurrurrhur!"