Dead Sea Scrolls

On Tuesday morning, our group went to the Israeli museum and explored many aspects of  Jerusalem during all types of rule. It was very cold, but still did not divert our class from the rich history explored on this day. Beginning with our song as usual and then exploring every single aspect of Jerusalem then visiting it the next day. Learning about the main temple and Hasmonian rule prior to Roman period. With constant tension between Greek rulers and brothers Hyrcanus and Aristobulus ultimately lead to Roman takeover of Jerusalem. A common theme of senseless hatred for the Jews and often fighting within ourselves for power and superiority. From society today we can learn a basis and even how these tactics may have become more modernized but similar to social classes the rich have so much more superiority than the poor which is a common theme throughout history. We can learn that sibling rivalry with so much power can lead to a whole countries demise and it did explained by the Hasmonians. The main characteristics of Jerusalem during the Roman Period was full of life and active religion, having four distinct groups being the basis of our Jewish culture. Saducees were a group of wealthy priests who believed and fully were committed to the Torah. Pharisees believed in oral law and were Rabbis that passed on their generations by mouth. Zealots disliked the Romans and were the same group that went to Masada. Instigated the war vs Rome causing the Beit Hamikdash to be destroyed. Esseaes were located in the Dead Sea Area very pure and masculine society believed to have written the dead sea scrolls. Personally I would most identify with the Pharisees because their beliefs and culture seemed very similar to what I follow today believing in oral law and not strictly living by the Torah's words. The Dead Sea Scrolls continue and will always be one of the greatest discoveries of the Jewish people to ever be found, created from Papirus scrolls and containing written documents of the Tanakh and community documents, instructions on how to operate when the Messiah comes. Found in the year 1946 almost accidentally proves and gives strict evidence the clay holding these scrolls were 2000 years old proving a Jewish civilization was on this holy land and hand wrote these messages.

The Old City, Second Temple Period

Wednesday we had our first full day tiyul. It was a long day filled with many views, a lot of walking, and a whole lot of history. We started the day off with a rooftop view of the city. From there we could see the different holy sites of the three dominant religions of Jerusalem and had a short discussion on how Jerusalem is a diversely spiritual city. After taking some pictures, we walked down to a museum and watched a video describing the second temple. The video showed the temple as a humongous and glorious sight for those who came from far away maybe only once in their lives. It also showed the process of visiting the temple on a holiday such as buying a sacrifice and using the mikveh (a bath of water 7 steps into the ground) to purify yourself. The second temple was built by King Herod during the control of the Romans. The stones used to build the second temple were all marked as Herod’s stones by a carved frame around the stone. Some of the stones also had graffiti or messages written on them in ancient Hebrew. We walked up the outer steps to the gate of the second temple, imagining the many people who had walked there before and what it had meant to them. Later on, after a delicious lunch, we went to see the ruins of the Herodian Mansions. We saw many personal mikvehs, a bathtub, and mosaic floors in the ruins as it was the richer supporters of the Herods, such as the Sadducees, who would be living in these homes.  While the stone of the houses remained we saw the ashes of plaster which use to cover the inside walls but was burnt off likely in the destruction of the second temple. Lastly, we went to the Cardo to admire the mosaics depicting what the main streets of Jerusalem in the second temple period may have looked like. Overall, being in the old city was interesting as we observed the new sites and buildings mixed in with the ancient ruins and dig sites. Now imagine yourself as a pilgrim coming to the second temple for the first time in your life. What do you imagine it looking like and what emotions do you imagine feeling as you approach it?

Rooftop View of Jerusalem

Hezekiah's Wall

Mikveh

 If you look closely you can see ancient Hebrew messages written in the stone. Also, notice the carved frames around the stones marking them as a part of Herod's rule.

 Walking towards the the area with the second temple gates

 Lunch time! :)

 Herodian Mansion's mosaic floors

The Cardo

City of David

For our fourth tiul this year on February 10th we visited The City of David and archeological dig and museum of the original old City of Jerusalem conquered by King David circa 1000 BCE.

We learned about the reign of David, how he captured the city by sending an elite team through the water tunnels. We talked about his rise to favor over the first king Sol and read the story of David and Goliath. We also talked about his mistakes as a king, the story of Bersheva and learned about the concept of Teshuva, repentance and the repentance that David made.

At the archeological site we saw the water tunnels dug before the siege of Jerusalem and we saw many pictures of artifacts discovered in the dig site including ancient stamps for wax seals and idols.

We also learned about the current controversy around the city of David, as the digging is happening in East Jerusalem which is primarily Arabic. What do you think was the most interesting fact the dig revealed about the ancient city?

The Burial Caves on Tzuba

The Burial Caves on Tzuba
For our our second tiyul together, we started off in the classroom, learning about the biblical and historical stories of Sara, Abraham and their children. About halfway through class we went on a short, 15 minute hike through Tzuba to see an ancient burial cave similar to the one Abraham bought for his wife Sara when she died of sadness, after discovering Abraham had attempted to sacrifice Isaac. We climbed down the side of the hill and crawled into the caves which were comprised of a few burial chambers. We learned about how the ancient inhabitants used to lay their dead on the burial beds until they decomposed. They would then gather the bones and lay them in a pit with their ancestors bones so  they could forever "be gathered" with their family members. (Genesis 23) There are several similar caves located all over the Kibbutz, some discovered and some not. Kibbutz Tzuba is actually a fascinating place to learn Jewish History at, because several parts of the Tanakh actually take place in ancient Tzuba. I thought the entire experience explained the biblical and historical sides of the story extremely well. I also thought the transition between learning the dry material in the classroom and seeing it in real life helped me and my classmates understand the story and remember it better. Finally, at least in my opinion, seeing the caves led me to believe this part of history was less biblical and more historical, allowing me to feel the Tanakh is a factual source. So what do you guys think? Is the Tanakh a factual and reliable source, or just stories?

Sataf - סטף

סטף- Sataf

On Thursday, February 7, we went to Sataf and we learned about how the Jewish people started as agricultural people who based their society off of seven plants originally found in the Torah. They grew dates, wheat, olives, barley, pomegranates, figs, and grapes. 
Also, we learned about the two different types of farming that were used in Sataf thousands of years ago. Terraces helped agriculture in that area because the mountains made farming difficult. Also, Ba'al farming (a type of agriculture that is dependent on rain) was introduced at Sataf. Ba'al was the ancient Canaanites god of rain, which shows how the Jewish people evolved from a polytheistic mentality to a monotheistic lifestyle. Overall, we learned a lot about the ancient society that lived in Sataf. What was your favorite part of the tiyul? What did you learn?

Tel Gezer

     On our first Jewish history tiyul of the semester, we explored the ancient site of Tel Gezer, once inhabited by the ancient Canaanites and Israelites. After arriving at the site, we indulged in a cup of coffee while Evan prefaced the adventure for the day with a Tanak sesh. Evan explained to us that a “Tel” is a type of hill that is made up of solely past civilizations (for visual reference, a wafer cookie). I noticed many interesting artifacts on the tour, such as the ancient calendar. This fascinating calendar was a key part of keeping track of the harvest schedule. I was later slightly disappointed to find out that it was just a gigantic replica of the original calendar found, which turns out to merely measure up to an iPhone. Still epic. What was the oldest structure/artifact that caught your eye?

Welcome to the Kitat Nevel class blog!

שלום and welcome to the Kitat Nevel Blog. Here we will share the experiences of our 
טיולים tiyulim as well as periodic homework assignments. I'm very excited that our adventure 
together has begun and look forward to reading your posts. תודה רבה!