Just time for a short reflection on something I've noticed, living in the poorest city in Israel.
There's a very different sort of work schedule for most people around here. As I mentioned, the men at the synagogue where I study don't pray until 9:15 or so. Some of them are employed at ordinary businesses, but can apparently make time in their work schedules for morning prayer. Others, especially the older men, are professional Torah scholars: they study all day long, and the state supports them. At least one other, in his 20s, is in a one-year period following his marriage, in which he learns Torah full-time, and the state supports him. With his government paycheck, he can afford expensive clothes, plenty of good food, and rent, for himself and for his wife.
Those who are employed, at least, in commerce, have very short work hours. Stores tend to close at around 2:00 pm here, may be closed all afternoon on Fridays and (for some reason) Tuesdays. Today, Friday, at around 10:15 am, I visited the post office, and it was already closed for the weekend, even though the schedule posted outside indicated that it should have been open.
All of the Rabbis whose homes I have visited have large houses, well-furnished, and with large libraries. The Chabad House can afford to give large public meals, with copious vodka, on Saturdays.
The question is: with apparently so little work being done, where is all of this money coming from, and why isn't there more obvious poverty? There are poor people here, but they're as much a part of the community as anyone else; the only difference is that they need to borrow Tefillin, and go around the synagogue and Beit Midrash asking for money (which they always receive).
This reminds me of an article I read a couple of years ago, on the Washington Post website. I can no longer find it, but the poorest community of 100 or more people, in the United States, is an ultra-orthodox Jewish community just outside of New York City. All of the shop signs are in Yiddish, most of the women don't have jobs, all the men spend their days studying Torah. Everyone has enough to eat and to wear, though, because everyone shares necessary articles (strollers, etc), especially the wealthier community members.
Is this how Tzfat remains statistically poor, yet apparently well-off? Does Tzfat just run on state money (and how do taxpayers who are secular Jews feel about supporting Torah scholars and Yeshiva students)? Does it run on endowments from affluent Jews who want Tzfat to have a functioning Jewish community? I don't know.
Shabbat Shalom!
~JD
"אדם מועד לעולם
בין שוגג בין מזיד
בין ער בין ישן"
[A person is always liable to cause damages -- whether unintentionally or intentionally, whether waking or sleeping] (Bava Kama 2:4).
Showing posts with label Tzfat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tzfat. Show all posts
Friday, June 15, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Typical Day at Tzemach Tzedek
So, it's about time that I gave some kind of description of my daily schedule. Here's a sample, using this Tuesday as fairly typical (actually, better than many). Now that Rabbi Eli is gone, I'm spending less time in Shiurim with him, and more time with other Rabbis, at least in terms of classes.
By the way, I've tried to attach links to any unusual terminology I may have used without thinking. They links are for you, George, in case you're reading this.
6:50 -- Got out of bed, performed morning necessities, and left for the Beit Midrash. I thought that we had Chasidut class this morning, but because of the Fabrengen that kept everyone up until 1:00 or 2:00 last night, we didn't. So I continued to read from my Tanakh, finishing the final chapters of Chronicles, and reading some more Psalms, including what might be one of my favorites, 119.
9:00 -- Shacharit in the Synagogue. Chabad takes a really long time for prayer, so I had enough time to actually say every part of P'sukei D'zimra, which is very unusual for me. I needed to wait for my friend Yosi to finish, so I waited for everyone to finish, which didn't happen until nearly 10:40 (I wonder if community members have problems with their employers, because they can't realistically make it to work until 11:00, and I see them in the Beit Midrash at the middle of the day). I kept on reading Psalms, and made it to 145, Ashrei.
10:40 -- Left the Synagogue with Yosi, who showed me the way to the bank and the post office. I needed to withdraw money (I only had 8 shekels left -- sorry, parents, but I'm trying to be financially responsible!). I then went to the post office to mail four postcards, to Eliezer's bookstore to buy four more, and back to the dormitory for a breakfast of some porridge with fruit. On the way back to the dorms, I saw a very upsetting incident on the street. However, it could just have been because of cultural differences in Israel and the U.S. that I found it so upsetting.
11:15 -- I arrived back at the Beit Midrash, in time for Gemara lesson with Rav Asi. Not everyone was on time, and I have the chance to ask Rabbi Pasternack about the event on the street, and what I might or might not have been obligated to do under such circumstances. In class, the course got caught up in some pilpul. We're looking at a dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Nachman, in tractate Bava Kama, over the circumstances under which a person may take the law into his own hands (in my opinion, a very important question). Pretty much, the two agree that a person should always defend his property when it's in immediate danger, but they tried to search for a certain case in which there was clearly no immediate danger, in order to resolve the dispute. (According to my reading of the text, there's actually a third opinion, held by Rabbi Chisda, that a person may under no circumstances defend his property out of court, but he's clearly in a 2-to-1 minority.) Today, because one student and Rav Asi got in a dispute over the mathematics of logic, in relationship to a Baraita. I now know this Baraita all too well. Here is a paraphrase: If a man sees his neighbor's ox getting on top of his own ox in order to gore it, and he pulls his ox out from under it, and the other ox falls and dies as a result, then he is exempt from payment; but if (under the same circumstances) he pushed his neighbor's ox off of his ox, and his ox died, then he is liable for payment. In any case, the argument lasted so long that we missed our Halachah class with Rabbi Gorenstein, which typically lasts from 1:00 until 1:30, in which we're learning the laws of making Kiddush on Friday nights. (I'm hoping that we'll get to the issue of the validity of grape juice, which a very good friend of mine has questioned, and which I therefore would like to know more about.)
1:30 -- Minchah. Done and done.
1:50-2:50 -- Read Kitzur Shulchan Aruch on hurtful speech (cursing, insulting,etc) with Ben. Ordinarily, we would have instead reviewed Gemara together, but because of today's lack of progress, we never got very far in class, so we read the Halachic work instead. We are learning, for instance, that one may not misdirect people in commerce, call someone by an insulting nickname even if that nickname has become thoroughly attached to him or her, ask someone a difficult question to which one knows the respondent does not know the answer, or insistently invite one's neighbor to one's house.
2:50-4:15 -- Read the book of Jeremiah with Ari, alternating by chapter, with some discussion. Got through chapters 5-16, or so, I think. Visions, prophecies, denunciations, false prophets, corrupt monarchs, idolatry, Babylonians at the gate -- all in a day's work. I'm glad to be returning to this prophetical book; in fact, I think that I should really go back and review all of the Former Prophets, and then the three Major Prophets. In other words, I have a lot of homework to do!
4:15-6:30 -- Two back-to-back classes with Rav Asi. The first one was on relating certain Psalms to certain events in King David's life, with relevant midrashim, etc.; today, the topic was David's annointment as king. The second class is based on a sicha by the Rebbe on spiritual challenges.
6:30-7:40 -- Cross-referenced in Bava Mezia 58b-59a of passages from Kitzur Shulchan Aruch with Ben. We learned some interesting things. Also, I finished the book of Psalms, and tried my best to continue reading Mishnah Bava Kama, reviewing legal responsibility for damage caused by one's livestock's feet (and, by extension, all damage caused by animals' general movements, excluding eating and deliberate attacking). I'm doing my best to understand as much as possible of each Mishnah in Hebrew; Rabbinic Hebrew, at least in this tractate, tends to be both very simple and very repetitive. I really like the Kahati edition that I'm using (recommend to me by both Eli and Peninah), which includes a brief summary of the associated Gemara and other famous interpretations, in order to give the reader some idea of the classical understanding of the Mishnah.
7:40-9:00 -- Two back-to-back classes with Rabbi Gorenstein. The first is on Tanya, continuing with chapter 12. The second I didn't really understand, we became so sidetracked, but it was more Chasidut.
9:00 -- Ben and I run back to quickly eat dinner, of vegetable soup, with some cold salad. We walk back with Dovid.
9:30 -- Ma'ariv. Done and done.
10:20 -- Back at the dorm, in time for my least favorite part of the day: e-mail and other computing. I have a huge pile I need to answer every day, and I don't even have time to write certain important ones. I also wrote all of the last post, and most of this one, too.
2:30 -- Bed, really tired, by now.
~JD
כיצד השן מועדת לאכול את הראוי לה"
הבהמה מועדת לאכול פרות וירקות
"אכלה כסות או כלים משלם חצי נזק
[In what case is the tooth (of the animal) fully liable (for the damage it causes)? For eating what is natural for it. The beast is fully liable in regards to eating fruits and vegetables. (For) eating a garment or utensils, (the owner) pays for half of the damages] (Bava Kama 2:2).
By the way, I've tried to attach links to any unusual terminology I may have used without thinking. They links are for you, George, in case you're reading this.
6:50 -- Got out of bed, performed morning necessities, and left for the Beit Midrash. I thought that we had Chasidut class this morning, but because of the Fabrengen that kept everyone up until 1:00 or 2:00 last night, we didn't. So I continued to read from my Tanakh, finishing the final chapters of Chronicles, and reading some more Psalms, including what might be one of my favorites, 119.
9:00 -- Shacharit in the Synagogue. Chabad takes a really long time for prayer, so I had enough time to actually say every part of P'sukei D'zimra, which is very unusual for me. I needed to wait for my friend Yosi to finish, so I waited for everyone to finish, which didn't happen until nearly 10:40 (I wonder if community members have problems with their employers, because they can't realistically make it to work until 11:00, and I see them in the Beit Midrash at the middle of the day). I kept on reading Psalms, and made it to 145, Ashrei.
10:40 -- Left the Synagogue with Yosi, who showed me the way to the bank and the post office. I needed to withdraw money (I only had 8 shekels left -- sorry, parents, but I'm trying to be financially responsible!). I then went to the post office to mail four postcards, to Eliezer's bookstore to buy four more, and back to the dormitory for a breakfast of some porridge with fruit. On the way back to the dorms, I saw a very upsetting incident on the street. However, it could just have been because of cultural differences in Israel and the U.S. that I found it so upsetting.
11:15 -- I arrived back at the Beit Midrash, in time for Gemara lesson with Rav Asi. Not everyone was on time, and I have the chance to ask Rabbi Pasternack about the event on the street, and what I might or might not have been obligated to do under such circumstances. In class, the course got caught up in some pilpul. We're looking at a dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Nachman, in tractate Bava Kama, over the circumstances under which a person may take the law into his own hands (in my opinion, a very important question). Pretty much, the two agree that a person should always defend his property when it's in immediate danger, but they tried to search for a certain case in which there was clearly no immediate danger, in order to resolve the dispute. (According to my reading of the text, there's actually a third opinion, held by Rabbi Chisda, that a person may under no circumstances defend his property out of court, but he's clearly in a 2-to-1 minority.) Today, because one student and Rav Asi got in a dispute over the mathematics of logic, in relationship to a Baraita. I now know this Baraita all too well. Here is a paraphrase: If a man sees his neighbor's ox getting on top of his own ox in order to gore it, and he pulls his ox out from under it, and the other ox falls and dies as a result, then he is exempt from payment; but if (under the same circumstances) he pushed his neighbor's ox off of his ox, and his ox died, then he is liable for payment. In any case, the argument lasted so long that we missed our Halachah class with Rabbi Gorenstein, which typically lasts from 1:00 until 1:30, in which we're learning the laws of making Kiddush on Friday nights. (I'm hoping that we'll get to the issue of the validity of grape juice, which a very good friend of mine has questioned, and which I therefore would like to know more about.)
1:30 -- Minchah. Done and done.
1:50-2:50 -- Read Kitzur Shulchan Aruch on hurtful speech (cursing, insulting,etc) with Ben. Ordinarily, we would have instead reviewed Gemara together, but because of today's lack of progress, we never got very far in class, so we read the Halachic work instead. We are learning, for instance, that one may not misdirect people in commerce, call someone by an insulting nickname even if that nickname has become thoroughly attached to him or her, ask someone a difficult question to which one knows the respondent does not know the answer, or insistently invite one's neighbor to one's house.
2:50-4:15 -- Read the book of Jeremiah with Ari, alternating by chapter, with some discussion. Got through chapters 5-16, or so, I think. Visions, prophecies, denunciations, false prophets, corrupt monarchs, idolatry, Babylonians at the gate -- all in a day's work. I'm glad to be returning to this prophetical book; in fact, I think that I should really go back and review all of the Former Prophets, and then the three Major Prophets. In other words, I have a lot of homework to do!
4:15-6:30 -- Two back-to-back classes with Rav Asi. The first one was on relating certain Psalms to certain events in King David's life, with relevant midrashim, etc.; today, the topic was David's annointment as king. The second class is based on a sicha by the Rebbe on spiritual challenges.
6:30-7:40 -- Cross-referenced in Bava Mezia 58b-59a of passages from Kitzur Shulchan Aruch with Ben. We learned some interesting things. Also, I finished the book of Psalms, and tried my best to continue reading Mishnah Bava Kama, reviewing legal responsibility for damage caused by one's livestock's feet (and, by extension, all damage caused by animals' general movements, excluding eating and deliberate attacking). I'm doing my best to understand as much as possible of each Mishnah in Hebrew; Rabbinic Hebrew, at least in this tractate, tends to be both very simple and very repetitive. I really like the Kahati edition that I'm using (recommend to me by both Eli and Peninah), which includes a brief summary of the associated Gemara and other famous interpretations, in order to give the reader some idea of the classical understanding of the Mishnah.
7:40-9:00 -- Two back-to-back classes with Rabbi Gorenstein. The first is on Tanya, continuing with chapter 12. The second I didn't really understand, we became so sidetracked, but it was more Chasidut.
9:00 -- Ben and I run back to quickly eat dinner, of vegetable soup, with some cold salad. We walk back with Dovid.
9:30 -- Ma'ariv. Done and done.
10:20 -- Back at the dorm, in time for my least favorite part of the day: e-mail and other computing. I have a huge pile I need to answer every day, and I don't even have time to write certain important ones. I also wrote all of the last post, and most of this one, too.
2:30 -- Bed, really tired, by now.
~JD
כיצד השן מועדת לאכול את הראוי לה"
הבהמה מועדת לאכול פרות וירקות
"אכלה כסות או כלים משלם חצי נזק
[In what case is the tooth (of the animal) fully liable (for the damage it causes)? For eating what is natural for it. The beast is fully liable in regards to eating fruits and vegetables. (For) eating a garment or utensils, (the owner) pays for half of the damages] (Bava Kama 2:2).
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Eliezer's Bookstore
I'm beginning this post at 1:15 am, having just come back from a weekend in Jerusalem. I don't have enough time to describe that now, so for now, I'm just going to tell an amusing story from last week.
Although I have a copy of my own Tanakh at home, which I received at my Bar Mitzvah, it was too large and heavy for me to take with me on the trip; furthermore, it's English-only, and although the translation is excellent (JPS), and I've decided that I really need a parallel Hebrew-English edition.
So, I asked my friend Yosi where I could find a Judaica bookstore with books in English. He directed me to Yerushalmi Street, and after some wandering, including into a visit to the wrong shop where I found a really excellent gift for someone back home (for only four shekels!), I made my way to Eliezer's Bookstore. It's run by a man only a few years older than me, along with his father. When I walked in (the store was only about the size of my family's living room, minus the piano), the former asked me if I had come to pick up a book on reserve. I hadn't, and asked for some help looking for a Hebrew-English Tanakh. The store was too small to have anything more than the Artscroll Stone Edition, which you can pretty much find anywhere. Unfortunately, there were no pocket-sized editions, only the large hardcover version. It turned out, however, that the book on reserve was a paperback Stone Edition! It was the only copy, though, and the man told his father they needed to order more copies, and told me that if the book hadn't been picked up by 2:00 pm that afternoon, I was free to buy it. Willing to wait a few hours, I walked back to the dormitory. I did, however, buy a few postcards, which I hope will arrive back in the U.S. over the next couple of weeks.
Adam and Ben had come back from buying fruit and bread in the market, and when I walked into the kitchen, they asked me if I had picked up the book at bookstore. It turns out that Adam had actually found Eliezer's Bookstore first, and, knowing that I was searching for a Hebrew-English Tanakh, he had reserved the only pocket edition in the store for me! So the book on reserve had been for me all along! I ran back to the store, bought the book, laughingly explained the whole chain of events to the father, and headed off to class.
OK, expect information about Jerusalem and Jericho the next time I update!
~JD
Although I have a copy of my own Tanakh at home, which I received at my Bar Mitzvah, it was too large and heavy for me to take with me on the trip; furthermore, it's English-only, and although the translation is excellent (JPS), and I've decided that I really need a parallel Hebrew-English edition.
So, I asked my friend Yosi where I could find a Judaica bookstore with books in English. He directed me to Yerushalmi Street, and after some wandering, including into a visit to the wrong shop where I found a really excellent gift for someone back home (for only four shekels!), I made my way to Eliezer's Bookstore. It's run by a man only a few years older than me, along with his father. When I walked in (the store was only about the size of my family's living room, minus the piano), the former asked me if I had come to pick up a book on reserve. I hadn't, and asked for some help looking for a Hebrew-English Tanakh. The store was too small to have anything more than the Artscroll Stone Edition, which you can pretty much find anywhere. Unfortunately, there were no pocket-sized editions, only the large hardcover version. It turned out, however, that the book on reserve was a paperback Stone Edition! It was the only copy, though, and the man told his father they needed to order more copies, and told me that if the book hadn't been picked up by 2:00 pm that afternoon, I was free to buy it. Willing to wait a few hours, I walked back to the dormitory. I did, however, buy a few postcards, which I hope will arrive back in the U.S. over the next couple of weeks.
Adam and Ben had come back from buying fruit and bread in the market, and when I walked into the kitchen, they asked me if I had picked up the book at bookstore. It turns out that Adam had actually found Eliezer's Bookstore first, and, knowing that I was searching for a Hebrew-English Tanakh, he had reserved the only pocket edition in the store for me! So the book on reserve had been for me all along! I ran back to the store, bought the book, laughingly explained the whole chain of events to the father, and headed off to class.
OK, expect information about Jerusalem and Jericho the next time I update!
~JD
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
From Ithaca to Tzfat
I realize that this post occurs chronologically before the previous post. However, my journey is, I think, important and interesting to understanding where I am right now, and what I am doing.
I got out of bed at 3:15 last Wednesday afternoon; my Mother and I drove and picked up Rabbi Eli at his house, and the three of us drove together to the Syracuse airport. We easily made our 6:00 flight to JFK, and I slept for the whole hour we were in the sky. We had several hours before our flight for Israel left, and Rabbi Eli wanted to daven Shacharit, so we took a taxi to the closest Chabad House, which happened to be the Ohel. We fulfilled our obligation, I read a little bit of the book that Rav Ami and Eliana had recommended to me, and we met a couple of Israelis who were also driving to JFK, and so they drove us.
Back in JFK, we met up with Adam (the only other student whom I already knew), and passed through the tightest security I have ever encountered, for El-Al airlines. Because I can't speak Hebrew, the guards didn't trust me, and asked me a series of questions that only a Jewish person would know, such as "what was the most recent holiday, and how did you celebrate it?" and "what is your Hebrew name?" At least half of the other passengers were Charedi. On the plane flight, I met Ben (another Cornell student) and Alex (an Ithaca College graduate), finished Josephus's Jewish War (which I had begun on Birthright), read most of The Thirteen-Petaled Rose, and slept about an hour or two. We touched down at what must have been four or five o'clock in the morning, local time, in Tel-Aviv. We stumbled outside, and all of us hopped into the car of the elderly Chabad driver, Eli, from Tzfat, who tells me that he lived for a couple of years in Monsey, New York. He played a CD of Chabad tunes very loudly on our three-hour journey to Tzfat. I read as much as I could without
On the way, we decided to make a detour to Tiberias, to Rambam's gravesite. You can't miss the curving metal monument from the road, and Avishai had pointed it out to us when my Birthright trip drove through Tiberias. There were groups of people standing around and reciting the book of psalms around his grave, and around other nearby stone tombs, which bore the names of other famous Jewish sages, including some Tannaim, such as Yochanan ben Zakai. Rabbi Eli was kind (and passionate enough) to translate some of the signboards describing Rambam's life and works. (Today's quote is in his honor.) Still awake, we arrived at Tzfat before noon, and met the Rabbis at the Tzemach Tzedek Yeshiva where we'll be staying. I began to meet the other students, and we luckily had arrived in time to attend the last couple of classes for the day, Rabbi Pasternack and Rabbi Gorenstein both teaching classes, and Rabbi Eli sitting down with me, and trying to prompt my Hebrew, which is quite feeble. I'm sorry to say that I began to fall asleep in front of Rabbi Gorenstein, but previous conversations with him make me think that he didn't take it to hard. I refused to take a nap all day long, and eventually went to bed at 9:30 at night, local time. I was very happy when I finally got into bed!
OK, more adventures next time. You are all great people! Also, please e-mail me or send me private message on FB for details, questions, or anything else.
~JD
"[Jewish men] are commanded to acquire a wife before marrying her: either by giving her something [of sufficient value]; by giving her a document [of marriage]; or by having marital relations... only marriage by means of relations has the validity of a Torah commandment" (Rambam, Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive Commandment 213).
I got out of bed at 3:15 last Wednesday afternoon; my Mother and I drove and picked up Rabbi Eli at his house, and the three of us drove together to the Syracuse airport. We easily made our 6:00 flight to JFK, and I slept for the whole hour we were in the sky. We had several hours before our flight for Israel left, and Rabbi Eli wanted to daven Shacharit, so we took a taxi to the closest Chabad House, which happened to be the Ohel. We fulfilled our obligation, I read a little bit of the book that Rav Ami and Eliana had recommended to me, and we met a couple of Israelis who were also driving to JFK, and so they drove us.
Back in JFK, we met up with Adam (the only other student whom I already knew), and passed through the tightest security I have ever encountered, for El-Al airlines. Because I can't speak Hebrew, the guards didn't trust me, and asked me a series of questions that only a Jewish person would know, such as "what was the most recent holiday, and how did you celebrate it?" and "what is your Hebrew name?" At least half of the other passengers were Charedi. On the plane flight, I met Ben (another Cornell student) and Alex (an Ithaca College graduate), finished Josephus's Jewish War (which I had begun on Birthright), read most of The Thirteen-Petaled Rose, and slept about an hour or two. We touched down at what must have been four or five o'clock in the morning, local time, in Tel-Aviv. We stumbled outside, and all of us hopped into the car of the elderly Chabad driver, Eli, from Tzfat, who tells me that he lived for a couple of years in Monsey, New York. He played a CD of Chabad tunes very loudly on our three-hour journey to Tzfat. I read as much as I could without
On the way, we decided to make a detour to Tiberias, to Rambam's gravesite. You can't miss the curving metal monument from the road, and Avishai had pointed it out to us when my Birthright trip drove through Tiberias. There were groups of people standing around and reciting the book of psalms around his grave, and around other nearby stone tombs, which bore the names of other famous Jewish sages, including some Tannaim, such as Yochanan ben Zakai. Rabbi Eli was kind (and passionate enough) to translate some of the signboards describing Rambam's life and works. (Today's quote is in his honor.) Still awake, we arrived at Tzfat before noon, and met the Rabbis at the Tzemach Tzedek Yeshiva where we'll be staying. I began to meet the other students, and we luckily had arrived in time to attend the last couple of classes for the day, Rabbi Pasternack and Rabbi Gorenstein both teaching classes, and Rabbi Eli sitting down with me, and trying to prompt my Hebrew, which is quite feeble. I'm sorry to say that I began to fall asleep in front of Rabbi Gorenstein, but previous conversations with him make me think that he didn't take it to hard. I refused to take a nap all day long, and eventually went to bed at 9:30 at night, local time. I was very happy when I finally got into bed!
OK, more adventures next time. You are all great people! Also, please e-mail me or send me private message on FB for details, questions, or anything else.
~JD
"[Jewish men] are commanded to acquire a wife before marrying her: either by giving her something [of sufficient value]; by giving her a document [of marriage]; or by having marital relations... only marriage by means of relations has the validity of a Torah commandment" (Rambam, Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive Commandment 213).
Monday, June 4, 2012
Beit-El & Shiloh
I'd like to preface my adventures in Tzfat with Rav Ami's prediction that I'd be "running around Israel like a drunken gazelle." Although I haven't achieved this kind of euphoria yet, I am doing my best to enjoy myself.
We made our first archaeological outing on Sunday! We got up early (well, not quite as early as we were supposed to), and drove to pick up Professor Chaggai Ben Artzi. Just so everyone knows, "we" is five other students (Adam, Ben, Shmuel, Jordan, and Pinchas), Rabbi Eli, the driver (also named Eli), and I. Professor Ben Artzi is an Israeli archaeologist, and happens to be Benjamin Netanyahu's brother-in-law.
Our first stop was Beit-El, located in the West Bank. The interest in this site arises from the belief that it was here that Jacob had his famous nighttime vision of angels ascending and descending, and God's promise of the land to his offspring, whom He will not abandon. The narrative concludes with the statement that "Jacob arose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had placed at his head, and he set it up as a monument, and he poured oil on top of it. And he named the place Beth El, but Luz was originally the name of the city" (Genesis 28:18-19).
There is a funny-shaped rocky outcropping in the shape of a bed (for an eight-foot-tall person), which has a long oral tradition among local Arabs as being the rock on which Jacob slept, and even the name of the site, in Arabic, sounds like a corruption of "Beit-El." There seems to have been a history of Abrahamic religions treating this as a holy site: there is an incredibly old mosque on the site (7th- or 8th-century), as well as a Christian church. For several hundred years, people have considered this as a holy site.
More interesting than the rock itself (in my opinion) is the nearby ruin of a temple-like structure, several thousand years old. The dimensions match those of the Tabernacle described in the book of Exodus, and there is an altar with the bones of kosher animals (archaeologists can often find evidence for Jewish presence in the absence of pig bones). This is especially interesting, because the Tanakh mentions the erection of a Temple in Beit-El, following the division of David's kingdom of Israel into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah: "the king [of Israel, Yirovam] took counsel and made two golden calves, and he said to them, saying, 'It is far for you to go up to Jerusalem; here are your gods, O Israel, that have brought you up from the land of Egypt.' And he placed one in Beth El and the other he placed in Dan" (Kings I 12:28-29). (I visited the ruins of the temple in Dan on Birthright: it is located in one of the most beautiful places in Israel.) The ruin dates from the correct period, and, rather than pointing towards Jerusalem, it is oriented to the nearby tomb, as one might expect a sanctuary to point towards a holy place. Nearby are the ruins of a factory for the production of olive oil, presumably made for the lighting of the menorah in Yirovam's temple. Furthermore, there are Jewish burial caves dating from the Second Temple era, another sign that the site might have been considered to be holy.
In other words, the tradition of Beit-El as being the site of Jacob's dream may go back as far as the era of the divided kingdoms in Israel. However, one could easily say, for instance, that upon entering the land, the Israelites happened across a bed-shaped rock, and guessed that it was in that place where their ancestor had had his dream. However, the evidence for the presence of the temple, in my opinion, is much firmer.
Back in our car, we drove off to Shiloh, not far from Beit-El. Whereas there was nothing more relevant to tourism in Beit-El than a simple sign, there was a gift-shop and some basic facilities at Shiloh, the city where the the Tabernacle first rested. It was here that the prophet Samuel worked for the high priest Eli, and where Saul, before he became king, brought news of a Philistine victory. There are ruins old houses, and ruins of a temple, again with the dimensions of the Tabernacle found in the book of Exodus. Professor Ben Artzi, pointing to the black tarpaulin that covered part of the site, stated that he believed that it was there that Hannah stood and prayed for a child, and where Eli rebuked her. The conception and birth of the prophet are one of my favorite parts of the entire Tanakh, but for better or worse, I could not be so certain of the exact place.
Our last Biblical site of the day was to Mount Kabir, site of one of Abram's altars to God (Genesis 12:6). There is a 4000-year-old oak tree, Elon Moreh (אֵלוֹן מוֹרֶה in Hebrew, meaning something like "oak guide," "elon" meaning "oak," and the Guide for the Perplexed translated into Hebrew as Moreh Nevukim) still standing there. For millennia, the tree has stood as landmark to orient travelers in the region. From it, one can see numerous sites of biblical significance: the two mountains and the valley in which the series of curses were recited in the book of Joshua (as commanded in Deuteronomy), a proposed burial site of Joshua, and even a stream-bed associated proverbially with beauty in the Song of Songs. There was an excellent view from all directions, and one could even see across the Jordan River. The guide also mentioned that the hidden grave of Moses was somewhere on the horizon, which very much excited Rabbi Eli.
The last stop for the day was at a goat farm where some of the other students had visited the last time they were in Israel. It sells organic local goat yogurt and ice-cream; the proprietor is a fervent Zionist. I didn't buy anything (so much for stimulating the Israeli economy), but it was good to stay in the shade.
Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, so I can't take any pictures. You're going to need to rely on my blog then: I'll try to write more vividly in the future. Right now, it's 2:30 in the morning, and I need to go to bed. Coming soon: details of my daily life in Tzfat. And also something about one of my friend's blogs.
I love you all and miss you all; really, I do! But a special shout-out to Rav Ami, Eliana, and Noveya! Thank you so much for encouraging me to visit Israel again!
~JD
"Personal prayers are not supposed to be spontaneous outbursts of emotion, and indeed there is no place for such outbursts" (Adin Steinsaltz, The Thirteen-Petaled Rose p. 158).
We made our first archaeological outing on Sunday! We got up early (well, not quite as early as we were supposed to), and drove to pick up Professor Chaggai Ben Artzi. Just so everyone knows, "we" is five other students (Adam, Ben, Shmuel, Jordan, and Pinchas), Rabbi Eli, the driver (also named Eli), and I. Professor Ben Artzi is an Israeli archaeologist, and happens to be Benjamin Netanyahu's brother-in-law.
Our first stop was Beit-El, located in the West Bank. The interest in this site arises from the belief that it was here that Jacob had his famous nighttime vision of angels ascending and descending, and God's promise of the land to his offspring, whom He will not abandon. The narrative concludes with the statement that "Jacob arose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had placed at his head, and he set it up as a monument, and he poured oil on top of it. And he named the place Beth El, but Luz was originally the name of the city" (Genesis 28:18-19).
There is a funny-shaped rocky outcropping in the shape of a bed (for an eight-foot-tall person), which has a long oral tradition among local Arabs as being the rock on which Jacob slept, and even the name of the site, in Arabic, sounds like a corruption of "Beit-El." There seems to have been a history of Abrahamic religions treating this as a holy site: there is an incredibly old mosque on the site (7th- or 8th-century), as well as a Christian church. For several hundred years, people have considered this as a holy site.
More interesting than the rock itself (in my opinion) is the nearby ruin of a temple-like structure, several thousand years old. The dimensions match those of the Tabernacle described in the book of Exodus, and there is an altar with the bones of kosher animals (archaeologists can often find evidence for Jewish presence in the absence of pig bones). This is especially interesting, because the Tanakh mentions the erection of a Temple in Beit-El, following the division of David's kingdom of Israel into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah: "the king [of Israel, Yirovam] took counsel and made two golden calves, and he said to them, saying, 'It is far for you to go up to Jerusalem; here are your gods, O Israel, that have brought you up from the land of Egypt.' And he placed one in Beth El and the other he placed in Dan" (Kings I 12:28-29). (I visited the ruins of the temple in Dan on Birthright: it is located in one of the most beautiful places in Israel.) The ruin dates from the correct period, and, rather than pointing towards Jerusalem, it is oriented to the nearby tomb, as one might expect a sanctuary to point towards a holy place. Nearby are the ruins of a factory for the production of olive oil, presumably made for the lighting of the menorah in Yirovam's temple. Furthermore, there are Jewish burial caves dating from the Second Temple era, another sign that the site might have been considered to be holy.
In other words, the tradition of Beit-El as being the site of Jacob's dream may go back as far as the era of the divided kingdoms in Israel. However, one could easily say, for instance, that upon entering the land, the Israelites happened across a bed-shaped rock, and guessed that it was in that place where their ancestor had had his dream. However, the evidence for the presence of the temple, in my opinion, is much firmer.
Back in our car, we drove off to Shiloh, not far from Beit-El. Whereas there was nothing more relevant to tourism in Beit-El than a simple sign, there was a gift-shop and some basic facilities at Shiloh, the city where the the Tabernacle first rested. It was here that the prophet Samuel worked for the high priest Eli, and where Saul, before he became king, brought news of a Philistine victory. There are ruins old houses, and ruins of a temple, again with the dimensions of the Tabernacle found in the book of Exodus. Professor Ben Artzi, pointing to the black tarpaulin that covered part of the site, stated that he believed that it was there that Hannah stood and prayed for a child, and where Eli rebuked her. The conception and birth of the prophet are one of my favorite parts of the entire Tanakh, but for better or worse, I could not be so certain of the exact place.
Our last Biblical site of the day was to Mount Kabir, site of one of Abram's altars to God (Genesis 12:6). There is a 4000-year-old oak tree, Elon Moreh (אֵלוֹן מוֹרֶה in Hebrew, meaning something like "oak guide," "elon" meaning "oak," and the Guide for the Perplexed translated into Hebrew as Moreh Nevukim) still standing there. For millennia, the tree has stood as landmark to orient travelers in the region. From it, one can see numerous sites of biblical significance: the two mountains and the valley in which the series of curses were recited in the book of Joshua (as commanded in Deuteronomy), a proposed burial site of Joshua, and even a stream-bed associated proverbially with beauty in the Song of Songs. There was an excellent view from all directions, and one could even see across the Jordan River. The guide also mentioned that the hidden grave of Moses was somewhere on the horizon, which very much excited Rabbi Eli.
The last stop for the day was at a goat farm where some of the other students had visited the last time they were in Israel. It sells organic local goat yogurt and ice-cream; the proprietor is a fervent Zionist. I didn't buy anything (so much for stimulating the Israeli economy), but it was good to stay in the shade.
Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, so I can't take any pictures. You're going to need to rely on my blog then: I'll try to write more vividly in the future. Right now, it's 2:30 in the morning, and I need to go to bed. Coming soon: details of my daily life in Tzfat. And also something about one of my friend's blogs.
I love you all and miss you all; really, I do! But a special shout-out to Rav Ami, Eliana, and Noveya! Thank you so much for encouraging me to visit Israel again!
~JD
"Personal prayers are not supposed to be spontaneous outbursts of emotion, and indeed there is no place for such outbursts" (Adin Steinsaltz, The Thirteen-Petaled Rose p. 158).
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