Shalom chaverim v'mishpochah (friends and family),

This week I have some pictures, and a bit more to share about my impressions of the people and the land.

HaShem has blessed us with many sweet people. Our landlords, for example, Yosef and Miriam Zamstein - you can never go to their apartment without Miriam insisting that you have some coffee and cookies. I came to Israel to meet a classical yiddishe mama! When I casually (all right, not so casually) asked if they had any idea where I could get a chair, you know a comfortable chair I could sit in when I came home from work and the kids could sit in my chair, Miriam says, a chair, you need a chair, and leads me into her guest room and says, how about this one? Of course, I demur about taking their chair, but Yosef and Miriam insist. Soon we have the one thing that Pamela wants, a washing machine (all right, it leaks a bit, she just soaks up the water with her next load) and the one thing that Adam wants, a TV set (all right, it only gets one channel, from Jordan, but it gets Star Trek: Next Generation on Friday nights).

In Let's Go: Israel (highly recommended for budget travelers), we found a hotel in Jerusalem, Hotel Noga. OK it's not first class (what would you expect in Let's Go: Israel?), but it gets their "thumbs up" and it has character, or should I say characters? Here we met a few more sweet and interesting people. We shared a bathrooms and a kitchen with a few others, and that's how we met Kirsten, a Lutheran pastor from Denmark, and Yaakov, a saint from the wide world who lives on a balcony. Kirsten shared her wide-eyed joy and enthusiasm about coming to Jerusalem for the first time; we even met her on the ramparts as we toured the city; and she told us of her church of over 5000 people - but maybe 30 show up for regular services.

Yaakov took us to the shuk in Jerusalem to buy some groceries. Not too long ago, this shuk got bombed - but not to worry, there were soldiers with rifles at the entrance! (Then again, I'm sure there were soldiers with rifles the day it got bombed, hmmm . . .)

Along the way, when Yaakov asked what synagogue we went to (remember, at this point, Yaakov was just a fellow with a big white beard to me), I began to share my faith, for the first time with anyone in Israel. After a few moments of this, Yaakov said, I know all about that, I was with the Lubavitcher heridim (an ultra-orthodox sect that saw their leader, Rebbe Schnierson, as the Messiah, even after he was deceased), and got out of that . . . So far, I was wondering what would happen next. In retrospect, I think he was gauging my reaction. But then gradually it became clear, as he started quoting Rabbi Sha'ul (Paul) that I had shared my faith with another believer! Then he went on to share many stories, about how God brought him back from the dead five times, delivered him out of a mental institution (I assure you, he seemed quite sane to me), and through life taught him a great deal about faith through suffering. Here was a man who has lived many years (he fought in WWII and in many a spiritual battle since), yet had youth in his spirit and his face. He said he had come to Jerusalem for a season (which might be a year or two) to get healed. While here, he witnesses to the "Dati" (Orthodox Jews), as the Lord leads, for it can still be dangerous to witness in this city. The spirit that attacked Yeshua and his followers till prowls in this city that God loves and Yeshua wept over. We talked about secret believers among the heredim in the city. If you avow your faith in Yeshua here, you face intense persecution, rejection by your community and your family, and even physical threats. Yaakov has received a few threats himself and Joseph Shulam, who leads a Messianic congregation there, had his apartment firebombed recently, so one learns to follow the leading of the Lord about when and how to share his faith. (Maybe it was providential that I shared my faith with Yaakov?). In a city that is increasingly dominated by heredim (ultra-orthodox) much more so than the last time we were here, in 1987 - Yaakov calls them undertakers in black suits - though many were decked out in golden outfits for the holiday), what a sovereign act of grace that we should meet a saint, with a twinkle in his eyes!

We interrupted our touring to come back down from the mountains to Tel Aviv, where I taught for a day, while Pamela and the children went to the zoo. Tel Aviv has a drive-through zoo, so they had a great time meeting ostriches who came up to the window. Teaching at two universities has been interesting, because the two schools are so different. Technion, in Haifa, is a world-class institute of technology, chasing down MIT. The head of the technical staff met me while running up to meet some other people at the site of the new computer science building under construction. The Academic College of Tel Aviv is a new school, co-sponsored by Tel Aviv University and the city of Tel Aviv, with two small campuses in the city. Technion was founded in the 1920's - back in the days when they had to debate about whether to hold classes in Hebrew or in German! The Jewish political leaders of that era were all heavily into socialism, and I found this heritage still with the Technion today, in the form of excessive bureaucracy. Whenever I asked a technician to do something, it has to go through the right channels and red tape. Even now, I have to have a special meeting with the chairman for teaching and the head of the technical staff to try to figure out how they are going to install enough software on their machines so that students for a course on multimedia... and frankly, it took a bit of American table-banging through email to get this far. Meanwhile, the college at Tel Aviv has its roots in the more entrepreneurial culture of Tel Aviv. It took a few hours to get more done their than has yet to be accomplished on Technion! On the other hand, judging from the papers I've graded so far, the students are better at Technion. Many of the students in my object-oriented software engineering course may know more about aspects of the subject matter than I do.

OK, enough talk, more pictures! Yes, we did go swimming (or rather, floating) in the Dead Sea, but my one digital picture is a bit blurry, so maybe we'll go back - Adam and Abigail loved it! We also went to Massada, (the palace that Herod constructed in the mountains looks down at the lower palace from the upper one - I can't make out Adam and Pamela down there, can you?) looking down on the Dead Sea. Here the last of the Jewish zealots resisted the Roman legions. Young soldiers in the Isreali Defense Forces still come here and say, "Masada will never fall again!" We rode up in a cable car - below us is one of the Roman seige camps, next to the bottom of the cable. One of the recent finds at Massada was a synagogue, with scrolls similar to those found at Qumran, a score or miles to the north, which suggests that the Essene community were not entirely pacifist in the struggle with the Romans.

The wadi of Ein Gedi is an extraordinary contrast to most of the Dead Sea area, which is a desert, with so much salt in the ground that little grows - Adam noticed that weren't even any cacti. Yet Ein Gedi is a strip of lushness, of palm trees and ferns. Adam and I enjoyed swimming in a fresh water pool under a waterfall. David lived in En Gedi when he was hiding from Saul (1 Samuel 23:27) - one of these caves above the wadi might have been his hideout. Above above swimming hole are two more waterfalls. The larger waterfall, called Shunamit, reminds me of the bride of the Song of Solomon, who sang "My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi" (Song of Solomon 1:14). Jehosophat army of praise and Adonai's army of angels defeated a host of Jordanians (then called Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites) at En Gedi (2 Chronicles 20:2). I have the feeling this is one of the Holy Spirit's favorite spots - it certainly is one of mine!

As dusk, families of ibex (horned goats - from which one could make beautiful shofarim) clamber up the mountainsides along the cool wadi. We saw many ibex lambs this time. They were unafraid of the people who were heading the opposite direction as the park closed.

From Ein Gedi we headed back up to Jerusalem, past Jericho, skirting Palestinian-controlled territory, through the Judean wilderness (where Yeshua fasted for forty days - which makes you appreciate his trials all the more!) and up to the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus. More pictures and more stories next time!

From: Glenn David Blank