For the dressing up, they didn't give us a lot of direction as to so what traditional Arab dress looks like, and the internet wasn't a whole ton of help. Our instruction was basically, "Go to the Old City and see what you can find." Yea, not very helpful. But most people were able to find some things. Like I mentioned in my last post, I got a skirt and a skirt, and I wore the headscarf that I got for Turkey.
One thing that was a big misconception before I came here was that the Dome of the Rock was considered one of the most holy mosques in Islam. While it's a beautiful building, it's actually the mosque next door, but also on the Temple Mount, the al-Aqsa mosque, that is the really important one. The Dome of the Rock was actually built as a commemoration of the Jewish temple, and was actually called as such until the recent political situation became more...volatile. Anyway, that whole side note was to more or less explain, that because the al-Aqsa mosque is so important, the muezzin that came from there to demonstrate a reading from the Koran for us and the call to prayer were really amazing.
The food was similar to the food that we eat a lot here, except there was a lot more lamb. It was actually pretty good. The cafeteria here was decorated, everything was really nice. Dancing was great fun. The dances that we were taught from some Palestinian students from a local university went to pieces rather quickly, but we all had a good time. And we ended up making a Harlem Shake video, which we shared among ourselves quite a bit, but that I think a lot of people pray never sees the light of day outside the center.
On Friday evening I had the opportunity to visit a synagogue for the Sabbath service. All of the students get a chance to go, and it was my turn. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I wouldn't have expected what it was actually like. Most of the service was sung, and you could follow along with it in the prayerbook...if you knew Hebrew. It was an Orthodox synagogue, so there was a separation between the boys and the girls. After learning more about it, I think that in some ways, it's a good idea. It keeps certain members of the opposite sex from being...distracted...and focused on the meeting.
Something that I've really come to love about Judaism is how they treat the Sabbath. For them, it's something to be celebrated, cherished, to hold dear and high above all the other days. They compare the Sabbath to a bride, and the children of Israel as the groom. At the end of the Sabbath, everyone stands and bows to the back of the room, to welcome the Sabbath like a bride. The Sabbath is a day to be celebrated, not a day that just a list of the things you can and can't do.
Today, I visited the Garden of Gethsemane for the first time. It was also not quite what I expected. There was a garden of really old olive trees there, then a church, called the Church of All Nations. It was called that because there were people from several different countries who donated to help build the church. It was interesting, they would put little flags or pictures of things representing each country in an unassuming place around the church representing the various countries. We also stopped by an Armenian church next to the garden that was representative of the place that traditionally was where the Virgin Mary was buried.
There are two experiences from today that I'd like to share. The first, walking out of the Church of All Nations through the garden with the olive trees, I noticed that they had a yellow rosebush. My dad's mother, who passed away 10 years ago this September, loved yellow roses. My mom planted one in our garden, so that we would think about her. Seeing one there...it was really special.
The other experience was in the Armenian church. My mother's father, who passed away a few years ago, was Catholic. I've heard my mother say many times about her father that he "loved the Virgin Mary." Going to the Armenian church, seeing the icons, some of the pictures rubbed off from all the people that have touched them, my mom's voice came into my head "My father loved the Virgin Mary." I thought that that church would have been a place he would have loved to visit.
Shabbat Shalom!
The food was similar to the food that we eat a lot here, except there was a lot more lamb. It was actually pretty good. The cafeteria here was decorated, everything was really nice. Dancing was great fun. The dances that we were taught from some Palestinian students from a local university went to pieces rather quickly, but we all had a good time. And we ended up making a Harlem Shake video, which we shared among ourselves quite a bit, but that I think a lot of people pray never sees the light of day outside the center.
On Friday evening I had the opportunity to visit a synagogue for the Sabbath service. All of the students get a chance to go, and it was my turn. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I wouldn't have expected what it was actually like. Most of the service was sung, and you could follow along with it in the prayerbook...if you knew Hebrew. It was an Orthodox synagogue, so there was a separation between the boys and the girls. After learning more about it, I think that in some ways, it's a good idea. It keeps certain members of the opposite sex from being...distracted...and focused on the meeting.
Something that I've really come to love about Judaism is how they treat the Sabbath. For them, it's something to be celebrated, cherished, to hold dear and high above all the other days. They compare the Sabbath to a bride, and the children of Israel as the groom. At the end of the Sabbath, everyone stands and bows to the back of the room, to welcome the Sabbath like a bride. The Sabbath is a day to be celebrated, not a day that just a list of the things you can and can't do.
Today, I visited the Garden of Gethsemane for the first time. It was also not quite what I expected. There was a garden of really old olive trees there, then a church, called the Church of All Nations. It was called that because there were people from several different countries who donated to help build the church. It was interesting, they would put little flags or pictures of things representing each country in an unassuming place around the church representing the various countries. We also stopped by an Armenian church next to the garden that was representative of the place that traditionally was where the Virgin Mary was buried.
There are two experiences from today that I'd like to share. The first, walking out of the Church of All Nations through the garden with the olive trees, I noticed that they had a yellow rosebush. My dad's mother, who passed away 10 years ago this September, loved yellow roses. My mom planted one in our garden, so that we would think about her. Seeing one there...it was really special.
The other experience was in the Armenian church. My mother's father, who passed away a few years ago, was Catholic. I've heard my mother say many times about her father that he "loved the Virgin Mary." Going to the Armenian church, seeing the icons, some of the pictures rubbed off from all the people that have touched them, my mom's voice came into my head "My father loved the Virgin Mary." I thought that that church would have been a place he would have loved to visit.
Shabbat Shalom!
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