Jewish Worldview

2/25
Monday was classes and a Hebrew quiz. I felt awful and was so nervous and discouraged bout it but I think it went ok. Andrew and I celebrated by buying magnum bars.

Then we had Rabbi Ken Spiro tell us things about Judaism and let me tell you, it was crazy and my world was shaken! I found out that they start time on the 6th day and expect the Messiah to come by the year 6,000 because a day is worth a thousand years and a thousand years a day. We have around 227yrs left in their eyes. He talked about our purpose, the purpose of creation. He talked about how the opposite of pain is not pleasure but instead comfort. Pain and pleasure go together. He talked about how a level up from pleasure is love.

They have this view that Abraham chose God, that he dedicated his family to worship God and so in response God said, "I choose you." Crazy! He said Abraham chose the responsibility when in reality God gave them the purpose/job of being a model to teach the world.

He talked about a point man in the army, and that the reason for antisemitism is because they have a unique roll in the world and so they get hit first but then it doesn't end with them. "The Jews don't get the fame but instead the Paparazzi"

Then he gave a description of the Jewish Messiah

1. Big rabbi who has to know his stuff, natural accomplishment
2. Has to bring all the Jews back to Judaism, to take the commands seriously, oral laws.
3. Bring all the Jews back to Israel
4. Has to rebuild the temple and fight off all other nations.

He continued on and on and said how the Jews say miracles prove nothing. The Messiah has to accomplish everything on this list before actually getting the title Messiah. They say laws never change and even with the Messiah the world will go along as normal and Israel will dwell securely.

The Jews are for truth regardless of the consequence. Too bad their truth isn't Truth. It is super sad.

"No one would be happier about a Messiah than the Jews"

They have a problem with God having a Son, that's polytheism.

He described the absence of the sacrificial system as God not needing the gifts like a parent doesn't need their children's scribbled pictures, but it teaches the child to give. Now they have grown and do not need the system.

He spoke of their version of atonement=recognition of wrong. He said it is like you commit a sin and then say you will not do it again and then when you have an opportunity to do that sin and you don't, God clears it.

They view Jesus' death and resurrection as a non event, no historical record in their book.

Some also believe in reincarnation which was most surprising to me. He believes the world can be elevated to a soul world, back to a type of Eden. He said the more we identify with the body, the harder it is to separate the body from the soul. "The soul goes in the vessel kicking and screaming and then forgets it's the soul and associates with the body." The soul has to be judged while in the body. The soul has to learn to be good again so if it fails, it gets another shot. It has to get it right before it can be with God.

They were just crazy views that I had no idea about! He agrees to disagree and will not take scripture arguments. Gave me a lot to think about.

The effects of the library and Purim

2/24
Hard day. I wasn't feeling well but I did homework in the library for most of the day and i went crazy!

 Yeah, supposed to be doing Jewish Thought reading, it wasn't working so well. I was dreaming about Prague :)

Ok, can I take a pause and go forward in time and just show you what the library does for a person when they are in there too long. Beware! :)
1. Your computer gets hacked when you take a break to use the restroom

 Oh, and in case you didn't get the picture the guys don't shave. Don't know how it got to be a tradition but sadly it did :)

 2. You get bored and start taking pictures of yourself

3. You skype your friend who is sitting right across from you.

4. And all your friends just lose it! :)

Ha ha well that was my small detour for you :)

After dinner we got ready for the Purim party. Purim is a jewish celebration celebrating Esther and the protection of the Jews. It is like American halloween in the sense that everyone dresses up. I ended up being a hobo with Jen and Jesse which was a lot of fun! We had a ton of clothing that we picked out friday that we just piled on, and then we used brown make-up on our face to look like mud and then i made it look like I had a black eye. I wore one sock and had one bare foot. The costumes were hilarious. There were Gypsies, Gangsters, Pirates, Indian, Police, Cow etc. 

We read parts of Esther and acted it out

Then it was picture time :)

taken by Danielle McNally

taken by Danielle McNally

taken by Danielle McNally

Random Tidbits of a day in IBEX

2/21

Today was a beautiful spring day, just the perfect weather so Ashley and I put up the hammock and studied outside. It was nice not to feel stressed because I had all the reading done and I just had some Hebrew homework to do.

I GOT MY VALENTINES CHURCH PACKAGE!!!!! Oh how I love those people. They just warm my heart and it was just what I needed. There were such sweet notes and little gifts in there that just made me feel really special. Thank you to all who contributed. It means more than you know!

2/22
Today's Agenda:
Nap :) of course!
Frisbee for 2 hours
Shabbat Dinner
Chapel

2/23
Shabbat. Oh dear, in church today at Jerusalem Assembly, Meno said one of the longest prayers I think I have ever heard and he only said it in Hebrew so I couldn't track with him so I fell in and out of consciousness :/ :) I had to open my eyes to make sure he was still praying a few times. I felt a little relieved later when I found out at least four other people did too haha oops.

It was a pretty chill Shabbat. Bryant and I went to Shabon's for money and then we headed to Christ church to do homework. I had a bad headache and sinus pressure from my cold so i skipped dinner and went to bed. Jen brought me dinner later which was so sweet!

Jerusalem Approach; Valley of Rephaim, Bethlehem, Herodian Fortress, and Hebron

2/18
evening: Fiddler on the Roof required for Jewish thought
Menu: chocolate milk and popcorn :)

Briana Cowan

2/21/13

The Land and the Bible

Jerusalem Approaches

          We stopped at a place overlooking the Valley of Rephaim, which means Valley of Spirits or Ghosts. This valley is the southwest approach to Jerusalem. This is probably the way that David traveled from Bethlehem to the Elah Valley where he fought Goliath. In the Valley of Rephaim, the Philistines attacked Jerusalem twice from the southwest but failed as David sought God. David could’ve relied on his own pride and just went ahead and fought the Philistines the second time but instead he sought God and His will and the Lord told him to go behind the Philistines to cut off their way of escape so that they would be forced to go north through the Central Benjamin Plateau and then west. The problem was, there is no western access to Jerusalem between the Rephaim Valley and the Beth Horon/Kiriat Jaarim ridges. Again, the Lord helped the Israelites defeat the Philistines. Jerusalem is not an easy place to attack from the SW; the best way is North. David showed his dependency on the Lord realizing his place of leadership was only because God placed him there. Every step of the way he sought God’s guidance.

            

Then we headed towards Bethlehem, the place for the setting of the book of Ruth. One thing that is so surprising is the people had to build a wall in order to stop suicide bombings, Palestinians from coming over and blowing things up. This wall has helped! It is all graffitied and sadly by some "believers" who are so blinded as to how this wall has helped.

Bethlehem was the home of David and the place of his anointing by Samuel. It was outside the city where David stayed as a shepherd. Bethlehem was the place that Micah prophesied the ruler of Israel would come and it indeed was where the Messiah was born. We went into the Church of Nativity that was built by Justinian over the church built by Helena, Constantine’s mother in 325 AD. Jesus was born in a stable because no one would take this pregnant woman, especially one who got pregnant out of wedlock, into his or her home. Mary and Joseph had probably been in Bethlehem a couple of weeks. As Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes it was also symbolic of the burial cloths that would be wrapped around Him after his death on the cross.

the place where people believe that Jesus was born

bethlehem

 Then we went to a wheat field outside of Bethlehem, which could’ve been around where the Shepherds saw the angels proclaim the good news. It was a lot easier to picture bethlehem outside the city rather than the new, tourist city.

            Then we went and saw Herod the Great’s Herodian fortress and burial site.  This was to secure the route to En-Gedi from Jerusalem, a place where Herod built this huge fortress underground as well on this big hill. This might have been the place where the Magi asked Herod where the one born king of the Jews was to be found. Herod built a couple of aqueducts to transport water from Bethlehem to the fortress and we were able to see Solomon’s Pools which supplied Jerusalem and Herodian with water by aqueduct. There are remains of the pool and the fortress today.

that hill is where the fortress was and is under ground

the pool is right behind the shepherd

view from on top of the hill 

            Then we went and stood in a field by Tekoa, the hometown of Amos. This En Gedi/Tekoa route and the Ascent of Ziz is where the Lord gave victory to the Israelites against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah at the time, and he sought the Lord as these nations came to attack and the Lord instructed him to have the choir go in front of the army singing to God and in this manner the Israelites won as their enemies destroyed one another.

            Then we went to Hebron, a place that was called Kiriath-arba, a city on the road of the Patriarchs where Abraham bought land from the Hittites as burial ground for his wife Sarah. This was the only land that Abraham actually owned. Later Abraham was also buried there as well as Jacob and Leah and many of the patriarchs. Herod built this building to be offered as a sanctuary that would stamp his name on the location. 

Abraham

at one point us girls were forced to wear these cape things. It was kinda fun :)

At the very end we stopped at a lookout over Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, Bethany, and Bethphage and talked about the final approach, when Christ is to return for the final time on the Mount of Olives (Zachariah 14:2-4).