Wrapping Up in Israel

Well, I'm sure that whoever has been following our blog is wondering just where in the world are we...we arrived safely back home, but we wanted to finish recording our journey. (Internet access the last couple of days in Jerusalem was rather sketchy, making blogging rather difficult.) Mary Beth will finish up our Galilee trip, but I wanted to share from our last tour in Jerusalem till we arrived home.

On Thursday morning we rushed down to the bus station, meeting our group for our last tour, modern Jerusalem. We first stopped at Yad Vesham, Jerusalem's Holocaust memorial. All the architecture was steel and glass, cold and harsh, like the times in which the Jews suffered. Those of you who have been to Holocaust memorials can probably relate.Talk about a way to start the day. This was my first trip to such a memorial, and I knew I was in for a jarring ride. The main hall, a long, triangular shaped, concrete tunnel, zig-zagged between "exhibits." Set up in a chronological progression, the hall started with remembrances of life before Nazi ideology and ended with a room filled with thousands of books recording the names and stories of millions of victims. The rooms in between told the story of the rise of Nazi power and propaganda, conquest of Europe, oppression of all people non-Aryan, and countless personal atrocities. We all know about the Holocaust...Hitler killed 6 million Jews...Stalin killed quite a few himself...nations around the world closed their doors to refugees...heroes sacrificed everything to ensure the survival of others. But you can have all of that knowledge and remain cold to the whole ordeal, that is until you see the individual human beings...a mother trying in vain to abort her baby so as to not bring him into Nazi abuse, a musician or artist portraying the scenes of the ghettos and death camps, sisters separated, a young man hiding in the woods as part of the resistance movement. It's vivid and mind boggling.
We asked ourselves, how could anyone do this to an innocent people? I think the answer is pretty simple actually. It's just man's depraved nature given wholly over to Satan. If not for the grace of God, any of us could do the same. God's redemptive love working in a life...well, it just keeps us from ourselves.

Well, on that note we continued the tour. I know. I was ready to pack up and go home and sleep after that. But nevertheless, we had a full day. We stopped next at the Jerusalem Museum where we saw the 1/50 scale model of Jerusalem in the second temple period as well as the Shrine of the Book (Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit). Let me just say, we spent precious little time there. The impressive museum deserves a whole day.

Next stop, to the north to Shiloh in the middle of the hill country of Ephraim--home to Old Testament worship, the tabernacle, and the Ark of the Covenant. This remote area is beautiful and actually rather significant. Due to the topography, the land is closed and difficult for invaders, making it the perfect place to safeguard the Ark.

We ended the day back in Jerusalem at the Garden Tomb, a much more "traditional" (but not necessarily accurate) location for the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sure, the spot may not be correct, and we can just kind of smile at the debates people have over it, but an empty tomb still stands as a powerful reminder of our risen Lord.

Well, that's it for adventures in Jerusalem. The next day (Friday) Mary Beth and I took our final exam. We're happy to say that we both scored A's in the class. We spent the remainder of the day packing, running into the old city to say goodbye to Moshe and Dov, exploring the cemetery on campus (where we re-erected a head stone), and making one last coffee run with some friends who have become so dear.

Our departing sherut picked us up at 12:45 am, and after a quick word of prayer with those who were kind enough to stay up, we were on our way. Let me tell you, after being up for 24 hours, going through 11 pretty intense security checkpoints, and having one last Magnum ice cream bar at 3:30 am, we were ready to go home. We found out that flying standby isn't so bad...when we received our seat assignments, we noticed we had seats 13 G/J...incredibly low numbers on an international flight. Oh yeah! We ended up in first class. We might have looked a little out of place, but it was the perfect way to ride home. We had a small mishap in Atlanta trying to get to Chicago. Our flight was full, so we missed the first plane and actually had to switch destinations, but the boys picked up our luggage, and we made it back just fine.

Ok...here's the important part of this post. I'm telling everyone who ever has or will read this blog...YOU MUST GO TO ISRAEL!!! Everyone must go. It's not just the food, the music, the sites, the history, the people, the religious experiences, the museums, the hiking, the international conflict, the education...it's the heart. Israel, the holy land, the holy city, it's the center of the world...and it's at the center of everybody's heart. Moshe's right...there's a reason why you go. God puts it in you. Your faith will be stretched, your life will be changed. It's worth it.

Well, as they say, "Next year in Jerusalem." I hope that's true for many of you.

Shalom,

Jenni