Sunday September 16, 2007

Today, our second Sunday in the program, was mostly a day of class and studies. While it was an enlivening day in the Holy Land, I regret to say that my entry is not the most exciting to read.
Bro. Huntington taught us the climate zones of the Holy Land. Hearing about Mediterranean coastal plains, fertile steppes, and Judean wilderness, going west to east, made me think of the similar climate zones in Texas going the opposite direction east to west—gulf coastal plains, fertile hill country, and arid desert. I couldn’t help but recognize the similarities between these two locations, further supporting my theory that the nation-state of Texas truly is just as much a promised land as any other divinely appropriated territory.
Our Modern Near Eastern studies reviewed the history immediately after World War I to help us understand the background of the present Palestinian position. Britain, encouraging the Arabs to revolt against the Turkish Empire, promised that the Arabs after the war would rule and govern themselves. It turns out that Britain and France were to blame for the current conflict between Israel and Palestine because of their imperialistic impulses and desires to dominate territory and trade. They lied to the Arabs, dividing the territory and governing it from their far off western capitals. They also catalyzed the creation of a Jewish state, displacing millions of Arabs from their homeland in what was then known as Palestine.
Bro. Ludlow taught us of Moses’ early life and then his calling. Moses’ mission was threefold. He was to deliver Israel, teaching them of the one almighty Jehovah. He was to commission a covenant at Sinai, teaching them how receive and keep a commitment to be obedient to the commandments of the Lord God Almighty. Finally, he was to institute divine worship in the wilderness, teaching them that to maintain righteousness is to receive insurmountable blessings.
Those who left the Center visited such places as the Garden tomb to read scripture and the Armenian quarter to hear Christian monks sing and pray. There is also a museum in the Armenian quarter that portrays the first genocide of the twentieth century. Turkey to this day denies that it took place, but at the time of the First World War, the government in Turkey hanged, shot, beheaded, buried alive, and performed numerous other unmentionable deeds on, and resulting in the deaths of, 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey.
Evening brought us a remarkable performance with The Jerusalem Quartet. They entreated us to an eccentric rendition of string quartets by Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms. Just as entertaining as hearing them play was watching them. What I love about professional performers is how they perform not only with their bow and strings but also with their body and soul. They played so exceedingly well that the audience applauded them to an encore and several final bows.
At the end of the day, our head hit our pillow, and we fell right to sleep. Many of us didn’t dream, and while that could be because we were so drained, I prefer to think that we didn’t even need to because we were already living in one.