October 17, 2007

Laura White
Journal October 17, 2007
Mount Herzl Field Trip
Today we went on a field trip to Mount Herzl with Ophir Yarden. Mount Herzl and the surrounding areas – Yad Vashem and the military cemetery – are where the most important events of the 20th Century for the Jewish people are commemorated. Specifically Mount Herzl was established as the burial place for Herzl by David Ben Gurion in order to enhance the spiritual centrality of Jerusalem. It was interesting to visit with the focal point being a plaza wherein lays the tomb of Herzl with a stage behind it. A yearly ceremony takes place in the plaza involving singing, running torches, and requiring a special invitation to attend the ceremony. It was a nice day, a little on the hot side, and the park was pretty with plenty of little areas where one can sit and a teacher can lecture. In fact, we saw a few elementary school age groups touring through the park while we were there.
After the field trip, lunch, and Jewish narrative class we got to go outside and pick olives! I actually enjoyed it – the first time ;) – as we all trekked outside to pick olives from the trees above the JC. Amid much picture taking, climbing of trees, wobbling ladders, singing random songs, and throwing the “bad” olives at one another we spent a couple of hours filling buckets with olives so that we can press them next week and bring back home our own olive oil. By the end of the picking people were quite creative and I saw at least one girl up on a guy’s shoulders with a quick switch to another’s shoulders while the girl was still up in the tree. There were also throwing and catching of olives in the buckets and a few brave souls who dared to try the olives right off the tree. Someone said that picking olives was most comparable to picking cherries; since I haven’t done that all I can say is that picking olives is an experience people should have when they visit the Holy Land. J
I spent the time before dinner studying (as did many of the students that I talked to about what they did that evening) due to our excessive J amount of homework with the upcoming midterms, quizzes, papers, and mostly reading assignments. Then after dinner I went to choir practice. Choir practice was followed by more studying – it seems to be a common theme around here these days.
I think that my favorite part of the Old Testament thus far was the sunrise on Mount Sinai with the devotional afterwards. I thought the whole experience was exhilarating, gorgeous, and I gained a greater appreciation for the majesty and beauty of God’s creations and through His creations, Him. When Brother Ludlow first began speaking and said that he thought Moses would have been pleased seeing us up there, I really felt the Spirit. That experience made Moses and the Israelites more real to me. Mount Sinai was definitely one of my favorite parts of this school year.