Obviously I'm behind in my blogging. I'm going to write these as though I'm not.
Thursday was a busy day. Each course includes one field trip per week. This week's trip was to Neot Kedumim, which I explain below. The schedule was to have class from 8:30-10:30, break until after lunch, leave the Kibbutz at 1:30 to go to Neot Kedumim, and return about 6:00. We actually got back about 7:00, a little late to meet others from our Ulpan to go into Jerusalem for the 10:00 p.pm. tour. So, we got off the bus a couple of miles early, and waited for another bus coming from Tzuba. We did this successfully and arrived in the Old City about 8:00 with a couple of hours to kill.
We hadn't had supper, so we went to a square and different ones ate at a few different places. Peter and I, David and Amanda, and two other students ate at a hamburger place. I ordered the spicy 300 gram hamburger (no cheese! - that wouldn't be Kasher!). I'm not used to metric measurements of my meat size. It was two huge patties; enough for 3 people. It was quite delicious and I ate it all. Boy was I full. Anyway, I thought you might like to hear a little about the trips.
Neot Kedumim
Neot Kedumim is The Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel. It was started around 1900 actually in the Old City of Jerusalem. The purpose was to restore the plants and landscape of ancient Jewish literature, from biblical times (c. 1400 BC) through Talmudic times (c. AD 600). Grains and grapes are grown, harvesting and processing is demonstrated, all with things you can do, rather than merely observe. Plants are named with English common names, scientific Latin names, and Hebrew names, to the best of today's knowledge, and all this has been vetted by biblical scholars. The Reserve Publishes three books, which I bought. It is a fascinating place with many things to see and do, and is a must-see for anyone visiting the land. Our time there was far too short. Here are just a couple of things.
When it speaks in the Bible of forest, we often think of something like the Rocky Mountains, with pines and such. There are plenty of pines and cedars in Israel now, but originally the "forest" was as in this picture, a mix of many varieties of trees with plenty of undergrowth. This photo looks downward from a high point. The bottom half of the photo gives a view of the forest. Part of settling the land involved clearing the forests, terracing the land (which was practiced long before the Israelites came to the land), and planting crops, including vineyards, on the terraces.
This structure is a tower built by Neot Kedumim. The bottom part was used for storage. The thick walls kept it pretty cool, even on hot days, as this one was. A person would go in the door, and on the right were stone stairs spiraling upward to the top. These towers were not used for war, they were used to guard fields, especially foxes and other animals that might damage crops. The watchman could climb on top and see well. Overhead was a means for growing vines, which also supplied shade.
Near the vines was the gat, the winepress. In the first photo, our guide and one of our students are standing in the pit into which
grapes would be carried. You can see people sitting on the edge to give you some idea of the size. This is going to hold a lot of grapes!
People, probably whole families, would stomp the grapes in this pit.
The juice would flow into an adjacent collection pit. It was smaller and deeper. This was a lot of work, but was also rather joyous. It was harvest. The juice begins to ferment immediately because of the natural yeast on the skin. The juice/wine was kept in this pit for about a week until the initial fermenting was done. Then the wine was poured into jugs and stored, most likely in the watch tower, for several weeks until it was time for everyone to return to their homes. Then they would take the wine with them.
Finally, in keeping with our Ruth theme, here is a photo of a threshing floor built at Neot Kedumim. You can see a pile of grain. They used pitchforks to throw it into the air and have the wind blow away the chaff. Boaz went to a threshing floor after the harovst was over to spend the night. He lays at the edge of a pile, probably for a pillow. In the night Ruth sneaks up and "uncovers his feet." Though some have taken this to mean they had relations, that just can't have happened in the story. The whole story sets up the honor of both Ruth and Boaz in direct opposition to the reputation Moabite women had. Also, Boaz's comment in 3:14 suggests that other men were at the Floor.
West Wall Tour
It is only within the last few years that this tour has been possible, and it greatly enhances our knowledge of the history of Jerusalem. A few days ago I posted a picture of the well-known Western Wall, the Wailing Wall, the remains of the city wall from the time of Herod and the second temple. For very many years, it has been thought that this is all that is left. Since Herod's day, with all the destructions and rebuildings, the Muslims, who took Jerusalem in the 7th century, eventually built on the rubble outside and next to the ancient city walls. What they did was build huge arches, atop of which is a platform. This platform is what the Old City is built on. Beneath these arches was rubble that has only recently begin to be cleared out. Now you can tour the entire western length of the wall - they found the corner. They know that much of the ancient wall remains, and they suspect that the base for all of Herod's wall is still there. The tour guide was excellent. Here are just a few pictures.
Here is a large model model of Herod's Temple.You are looking at the Western Wall. The Wailing Wall is only a visible part of about one-fourth of the length of the wall. You will notice that the bedrock slopes upward as you move northward. Herod had to build a large platform on which to complete his rebuilding of the Temple complex.
Herod might have had "personal issues," but there is one thing that he could do: he could build. The stones of Herod's temple mount wall are very easy to recognize. Here is a part of the base of the wall. Notice how each stone face has this recessed edge; very decorative. This same style of workmanship is on the Wailing Wall stones as well. Each stone is cut with very flat edges so that the stones fit together without mortar. The weight of the stones themselves give the wall stability.
All of these stones are big, but there is one huge one that has now been found, and it is in the next picture.
The model is electronic and shows the changes later on. This photo was taken just a few minutes too late. In the lower center you see a section that was sliding from the left; it was butting up against the section diagonally up and left. These panels show how the Muslims had built up their area immediately adjacent to the temple mount wall (which is later than Herod, of course). The Wailing Wall is partially covered up by the moved model section.
Well, tomorrow is a 1 hour review and the course final. After that, a celebration!
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