10/24 to 10/26 | Returning to School and a Field Trip Back to the City of David

Since I do not have class on Sunday, my week began on Monday with Hebrew at 8:30 in the morning.  It was a rough way to start school after such a great break, but I am finally starting to get back to a routine.  In all of my classes, the work is starting to pile up.  Hebrew requires a great deal of time for the various exercises we are assigned, not to mention all of the studying that must be done.  We just learned future tense, though, so I am very excited that I can now speak in Hebrew about events that are happening now, events that happened in the past, and events that will be happening: everything necessary for a proper conversation!  In my Business Ethics class, I have write-ups due for every class detailing the issues we have spotted in that days assigned reading.  We also have a term paper coming up, so I had to write a proposal and outline detailing my topic, Ethics within the Business Practices of the Israeli Diamond Industry.  Foreign Policy of Israel is great as always, but there is a lot of reading to do.  Fortunately, I enjoy everything we have been assigned so far.  A term paper is also coming up for this class, but he has yet to discuss it.  Finally, Archaeology of Israel is going well, especially because we have so many field trips coming up.  I have a quiz for this class next Tuesday, but I plan on doing much studying over the course of the weekend.

On Tuesday, I returned to the City of David with my Archaeology of Jerusalem class.  I was only there last week with Beit Tal, so it was not new to me, but it was nice to have a tour guide that spoke English this time.  We started by taking a look at the Old City and the surrounding area from above at an observation point on the Mount of Olives, or Har HaZeiteem in Hebrew.  I have long wanted to see the Mount of Olives in person and was pleased to finally get a chance.  The Mount of Olives is interesting because it has been used as a Jewish cemetery for over 3,000 years and contains over 150,000 graves.  It is covered in beautiful olive trees and contains a number of sites holy to Christians and Jews.  Here are some pictures of the amazing views from the Mount of Olives:

The Mount of Olives offeres incredible views of the Temple Mount esplanade and the entire Old City.  The gold dome in the center is the Dome of the Rock, where the holy temples used to stand thousands of years ago.  It sits on the holiest site in Judaism, but is currently inaccessible to Jews because of Muslim prohibitions.

Notice the cascade of graves down the side of the Mount of Olives.  These graves contain Jews from all different eras in history.

The gray dome belongs to Al-Aqsa Mosque.  It is considered the third holiest site in Islam, mostly because of the sanctity given to the Temple Mount by the Jews.  Muslims call the entire complex the Noble Sanctuary because they believe this to be the spot where Muhammad ascended into heaven.

The gold domes here belong to the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene.  Again, notice the cascade of graves in the foreground.

The sealed gate here is known as the Golden Gate or the Gate of Mercy.  It is believed that the messiah will enter through this gate.  Sultan Suleiman I sealed off the gate in 1541 to prevent the Jewish messiah's return.  The Muslims also put a cemetery in front of the gates because the Jewish high priests, or kohenim, are not allowed to make themselves impure by walking through a cemetery.

The Seven Arches Hotel is located at the top of the Mount of Olives.  It was built by the Jordanians during their occupation of Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967.  As was the case all over the Mount of Olives, the access road to the hotel was built over thousands of destroyed graves.

After a brief description of what we were seeing from the Mount of Olives, we continued on our way to the City of David.  The City of David, or Ear Dahveed in Hebrew, is the original location of the ancient walled city of Jerusalem.  The Old City of today extends west and north of the Temple Mount, but the original walled city was south of the Temple Mount on a hill bounded by two valleys.

A view of Al-Aqsa Mosque from the south.  Below the mosque are excavations from the temple period.

A view of all the graves on the Mount of Olives from the City of David.

The entrance to the City of David.

The Stepped Stone Structure believed to be part of an Israelite royal palace.

Houses in the neighborhood of Silwan are built on top of old Jewish tombs.

Warren's Shaft is an archeological feature believed to have been part of the city's early water supply system.

Continuing archeological digs at the City of David.

Orthodox children entering Hezekiah's Tunnel in their swimsuits.

An ancient quarry showing the marks where stones were carved.

The Pool of Siloam, which collected water from the Gihon Sping for residents of the ancient walled city of Jerusalem.

The way back to the entrance is through a central road in Silwan on foot.  Our guide told us not bring attention to ourselves, that it wouldn't cause a pogrom, but that it wouldn't be good.  Comforting, right?  This is one of the mosques in the Silwan neighborhood.

This is a sign for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the agency that deals with the Palestinian refugees.  For over 60 years, this agency has exacerbated the conflict by refusing to settle these people, as is done with every other group affected by conflict.  All other refugees in the world fall under the umbrella of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.