Winding Down

Much as I adore this city, I'm looking forward to going home. Five and a half weeks is a long time, and since it's always go go go between class and touring and studying (and remembering to do things like feed yourself and do laundry), it's an exhausting month.

Katie and I are having a hectic night of packing, sweeping and studying. We have our final exam tomorrow morning. Katie leaves that night and I the following night (at midnight. Yipee.)

I will miss my class immensely. I know I keep describing them this way, but they really are an incredibly diverse group. I've learned from each and every one of them. And they've become my friends. I'm grateful to have shared this with them.

Mostly, I'm impressed by how much Hebrew I know. I know after two years of Greek, a speakable language is just plain novel, but I've loved learning it. It's a beautiful language, which I admit, with all its "ccchhhhhh"s, I didn't expect. (Also known as the letter chet.) I love that it's revived from a dead language purely for the sake of speaking something that much closer to the sacred texts. Not only is the language beautiful--its purpose is. It's also been a while since I'v been able to speak something other than English so, well, close to, fluently. I can talk to locals on the streets about why they love a particular falafel shop or catch words fo their muttered prayers at the Kotel or explain to an old woman how to buy a train ticket.

All of this, I will deeply miss. Nevertheless, I cannot wait to be home. Though a big hurdle remains in my way. If you recall my post about my flight here, you might understand why I am just a teensy bit nervous to fly home. (Fingers crossed I can hang on to my Kindle this time?) An 11 Hour flight plus 5 or so killing time in Ben Gurion airport. Tuesday will be, in short, a very long day. But I can handle it. All in the name of going home.


I hadn't planned to blog about my own faith. On the other hand, I hadn't planned on being affected by the city either. After all, why should I? It is, despite everything, just a city. Yes, there ar sites and places of importance, but that's all that makes it the Holy Land, right? The remains of history.

But I was wrong. I come back time and time again to that poem by Yehuda Amichai. The air over Jerusalem is saturated with prayers and dreams like the air over industrial cities. It's hard to breathe." I first encountered these words at the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in New York and thought them beautiful, but I didn't understand them. This city--this country--is so saturated with hope and prayer. If I could believe anywhere that faith and prayers and devotion could become tangible, it would be here. Maybe that's what all the haze in the air is. Every act, every thought is made in adherence to a religion. The faith comes first. It's there, even if you're not devout yourself. The city operates on a schedule according to Shabbat. Ramadan gongs and fireworks fill the air night after night. On a Jewish day of fasting, the whole city drags and lulls in a quiet reverence. Hasidic men in tall black hats brush past women in flowing dresses and hijabs. Crowds of visitors wait to catch the bus across from the Ethiopian Monastery in the Russian Compound. I know I'm making it sound like peace and roses when in reality there is so much conflict based on these very things. But my point is that to almost everyone walking these streets--this is a special place. A Holy place. And that belief carries. To the point where you can't help but feel it as you walk along the streets with everyone.

This is a Holy Land. Be it inherently so or made so by the belief of those in it is irrelevant. It is here. And that's what saddens me most about the conflict here. This is a place that should be shared. Palestinian, Israeli, the whole world. It is a place of peace surrounded by its antithesis.


I'll probably post once more from home with the story of my flight (Maybe there won't be much to tell this time?) and some final reflections, as well as a massive pile of photos, but don't worry. I promise you'll know when it's the final post--no guess work. Nevertheless, next one will be coming to you from back stateside.