These are blogs from 2014. Our students will also be blogging in 2018.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Natalia Pochtaruk – The Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran alternatively titled: “Josephus, you’re wrong” Seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls was one of the things that I was most looking forward to on this trip. On our first free day, a small group of us decided to revisit the Israel museum where I visited the Shrine of the... More

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Natalia Pochtaruk – A Foot on Masada

A Foot on Masada Upon our arrival at the Ein Gedi hostel and after we’d had dinner, our group promptly went to sleep as the alarms would sound at three in the morning so we could get on the bus to take us to the foot of Masada. We arrived at the site after... More

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Natalia Pochtaruk – St. George Monastery and the Inn of the Good Samaritan

St. George Monastery and the Inn of the Good Samaritan It took less than ten minutes once we had left Jerusalem for the scenery to change from the rich foliage to the unplanted desert. We had crossed over to the West Bank to begin our day in the Judean desert and take the winding... More

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Natalia Pochtaruk – Ancient Cities and Tunnel Israel

We visited the City of David and went through Hezekiah’s Tunnel. For the Christians, David is a direct descendent of Jesus, while for Jews he is the father of Israel. A young shepherd boy from the tribe of Judah who slays the giant Goliath from the enemy Philistine tribe, is then elevated to king... More

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Natalia Pochtaruk – Mea’Shearim

Modesty, Military, and Discomfort: an uncomfortable walk through Mea Shearim It was the afternoon before our first Shabbat in Jerusalem and we had gone through the Machane Yehuda market to experience the crowds and bargain with street vendors to prepare ourselves for the weekend ahead.  This was prior to our visit to Mea Shearim... More

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Christina Pasqua – Representations of the Holocaust and its Memory in Israel: Yad Vashem and Lohamei Haghetaot

In Edward Rothstein’s New York Times article “Holocaust Museums in Israel Evolve,” he argues that Yad Vashem is a “stunning counterexample” of Holocaust museums in Israel that “attempt to seduce us into shock” because it “scrupulously avoids moralizing or posturing.” Based on my experience of Yad Vashem (with a guide who gave a... More

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Erin Drawson – The Ultra Orthodox and the IDF, our introduction to the issue in Mea Sherim.

Before we left for Israel, it seemed that one of our only modest days would be our visit to Mea Sherim, of course we had more modest days than days that we could wear shorts it seemed, but Mea Sherim was the most serious. In a meeting just before we left we went over... More

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Christina Pasqua – Women of the Wall: Transforming a Gendered History of Tradition through the Performance of Ritual in Public Space

Although the origins of Shabbat are tied to the seventh day of creation in Genesis, there are several other components that factor into its observance. Shabbat is about remembering two significant events: the first is the seventh day of creation, when god rested from his work and the second is the Exodus from Egypt,... More

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Christina Pasqua – The World Within Mea Shearim: Modest Bodies and Political Cartoons

“And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.” Genesis 2:2-3... More

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Christina Pasqua – The Language of the Hebrew Man: The Bible and Israeli Popular Culture

Ehud Banai’s “Hebrew Man” was undoubtedly the theme song of our adventure in Israel. It’s catchy and had us dancing on the tour bus after many long days on the go, but the lyrics reveal something more interesting—the overwhelming and sometimes subtle presence of Biblical laws, narratives, and themes that are embedded in Israeli... More

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Christina Pasqua – Beit Hatfutsot: The Story of the Jewish People in Diaspora

“This is the story of a people which was scattered over all the world and yet remained a single family; a nation which time and again was doomed to destruction and yet, out of ruins, rose to new life.” —Abba Kovner On the final day of our tour, we visited The Museum of the... More

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Erin drawson – Menstruation in the Holy Land (The Laws of Niddah)

  Every hotel that we stayed at had two single beds, sometimes they would be pushed together to make one double bed and sometimes they were already apart when we entered the room. This was very convenient for us, as our roommates were not necessarily our bed mates. This is a very interesting cultural... More

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Christina Pasqua – Religion and Public Life in Israel: The Secular Judicial System and Halakhic Law

After a whirlwind tour of the Israel Museum, we ended DAY FOUR of our trip at the Knesset, Israel’s House of Parliament. The sky was overcast, but the weather proved doubly unusual (for Jerusalem in May) when we found ourselves standing in an unrelenting downpour while we waited in line to clear security. Before... More

Monday, June 16, 2014

Erin Drawson – Judean Figurines and Asherah

Did God have a Consort? Yes.- Danny looking at a single matzevah in the Israel Museum where the second one was missing.   This is the question that keeps me up at night. Not simply did God have a wife?, but if God had a concort was it Asherah? What was Asherah's place in... More

Friday, June 13, 2014

Erin Drawson – Pope Francis in Israel and Christian Zionism

While staying at the Ramada in Jerusalem between the 23rd and the 26th of May, Pope Francis visited Jerusalem. He visited the Western Wall and Mount Herzl while in the city. His visit came with a lot of excitement, security, and controversy that I thought was not particularly complicated (silly me) until I came... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Sophie Crump – Masada: Archaeology and Primary Sources and a 3am Wake-Up Call

The alarms went off at 3 am and we threw our last pieces into our luggage, carried them down a hill to the waiting bus and our patient bus driver, and sought out our packed breakfasts hiding somewhere in the hostel premises. Finally, all loaded on to the bus, a sizable chunk of our... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Sophie Crump – Qumran Conscious

Qumran is one of those places that should be in everyone's consciousness. I don't mean this as a zealous, overenthusiastic religious studies student, but rather, I make this comment taking into account the popular fame of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Even more so because the Dead Sea Scrolls owe some of their fame to... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Sophie Crump – A Wounded Mountain – Visiting Yad Vashem

I came out of Yad Vashem having a much deeper understanding of Zionism and of Israel as a Jewish State. The experience of the Yad Vashem museum began the moment we passed through the wrought iron gates which evoked barbed wire. But then the space and landscape around the building of the meusum was... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Sophie Crump – The City of David or, Another Tunnel Adventure

At the very end of our first week in Israel, we went to the City of David and walked through Hezekiah's tunnel. This was an important site to visit because this is where archaeologists have theorized they have found the remains of David's City. It would have been established when King David conquered the... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Sophie Crump – Mosaic Synagogues

One day in our last week in Israel we visited, among other places, two ancient synagogues. It was a very interesting opportunity to consider art and iconography in Judaism, and made me reflect as well on the Mosaic Synagogue which we visited in Akko just a few days earlier. The first synagogue we visited... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Sophie Crump – Holy Land and Tourist Site: Visiting the Baha’i Gardens

The country of Israel contains so many Holy Places for so many peoples and faiths. I am no exception. As a Bahá'í the holiest sites I can visit are located in Akko and Haifa , which is the administrative centre of my Faith. I was thrilled when I looked at the syllabus months before... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Erin Drawson – The Romantic Narratives of Archaeological Discoveries

I am more familiar with the stories of the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls and the beginning of the Temple Mount Sifting Project than I am the archaeological discoveries associated with those sites. Both stories are very romanticized and have political implications. I want to outline some of the most significant archaeological discoveries... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Sophie Crump – Crawling Through History at the Bar Kokhba Caves

We had the opportunity on the third day of our trip to crawl through one of the caves used during the Bar Kokhba revolt. The caves were used as the base for Bar Kokhba's guerrilla army, and eventually were their last hide-out from the Romans. From 132 to 135 C.E. the Jews in Syria-Palestina... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Christina Pasqua – First Impressions: Israeli Independence Day and the Diversity of Jewish-Israeli Identity

Once I entered the international section of Toronto's Pearson Airport and walked over to the gate leaving for Tel Aviv, I was given a taste of Israel. There were Orthodox and haredi (strictly observant and socially conservative) jewish families talking and entertaining their children, while a group of young teenagers, who were conservatively... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Sarah Cook – Moderating Between the Secular and the Sacred on the Synagogue Floor

The ancient ruins of Qumran were exciting and Masada was an invigorating and rewarding climb but no ruins could ever compare with the pleasure of seeing some very nearly completely intact mosaic floors. The frescoes and plastering in the bath houses of Masada couldn’t even come close. As much as I can appreciate the... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Sarah Cook – Your Gaze Hits the Side of my Face

Walking the streets of Mea Shearim was daunting. Raysh Weiss’ article on the Haredim points to this area as one of the largest and most prominent Ultra Orthodox neighbourhoods of Israel. In this article, Weiss identifies haredim as the Hebrew term used to describe the Ultra Orthodox, detailing the rise of this Jewish group... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Sarah Cook – Where Primary Texts aren’t Enough

I did not know what to expect when we arrived at Genesis Land. I was incredibly excited at the prospect of riding a camel and became even more excited when I saw a sign reading “Beit Bereshit” – it was the one time that my biblical Hebrew education did me any good in modern... More

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Alex Chaffey – Israel Museum, Knesset

The Dead Sea Scrolls   The first of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered at Qumran in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd. Following this find, many other scrolls as well as fragments of scrolls were found in the nearby caves. Due to the close proximity of the caves containing the scrolls to the ruins... More

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Sarah Cook – A Plurality of Healing for a Plurality of Hurt: Yad Vashem and Kibbutz Lohanei Hagetaot

As our article by Shlomit Levy, Hanna Levinsohn, and Elihu Katz points out, the Holocaust is still very much a part of Jewish identity. Through their work, recorded in the article “The Many Faces of Jewishness in Israel”, they discovered that the Holocaust was mentioned by a significant number of survey respondents as a... More

Monday, June 2, 2014

Alex Chaffey – Qumran

At the site of Khirbet Qumran, a Bedouin discovered a cave with a jar containing several ancient scrolls. After further searches, several other caves have been found that contain fragments of ancient writing. These first scrolls are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, and many scholars have attempted to use these texts to shed... More

Monday, June 2, 2014

Simon Zeldin – Day 15 – Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot

Today was a busy day – we went to the Holocaust museum at Kibbutz Lohamei HaGetaot, we visited Tzvat (or Safed, as it is often spelled in English), and we also went to Capernaum, finally ending in Tiberias. Although I enjoyed the entire day, the museum was the most interesting part of the schedule... More

Monday, June 2, 2014

Alex Chaffey – Masada

Much scholarly debate has been focused on Josephus’ narrative of the mass suicide at Masada. After reading this narrative, one should have many questions in mind regarding its credibility. One must keep in mind that Josephus was a Jew that was initially opposed to Roman rule. Prior to becoming a historian under the Romans,... More

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Alex Chaffey – Caesarea

Under Roman occupation, the province of Judea was ruled by King Herod. This was because it was a client kingdom that had semi-independence from the Roman Empire. Regardless of whoever appeared to be in charge, the people of Judea were aware that Rome was in control. Although Herod may not have been viewed favourably... More

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Simon Zeldin – Day 18 – Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Today we visited Qumran, and learned more about the history of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Although we had seen a sample of the scrolls already in the Israel museum, it was exciting to be at the actual site of the discovery. However, on the flip side, it was somewhat disappointing to be at the... More

Friday, May 30, 2014

Alex Chaffey – St. George Monastery, Inn of the Good Samaritan

Both the St. George Monastery and especially the Inn of the Good Samaritan are important sites to Christianity. The St. George Monastery, belonging to the Greek Orthodoxy, is situated in the Judean desert along the wall of a canyon. This monastery was one of the few surviving monasteries built during the Byzantine period. The... More

Load More →

Share: Twitter, Facebook
Short URL: https://carleton.ca/studyisrael/?p=257