A lot has happened since I last updated my blog. Two holidays have passed, many field studies and excursions, and lots of fellowshipping and learning. First of all, my childhood imaginings about Bethlehem are utterly destroyed. For one thing, we have so many details about the Christmas story entirely wrong. For example, there was no grouchy innkeeper. Joseph wasn't just arriving in Bethlehem frantically looking for a room while Mary was going into labor. The wise men actually arrived two whole years after the birth of Jesus. Secondly, Bethlehem is not a little town anymore. It's a modern, Arab city with a mall, streets, a fake Starbucks, and many other things. It was actually one of my least favorite places that we've been so far. It just felt like a dirty, crowded city. No magic. No shepherds. No angels singing gloria. No cute sheep and cattle. Nothing. Not even a field.
The evening of October 3rd marked the beginning of Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, is a biblical holiday still observed by almost all Jewish people across the world. Fasting is traditional on that day, as well as abstinence from anything considered fun. And you can't drive cars around. As a result, IBEX took a little evening stroll along the main highway heading towards Jerusalem. Pictures were posted on Facebook is you want to take a look. However, the main focus of the day wasn't highway fun, or even the atonement. It was food. No one could stop talking about food because of the fasting. Hence the joke came to be, "Yom Kippur: the day where everyone talks about food and only food for a whole day." Since Jewish days start at sundown, the fast lasted from sunset Friday to sunset on Shabbat. The following day, we all went to congregation in the miklat (student lounge/bomb shelter). Benj went through the passage in Leviticus that talks about the practices and sacrifices on Yom Kippur. Biblically, Yom Kippur is the day that the high priest would go in to the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice onto the Mercy Seat. The people waited outside with baited breath, hoping that the high priest would emerge alive from the tent. First, he would make atonement for himself and his family with two bulls. Next, he would take two goats. One would be sacrificed, and one would be sent off into the wilderness. The goat that was sacrificed made atonement for the sins of the people, while the goat that was sent off removed sin from the camp. This goat was known as the scapegoat. In the Mishnah (Jewish oral traditions written down), the priests would set out a red cord when the goat was sent off. Once the goat reached the wilderness, the red cord was replaced with a white cord. This is to remind the people of the verse in Isaiah 1:18:
The evening of October 3rd marked the beginning of Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, is a biblical holiday still observed by almost all Jewish people across the world. Fasting is traditional on that day, as well as abstinence from anything considered fun. And you can't drive cars around. As a result, IBEX took a little evening stroll along the main highway heading towards Jerusalem. Pictures were posted on Facebook is you want to take a look. However, the main focus of the day wasn't highway fun, or even the atonement. It was food. No one could stop talking about food because of the fasting. Hence the joke came to be, "Yom Kippur: the day where everyone talks about food and only food for a whole day." Since Jewish days start at sundown, the fast lasted from sunset Friday to sunset on Shabbat. The following day, we all went to congregation in the miklat (student lounge/bomb shelter). Benj went through the passage in Leviticus that talks about the practices and sacrifices on Yom Kippur. Biblically, Yom Kippur is the day that the high priest would go in to the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice onto the Mercy Seat. The people waited outside with baited breath, hoping that the high priest would emerge alive from the tent. First, he would make atonement for himself and his family with two bulls. Next, he would take two goats. One would be sacrificed, and one would be sent off into the wilderness. The goat that was sacrificed made atonement for the sins of the people, while the goat that was sent off removed sin from the camp. This goat was known as the scapegoat. In the Mishnah (Jewish oral traditions written down), the priests would set out a red cord when the goat was sent off. Once the goat reached the wilderness, the red cord was replaced with a white cord. This is to remind the people of the verse in Isaiah 1:18: