Cave After Cave

Two tiyulim in the past two days - one to Sattaf, the ancient agricultural terraces of the Judean Hills, and the other to Ir David, the ancient remains of City of David, dating back to around 1000 BCE.

And rock after rock, cave after cave, I'm learning more and more about the lineage and customs of the biblical Israelite people.

This being my third visit to Sattaf (twice beforehand for tzedaka projects), I figured there was nothing new for me to see - just the same old terraces and crops with the same old nof - view - as before. Lucky for me I was proven wrong in a matter of minutes. After a hike down the terraces, our JHist class sat around in the rocky, muddy ground and opened up our Tanachim to the Nevi'im portions. As we toured the ancient agricultural ground, I learned more and more about the new developing culture as the Israelites conquered various tribes in the land and slowly but surely became farmers. They developed new words for their harvesting of the 7 species (names escape me at this time; I should definitely study that...) and began finding concrete water sources for their crops - which leads me to the title of this post. As we finished our tiyul, we climbed down more and more levels of terraces to a giant cave with a pool at its mouth. One by one we filed our way into the cave, sloshing our way through the minor stream in the middle of it. (I forgot to bring a flashlight so I not only sloshed my way but tripped over a few rocks in the process.) When we reached the end of the path, Yair (our teacher) told us to be very quiet and to listen for the drops of water coming from a spring nearby. I found it really interesting how ancient Israelite farmers were able to harness this water to irrigate their crops with the technology they had thousands of years ago. It's always so interesting to walk where our - my, rather - ancestors have walked. However, this was only a half day tiyul - we were home just in time for General Studies (which is going swimmingly by the way).

Today we had our first full day tiyul to Ir David - the ancient city where King David ruled over the Israelite people as a nation. But instead of just learning about David, we learned about Samuel and his role in first crowning Saul as king of Israel and then later in anointing David. Also, we debated how when the Tanach was written (during the era of David) if the writers made it so that the stories were against Saul and in favor of the reign of David as well as if a king of Israel was appropriate in the eyes of God. I find the biblical criticism aspect of JHist probably the most interesting because I like to see where I stand in comparison to the ideas of those that had studied long before my time. At the beginning of our tiyul, we arrived at something like a walkway with a beautiful view of the Dome of the Rock, the Kotel, and the rest of the old city off in the distance, although visibility isn't always so clear at this time of season. We studied, debated, read from the Tanach, and took notes for what seemed longer than it actually was before we returned to our buses and drove a short distance to the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. After scoping out some falafel and tchinah for lunch and running into a few home friends, our group gathered in the square and continued out towards the actual concrete place that David first conquered as his city. We sat among the ancient ruins and observed the remains of what seemed to be a house of a wealthy person during the time of David - possibly part of David's own palace. Yair explained to my class that Jerusalem was not a city that fit the "4 D's" principles very well - it did not make any Dollars/wasn't on a trade route, it's Diet was poor/agriculture was very unlikely on the slope of the city, it's Defense was futile; there were hills taller than it, and it's Drink, or water source, was nowhere to be seen. So why Jerusalem? (The day-long question.) For its historical and religious importance as well as its placement among the 12 tribes in order to unite them all under a common leader. I must say although Jerusalem did not look promising in the 4 D's, David made a great decision of placement for his capital.

As I mentioned before, Yair pointed out to us that the water source was nowhere to be found - of course, we had to go underground to find it; yet another cavernous experience on my list of tiyulim. As we worked our way down the staircases into the tunnel, Yair explained that this water tunnel dated back to Canaanite times, before the Jebusites had conquered the city from them and way before David succeeded in conquering the Jebusites. As we got towards the end of one tunnel, there came a split into two different tunnels - one that was dark and dry, one that looked lit up by lights and was flooded with water. As much as I wanted to enter the wet tunnel, I was told it was way too cold for me to go in that water and come out comfortable on the other side. Disappointed but understanding, I along with the rest of our class worked my way through the other tight-fitting tunnel and made it out to the other side in once piece.

Exhausted and hungry, we all piled our way back on to the bus home to Tzuba - I took a lengthy nap the minute my head hit the back of my bus seat. Need to make sure I'm sleeping enough here. All is well, classes are fine, Hebrew's still difficult, missing some home-cooked meals. The only downside to Tzuba is the chadar ochel food - not my favorite, but the margolit always has something good. Masada/Dead Sea coming up in the next week or so, get exited for that post. יופי תופי!