Ancient Roman Pool Uncovered in Jerusalem

AP – A worker of the Israel Antiquities Authority works at an excavation site in Jerusalem's Old City, Monday, …

By DANIEL ESTRIN, Associated Press Daniel Estrin, Associated Press – 2 hrs 48 mins ago

JERUSALEM – While excavating the site for a planned new ritual bath for Jews in Jerusalem, Israeli archaeologists uncovered a pool belonging to the Roman legion that sacked the city nearly 2,000 years ago. The discovery announced Monday sheds a rare light on the city the Romans built after destroying the second Jewish Temple in 70 A.D. and expelling the Jews from Jerusalem following their revolt. Ofer Sion, the director of the excavation in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, said the site helps prove that the Roman city was larger than previously thought.

"It is very important because in all the excavations in the Jewish quarter (we have) never found a building from the 2nd and 3rd century," he said Monday. History-rich Jerusalem is one of the most excavated cities in the world, and archaeologists are routinely deployed to examine sites ahead of any planned

construction projects.

The archaeologists found steps leading to the pool's white mosaic floor and hundreds of terra cotta roof tiles stamped with the name of the Roman unit — the famed Tenth Legion — that built the pool. Sion suggested the site was part of a larger complex where thousands of soldiers once bathed. After the city was sacked and the Jewish kingdom overthrown, the Romans founded the city of Aelia Capitolina as capital of the new province of Syria-Palestina.

Later, when the Jordanians ruled in Jerusalem's Old City from 1948-1967, a sewing factory was built on the same site, Sion said.When the archaeologists complete their dig, the Jerusalem city council will continue their plans to build a mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath, Israeli authorities said. Some religious Jews routinely use the bath for ritual purification.

Israel's Antiquities Authority said that the remains of the ancient Roman bathhouse would be integrated into the design of the new ritual bath.

Archaeology and politics often go hand in hand in Jerusalem, and especially in areas surrounding the Old City and its many layers of history that are enmeshed in a web of competing claims. Rafi Greenberg, an archaeologist from Tel Aviv University, said Israeli authorities often focus on findings from Jerusalem's Jewish past at the expense of historical remnants from other eras."Every modern building in the Old City is built above an ancient building," Greenberg said. "The question is if religious authorities are tolerant enough to accept alternative histories."

Yom Kippur

Today begins the celebration of Yom Kippur in Israel.  It is also the first day in six months where we have seen ANY clouds!  I am sure the two are related.  More about that later.  Below is a summary of Yom Kippur..

How is Yom Kippur Observed?

An Overview of Yom Kippur's Traditions and Customs

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/

Yom Kippur commemorates the day that G‑d forgave the Jewish people for the sin of the Golden Calf. Forty days after hearing G‑d say at Mount Sinai: "You shall not have the gods of others in My presence; you shall not make for yourself a graven image," the Jews committed the cardinal sin of idolatry. Moses spent nearly three months on top of the mountain pleading with G‑d for forgiveness, and on the tenth of Tishrei it was finally granted: "I have pardoned, as you have requested."

From that moment on, this date, henceforth known as the Day of Atonement, is annually observed as a commemoration of our special relationship with G‑d, a relationship that is strong enough to survive any rocky bumps it might encounter. This is a day when we connect with the very essence of our being, which remains faithful to G‑d regardless of our outward behavior.

And while it is the most solemn day of the year, we are also joyful, confident that G‑d will forgive our sins and seal our verdict for a year of life, health, and happiness.

For nearly twenty-six hours – from several minutes before sunset on Tishrei 9 until after nightfall on Tishrei 10 – we "afflict our souls": we abstain from food and drink, do not wash or anoint our bodies, do not wear leather footwear, and abstain from spousal intimacy. We are likened to the angels, who have no physical needs. Instead of focusing on the physical, we spend much of our day in the synagogue, engaged in repentance and prayer.

Preparations

On the day before Yom Kippur, the primary mitzvah is to eat and drink in abundance. Two festive meals are eaten, one earlier in the day, and one just prior to the onset of Yom Kippur. Some of the day's other observances include requesting and receiving honey cake, in acknowledgement that we are all recipients in G‑d's world and in prayerful hope for a sweet year; begging forgiveness from anyone whom we may have wronged during the past year; giving extra charity; and the ceremonial blessing of the children.

Before sunset, women and girls light holiday candles, and everyone makes their way to the synagogue for the Kol Nidrei services.

On Yom Kippur

In the course of Yom Kippur we will hold five prayer services: 1) Maariv, with its solemn Kol Nidrei service, on the eve of Yom Kippur; 2) Shacharit—the morning prayer; 3) Musaf, which includes a detailed account of the Yom Kippur Temple service; 4) Minchah, which includes the reading of the Book of Jonah.

Finally, in the waning hours of the day, we reach the climax of the day: the fifth prayer, the Neilah ("locking") prayer. The gates of Heaven, which were open all day, will now be closed—with us on the inside. During this prayer we have the ability to access the most essential level of our soul. The Holy Ark remains open throughout. The closing Neilah service climaxes in the resounding cries of "Hear O Israel... G‑d is one." Then joy erupts in song and dance (a Chabad custom is to sing the lively "Napoleon's March"), followed by a single blast of the shofar, and the proclamation, "Next year in Jerusalem."

After the fast we partake of a festive after-fast meal, making the evening after Yom Kippur a Yom Tov (festival) in its own right. We immediately begin to look forward to the next holiday and its special mitzvah: the construction of the sukkah.

----------------------

Much more to think about here….

It is New Years Here in Israel Sept 8 and 9, 2010

It is also my brother Chris's birthday.  My thoughts are with him and my thoughts are with our goodly neighbors who are celebrating Rosh Hashanah.  Each year Rosh Hashanah is celebrated on a different date.  But it is a very special time for Jewish people.  Below is an article about the holiday I got off the internet.  After the article is a link I found today by searching for answers to questions about prayer.  Truman Madsen gives an audio talk about prayer.   Can you see a correlation between the article and the audio talk?

The two-day festival of Rosh Hashanah is observed on the 1^st and 2^nd days of Tishrei.

In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means, literally, "Head of the Year," and as its name indicates, it is the beginning of the Jewish year. The anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, it is the birthday of mankind, highlighting the special relationship between G‑d and humanity.

The primary theme of the day is our acceptance of G‑d as our King

The primary theme of the day is our acceptance of G‑d as our King. The Kabbalists teach that the renewal of G‑d's desire for the world, and thus the continued existence of the universe, is dependent upon this. We accept G‑d as our King, and G‑d is aroused, once again, with the desire to continue creating the world for one more year.

Much of the day is spent in synagogue. G‑d not only desires to have a world with people, G‑d wants an intimate relationship with each one of us. In addition to the collective aspects of Rosh Hashanah worship, each man and woman personally asks G‑d to accept the coronation, thus creating the bond of "We are Your people and You are our King."

The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram's horn. The shofar is sounded on both days of Rosh Hashanah (unless the first day of the holiday falls on Shabbat, in which case we only sound the shofar on the second day). The sounding of the shofar represents, among other things, the trumpet blast of a people's coronation of their king. The cry of the shofar is also a call to repentance; for Rosh Hashanah is also the anniversary of man's first sin and his repentance thereof, and serves as the first of the "Ten Days of Repentance" which will culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Altogether, we listen to 100 shofar blasts over the course of the Rosh Hashanah service. Click here for more about the shofar.

Additional Rosh Hashanah observances include:

We eat a piece of apple dipped in honey to symbolize our desire for a sweet year, as well as many other special foods. All have special significance and symbolize sweetness, blessings, and abundance. Click here for more about the special Rosh Hashanah foods.

We bless one another with the words Leshanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim, "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year."

We leave our old shortcomings behind us, thus starting the new year with a clean slate

We go to a lake, river or to the sea and recite the Tashlich prayers, where we symbolically cast our sins into the water, in evocation of the verse, "And You shall cast their sins into the depths of the sea." We leave our old shortcomings behind us, thus starting the new year with a clean slate. Click here for more about Tashlich.

And as with every major Jewish holiday, women and girls light candles on each evening of Rosh Hashanah and recite the appropriate blessings. (Click here for candle-lighting times for your location.) After the prayers each night and morning, we recite Kiddush on wine, make a blessing over the challah, and enjoy a festive repast.

This is the link to the audio talk by Madsen:
http://www.trumanmadsen.com/media/Madsen_Truman_1983.mp3

MORMON.ORG

Have you seen this?  My friend sent this and it is wonderful critique of Mormon.org.

Subject: 5 Things We Can Learn From the Mormons - An Article You Should Read

This article is an interesting read. It's written by an evangelical critiquing the new Mormon.org. He states,  "Over the weekend, I stumbled upon the new Mormon missionary site, Mormon.org. I was blown away....As pastors, you should familiarize yourself with this new site. It’s important to know how the Mormon Church is talking about themselves. And it’s important to understand how they do it so well. If you’re a communication director or pastor in ministry, there is much to learn from the Mormons—pragmatically. In many ways they are beating us at the communication and evangelism game."

http://www.thejakers.com/church/church-marketing/5-things-we-can-learn-from-the-mormons

PART 3 GALILEE BRANCH

It is a great gathering for the Sabbath meeting. The

Jackson’s from the District Leadership are the speakers and

speak about becoming a Zion people which is our theme for

the conference: Moses 7:18 And the Lord called his people

Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and

dwelt in righteousness. After which we have a great meal

made extra special because each member sits next to a

member they don’t know and gathers information so they

can introduce them to the rest of the branch.The sisters will

now be that person’s visiting teacher.

Then the Friday group heads back to their homes and the Haifa Group sleeps over and then next day we take them all to see the historical sites and repeat the process of seeing and learning about the scriptures, the Savior, and this Holy Land.

PART 2 GALILEE BRANCH

Blogger's "new, improved" Preview does not allow you to return nor edit, so this will be a fragmented entry.  Sorry.. (Chad, help me do this better, please.)  Good grief, now I can't add more text after adding pictures. 

.....and stele fragments that mention the “House of David, We

have been reading about all of these in the Old Testament. It

was exciting to see all these things together and read the

relevant scriptures: Gen 14:14, Josh 19: 40-48, I K 4:25, I K

12: 25-33, Amos 8:14.

In this very same place, there is also a wonderful walking

area where the springs just bubble up from Mt. Hermon

stream and make walking in the woods another great feature

of this National Historical Park.

Next came Jereboam's false altars:

Ahab's gate 940 BC:

GALILEE BRANCH CONFERENCE - AUG 13-15

A major event took place this weekend. We have Filipino

members who only get one day off a month and have never

met with the branch as a whole. After getting support from

the district leadership and our Branch council, here’s what

we felt inspired to do. Those members who could get off

work on Friday came to the branch house in Tiberius for a

(late) July 24 celebration and a Pot Luck Dinner. We played

games, did Square Dancing and thought of the Pioneers in

early days of the church and the Pioneers in the church in

Israel. We also had a sleepover for those that could so that

the next day we could take them to see the historical sites at

Tel Dan which include Abraham’s Gate from 2000 BC,

Found it on Facebook

As I thought of Carl's birthday and all the pictures we have in various places I thought I would just take a dive into whatever file I could find and pull out a collection about his life.   Here are several I found on Allyson's Facebook page.  

This photo is the beginning of a trip his folks had planned for the family to go to Glacier National Park just before Carl's mission.  Check out that handsome guy in the middle.  His youngest brother, Michael, is in the forefront comparing "who's tallest" with his cousin.  Beautiful Janeal... love that red hair.  Mom Harris, then Doug and Steve.  Carl and his Grandpa Crowther and then Dad Harris.

We had never seen this picture of our wedding before.  From left to right:  Robyn, my sis, Lynn Oates from Hawaii, Janeal, his sister, Bonnie Gaye Dalebout, and Louise Roos Plummer.  We are talking to his aunts.

Another picture probably on a graduation day probably around 1980...not sure who was graduating, but Carl may have just been there as a professor...

EXTRA HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ONE!

Carl's 70th Birthday

Lots of events over the past month, but will focus today on the man of the year!  Carl reached his 70th birthday on July 10th.  Prior to that we had a week long celebration with small events each day to help him get used to the idea--that Yes!  It was a time to celebrate!   By the time his birthday did arrive he was actually quite pleased about being 70.  We had some special time together, just he and I, sight-seeing at Bet Sh'ean and swimming at Gan HaShalosha.  

Next day he selected a bike.  For six months he has walked each morning for exercise and now decided that he wants to fill the wind in his face and see more territory, so the bike is the only way to go.

Next day fixed him special food, and attended Ramzieh niece bride's party.  No men usually attend, but our men were allowed...Merrill Beckstead and Carl were the lone men while all the other men hovered in the background bringing food to be served and enjoying the music from a distance.  It was a very interesting experience.

The following day I hurried to prepare enough cake for a birthday celebration with the branch members after Sabbath meetings later on in the day enough for the Jerusalem Center students when we had a fireside with them at En Gev.  Cake for more than 100!  Whew...

The next day the students from BYU-JC came to help clean the Branch House.  They washed walls, used chemicals to get clue off the floor from the original remodeling, and washed windows.  All this because of Craig Manscill's thoughtful organization.  That helped us get extra prepared for the Sabbath when all 90 of the students came for Sacrament meeting.  

Each day we received well wishes via email and Skype with our family.  In addition, we received a YouTube site for a birthday video from our grandson Matthew and his family.  It made for a great week of love and appreciation for the many blessings we feel and desire to share with others.

  

Jericho with text

Not sure what happened to the text on yesterday's post.  It seems to be a draft problem.  I got the pictures up all at once and ran out of time to put text.  Next day, I tried to edit post but blogger would not allow so here is an explanation of pictures.  I suggest you get 2 different windows up so you can see yesterday and today at same time... that is if you are really curious about the sites and the words together.


Picture #1 is our arriving at Jericho after winding through half-finished road construction supported by the good people of America.  As you may already now Jericho is said to be the oldest, continuously lived in city in the world.  Some say 10,000 years old.  Twelve years ago, Carl and I were able to visit this part of Jericho and were disappointed because it was a pile of rocks with no context.  This time we were happy to signs explaining what we were looking at and we were impressed.  Like the most ancient staircase ever discovered.  A concern is that it won't be around the next time we come? because the site is totally out in the open and the wind seems to be blowing everything away.


Picture #2 What really made the visit memorable was a class of university students from Al Quds University in the city of Abudecs who were visiting the site as well.  I think what interested them first was Margaret--that is before it was made known that Chad was her husband!  They were interested in using their English skills on us.  The young man who talked to us most was a Palestinian who was born in ... US.  Was it Tennessee he said?  Carl asked him about all the students who were smoking:  "Don't they know how bad it is for them?"  His reply, "They know, but they don't care, but I care and I don't smoke.  They are stupid."  He gave us his email and I intend to see if I can decipher the writing enough to send him a note.


Picture #3 and 4  We swam at the most beautiful swimming hole you have ever seen.  It is all natural, rocks, spring, rolling hills, etc.  This is what all those would-be Las Vegas type pools wish they looked like.  The water felt so good because it was such a hot day and we had been in the busy city for two days and we were ready for the water.  The name of the place is Ha Shalosha.


Picture #5  Margaret and Chad are ready to head from Nazareth to Kibbutz Lavi on what is called the "Jesus Trail."  You can get more info on the web:  www.jesustrails.com.  It was a good thing that they are experienced cyclists because the markers along the trail were not that clear and they did a number of retracings, but still made it by the end of the day as we picked them up in Lavi, dirty and tired.--Picture #6


Picture #7 This day their desire was to see WATER! so we headed for the coast off Haifa.  Chad was looking for a surfing spot.  The spots off in the distance are para-gliders attached to surfboards.  It was amazing to see.  However, Chad was looking for an ordinary long-board so we kept wandering down the coast.  Enroute we found a great place for another felafel and chowed down.  Picture 8.


Picture #9 The man and the board at last together... for the moment at least.  The waves beat the daylights out of him, but he was a happy man for having had the experience.


So now you have the rest of the story... at least THAT story.  

Jericho

M & C Arrive

We knew they were going to Spain.  We didn't know they were BIKING across Spain.  Because we hadn't heard about when to expect them other than the initial reservation... I decided to check C's blog!  Aha!  There it was in full color.  They were going on the El Camino De Santiago.  

 The blog also revealed the extreme biker had purchased a bike just for this very trip. 

That then becomes this:

And then this:

Pretty amazing, if you ask me.  My next question was: What is M going to ride?

Never fear, he always takes good care of her. 

But that looks like a pretty rough ride (or push) to me!

So now we are waiting to see when they and the bike will arrive.  Where are we going to put that bike.  I think we brought to much of our own luggage.  Oh, dear!  Is it Madrid or is it Barcelona from which they are coming?  4:30, 5:00, 5:30.  I simply have to excuse myself for a few minutes.  Wouldn't you know it!  I missed their arrival.  But they are here and we are happy to see them.  Off we go for two days in Jerusalem!

True, this isn't what you usually expect when you say Jerusalem, but this is one of my favorite views from inside the Jerusalem Center.  We have to go here before we can go there... into the Old City.

This is more like what you would expect, right?  The Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock.

This is our favorite mural in the Old City.  It is in the "cardo"  area.  Recently it was discovered with several columns remaining from the Roman period and this mural was painted to give a feel for what it must have looked like then.  Those shoppers in front look pretty eager, don't you think?

 

The day for Bar Mitzvah's at the Western Wall.  Quite a sight!

 

Our first felafel which became a daily MUST!  Notice the tall guy in the middle of the German contingent enroute to the Greek Orthodox? ritual.  Don't ask me how he got there...

This was a highlight for us all to visit the Tower of David Museum.  It gave an historical view that included all the periods relative to the 20 different sieges on Jerusalem. 

One of my favorite pieces of art in the museum was this painting of what the Second Temple must have looked like.  The staircase has been a recent discovery.  More about this on another entry.

We didn't realize that we could go on the Temple Mount because of tensions always present, but a happy encounter with someone who did know directed us to the spot where we could enter at a time that it was open for the amount of time we had left.  We counted ourselves very fortunate.  

I'd say that was enough for this entry, but it wasn't the end of this day even so....

May into June

A lot of great adventures need to get blogged! So here goes--  

Piano lesson for Marina.  She speaks Spanish, I speak poquito, but somehow we make it through.  We both enjoy the interaction and as usual Carl loves to take pictures.  What is that little black thing on the blouse?  Good grief!  He did it again.... more videotaping when I wasn't aware!

RS Work meeting.  Packets for the Women's Crisis Center.  

Can you believe our good husbands with needle and thread.

Our next opportunity was to go with a local school class to see the ways high school students could support the environment.  Here Moti is demonstrating how barn owls are able to keep down the rodent population by being housed close to an area where pesticides, rodenticides, insecticides have been stopped so that natural predators can take care of need.  Carl, of course, on the camera to record so that it can be used by students to put together data as part of their experience.  We are listening to an instructor on the moshav discussing why rotating groups, using fish ponds, avoiding pesticides, developing new businesses is just good business.

Last day of choir before vacation starts.  I tried to teach "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree."  They love the actions, but oh, those English words.L

This was a record day.  We welcomed another branch and tour group along with our regular attenders.  Every single chair was taken upstairs and down.   

The weekend ended with an invitation to hear the University of Utah Singers perform in a marvelous church with fabulous acoustics.  As our courtship began in the University of Utah A'capella choir, we knew we HAD to attend and we were glad we did.

Next episode:  Arrival of M and C

Filipino Caregivers

Have you heard about the Filipino caregivers? They are found in almost every nation in the world including Israel.  Many of these caregivers are also members who joined the church in the Phillipines.  Because the economy is very depressed in the Phillipines, they needed to go away from their land to earn money. Caregivers have a range of skills, but in general they are those who care 24/7 for elderly people who can no longer take care of themselves and neither can their family. They generally live right in their house with them and only get 1 day in a month off to themselves.  It is very hard job because sometimes the people they care for are grumpy and unhappy because of their problems and take it out on the caregiver.  The money they send back to their families.  A number of them are mothers whose own mothers care for their children while they are away working.  They have to sign a contract for at least 4 years and pay as much $6,000 to an agency who provides some training, airfare, visas and placement for them.  We are not sure how many there are because they just keep popping up.  

Spencer, who is our resident church member in Israel (1967), is our Relief Society President.  (She is the one second from the left and next to her in white blouse is Nanette, a service volunteer here.)  Spencer has kept in touch with a lot of these dear people by phone because they live all over the state of Israel.  She has been their lifeline through the various Intifadas by calling and helping them find safe havens when the families they worked for were not helping. 

There is a service couple living in the area where a number of Filipinos have rented an apartment where they can come and meet each other whenever they can get time off.  This couple has worked to give the Filipinos an opportunity to have a Sacrament meeting every Saturday evening in this apartment.  Even though the Filipinos are part of the Galilee Branch, it is not possible to attend because of their work schedule and the time it would take for them to get here.  So instead, they are a "group" complete with the priesthood through the service couple.  This weekend the service couple  planned a weekend retreat and we hosted them here in Galilee Branch House.  This is the one day in the month the Filipinos could get off so we called it the 24-Hour Retreat in the Galilee.


The couple arranged for two rental cars so they could drive them here, and we picked up a sister at the Bus Depot in our area.  We then headed for the Branch House where we had a very special Sacrament meeting.  Three of the sisters spoke and the brethren provided the administration of the sacrament.  Following this we had a wonderful dinner that was prepared ahead of time and warmed up quickly.  After cake and ice cream and singing a birthday song for Marissa, we had cleanup and then a fireside by Merrill about the land of Israel and some of the holy sites we would be seeing the next day.  We then all headed for a rest, however, the Filipinos had to talk to each other about their lives which took a good part of the night.  We were rested, but not so sure about them.

We awoke to a breakfast of German Pancakes and fruit and headed for the cars.  Our first stop was the Mt of Beatitudes where Merrill gave a beautiful summary of the Sermon on the Mount.


Our next stop was the Greek Orthodox church with the bright pink domes.  It is a very small church with murals and paintings inside from the top to the bottom.  It has been restored beautifully.  Lovely peacocks roam the grounds and it is a delightful place to get your hands and feet wet in the Sea of Galilee for the first time.  It is also a great place for a picnic because of tables close to the sea with a nice breeze blowing.

The event with the most surprises was the ride on a fishing boat around the harbor.  Some of the Filipinas had never ridden a boat before and of course someone had to get sick, right?  Right!  It surprised her most of all.  She was glad it was a short ride.  We talked about all the different scripture stories about boats and water and even sang, "Master the Tempest is Raging."  Michael shared the history of the various places around the sea and some current news about the sea itself. 




The 2,000 year old boat was the next stop.  What a fabulous story.  Fishermen who had long predicted that the sea would bring them a great gift finally were rewarded with just such a find.  The drought had lowered the water level sufficiently to reveal a rib of a boat and it looked like a very old boat.  They started digging the mud away from the rib and found it was connected to more ribs and called in the experts.  They came from all over  the world.  Within 11 days they dug it out, covered it with polyprophelene? and floated it out to a launch where it would be taken to a lab for preservation.  After 9 years of a chemical bath, the old water within the timbers were replaced by a waxy finish that would preserve it for a good long time.  It is beautifully displaced in a museum close to the sea with wonderful diagrams about the 12 different woods used in its construction.