Weekly Recap (Feb 4, 2014)

It's been pretty hard to find the time to update the blog. I'm hoping to try to get out a new post every Tuesday and Thursday/Saturday (depending on the work load I have). With that being said, A LOT of stuff happened over the past week.

First off, we went on our first tiyul (trip). We went to a historical dig site where we got to crawl around the tunnels the Jews built when being persecuted by the Romans. Also, we saw some pretty cool burial sites underground. Finally, my group got to try out a twenty minute digging extravaganza. By that I mean, I got to hit ground with a shovel. I did not find anything cool, but one of my friends found a handle to an old piece of pottery from antiquity. I would definitely say that the first tiyul was a win.

The next day we got to go into Jerusalem and visited Ha Kotel (The Western Wall). I don't really want to say much about it because I simply don't know what to say. Being my first time in Israel and to the Western Wall, I didn't know what to expect. I was in awe, I still cannot comprehend the sight I saw. It was simply incredible and powerful. The fact that such a simple piece of architecture (I mean, it is a wall after all. How more simple can you get?) that can invoke such strong emotions makes it in my opinion one of the greatest works of art to date.

On Sunday, we had another half-day tiyul which was located at Tel Gezer. Not only was I able to take some sick Snapchats, but I also learned a lot about what kind of society Gezer once hosted. A tel is a plot of land where if you were to dig down you would pass through multiple layers of history. For example, a city may have once been built where Gezer stood and then was burned down. The survivors of the fire would leave Gezer, but eventually someone else would start a new civilization there -- thus creating a new layer of history. The most interesting part about Gezer to me was the placement of the civilization. Tel Gezer is located right next to what once was the two major trade routes from antiquity. Derech Hayam (an ancient route leading from Egypt up through Israel and then East to Mesopotamia) and what is now Route 1 (the road connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem) essentially intersected right on top of Gezer. This helped with the trade and economy of Gezer -- and a strong economy is one of the necessities for a successful civilization.

That is about it for all the amazing parts to come so far from my trip. In other news, I HAVE SO MANY PAGE VIEWS!!! THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ALSO TOOK THE TIME TO READ WHAT I HAD TO SAY! Talk again soon!