February 4, 2000. Hello everyone! I’m sure you have many questions about life here in Israel. I’ve given a few updates about our field trips thus far, but I haven’t talked too much about my day-to-day activities. So, instead of another boring, run-of-the-mill explanation, I thought I’d spice this letter up a bit. The following is an exclusive (and entirely fictional) interview between Jerusalem Post Reporter Moshe Hennom and American Student Stephen Jones…

Moshe: Thank you very much for taking the time to conduct this interview. Many readers are eager to hear what life is like for a visiting American student.

Steve: Oh, it’s no problem, really. I’m eager to learn what an Israeli interview is like!

So, how long have you been in Israel now?

Two whole weeks! It’s gone by incredibly fast.

And where have you been living since you arrived?

Well, IBEX (Israel Bible Extension Program) has a small campus within a moshav. A “moshav” is a community of people, much like a “kibbutz”. The main difference between a “moshav” and “kibbutz” is that moshavniks (as the residents are affectionately called) are able to own property, whereas kibbutzniks are more genuinely communistic, sharing everything in common. Within the moshav, there is a main cafeteria, where the IBEX students, moshav volunteers, moshav visitors, and moshav residents all eat.

Different moshavs have different industries, such as agriculture, poultry, cattle, or something else. The moshav that we live on, Moshav Yad HaShmona, specializes in the production of Finnish wood and also profits from tourism. In fact, a whole section of Yad HaShmona is rented out to travelers/tourists. We see them around here often. And one of the most unique aspects of this moshav is that all the residents are born-again believers! As I was saying, IBEX has a small “campus” here as well. By “campus,” I don’t mean administration buildings, quaint sidewalks lined with flowers and flagpoles, a gymnasium, or anything like that. We just rent out certain buildings throughout the moshav. It’s a really nice set-up.

In addition to several small dorms which house all of the IBEX students, we have a little library, one classroom, a computer lab, a laundry machine, and even a student lounge! Well, the student lounge is really a converted bomb shelter (called a “miklat”), but it works great! As I mentioned earlier, we eat in the main cafeteria with the rest of the moshavniks. The moshav also has a tiny store (called a kauppa) where we can buy both necessities (such as laundry detergent) and those not-so-necessary items (like ice cream, candy bars, and cold soda).

Very interesting. Where is this particular moshav located?

Moshav Yad HaShmona is about 1/2 hour southeast of Tel Aviv, near the city of Qiryat Yearim, known as Kiriath Jearim in the Bible. Another 20 minute ride east takes us right into the heart of Jerusalem, Israel’s capital.

Can I ask…how’s the food?

You know, really, it’s not all that bad. The menu is somewhat repetitive, but the kitchen does a good job. I think we eat a little healthier than we do back in the states, and there’s always a decent selection in the cafeteria line, so we get to choose (or avoid) whatever foods we like (or dislike). I’m very thankful for what we have here! We get lots of delicious breads, and quite a few tasty fruits and vegetables as well. Other food items include cheeses, cereals, rice, pot roast, and chicken.

Do you have friends or family back home? How do you communicate with them?

Yes, it’s hard being so far away from friends and family. In fact, a ten hour time difference separates me from loved ones back in California! And my parents, in Colorado, are still nine hours behind. Of course, I don’t call home very often, because it’s too expensive. I’ve tried to keep up writing everyone, but I stay pretty busy, which makes it hard. So far, I’ve been able to make some time to write, especially to my fiancee, Natalie.

Wow, you left your fiancee in America to come here?!

I sure did, and believe me, it wasn’t easy! We got engaged just before Christmas, and will be getting married on July 15 of this year. That doesn’t leave us much time together once I get back to the U.S. However, we’ve been dating for three years, so the engagement period is only necessary to work out all the logistics of the wedding. We did a lot of planning before I came to Israel, and she’s fully capable to do most everything else on her own. We miss each other tremendously, but are very thankful for the modern conveniences of email!

You said you were “pretty busy.” What else occupies your time?

Well, I am taking four classes: The Land and the Bible, History of the Modern State of Israel, Jewish Thought and Culture, and The Holocaust. All of them are interesting, but require a lot of reading. I also have a work study job here, which is helping to defray some of my overseas expenses. I work roughly 10 hours a week, doing such things as manually sending out all the email messages every night, acting as “storekeeper” of the kauppa each evening, and performing other tasks for one of the professors here, Todd Bolen. In addition, I am serving on the Chapel Band, which involves several weekly prayer meetings/ rehearsals to prepare for Friday night chapels.

Finally, all IBEX students have occasional responsibilities such as dishwashing and bathroom cleaning. Of course, I like to explore around and get into Jerusalem as often as possible, but I probably don’t go into town as often as some of the other students. That’s alright, though. I’ve been there several times already. At this point in the semester, I’m really trying to focus on my studies.

One last question. Has it been hard to adapt to our Israeli culture?

No, not really. My missions trip to the Philippines last summer really conditioned me to be in another culture for an extended amount of time. Most people here know at least some English, so there’s not much of a communication barrier. And here at the moshav, with other Christians and so many other American students and teachers, there’s not really a “cross-cultural feeling” at all. Probably the most difficult part has been adapting to a work week that revolves around the Sabbath, rather than the “American weekend” as we think of it. The Sabbath, known in Judaism as “Shabbat,” is a special Jewish event each week. It is a time of rest and worship, when literally a whole city can shut down and enjoy a holiday.

At the moshav, IBEX students have a regular week of classes (Monday through Friday), but Friday evening begins Shabbat. Shabbat dinner in the cafeteria is a little more formal than the rest of the week, and then after Shabbat dinner, we IBEX students pile intimately together into the “miklat” for our chapel service. Late Friday night is just a fun, casual time for games and open dorms. Then, Saturday morning, we ride together to Jerusalem, where we celebrate an authentic Shabbat service with a Messianic Jewish congregation at the Jerusalem Assembly.  

The rest of the weekend usually offers us free time to do homework, send email, shop at one of the malls, explore the hill country, or navigate our way around the city of Jerusalem. Sometimes, we also have mandatory class field trips on these days. Usually, Saturday night rolls around and I catch myself thinking, “Well, tomorrow starts another busy week of classes,” only to realize, “Hey, it’s only Saturday! I still have a whole free day ahead of me! Yahoo!” I miss having the church worship service on Sunday — the Lord’s Day. But thankfully, we can still congregate with a body of believers to sing to our God and hear His Word preached. A good portion of the weekly Shabbat service is in Hebrew, but just enough of it is in English to make you feel a part.

I’m very glad to hear that. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay. Thank you again for your time.

The pleasure was all mine.

January 31, 2000. This first week in Israel has been busy indeed! We’ve already been to Jerusalem on three different occasions, finished a week of classes, attended an authentic Messianic Jewish Sabbath service, and…oh yeah, had a snowball fight. Yep, that’s right, a SNOWBALL FIGHT!

The last thing I expected when I got to Israel was to have snow; after all, the weather here is supposed to be comparable to southern California. But sure enough, not one week into the semester, we had a full-fledged Israeli snowstorm, and the first ever IBEX snowball fight! Just so you know, this is extremely rare. I guess the Jerusalem area only gets snow, on average, once every five years. However, there’s been about three snowfalls in the last five years. At any rate, we were pretty excited, and took full advantage of it.

Let me tell you a little about our trip to Jerusalem yesterday, which focused on many Old Testament regions and events.

We arrived in the city just before 11am, and Bill hurriedly led us through Jaffa Gate and down the streets of the Armenian and Jewish Quarters so we could get a tour of a giant topographical model of Jerusalem. It traced the expansion of the city from the time of the Jebusites until Hezekiah’s time. This helped familiarize us with the area we would be studying.

Afterward, we walked a short distance to “Hezekiah’s Wall” or “Broad Wall,” a massive barrier that was built to protect the city from the Assyrians. We also viewed a remnant of an Israelite tower during Hezekiah’s day on the north side of the city and then visited the traditional sites of the Upper Room and King David’s tomb. We moved southward, seeing Oskar Schindler’s tomb in an old Catholic cemetery, and looking over the Hinnom Valley, which was still white from the snowfall. How ironic to see this area, termed “Gehena” by the Greeks, covered with snow!

Looking to the southeast, we could see the snow-capped mountains of Moab far in the distance, beyond the Judean wilderness and Dead Sea (which isn’t visible from Jerusalem). In Old Testament times, this view would have been a continual reminder to Israel that the enemy was never far away, and that only God could protect the land. In fact, many aspects of the land were designed by God to force Israel to depend on Him. He intentionally placed this land between Egypt and Mesopotamia, political “superpowers” to the north and south. When Israel turned from the Lord, God punished the Jews through foreign invasion and exile. But when Israel was obedient, her borders expanded, and her neighbor’s strength diminished (the kingdom under David and Solomon is a perfect example)!

Even mundane things such as the water source provided Israel with a lesson in faith. God didn’t provide Israel with a continual water source like the Nile River in Egypt. After all, what kind of faith would that require? It was always going to flow, nourishing the land year after year. Rather, God forced Israel to depend on His gracious provision of rain, and this was directly tied to the righteousness of the people. What vivid object lessons these must have been!

We then traveled east to the Eastern Hill and the actual location of Jerusalem during David’s reign. Perhaps I should stop just for a minute to explain the layout of the city. The walls now encircling what we refer to as “Old City” Jerusalem were actually built by the Turks in the sixteenth century. The city of Jerusalem during the Israelite period was actually a little south of where the “Old City” rests today. Hence, a lot of ancient Jerusalem is nothing more than an Arab neighborhood south of the Old City walls.

In the afternoon, we descended a cave until we reached a 40-foot vertical shaft called “Warren’s Shaft,” which is one possible way that Joab entered the Jebusite city during King David’s siege. This whole region has cracks, fissures, and caves carved in the limestone, which were once very useful for carving tombs, tunnels, and irrigation routes.

After climbing back out of Warren’s Shaft, we made our way over to the Pool of Siloam, where Jesus sent the blind man to be healed. Most of the group, excluding myself and one other person, used Hezekiah’s Tunnel to travel from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam. I desperately wanted to go, but wasn’t feeling very well, so I just decided to go another time.

We concluded the day by visiting a more likely location of David’s tomb, an area which Hadrian later turned into a quarry. This immediate region is mentioned in Nehemiah 3:16: “After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, official of half the district of Beth-zur, made repairs as far as a point opposite the tombs of David, and as far as the artificial pool and the house of the mighty men.”

This was probably the most eventful and interesting day so far in Israel. It was exciting to hike down into the very area where so much biblical history has taken place. I wasn’t very interested by the “traditional” church sites that have fallaciously memorialized sites such as David’s tomb and the Upper Room.

Far more interesting for me was just walking around the land south of “Old City Jerusalem,” where we know many biblical events actually took place. Probably most striking was the topography of the Eastern Hill, where the “City of David” and Mt. Zion actually stood during David’s, and Jesus’, time.

When we viewed it from the higher Western Hill, the Eastern Hill seemed tiny, almost insignificant. The Arab houses on the hill seemed to blend right in with the Kidron Valley on the far eastern side. But when we finally reached the Eastern Hill, and later had to climb up the southeastern side by the Pool of Siloam, I realized just how steep it really was. It was easy to understand why the Canaanites had chosen to fortify this region: a high city wall combined with the natural moat of the Kidron Valley would make enemy attack extremely difficult. Well, that’s enough for now! Have a wonderful week! ~Because of Him, Stephen

25 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Israel for a semester through the Master’s College IBEX program. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, I’m sharing highlights from my journal, emails, and photos. Feel free to share your own IBEX memories here as well!

January 30, 2000. Our first time in Jerusalem was on Tuesday – our second full day here in Israel. The rest of my week was filled with classes, working at the computer lab and the kauppa, and doing a little homework. On Saturday, we went into Jerusalem for Shabbat Service, and then afterward, most of us wandered around in the city for much of the afternoon.

Some hiked to the Mount of Olives, some saw the YMCA Tower and King David hotel, but I was with a group that went up to the top of this German Lutheran Church. I don’t remember the name of it, but I think it’s perhaps the tallest structure in the Old City. From the bell tower, we had a beautiful view in every direction.

On Thursday and Friday, it snowed 8-10 inches, and even on Saturday, many of the hills and buildings were still covered with white. What a beautiful sight! This is very uncommon, from what I understand.

While the view was breathtaking, the weather was still cold on Saturday. By evening, I had a fever, which was probably due to the wet snow, the brisk winds, and the low temperatures. When we got back to the Moshav last night, I was shivering uncontrollably. After dinner, I went straight to bed, missing the “Ben Yehuda Blitz” last night.

This morning, I got up feeling much better, though still not 100%. I had enough strength and energy to participate in the Old Testament Jerusalem walk today, though I chose not to wade through Hezekiah’s Tunnel. I’ll share more about that trip tomorrow.

January 29, 2000. Our first week has gone by very fast, and I’m sure it will go increasingly faster. I have learned a lot already, and am so thankful that the Lord has allowed me to come. Right now, I am sitting in my first Sabbath service at Jerusalem Assembly. Here are some of my sermon notes….

We are learning about Zechariah 13:2-6. A day is coming when the Lord will return, and He will remove all of those distractions vying for our attention. What a day that will be! Jesus Christ will fill the “whole screen” of the world’s view. False prophecy, something that is now common and acceptable, will someday be a disgrace to both God and man. Today, there is a market – an inflation – of false prophets because there is a demand for them. But someday, there will be no demand!

How do you measure repentance? When the Lord is worth more than anything – even family. If God is really my Lord, then I must treat His word with holiness. He is not simply the “neighbor upstairs.” This description reveals only ignorance. God purchased our lives with His blood, and now we are His property!