While we are here, we are taking courses in the History of Judaism and Islam (both from native teachers), Near Eastern Studies, Old and New Testament and Arabic or Hebrew (I’m taking Arabic). The classes are hard with lots of course work and reading, but we’re learning a ton. Along with our classes, we have forums each week. Our forum last week was given by Stewart Tuttle, a spokesman fro the Tel Aviv U.S. Embassy at the U.S. Department of State (Many of the members here are working for the U.S. Embassy or consulate). He taught us about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, why it still continues and what is stopping it from resolving. It was so good to hear about this at the beginning of our stay here so that we can learn more and be more aware of it. It was so informative and I finally understand a bit about what is going on in this country (still SO much to learn about it).
We also had an excellent presentation on the Dead Sea Scrolls given by one of our professors, Andrew Skinner, who has actually worked on the scrolls! (We’ll be going to see the scrolls on one of our free days). We are so blessed to have some of the top scholars in the Near Eastern Studies field teaching us here at the Jerusalem Center. (They are like walking encyclopedias whenever we go on a field trip or walk around the city). Governor John Huntsman and the Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff had dinner with us and gave the forum tonight– awesome!. I’ll have updates on that and our trip yesterday to Jericho/Mt of Temptation/ Herod’s Palace by the end of the week.
At the sign on Mt. Scopus, coming back from a free day.
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