Old City Tiyul - Second Temple

Old City Tiyul: The Herodian Mansions and The Southern Wall

A few weeks ago we went on a Tiyul to the Old City of Jerusalem, focusing on the Herodian Mansions and the Southern Wall.  

In the Herodian Mansions lived the social group called the Saducces. They were on good terms with the Romans and although the Temple and the Jewish Religion was the center of their life, they still were quite assimilated with Roman culture. In these Mansions we found evidence of their higher social class as well as both Jewish and Roman culture. We saw their social class i the size of the houses. Common in most of the Mansions were a spacious expanse for the time. Also, most, if not all, of the houses had multiple rooms and luxuries that poorer classes could not afford such as a personal bathtub. Their connection to the Jewish religion was seen in that there were also Mikvahs in the houses of the Saducces. The Saduccees were the priestly class of Jerusalem in the time of the Beit Hamikdash. Because of this they needed to go in and out of the temple a lot. For the purity of the temple they had to keep themselves spiritually clean at all times so they installed mikvahs in their houses. The presence of Roman culture in their own lives could be seen with some of the accommodations in their house which remain. These include mosaics on the floors and walls as well as frescos, plaster with paint designs over it, and Roman-style columns.  

At the Southern Wall, we studied the Beit Hamikdash and the role it played in society when it was in use for sacrifices and such. The Temple was in use for the whole nation during the 3 main festivals of the year, Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. For these 3 festivals, pilgrims from all across the land of Israel would come from wherever they lived to make a sacrifice at the temple. The process of making a sacrifice was a long arduous one (It was spelled out pretty well in that weird video with the cup obsession if that helps jog your memory).  It started back in whatever village or place the pilgrims came from. They would stock up on food and make a weeks long journey to Jerusalem. Upon arriving, their one concern is being able to sacrifice. The first requirement for a sacrifice is a half shekel tax which must be paid. They pay this tax, then buy an animal to sacrifice. After buying an animal, the pilgrims would travel to the mikvah on the western side of the complex. We actually followed in the footsteps of our ancestors and went in this mikvah on this Tiyul. Following the MIkvah, the pilgrims would join thousands of other pilgrims on the steps of the Southern Wall, slowly walking up the awkwardly spaced steps to the 3 Arches which acted as entryways. A fun fact about these doors which we learned is that the majority of people entered through these 3 Arches in the Southern wall but people who were in mourning or exiled from their communities entered through a separate door, those who had either lost someone or lost themselves. Once through the arches, a priest would say a prayer and then you would offer your sacrifice. From there you would then exit the complex and join the community once again. This community is what made these sacrifices even more special than just the opportunity to sacrifice. Tens of thousands of people would come to the Beit Hamikdash, people from all different backgrounds, all different places, for the same purpose. This created a massive kehilah kidoshah, a special community of which everyone in the nation was part.

The process of making a sacrifice must have been awe inspiring. Coming to the Temple, a massive structure, the holiest place in the world, with thousands of other pilgrims just like you, juxtaposed with the small village lifestyle of most people during that time, would have been almost unbelievable to experience (once again I’d like to take your memories back to the weird cup-obsessed video because it does a very good job of capturing the momentousness of the occasion). Thinking about this process in the context of today, we share a similar experience in that each time we pray, we pray towards Jerusalem and towards the Temple Mount, spiritually traveling to Jerusalem as a community, just as our ancestors did physically. This Tiyul made me realize how important the Temple Mount is to Judaism. We, as an international Jewish community all pray facing the same place, all metaphorically praying together.

Our glorious leader Evan, said to us that the destruction of the second temple in 70 CE by the Romans is the most central event in Jewish history. This set back the Judaism of the time a massive amount and effectively changed the center of worship from the Temple to the Synagogue with Rabbinical Judaism as the Pharisees were the group of Jews which continued. With this tragedy, the practice of Judaism at the time took a massive step backwards. Do you think that Judaism has "recovered," from the destruction of the temple with the form that modern Judaism has taken?

Gadna

The couple weeks leading up to Gadna grew excitement for some and grew fear for others. My experience in Gadna was much different than I had expected.

One of my major expectations was that it was going to be physically intensive. I expected to be doing a lot of push-ups on a regular basis. surprising to me, push-ups were only a form of punishment, yet even the extensive amount of standing around waiting made me very tired. In the end I did do a lot of push ups, but not nearly as much as I expected. Another, surprise was the short bursts of running. When moving from place to place our commander would give us 10 second bursts to make our way to our destination. At the end of the ten seconds we also had to be in the two columns we began in. At the start of the week we would all just sprint and end up very spread out. After one day of this mess we figured out we could slow down our counting and run at a slower pace as a team. This changed my way of thinking as an individual to focus on our team.

Another unexpected aspect of Gadna that I found to be helpful was the strict timing. Our schedule was set to the minute. The strictest time that was set was our sleeping time. From 9:50 to 6:10ish we had our right to sleep. Not only was it a right, it was also enforced. With this quality amount of sleep I felt energized throughout the day until I got bored with the weapon class. The point being I feel I should give myself more time to rest than I normally do. Gadna was treating my body better than I was.

Throughout the week our "mifakedet" or commander tried her best to show no emotion. She did falter at some points but she remained strict most of the time. At the end of Gadna we actually sat down with our commander and got to know the real them. Our commander was Liran, 19, and her army service was to be a instructor at Gadna. Every Thursday and Sunday she makeU77s a 6 hour drive to and from the Gadna base.

With this experience how would you feel about joining the IDF as an Israeli? Do you think you would feel more enthusiastic and willing? Or would this be a deterrent for you?
  

Masada מצדה

Masada (מצדה) comes from the Hebrew word מְצוּדָה meaning fortress. This name was chosen as Masada was one of the personal fortresses built by the ever so paranoid King Herod.

King Herod built Masada due to its perfect defense characteristics. First of all, it is located in the desert. Secondly, it is a giant mountain with a flat top perfect for building. Lastly, the other mountains surrounding it are separated by a large ravine. This makes Masada a free-standing, natural fortress. Herod then built a large palace hanging off the side of the cliff. Out of the three sections, he personally lived in the middle part which was the safest. Due to his paranoia, this mostly served as an emergency escape location rather than a permanent residence.

After Herod, Masada was inhabited by the Zealots during the Great Revolt around 70-73 CE. They chose Masada for two main reasons. Firstly, like Herod thought, Masada is the perfect place to hide out and maintain as a fortress. Secondly, it served as a big “haha” (for a lack of better terms) into the face of the Romans. Herod built Masada up himself, and he was a puppet of the Roman Emperor. Thus the Zealots took over a very large place under partial Roman control.

Cistern

The Zealots then added much to Masada in order to make it a suitable place for a civilization. Herod only built up the defense for Masada. But what about the drink, diet, and deals? The Zealots solved the first problem by build a large system of cisterns and aqueducts in the side of the mountain. 

Actual Aqueducts

Aqueducts model

For food, they mostly focused on agriculture with the help of birds. Although the birds could be eaten, they were more importantly used for fertilizing the ground so that vegetables and fruits could be grown up top. Much of the fruit was then dried to keep it for a long time. 

Bird Cage

Dried fruit

Everything was kept in large storages with the goal of having enough supplies for 10 years. The Zealots wanted to not only survive on top of Masada, but thrive.

 They also wanted to make more fun of the Romans by living well, which is why they left some of the food when burning all of their supplies to show the Romans that it was not starvation that killed them in the end*. As for deals, the Zealots did not care too much about this as they were hiding on top of a mountain. But, the nearby Dead Sea allowed them access to salt. This was a very valuable item that could be used for trade if they needed to.

*Speaking of how the Zealots met their end, they did it on their own terms. When the Romans were finally almost done building their ramp and seizing Masada (see right), the Zealots made a choice. They decided that they’d rather kill themselves than allow the Romans to do so or to enslave them. The patriarch of each family killed all of their family, then ten of them killed the rest, then out of the ten killed the other nine and himself. Although this seemed to be a better idea than being captured by the Romans, it brought about a lot of controversial discussion. Many agree that it’s unholy in Judaism to commit suicide and take away the life the G_d gave to you. Others simply think that it is a cowardly thing to do. Nonetheless the Rabbis don’t speak about it anywhere in their texts. They do not want such a horrid thing remembered in the future that will make a large group of Jews look bad.

Today there is a phrase שנית מצדה לא תיפול which translates to “Masada will not fall again”. Masada refers less to the actual mountain than it does to the Jewish people overall. By saying this we remember the tragic event and tell to ourselves that it will not happen again both in the sense that we will not give up to another enemy again and that we will not allow ourselves to do such a horrible thing to our own people and selves.

Returning to the story of their fall, I pose the same question to everyone. It may not be so original, but I feel like our time to share our opinion was cut short. “What is your opinion of the demise of the Zealots?” Please take it in whichever context you wish and elaborate as much as you need to get your opinion across. 

Awkward Roman camp picture that I wanted to add but couldn't incorporate:

Against Ourselves

Learning about Jerusalem while it was under Roman Rule was very interesting and provided us with a lot of history on how Jerusalem developed. This new information about the life around the second temple gives a new meaning to the western wall for me.

This is a 1cm:100m scale model of the second temple and its surrounding city. At this point in time it was a very divided city. Divided by social class, socioeconomic status, views on Roman leadership and religiousness. In the front right here were the poorest  were the Pharisees. Saying they are the poorest does not say much about the others. Saducees were the only Jews to prosper, due to the fact that were near, if not completely, assimilated to Roman culture. All the other Jews had some moral issue and suffered for it. That is why in the end these sects developed. The strength of ones Jewish identity decided whether they could conform to Roman standards or live a less fortunate life.




The difference in color of these two buildings represents the three groups of Jews who were considered impure and the Essenes, who were considered pure. This museum has replicas of the dead sea scrolls which are dated back to the 3rd century B.C.E. This may seem slightly interesting but it has importance far beyond that. One of the peices that was most well preserved was the entire book of Isiah. This proves the existence of a Jewish civilization at a much earlier time then proven before.

As a reform Jew and a teenage boy, I believe i would fall into the category of the Essenes. I am relaxed and mostly opposed to fighting, Especially with somebody who could so simply ruin my life such as parents. With the same jewish identity you have now and who you are as a person, who do you think you may have lived among in the era of the second temple?

Thriving US indie communities roll up their sleeves to ‘do’ Judaism

Shalom Kitat Dekel!

Here is a link to the article that I handed out in class: http://www.timesofisrael.com/thriving-us-indie-communities-roll-up-their-sleeves-to-do-judaism/

The questions you posed are:
Why do you think alternative services grew so quickly? Will these new/different types of Tefilah continue to grow? Do you have other ideas to positively involve the Jewish People living in the diaspora?

For homework, please enter your answers in the comments section.

Shabbat shalom,
Evan

David's Old City

On Sunday February 7th, we took a lit trip to the old city (extremely unfortunately without our dear friend Evan). Leading up to our adventure, we got background on the necessity for leadership and order throughout the tribes. This came to light when we read Judges chapter 19, where a man feels so unsafe and ungoverned that he feels compelled to chop his raped concubine wife and send her body parts to each of the 12 tribes in order to send a message. This plead for a governing body is heard and G-d agrees that a King/ leadership is needed.

 
G-d tells Samuel the prophet that Saul will be the first king (melech). At this point, we were introduced to the concept of double reasoning or the idea of there being a theological and practical answer to different situations. Here, the idea is that G-d wanted Saul to be king, and that the people wanted a king because the judges weren’t working. Saul (of the tribe of Benjamin) was anointed by Samuel. He created the united monarchy, ruling over all twelve tribes. Soon after, he proved an unworthy king, rushing a sacrifice without the presence of Samuel, not killing the king of Amalek, and later taking the spoils of war when told expressly not to. David, a young man of Judah, is anointed king. Double reasoning is again present through Saul’s demise: he disobeyed God and was also hated by the people.

David married Saul’s daughter, putting him in line for the thrown, but also was praised for his bravery and military successes. David was responsible for the creation of the capital city of Jerusalem, where we went on this tiyul! We started at the “katef hinom” or the “shoulder of hell”, at the Begin Heritage Center. We saw a burial cave and learned that this cave, along with all of the others, lies on the outskirts of the town because they had to keep the town holy and pure. Under the burial beds, we got a look at the ma-ah-se-fah, where the bones of older corpses are kept. The largeness of the caves showed us how big Jerusalem was at the time, and just how many people lived there. Under one of the caves, the birkat hakohanim was found on a silver scroll, a prayer we still refer to today.

David built the city just south of Mount Moriah, a perfect hill for a defendable and livable abode, which we were able to make out during the awe-inspiring and nail-biting presentation and video we were privileged enough to observe. We viewed the site of the fresh spring that David hid to protect the city and the other geographical features. We spent a bit of time deciphering some olden Hebrew found in burial caves, which was quite interesting.

Finishing the day, we learned that David committed a sin (sleeping with a married woman), and after failing to cover it up, had her husband killed. After a day of hyping David up for his huge accomplishments, this huge show of character was revealed to us. Although he repented, do you think that his legacy is tainted by this horrid, malevolent, devious act? 

-@zoedress

Sataf

On Thursday February 4, we, Kitat Dekel, went on a Tiyul to a place called Sataf. Sataf is an area where Israelites settled after crossing the Jordan River into Eretz Yisrael, symbolically finishing their wandering, crossing water once again as they had when they left Egypt by crossing the Red Sea. When beginning to settle in areas like Sataf, they faced many challenges and were forced to adjust their lifestyle to the areas.

The earliest challenge they faced in Eretz Yisrael was being able to survive with all of the hostile civilizations around them. In Joshua 6, the Tanakh describes one of these such ordeals in the Battle of Jericho. god prescribes actions for the Israelites to take certain actions in order for them to win the Battle of Jericho and survive as a people. The Israelites follow the commands and God delivers the city of Jericho to them. (One Israelite took what had been proscribed but that's another story) The survival of the Israelites was dependent on their ability to be militarily superior to their enemies and with the help of God, they were able to achieve this. However, there was one foe which the Israelites were not able to overcome. These people were called the Philistines. The Philistines lived in the southwestern area of Israel, the modern day Gaza, where the land is flatter than where the Israelites were in the Judean Hills. Because the Philistines were in the plains, the Israelites were forced to stay in the Judean Hills, an area where farming is more complicated than in the plains.

This brings us to the next challenge which the Israelites faced: farming.  The hilly areas of the Judean Hills had been farmed for generations before the Israelites by the Canaanite civilizations, so the Israelites sought the advice of the Canaanites on how to farm the hills. The Canaanites taught them the ways of terrace farming. In terrace farming, you take a hill and make flat terraces all up the hill, therefore making flat areas which are suitable for agriculture. Besides flat land the other two major elements of farming are crops to grow and water to grow them with. Sataf had both of these. In Deuteronomy 8:7 the natural crops which grow in Eretz Yisrael are listed: wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olive trees, and honey (the honey is a reference to date honey, so in other words… dates grew there).  These crops covered the requirement of crops.

The next requirement was a little bit more complicated. There was a very good water source at Sataf, made up of built up rainwater that kind of dribbles out in a constant small stream, but this water source was about halfway down the hill that Sataf is on. This meant that even with irrigation, gravity would only provide water to half the crops.  To combat this problem, the Canaanites developed an alter-ego of Terrace Farming called Ba’al Farming. Ba’al Farming, used for the half of crops which were planted above the water source, depends on rainwater for the crops to grow. An important part of Ba’al Farming was praying to the Canaanite rain god, Ba’al,  a concept which goes against Judaism’s monotheistic qualities. When the Israelites committed sins like praying to Ba’al, God became angry and punished the Israelites.

It is sins like these that brings us to the last section of our Tiyul at Sataf which centered around our gloriously performed skits. These skits about Deborah, Gideon, Yiftach, Samson portrayed the Judges Cycle in which the Israelites prosperity rose and fell in a cycle. When the Israelites were diligent to God’s commandments, they were a happy people, but eventually, they would break His commandments. This resulted in God punishing the people and plunging them into despair for a short amount of time. Then God would send a Judge, like those we read about, and the Israelites would be saved and end up happy again. Then the cycle would repeat itself, yay!

To get away from curriculum, I had a wonderful time at Sataf. It was a beautiful day to be outside and when we went inside it was into the water source cave which wasn’t too shabby either. I hope you all had as great a time as I did!

A question to leave you with: What did you think was the coolest part of exploring the ruins?

Tel Gezer

Starting with the superficial part of the tiyul; it was a beautiful trip. Regardless of the educational focus, which by itself was enjoyable, I had such a great time exploring the Tel. The views (nofim) were breath taking and the ruins were more than impressive.  I would also like to thank Evan for his amazing guidance and teaching leading up to and during this tiyul. Yasher Koach.

The Canaanite people at Gezer were an amazing civilization. As said by one of our own, “The Canaanites really had this civilization thing down”. Referring to the 4 D’s, they had everything necessary. 

Their casemate wall system, with a large fillable gap in between two 25 ft thick walls (as portrayed by a few of us), provided defense. 

Their water system allowed for them to keep a large supply of water while simultaneously keeping it protected from invaders, thus covering drink. 

Being located smack “dab” in the middle of the fertile crescent, the Canaanites had access to Gezer’s large variety of animals and their fertile lands for farming. Diet was well supplied by this. Being smack “dab” in the middle also put Gezer in the crossroads of civilizations and on the Derech Hayam (Road of the Sea/Trade Route). Most of the trade occurred by the gate (sar) where people frequently came in and out of the city. These covered their deals/dollars requirement. The fact that  a civilization as ancient as this one had the ability to build structures as advanced as these is very impressive.

Biblically, there is a question of why Abraham did not just stop at Gezer rather than continuing on his journey. Abraham did not settle in Gezer due to evidence suggesting that people practicing polytheism were living there when he arrived. This is supported by a number of monoliths assumed to be part of a temple. It is also inferred that sacrifices, possibly human, could have occurred there. This immediately deterred Abraham from settling.  

Several archaeological findings were dug up at Gezer that revealed a variety of different things about the people who settled there. One of these was the Gezer Calendar. This important ostracon (shard with writing on it) showed that agriculture was a major aspect of the early Jewish Civilization. It also proved that many Jews were literate and that they valued teaching their children. This ostracon is from a later period than the Canaanites and helps us to see how Gezer was settled throughout history.

Another finding was a set of 11 ostracons written in two languages. Greek faced away from the city while Hebrew faced inside. It said, “Closed area of Gezer during Shabbat”. This displayed a devoted religious observation the early Hebrew settlers held for the Sabbath (they lived there hundreds of years after the Canaanites). Another much larger finding was the Canaanite Gate, which showed off excellence in architecture and suggested an active trade life. In fact the gate was considered to be the heart of the city as people would be constantly meeting traders and clients. 

Lastly, the Solomon Gate was found. Although this is anachronistic and not part of the Canaanite city, it reflects the meaning of a Tel. It demonstrated that a civilization was built not only on top of another, but around another thus expanding the settlement.

Question: We study the Torah and Judaism through reading and discussing the stories found in the TaNaKh. But until now, they have been only that, stories. After visiting Tel Gezer and exploring its historicity, these stories may now seem more relevant. Does this at all change your beliefs about how accurate and realistic the TaNaKh is?