The Busyness of Pesach

My alram went of this morning at 6. As I lay in bed I could hear a loud speaker somewhere in Jerusalem with a man speaking in Hebrew. I didnt know what he was saying but I have a guess as to what it was about.
Today was the first day of Pesach. The Jews here were all having their passover cedars tonight in their homes (and probably still are, cause they go for hours, into the night). This morning, however, was also another Jewish celebration that happened to fall on the same day. It is something that happens only every 28 years, and it's called the Blessing of the Sun. At sometime shortly after 6am this morning, the sun was suppoed, according to a Jewish tradtion, to be in the same position that it was in when it was created. So Thousands upon thousands of Jews gather in different places early in the morning to say a blessing at a certain time. That's probably what I heard going on this morning as I lay there, not wanting to get up to go hiking.
Today was also our "student activity day" with JUC. The bus was scheduled to leave at 7am. We drove to the Galilee and hiked through Nahal Amud, a wadi that drains into the Sea of Galilee. There was some water running in it, but not much. The man in the information office predicted that it would take 6 hours to hike the trail. It took Matt and myself 4 1/2 hours to hike it, including stopping for a lunch break.
Well, it is indeed the season of Passover, and hence Easter. Last sunday was Palm Sunday for the western (Roman Catholic and protestant) Churches. This coming sunday the orthodox church celebrates palm sunday and the west celebrates Easter. That should be interesting. Last week, I walked down the mount of olives, across the valley and into Jerusalem with thousands of other Christians from around the world, holding palm branches, singing, and proclaiming that Jesus is The King. It was one of the most awesome sights I have ever seen. Especially because a bunch of small arab children were trying to sell olive branches to everyone for a dollar. ;o)
Tomorrow after class, a bunch of us are taking a ride up to Mt. Gerizim (In Samaria, the mountain that overlooks Shechem) to witness the Samaritan sacrifice for Pesach. They actually sacrifice multiple lambs each year still. It is going to be bloody, but amazing. Then on Friday, in addition to a Good Friday service that I will attend at 3pm, our Cultural Backgrounds class will set up the dining hall for our own Passover Cedar, 1st Century style. And Sunday is Easter. So I have a packed weekend, and also about 8 more pages to write for a paper due monday. Oh boy.

It's time for bed.