You Like Her? Samaria!

The day started like most other field studies here, except this time at five in the morning. I find pride in the fact that I rose before my room mate, and was the first one to turn the light on in the bathroom. I should mention that they decided to fix the showers, and the water pressure and heat were quite the way to start a morning. However, my morning grumpiness lasted most of the day. We were on our way to Samaria, originally the tribal allotment of Manasseh, and on the way stopping in Ephraim, which I am still learning to spell. After the usual hasty breakfast, we stumbled on the bus at seven; the following ensued:

#1 Overlooking Ephraim
Our first stop was a short one. It was a striking look at Ephraim’s cenomanian wilderness. The two buses were together for most of the day because Samaria is a bit of a testy area; at least in the fact that it is behind the “fence.” The sky was clear in the morning, and I might add that it was rather chilly out, because it’s been raining (but more on that later)! We pointed out some aspects of the land before moving on to yet another one of our cultural experiences of the day. This was also around the time I started to have to pee, and yes I went before I left.

#2 Elan More (Elaun Moray)
Our next stop was a Jewish settlement that the school has been visiting for the last few years. It is on a mountain across the valley from two other famous mountains, Mt. Garazim and Mt. Ebal, and of course the chalk moat that divides the two. This is supposedly the perfect place to over look Shechem and Samaria, and definitely the Wadi Shechem and Wadi Beta, which drains east to the Jordan, I hope. (I have an exam in a few hours) Alright so the only way we can get into the settlement is to be taken around by one of its founders. The settlement is a group of Jews amongst a valley of Arabs, and therefore they keep themselves very protected. (Supposedly they have an infrared fence) So we drive and climb half way up this mountain to have this man explain to us why they deserve to be there. He also gave us a pamphlet stating the Jewish history of the land that ended with a murder and the phrase “May G-d avenge their blood.” We were warned that this guy might be a little… opinionated, and he was, but I thought it was funny. My favorite part being when he thought that the Jews today should learn a lesson from Dina’s brothers. Yes he really said that. It was around this time when we found out that they had torn down the bathrooms on top of this mountain, so a few of us ladies decided to make an expedition to the top of the hill and get away from the group. On top of the hill was a tree and a ruin. So we all just kind of picked a place, be inside of this ruin because of course I would never pee outside. Nicole was nice enough to keep watch for me and talk me through my nerves. However, then we come to find out that we had just desecrated some supposed Muslim Monument, go figure. I am hoping that Muhammad will find it in his heart to forgive me. I might also mention that we found a tortoise on the trail, and my girlish squeals ensued. Gosh I just love them. As we were walking away I told Alex that we threw it over the side of the mountain, and he believed me. Poor guy!

#3 Lunch in Samaria
Now you may not know this but there actually is a town called Samaria, which was the third Capital of the Northern Kingdom, and just happened to be where we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called… The Good Samaritan. Go figure. Anyway at least they let us use their nasty bathrooms. I am mentioning this stop because Cindy got on of the high priests from the tribe of Levi to talk to us. Now I didn’t know this, but there is a Samarian religion. I guess that’s where the Jews and the Samarians went wrong. They only believe in the Five books of Moses, and supposedly have the worlds oldest book in their Synagogue. They believe that instead of Jerusalem being where everything happened, it was actually Samaria. We got to stand in a square where one a year all of the families in this religion come with a Lamb and slaughter it. Supposedly if you go in the spring you can watch this BBQ take place. I thought the idea was pretty interesting. We them hiked up to another view of this valley which held the ruins of a byzantine church. On this hill had been an altar to the Lord, a temple to Zeus, and now the church ruins. It was interesting to think about. The wind was really picking up at this point and we struggled to keep out maps open.

#4 Mt. Garazim
We went up to Mt. Garazim to overlook the Tel of Shechem, because you can’t bring a bus into the town. Shechem is built on Eocein limestone and was one of the first Capitals in the New Kingdom thanks to Jeroboam. We read and dicused the story of the woman at the well and pointed out a church that commemorates the event. It was interesting that when the woman mentioned the sacrifices, they were performed on the hill on which we were standing! There are plenty of other stories that include these two mountains, but I will leave you to figure them out!

#5 The Shiloh Tel
Before we got to Shiloh we stopped to over look the valley that it lays in. Unfortunately Cindy took us down someone’s garbage path and we had to walk by a number of dead animal remains. While this was sort of cool, the smell was just to die for, and I really do not remember anything she said about this valley. I then learned you could get Hep from touching that kind of thing, and remembered that I couldn’t afford to get the shot, and walked back to the bus. Their was some pretty terracing going on in that area though. I told Alex that the reason we stopped was to see the Donkey Yard that was on our map, this time he didn’t believe me. Next we went to the Shiloh tel. Now I don’t have to tel you twice that this was the cleanest area I have been to thus far. I could tel that they took care of the place. The coffee shop there was adorable and most of all clean. I just can not stress that enough. So because the tabernacle was at Shiloh, we went to see a small model of it and Cindy described it for us. It wasn’t all that accurate of a model, but we can’t all live in Lancaster can we? By now we were running short on time so we climbed up the tel to the top where there was a nice observation tower… covered in bird poop. It was windy at the top, but the breeze felt nice at the end of the day. As the sun began to set, we explored Shiloh and it’s rich history as a good place to find a wife and to get a glass of wine. (Those were jokes.)

That is were our day ended, and I for sure took at a nap on the bus ride home!