Opportunities Archives - Page 4 of 5

How To Learn Biblical Hebrew and Greek

If you’ve thought about learning biblical Hebrew or Greek—or really learning it after seminary, you should consider the Biblical Language Center in Israel. The uniqueness of this program is that you learn Hebrew (or Greek) as a living language. That means that you learn it by living it.

BLC’s goal is for students to fluidly read the Bible with a natural and instant comprehension. Therefore, BLC immersion courses use living language methods in teaching Biblical Hebrew and Koine Greek. This means that more than 90% of classroom time is filled with the spoken biblical language. The result is an internalization of the languages which speeds the pace of learning and improves the reading of the biblical text.

You can read more about it on their website, noting especially the methodology description. I have not had the privilege of participating, but friends who have give the highest recommendation.

Course offerings this summer:

Greek

Beginning Koine Greek (4 weeks):

“Introduction to the Parables of Jesus”

June 7-July 3, 2009

Intermediate Koine Greek (2 weeks):

“More Parables, Papyri, and Aesop’s Fables”

July 5-17, 2009

Hebrew

Beginning Biblical Hebrew (4 weeks):

“Jonah”

June 21-July 17, 2009

Intermediate Biblical Hebrew (2 weeks):

“Ruth the Moabitess: Ruth 1-4, Gen 19, Num 25”

June 21-July 3, 2009

Intermediate Biblical Hebrew (2 weeks):

“Samson, Shfelah, and Philistines, Judges 13-16”

July 5-17, 2009

Intermediate Biblical Hebrew (2 weeks):

“In the Beginning: Genesis 1-3”

July 19-31, 2009

Intermediate Biblical Hebrew (2 weeks):

“Psalms: Selected Coronation, Ascent and Canaanite Psalms”

July 19-31, 2009

All courses are offered in a quiet community near Jerusalem. You can learn more about it at
www.biblicalulpan.org.

Tagged Judah, Opportunities

Hanukkah Re-creation in Hasmonean Village

Hanukkah begins at sundown tonight. The Washington Post reports on a city in Israel that has re-created the story.

Dressed in a tunic and brandishing a sword, Zohar Baram leaps around the makeshift stage in the re-created Israeli village of Kfar Hashmonaim as dozens of children follow the action.
“I am the old Mattathias, and I have seen a lot in my life,” he says in a booming voice. “The Greeks have forbidden us from reading the Torah and observing the Sabbath. . . . We are Jews, and we will always be Jews. Whoever is for God, follow me!”
What follows is a tale of military triumph and a miraculous supply of oil, a story told the world over that gains magic when recounted in the land where it took place. The reenactment of the Hanukkah story, which commemorates the time when a small band of Jews, the Hasmoneans, fought the Greeks for the right to worship in the Temple in Jerusalem, is only part of a visit to Baram’s Hasmonean village, which tries to re-create life during that period, more than 2,000 years ago.
At the village, about halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, children can participate in several activities appropriate to Hanukkah. In one area they harvest olives from a tree and crush them into oil using an ancient olive press. In another they make mosaics, and in a third they make copies of ancient coins.

You can read the rest here.

HT: Paleojudaica

Tagged Opportunities

Autumn Nights in the Old City of Jerusalem

If you want to avoid the crowds and get a different glimpse of Jerusalem, there are some great opportunities in the Old City for the next two weeks. From the JPost:

After putting their heads together, the Jerusalem Development Authority, the municipal Tourism Authority, the Tourism Ministry and the municipal company Ariel came up with a brilliant move called Autumn Nights in the Old City. Successful beyond their wildest dreams, it consists of special (free) Monday and Thursday programs offered from the beginning of September until the end of October. Among the goodies are two light-hearted guided tours, evening performances of vastly diverse music programs and discounted museums kept open until evening.

The article has lots of details of the sites that are open and the costs. If you like to take photographs, I’d recommend the Ramparts Walk and the Tower of David.

Temple Mount and excavations from southwest

Tagged Jerusalem, Opportunities

Extreme Israel

If you’ve already been to Israel and you’re young (at least in spirit), you might consider doing something “extreme” on your next visit. With tourism booming again, there are more and more opportunities for those who don’t know what they’re doing. The New York Times recently had an article on a variety of options for thrill-seekers, including rappelling, zip-lining, hiking, skydiving, mountain biking, and snuba-ing. Who wants to go look at an old pile of rocks with so many other possibilities?

Rappelling near Qumran

Tagged Opportunities

Bike Ride Mission to Israel

Arutz-7 reports on an up-coming bike ride in Israel:

From September 21-27, 2008, athletic tourists will be able to visit and tour the country in a unique style: Bicycling their way through the upper Galilee and the Golan Heights on the Jewish National Fund’s first annual Bike Ride Mission to Israel. “Participants will traverse over 200 miles of breathtaking terrain,” the JNF literature announces, “during four days of fully supported riding (all ability levels are welcome), and will be rewarded with exclusive accommodations at the 5-star Mitzpe Hayamim Hotel and Spa and The Carmel Forest Spa Resort.” The bicycle tours will include stops in towns, army bases, and JNF sites such as security bypass roads, forests, and nature reserves. The participants will also hear talks from public officials and IDF officers, will learn about Israel’s water problems and the JNF’s efforts and successes in solving them, and will take part in rafting and wine-tasting activities. The cost: $3,600 per rider (double occupancy), not including airfare. Participants can either bring their own bicycle or rent one here…. For more information on the bike mission, visit www.jnf.org/bikeisrael.

Tagged Galilee, Opportunities

New Blog: Tel Dan Excavations

The first excavation in Israel to have a running blog is the The Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavations Official (and Unofficial) Weblog. But it’s been several years and no one else seems to have caught on. Until now. The Tel Dan Excavations has started a new blog. At this point, the blog looks more like a website, with static pages but not daily updates. Presumably, with the start of the season this summer, they’ll keep us regularly informed of the progress.

Permit me one comment on the recruiting banner, as they encourage volunteers to sign up. The slogan says, on top of the graphic: “The 2008 season begins June 22! Will you find the missing pieces of the David inscription? Mail your volunteer application soon.” That’s certainly a tantalizing suggestion. Even though it’s been 14-15 years since the three fragments were found, there certainly could be more. And if more are discovered, you can bet that many of the scholarly theories about the Tel Dan Inscription (TDI) will be cast aside. In fact, here’s something that I had not picked up on until research last week. Perhaps you know that the TDI was probably written by the Aramean king Hazael and it mentions his killing of King Jehoram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah. This appears to contradict 2 Kings 9 which says that Jehu, not Hazael, killed these two kings. But here’s what I didn’t realize: the contradiction entirely hangs on two hypothesized words and letters in the TDI (they are reconstructed because the fragment breaks off at these points). In other words, we only know that it says “I killed Jehoram” because scholars hypothesized the words “I killed.” Of Ahaziah, it says “killed Ahaziah,” but the “I” is reconstructed. Whether this is a reasonable or unreasonable guess, it is only a guess. I sure hope they find more fragments. Maybe it’ll be you.

Iron Age gate and plaza at Dan

Tagged Opportunities, Resources