Israel Prayer Journal #19

Well, classes are off and running!  I guess I was naïve, but I wasn’t prepared for how significant the changes would be around the university once classes began.  I have studied at the university for two months now, during the summer, with a one month break.  During that time it was mostly foreign students coming to study Hebrew in ulpan.  The campus was pretty quiet, though the buildings us foreigners were in were pretty busy.

 

Now that the academic year in Israel has started, though, things have shifted into overdrive.  I only have classes four days a week (three day weekend!!), but I chanced to go to the university this past Sunday, the opening day of classes.  It was literally a madhouse.  I was shocked.  Dozens of organizations had set up booths on the sidewalks and in the buildings trying to get the students to join this, support that, buy this, or sign up for that.  I was accosted by several young people who spoke Hebrew at a dizzying speed.  I was forced to say “No thank you” in Hebrew and virtually run away each time.  I had no idea what any of them were saying or wanting me to do.  I felt a little stupid and out of place.  Here I am at a Hebrew-speaking university, and I barely speak a child’s Hebrew.  It was a bit intimidating to enter that crazy, Hebrew-speaking, carnival-like atmosphere and understand virtually nothing that was going on.  There were also literally thousands of Israeli students spread out all over campus.  All my usual quiet places (lookouts over the city or study corners) from the past few months were swarming with loud, busy people.  There were at least triple the number of busses running, causing all kinds of traffic jams.  I was thankful that I was walking to school then.  In short, it was scary chaos, and I virtually ran to the International School to get to some English-speakers.

Classes themselves got off to a decent start.  I have five classes including Hebrew that meet four days a week, though most of my classes fall only on Tuesday.  My professors all seem quite knowledgeable, and the subject matter seems pretty interesting.  All but two of my teachers could certainly use some work on their student-relating skills, but I think it will be okay.  I am slightly concerned over my sociology and economics classes since I have no background in these subjects, but I suppose I’ll be able to get by without understanding every technical term they use.  Three things have struck me with cultural shock as I began classes: 1) the casualness of the teachers [each of them wore jeans, and two wore t-shirts; no ties or jackets]; 2) my grade in each of the classes is dependent on ONE paper or ONE exam with NO other requirements [that puts a lot of pressure on that one assignment for me!!!]; and 3) my one paper in one of my classes is due one month AFTER the course ends (!).  Weird! 

One somewhat disappointing thing about my classes is that I didn’t really see many students that I can foresee myself becoming super good friends with.  Not that there’s anything wrong with the students in my classes.  They just seemed so different from me that I don’t see much potential for deep friendship.  So, you might pray for me in that regard: that I can find and make some more friends.  In an unrelated note, just as an interesting statistical fact: girls outnumber guys in my classes by a ratio of some 4 to 1.  That was surprising to me.  I don’t know why this major is so popular with women.  Oh, and by the way, several times this week I’ve been able to say hi to my Palestinian friend I met in the cemetery a few weeks ago.  Please pray for his eyes to be opened.

Today I observed something about how the past three months have changed me.  It is kind of a sad observation.  Today a few Israelis did very small acts of kindness toward me, and I realized later that these acts took me completely by surprise.  I realized that I have come to not expect kindness from Israelis (Jews & Arabs) in general.  I have come to 1) look out for myself; 2) expect to be occasionally taken-advantage-of; and 3) be ignored.  I was very sad when I realized that I had developed this attitude.  This is not to say that all Israelis are rude or constantly take advantage of others.  That certainly is not the case.  But, obviously, this attitude within me came from somewhere.  I think that Jerusalemites in general fit this stereotype much more than Israelis living outside Jerusalem, and, of course, there are many friendly and kind Israelis who don’t fit this stereotype at all.  It made me purpose to try and go out of my way more and be kinder to others, because kindness is noticed here since it is so rarely demonstrated to others.  LATER EDIT: Ever since I wrote this paragraph, I have constantly been wondering if it is too harsh, or maybe if I was overreacting or over-analyzing.  I guess that maybe I see Israeli merchants, bureaucrats, or employees more along these lines, rather than the general populace, though, to some degree, the general populace seems to fit this stereotype somewhat.  I don't know.  If I'm overstating the situation, please forgive me.  And, as I stated, there are certainly exceptions.  For example, yesterday I met a young lady at a bus stop.  She is just about to finish her military career.  Her English was excellent, and she was quite friendly, so we had a pleasant conversation.  Thus, there are many exceptions to my general stereotype.

One of those acts of kindness shown to me today was actually an answer to prayer.  Last week I went to go buy a discounted student bus pass.  After spending much of the day traveling, waiting in line, and filling out paperwork, I was informed that non-Israelis could not get this pass.  I was greatly disappointed, as this particular pass saves about 50% versus the non-discounted pass.  I called my counselor at school, and she profusely apologized to me for the way that the bus company and the government were unjustly treating us foreign students.  She assured me that she and the student union at the university were fighting on our behalf to get us the right to be treated equally with Israeli students.  I should add that this is not the only way we foreign students are taken advantage of here.  The internet rates we pay are 30% higher than the internet rates other Israeli customers pay from the same company.  Our rent and tuition that we foreigners pay is higher than what the Israeli students pay.  And on and on the list goes.  I’m not necessarily complaining, but I’m also not sure it’s right to do things this way.

At any rate, I got a call today from my counselor.  She informed me that she believes the student union at the university has made their point to the government and the bus company, and hopefully next week we non-Israelis will be able to buy the bus pass.  Then she asked me a favor: if I would go with a student union representative early this coming week to be the first non-Israeli student to apply for a student pass as a test case.  If I am successful, then all non-Israeli students can get a similar pass.  And if I’m not successful, then they will go back to fighting.  That is quite an honor to bestow on me.  At any rate, I was incredibly thankful not only for the honor, but, more importantly, thankful that I will hopefully be able to get the discount.  I had been thinking all last week about how much more the non-discounted pass would cost, and whether or not I should spend all that money to get it.  I was considering walking to school in the cold and rain to save money, but now God seems to be providing the answer to my prayer about it.  I am thankful!

One last personal note: this past Sunday night I went to a concert.  I had been wanting to see “The Idan Raichel Project” perform for about three or four years.  I almost had a chance to see them in Seattle last summer (maybe the year before), but it would have been too expensive to come up to Seattle just for the concert.  But I finally had an opportunity to see them here in Israel this week.  It was quite exciting.  They are an Israeli group, and they incorporate music styles and languages in their songs from many different Israeli sources: Spanish, African, Arabic, and Hebrew.  The concert itself was good, though I was unprepared for the hour-long advertising by the concert’s sponsor before the concert started, and for the unruly crowd.  The crowd was mostly very young foreigners.  They were quite rowdy—flooding the aisles, dancing around everywhere, standing on top of their seats making it difficult to see.  We were in the 7th row, which was awesome, but it was a little difficult to enjoy the concert with the crazy crowd.

In the news recently, Palestine has been accepted as a member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).  This may help bolster their UN-statehood bid, which might be voted-on on November 11.  The US has cut off UNESCO funding, and the Israelis have accelerated their settlement-building and frozen Palestinian Authority funding in response.  Also, interestingly, the Israeli government is planning ten new towns in the Negev area, near Arad.  Thought you might enjoy learning about that.  How fun it would be to design a new city!  There has been A LOT of talk lately in the news about Israel attacking Iran soon.  I don’t know what of it to believe.  My friend was recently in the Negev very late at night and saw several Israeli fighter jets doing maneuvers at ridiculously low altitudes (literally just meters above the Dead Sea and above their car).  With the US withdrawing troops from Iraq by year’s end, this could close a potential flight-path for Israeli fighters.  This timeline may play into it as well.  The UN’s nuclear agency is expected to release a report about Iran’s nuclear weapons aspirations later this month.  Prime Minister Netanyahu has been speaking a lot about Iran lately, including at the Knesset earlier this week.  And the US recently and very publicly foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador on US soil.  In my opinion, things are really heating up.  A strike on Iran has the potential to be disastrous for Israel—war from neighboring states, terrorism, missiles from Hezbollah/Hamas, and condemnation by the international community.  And who knows if a strike will even stop Iran?  Please pray for wisdom for the government leaders and protection for all Israeli people. 

By the way, if major problems do develop for Israel in the event of a military operation against Iran, please don’t worry about me.  I believe that I am where God wants me to be, and, if worst comes to worst, I am prepared to meet God, no matter where I am or when it happens.  My sins are forgiven, and I am at peace with Him.  Rather, please pray for those who aren’t prepared to meet God and whose lives will be endangered by this situation.  I know that’s a lot to ask of you who care about me, but we have to trust God’s perfect plan.  He knows what He is doing, so we must submit ourselves to Him.  That's what I am endeavoring to do.

Lastly, I recently finished reading a book that I highly recommend to you all.  You can read my review here.  It is a VERY interesting book if you are interested in Israeli matters.  If you read nothing more from my review, read the "Current Events" section...

Thanks for all your prayers and support!  It means so much to me.