Israel Museum

It is crisp and sunny in Jerusalem. It is also shabbat - the Jewish Sabbath - so buses do not run. Taxis - mostly driven by Muslim Arabs - do operate. Our group had an entirely free day to scatter and do what we wanted. 9 of us had not yet seen the Israel Museum (whihc is closed for rennovation except for the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition and a 1:50 scale model of the city in 66 CE) so we called a van and away we went.
The model is extraordinary, based on the Bible, archeology, and historians of the time such as Josepheus...and much of what we had seen in ruins now makes more sense. What it doesn't have, of course, are any church buildings. What it does have are palaces, fortifications, and Greek influenced complexes.
The special architecture for the display of a small portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls is quite striking. These are the documents found at Qumran - hidden by the Essenes - a Jewish sect active before and during the time of Jesus (probably influential with John the Baptist). Portions of the scrolls often tour around the world - I saw fragments in Akron a few years ago. The Israel Museum is the current custodian - and they are stored in a secret place, for they are the oldest copies of scripture in existence (referring to our Old Testament, especially the Isaiah scroll is complete). I wandered with an English speaking secular Jewish guide. It was satisfying to connect the displayed artifacts with our earlier visit to Qumran.
Enough of museums - I next headed to the Old City for lunch - I think in the Armenian Quarter, watched a demonstration, wandered through the souq (market), ran into some other students from my tour gourp - and we wanted to visit The King David Hotel - where world leaders stay when they come to town. We had dessert on the back patio, in the shade overlooking tennis courts and the swimming pool...one of 1001 places to visit in the world according to someone who wrote a book.
Relaxing now until dinner. This evening we have a local Jewish guest speaker about the Israel/Palestine issues - housing demolitions, settlements, water rights, etc. Should keep us all awake because the group is not of one mind on these things.