Day Two - יום שני

Evening and morning: The sound of the adhan, the call to prayer.
The adhan is both an invitation and a reminder. It is an invitation to pray with the Muslim community here and everywhere. It is an invitation to pray in a mosque or masjid or wherever I am. It is an invitation to pray salat, the Islamic prayer of the hour. And it is an invitation to pray my own prayers at those same hours.
The is a adhan reminder that I have my own tradition of prayer upon the hours: morning prayer, noon prayer, evening prayer and compline. The adhan calls me to the prayers of my church, especially those I so often neglect at home. Some of our prayer times, Muslim, Christian and Jewish overlap. I like to think that we are not in competition for God's ear but a harmony or symphony which if lacking one voice, the voice of one tradition, would leave the composition unfinished and distorted.

Walking in Jerusalem:

My feet have found their path. There is a great hill leading to Tantur. At its base is the Hebron Road with Bethlehem to the south and greater Jerusalem to the north. There are good sidewalks and beautiful flowers. And a steep hill to climb in order to return. My day's exercise is guaranteed. I have always loved the pedestrian crossing signs in Israel. They are a great place to think about the construction of gender and citizenship.
Here are some photos I took on my walk around the Tantur campus:







Library Privileges:
The library here on campus is large - and I have yet to go to École Biblique. There appears to be no computerized record of the library holding here. I had to use a card catalog. There are only two other scholars here. The group taking the June course here (about 20) are off on a day trip. I was the only person in the library. And I found the volume I needed. I look forward to exploring there some more.