Back to School, Shiloh, and Car Brakes

Back to School

The Israeli school year starts in late October. This was the first week of classes for me. I didn’t have any classes last year, so this is my first experience at taking classes in Israel.

I am only enrolled in one class this semester, “Writing a Dissertation,” but I decided to also attend the “Early Pottery” class. When I enrolled for the “Writing a Dissertation” class, the registrar hinted that it might be in English if enough English-speakers enrolled. I decided not to get my hopes up, but to be pleasantly surprised if it ended up being in English. 

I found the classroom at the appointed time. There were about 25 students. The professor began speaking in Hebrew and continued for a few minutes before a girl raised her hand and said (in English) that she could not understand Hebrew. Several other students, including myself, expressed agreement. The professor seemed surprised and unsure of what to do. He asked if everyone in the classroom could understand English. Most could. A few said that if he spoke slowly, they might understand. The lecture continued in English. After a while several Hebrew-speaking students complained that they did not understand. The lecture continued in Hebrew. The professor said something that was apparently funny, because all the Hebrew-speaking students laughed. The English-speaking students gave him blank stares. This reminded him that we didn’t understand. After that, he decided to compromise and alternate between English and Hebrew. In the end, even if I didn’t understand everything, I got the basic idea of the lecture. 

The next day, I attended the pottery class. This one was in Hebrew. I was the only non-Hebrew-speaker in the class, and I wasn’t even a registered student, so there was no hope of having this class in English. I used Google Translate on my phone to take photos of the PowerPoint slides and translate them into English. I think that I understood enough to make it worth my while to attend this class. 

A Tour of Shiloh

On Wednesday, I met with a tour group at Shiloh. I knew the group leader, and he asked me to show his group our excavations at Shiloh. They were a fun group. They were from Idaho, so they knew a lot of the same places that I’m familiar with. They asked good questions and seemed very interested in what I had to say. I enjoyed showing them around and interacting with them.

As they left, they said that they were heading to Bethel next and invited me to join them. I really wanted to go, but I had another appointment and had to hurry to make it back to Ariel for that. I asked their guide exactly where they were going, since there are different ideas of where Bethel is. He explained that they were going to the modern settlement of Beit-El to a spot where they could overlook the ancient site. I felt a bit better about missing out on the opportunity, since they weren’t actually going to the ancient site. 

New Brakes and a Miracle

I overspent my budget this month. I needed to get some furniture for my new apartment, so I made a couple of trips to IKEA. I may have gotten a bit carried away, but I was still within the amount that I was okay with spending on it. All would have been well except that some unexpected expenses came up. Even so, I knew that I would be cutting it close, but I still figured that I’d be okay.

Then the brakes on my car started giving me trouble. I figured that brakes are pretty important, so I made an appointment with the mechanic. As I sat at the mechanic’s shop waiting for him to assess my car and worrying about how much it was going to cost, I checked my email. I had an email saying that the folks from my home church had taken up a collection for me and that it had been deposited it into my account. That eased my mind a bit. 

I ended up needing new brakes plus a few other things, and it cost more than I anticipated. The total came to 2128 shekels. I paid the mechanic, but I knew that I was in a bit of trouble now. Even with the gift from my church, I had to use part of the money that I had set aside to pay my rent at the end of the month. I prayed about it on the drive back from the mechanic and asked God to provide somehow. 

When I got home, I decided to do some unpacking. One of my new pieces of furniture is a desk (very important for a student!). There was a box full of office supplies that had been sitting in a corner since I moved. I started unpacking them into the desk. In the bottom the box was a stack of important papers. I sorted through them, tossing the ones that were no longer important. 

Partway through, I came across my designated cash envelope. I knew that the envelope was empty, because, shortly before I moved, I had raided it to stock my wallet with cash. Since then, it had been sitting unused in this box. I picked it up and tossed it onto a sorted pile. I knew right away that something wasn’t quite right. The envelope should have been flat and empty. Instead, it was quite plump. I opened it and pulled out a stack of cash, 2550 shekels, to be exact. More than enough to cover my mechanic bill. I have no idea where that cash came from. I’m certain that I emptied the envelope and never restocked it. That’s more cash than I would normally keep on hand, anyways. I’m pretty sure it’s a miracle. That’s the only logical explanation that I can think of.