Posts

Showing posts from August, 2013

Third Post, 2013

Every year I mean to post something once a week, and it seems that every year something happens to keep me away from the blog.   This year it was the discovery that a large stone we’ve seen peeking out of the ground for two seasons is in fact a heart-shaped column, which meant that we had almost assuredly found the remains of Shikhin’s synagogue.   You can read about it here: http://www.samford.edu/Media_Releases/2013/Samford_Archaeological_Dig_in_Israel_Uncovers_Unfamiliar_Jewish_Village.aspx#.UfzvTKxyxvp . As it is almost impossible to get enough sleep during the dig, one of the joys of spending three days in Jerusalem at the end of the season is the slower pace.   I get up at 6 rather than 3:30 am, I sit on the front porch of the Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem and drink cappuccinos, I go to sites in the Old City and bookstores in the New, and visit with old friends, most of whom are shop owners. On the way to the Western Wall yesterday afternoon we stopped by the shop o