BYU Jerusalem Center Blog

Kristen Moulton of the Salt Lake Tribune reported that the Jerusalem Center program, with only minor changes, is progressing well during the Gaza War. 

“BYU did not consider shuttering the center to students or sending them home, as it did in 2000, for several reasons, Kearl said. The center hosted no BYU students for six years because of civil unrest.

The Jerusalem Center is about 80 miles from Gaza, at its nearest point, and students do not take field trips to areas where Hamas’ rockets can reach, he said.

Moreover, it appeared clear the fighting would not spread outside Gaza.

“None of the program activities are at risk, nor is the center at risk,” Kearl said. ”

Read the full article here.

Living in Jerusalem while learning its history and studying about its conflicted past is an unsurpassed experience in my life.  Living in Jerusalem while a bloody conflict played out around me was surreal and in a way put me smack in the middle of history.  The students in Jerusalem now may be having some of those same feelings.  I would be interested to talk to them and see how living in Israel in the midst of a war has affected their experience. 

Even with the major fighting in Gaza, the students slotted for the Winter semester at the Jerusalem Center left on Tuesday as planned. Lacy Hales writes:

Carri Jenkins, BYU Communications Assistant to the President, said plans were not going to change for the center because of the violence. “The University is very careful and prudent with the safety and security of our students,” Jenkins said.

She said everything for the Center is going on as planned. Students left for Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Jenkins said that students still apply for the program, even in times of violence or unrest.

“We don’t see a significant decline in applications,” she said. This semester 80 spots were available for students, and all of them were filled, Jenkins said.

Students visiting the Jerusalem Center spend four months in the Holy Land, taking courses that focus on the Old and New Testament, ancient and modern Near Eastern studies, and Hebrew and Arabic languages. Students also have the opportunity to take field trips all over the Holy Land as part of the program.

To see the full article, visit
http://www.ldslivingonline.com/article.php?articleId=94598

I found this on the BYU JC website:

“Beginning in 2009, the BYU Jerusalem Center will eliminate the short 2-month programs and offer three 4-month programs on an annual basis. Program dates and application time-periods are outlined in the general information.

For the present, eligibility is limited to students enrolled at BYU, BYU-Idaho, or BYU-Hawaii.”

When I applied to the JC Program, back in 2000, I was a student at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. I am so so grateful that they let me apply even though it’s true…I was only using BYU for the Jerusalem Center. Not that it isn’t a great school, it just wasn’t where I wanted to do my four years. However, I desperately wanted to get to the Holy Land and it seemed like the perfect way. And it was. And I understand that because nowhere near as many students get to go now, it makes sense to limit enrollment to BYU students. I just feel very blessed that I was able to go and was one of the few (there really weren’t a ton of us) non-BYU students to be able to attend.

Even eight years after returning to the United States, the view of Jerusalem’s Old City from the top of the Mount of Olives remained vivid in author Erin Tolman’s mind, as did the sound of gunfire and sirens which marked the beginning of the Second Intifada in September 2000. Unable to let the memories remain only in her journal, Tolman wrote a series of thirty-eight vignettes describing her semester as a student at the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies and titled the collection A View of Jerusalem.

The Holy Land is a place of spiritual and historical significance to millions of people. Tolman, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and as a young college student of history, witnessed the sacredness and the violence which exist side by side in Palestine.

A View of Jerusalem begins on September 29, 2000 when Palestinian rioters and Israeli police clashed in the Old City and sparked a brutal conflict which lasted for years. While Tolman and the other 175 students at the Jerusalem Center remained safe during the following two months, their study abroad experience changed dramatically at that point.

After opening her account with this historically pivotal day, Tolman contrasts life at the Jerusalem Center before and after the violence begins. She visits the Garden Tomb, floats in the Dead Sea, walks on the Temple Mount, and describes the daily routines of the Jerusalem Center. As hostilities erupt and continue, Tolman is able to explore parts of Israel, Jordan, and Egypt until she and the other students are sent home a month early and the Jerusalem Center closed its doors to students. Those doors remained closed until January 2007 when forty-four students returned to study at the Center.

Steven L. Elgan created pencil drawings to accompany ten vignettes. Among the illustrations included are The Jerusalem Center, The Dome of the Rock, St. John the Baptist Church, and the Church of Beatitudes.

For more information or to order, please go to A View of Jerusalem’s website at www.byujc.org

In conjunction with A View of Jerusalem, Tom and I decided to start this blog about all things BYU JC.  Hopefully you’ll find some of them useful or at least interesting.  We’ll be posting news and reviews about the book, but also about the JC itself and the experiences of others who have been there.  If you are  JC’er and have a blog about your experiences (even if it’s old!) and you want to be added to our blogroll please post a comment.