{"id":125,"date":"2012-04-10T03:00:36","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T03:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/sla2012\/?page_id=125"},"modified":"2012-09-25T18:29:02","modified_gmt":"2012-09-25T18:29:02","slug":"long-stephen","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2012\/israel\/long-stephen\/","title":{"rendered":"Long, Stephen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Name: Stephen Long<\/strong>
\nE-mail: slong3@nd.edu<\/strong>
\nLocation of Study: Jerusalem, Israel<\/strong>
\nProgram of Study:\u00a0Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Four-Week Intensive Modern Hebrew Language Course<\/strong>
\nSponsor(s): Bruce Broillet<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A brief personal bio:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I did my undergraduate work in Mathematics and Classical Studies at Virginia Tech. I then went on to complete a Masters in Classics (Greek) at the University of Virginia.\u00a0 While teaching high school in Kentucky and Florida, I pursued additional graduate work in Hebrew and theology. I am now working on my MTS in the Department of Theology here at Notre Dame.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why this summer language abroad opportunity is important to me:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A fascination with language initially prompted me to complete a Masters in Classics.\u00a0 However, during the course of studying Greco-Roman antiquity my professional interests shifted increasingly toward Biblical Studies, leading me to the present pursuit of a Masters in Theology in preparation for doctoral studies.\u00a0 Integral to the field of Biblical Studies is a thorough knowledge of the original languages\u2014not only of the Greek and Latin acquired from my Classics background, but also of biblical Hebrew (and the ancillary Semitic languages Aramaic and Syriac).\u00a0 The opportunity to learn modern Hebrew this summer will contribute to my professional development in two specific ways:\u00a0 first, knowledge of modern Hebrew will greatly improve my grasp of the ancient version of the language, and will substantially assist me in the study of ancient texts.\u00a0 Second, the rise of modern Israeli scholarship means that some of the best biblical scholars in the world now write important books and articles in Hebrew.\u00a0 Facility in modern Hebrew will enable me to interact more responsibly with modern biblical scholarship and to serve the scholarly community by engaging with a body of scholarship produced in a language that is still not widely accessible to European and American scholars.<\/span><\/p>\n

What I hope to achieve as a result of this summer study abroad experience:<\/strong><\/p>\n

As explained above, I hope to acquire facility in modern Hebrew in order both to interact with modern scholarship and to engage more effectively with ancient texts written in Hebrew.\u00a0 Both of these primary goals will be directly and specifically assisted by the course in modern spoken Hebrew hosted by Notre Dame\u2019s Tantur Institute in Jerusalem.\u00a0 The course will be taught by an accredited instructor from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, ensuring that the instruction in spoken Hebrew will be of the highest quality.\u00a0 The setting in Jerusalem will provide ample opportunities for cultural as well as linguistic immersion, and my active language skills will be exercised and greatly improved by navigating bus systems, visiting cultural sites, and volunteering in the community.\u00a0 In addition to the Tantur\u2019s attractive emphasis on spoken Hebrew, there will also be supplementary sessions devoted to navigating scholarly academic Hebrew.\u00a0 A more focused program of instruction for my needs could hardly be found anywhere else, and it comes with the recommendation of my Department here at Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

My specific learning goals for language and intercultural learning this summer:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. By the end of the summer I will be able to converse–both verbally and in written form–with native speakers of Hebrew on academic topics concerned with the interpretation of ancient texts.<\/p>\n

2. By the end of the summer I will be able to read modern Hebrew at a level of proficiency sufficient for my academic work.<\/p>\n

3. By the end of the summer I will be able to communicate with native speakers of modern Hebrew to discuss political and cultural topics such as Jewish-Christian and Israeli-Palestinian relations.<\/p>\n

My plan for maximizing my international language learning experience:<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to the classroom study of modern Hebrew, I plan to supplement my acquisition the language in two ways:\u00a0 through a service project in the city of Jerusalem, and through cultural field trips. I plan to volunteer at the Ichlu Reim Soup Kitchen, which provides meals and other services to the Jerusalem community each day. I will volunteer to assist with preparing and serving food, with cleaning the facilities, or with the needs that the director of Ichlu Reim deems most pressing.\u00a0 In addition, Jerusalem and its environs also provide unique opportunities for cultural field trips. In Jerusalem itself, I hope to visit the Israel Museum, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, the Knessett (Parliament), and the archeological sites around the Temple Mount.\u00a0 I also hope to take day trips to see such archeological sites as Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, and the ruins of Masada. These sites are naturally of special interest to me as a Biblical Studies student\u2014and the opportunity to visit them will provide abundant occasion to practice the Hebrew language, as I navigate buses and taxis and ask questions of Israeli tour guides.<\/p>\n

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[Note: My internet access was limited while I was in Israel, so I’m posting all my blog entries about the experience in Israel after my return home.]<\/p>\n

Reflective Journal Entry 1:<\/strong> Pre-entry Reflections<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m really looking forward to spending the next four weeks in Israel learning modern Hebrew. This trip to Israel, as an immersion experience in this country, is especially exciting to me for two reasons\u2014one cultural and the other linguistic.<\/p>\n

I visited Israel twelve years ago\u2014as a tourist. As a tourist, I spent most of my time with my fellow tourists from the United States; we stayed in hotels for tourists; and we kept to the beaten track for tourists. I didn\u2019t think much about how I was getting to the sites I visited, nor about whose territory I was passing through to get there\u2014I just climbed on the bus at the appointed time and place and let the organizers of the tour think about the logistics of getting from one place to another. It was the first time I had ever been outside the United States\u2013and I was naively inclined to be impressed by just about anything foreign and new.<\/p>\n

This visit is altogether different. I\u2019m not living in a hotel for tourists. If I go anywhere outside the gate of our lodgings, the responsibility for getting from one place to the next depends on me and my communicating abilities. I\u2019ll still be an \u201coutsider\u201d in this country, but I won\u2019t be a tourist. I\u2019ll be immersed in this culture as a temporary resident who has to live and travel here on my own.<\/p>\n

This time in Israel is also exciting to me for the role it will play in acquiring a language. I\u2019ve studied biblical Hebrew for about five years now. I can read it fairly well with a dictionary. However, my knowledge of biblical Hebrew is basically a passive knowledge\u2014I can recognize forms and words when I see them, but they aren\u2019t on the tip of my tongue\u2026they aren\u2019t something I can actively produce and use. I hope this trip will change that\u2014I\u2019m really excited about acquiring Hebrew as an active ability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Reflective\u00a0<\/strong>Journal Entry 2:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our first week of classroom work felt like it passed swiftly \u2013 even at 5.5 hours a day! As expected, the biggest issue with acquiring this language isn\u2019t the novelty of the verb forms or the grammar per se, but with producing the forms off the top of my head \u2013 or off the tip of my tongue \u2013 without having to stop and think about them explicitly. Biblical Hebrew didn\u2019t have a \u201cpresent tense\u201d per se; modern Hebrew supplies this by a \u201cperiphrastic\u201d construction using the personal pronoun and the present participle. Having to form this all the time is working wonders on my command of these participle forms \u2013 which have always been passively recognizable but not actively usable.<\/p>\n

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My living quarters are situated between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. From the window of my room I can see the concrete wall that separates Bethlehem and the Palestinian territory only a quarter mile away\u2026 I\u2019ve gone into the Old City of Jerusalem a couple of times. There is an Arab bus system and an Israeli bus system \u2013 separate from each other, of course. Having any but the most minimal conversation about directions with a native speaker is still difficult\u2014but I\u2019m getting used to the transpo system anyway. In addition to visiting the historical sites around the Old City, we went over into Palestinian Territory to see the Herodion \u2013 an ancient palace\/fortress of Herod the Great\u2019s on the edge of the Judean wilderness. The Israeli museum also has an excellent collection showing the historical development of settlement in The Land and its connections to the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East.<\/p>\n

Regarding Journaling Task 1: I\u2019ve found that the word \u201c\u05d2\u05d6\u05e2\u05d9\u201d used to mean something like \u201ccool\u201d \u2013 but it\u2019s dropped out of usage for that these days. \u201c\u05d7\u05d1\u05e8\u05ea\u05d9 \u05de\u05df\u201d used to mean a \u201cfriendly person\u201d\u2013but will get you punched in the face today\u2026 (Better be careful what slang you attempt on the street!) My favorite bit of informal language is the phrase \u201caz yalla bye,\u201d which combines Hebrew, Arabic and English into one phrase meaning \u201cgoodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Reflective\u00a0<\/strong>Journal Entry 3:<\/strong><\/p>\n

This weekend, after our second full week in Israel, we borrowed a car and drove around in the southern region of Israel (i.e. in the \u201cNegev\u201d). Last time I was in Israel I saw the central region around Jerusalem and the more northerly region around Galilee\u2014but this time I wanted to check out the desert in the south. Also, I was really interested in what navigating between Israeli and Palestinian territory would be like. On Friday we went to the site of ancient Lachish\u2013which Sennacherib took by siege\u2014and then to ancient Ashkelon on the coast; on Saturday (Shabbat) we drove down to Beersheba, to (wadi) En Avdat, and then to Tel Arad; and Sunday we went to Masada (down by the Dead Sea). It is a remarkable experience, to my unaccustomed eyes, to have to pass through Israeli ckeck-points (in order to leave the Palestinian Territory) where the car is searched and the baggage thoroughly x-rayed. The border guards were friendly (to us, anyway\u2014as we were carrying American passports), allowed us to practice our Hebrew, and were interested in where we were from. Still \u2013 it reminded me to be thankful that I don\u2019t have to navigate checkpoints every time I pass from one state to another when I\u2019m back home!<\/p>\n

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I\u2019d recommend any of the sites mentioned above to future visitors of Israel\u2014especially Beersheba and Tel Arad, as they\u2019re very old, very well-preserved, and aren\u2019t crowded with tourists (doubtless, due to the heat). Any of them demonstrate what an ancient city in The Land looked like. It\u2019s surprising how small they were\u2014especially compared to the vast sprawl of a modern city. The Israelis do a remarkable job with their archeological parks\u2026 (Though it\u2019s perhaps worth noting that there\u2019s a sometimes un-subtle concern to connect the political narrative of the modern Israeli nation-state with the ancient past.)<\/p>\n

Regarding Journaling Task 2: Over in Tel Aviv there were some social protests during the first week of our stay. Some of the (relatively peaceful) demonstrators were arrested. When I asked about this, concerns were expressed about police \u201cviolence\u201d against protests regarding social justice. Demonstrations are technically allowed\u2014so there was uncertainty what had warranted the arrest of non-violent protestors. The protests stemmed from the high rent\/cost of living in places like Tel Aviv. One person I talked to about this had lived in Germany, and drew comparisons with living there: relatively speaking, living in Israel is much more expensive; and, although it was felt that a good social system was in place in Israel, the feeling was also expressed that the politicians ought to do more to lower the cost of living. Two things strike me as noteworthy about the social issue and the perspectives expressed on it: first, like the citizens of most westernized countries, there was confidence that the politicians could do something about the social situation. But in common with other westernized countries(?), there\u2019s sympathy for the protest (think the \u201cOccupy\u201d movement), but considerable unease with how the protest is received and handled by the authorities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Reflective\u00a0<\/strong>Journal Entry 4:<\/strong><\/p>\n

My third full week of intensive Hebrew went well. This week I took several routine trips into Jerusalem via the now very familiar bus systems \u2014 no problem navigating my way into the city at all now. Otherwise, the week\u2019s schedule varied vary little from the two previous weeks \u2014 except that I stuck closer to home in the evenings since I was getting pretty tired.<\/p>\n

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One notably entertaining\u2014but also helpful\u2014activity that I did in the evenings was to watch an Israeli sitcom. It\u2019s called \u201cArab Labors\u201d and is told from the perspective of an Arab Israeli. One of it\u2019s many virtues is that it shows the difficulties of navigating between life in Palestinian and Israeli territories\u2014but it does this without being preachy at all. Plus, once the writers hit their stride (in about the 3rd episode, I\u2019d say), the show is hysterical. Check it out.<\/p>\n

On Sunday I volunteered at a soup kitchen in Jerusalem. I spent the whole week prior trying to track down someone in the admin to speak to about coming. The person I was finally able to make arrangements with manifestly did not tell anyone else that I was coming. When I arrived, there a large group of young teenagers working in the main dining room\u2014singing with great enthusiasm to American pop music from the late 90s\/early 2000s. The only person in any sort of official capacity was the largish cook\u2014who spoke no English (except for \u201cI don\u2019t speak English\u201d). Our intensive Hebrew course hasn\u2019t been geared toward working in a kitchen or describing the utensils or actions in a kitchen\u2013but the cook and I made do. I chopped a lot of vegetables in the back\u2014while listening to the enthusiastic chatter and singing of the Israeli youth group. Then I ate with the folks who come to the kitchen for lunch. (The conversation with them, in Hebrew, went a little better than the one with the cook.) The lesson I took away: humanitarian work, to be really effective, requires proficiency in the language. No surprise there.<\/p>\n

Regarding Journaling Task 4: I\u2019ve had several conversations with people in \u201cminorities\u201d in Israel. One of these was a woman of Russian descent. Israel has experienced several waves of immigration\u2014and the Russians wave was one of the more recent. New immigrant groups get stereotyped in Israel much as they do in America, and the stereotype for the Russians associated them with drinking and drugs\u2014but also with being good at math, art, music. In any case, said the woman, since the Russians aren\u2019t the most recent, the stigma of being the newest goes to others\u2014to the Ethiopian immigrants, who are often looked down upon as uneducated.<\/p>\n

I also spoke with a group of Palestinian Christians. Clearly, the life of the Palestinians is difficult in general. But the Christians are stuck between a rock and a hard spot. They can\u2019t move about and work freely in Israeli territory; but even in Palestinian territory they cannot get jobs in the government without family or other connections since the state is Islamic. One young man whom I got to know well has dreams of finishing a Master\u2019s degree in social work. I wonder whether he\u2019ll ever get the opportunity\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Reflective\u00a0<\/strong>Journal Entry 5:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think the most useful thing I did for my language acquisition during my last week \u2013 beside the classroom instruction, of course \u2013 was to attend several church services in Hebrew. I wish I\u2019d been able to find these earlier during my stay. (Most other services that I know of were in English, French, or Arabic \u2013 anything but Hebrew\u2026)<\/p>\n

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Another useful activity was an evening spent in Jerusalem with our two Hebrew instructors. We \u201ctoured\u201d several interesting sites \u2013 a house museum, the residence of a famous poet, an Ethiopian church, a historic hospital, etc. \u2013 in the vicinity of Ben Yehuda St. We (the students) were the tour \u201cguides,\u201d so we researched our assigned sites and prepared a presentation\/description of it in Hebrew. Afterwards, our instructors took us to their favorite street restaurant where we enjoyed an evening of pleasant conversation. A very helpful evening as far as modern Hebrew goes.<\/p>\n

Regarding Journaling Task 6: I\u2019ve asked several people about their views on America. The opinions expressed were usually positive over-all\u2014but with qualifications. One woman expressed the opinion that Americans as individuals generally come across as optimistic, loud, pleasant people \u2013 and that nationally\/politically America decides everything for Israel, while Israel can\u2019t do much without America. The U.S. President is viewed favorably. My conversations with Palestinians also revealed some views about America: that it\u2019s a land of optimism and opportunity. Yet there was also the feeling that America is largely silent about what the Palestinians are made to suffer in their political situation\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Reflective\u00a0<\/strong>Journal Entry 6:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Time for retrospective reflections on my four weeks in Israel.<\/p>\n

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Broadly speaking, I found little difficulty \u201cadapting\u201d to the local culture. Getting around in the city and buying things in the markets was no great difficulty after the first week. Enough people spoke enough English that if I couldn\u2019t make myself understood in Hebrew they could still help me with whatever I needed.<\/p>\n

If there was any \u201cculture shock\u201d at all, it was only due to increasing perplexity as I observed the mutually difficult plights of the Israeli and Palestinian states. The concrete walls that separate the territories, the separate bus systems, and the limited political rights of some \u2013these carry connotations of the Berlin Wall experience, segregation in the American South, and Apartheid in South Africa. I come away utterly perplexed as to what an equitable solution to the social situation would be. Neither side can simply yield and leave and go \u201cback\u201d home.<\/p>\n

Since this was my first experience with modern Hebrew, my vocabulary was too small \u2013 even after four weeks \u2013 to carry on extensive conversations about anything except directions to the market and how much I like orange juice. However, it did serve the basic purpose of giving me the grammatical categories\/forms used in everyday conversation. It greatly reinforced my command of the participle forms that are used so extensively in the modern language.<\/p>\n

If I am ever able to return to Israel again and continue to work on the language, I think I would try to create for myself a set of basic words used in discourse about a specific political or social topic. Then I\u2019d try to have multiple conversations about that topic, thus reinforcing my command of that vocab, learning by experience how any idioms associated with them are used, and expanding my speaking abilities outward from that specific center. And if I were to volunteer again at a soup kitchen, I\u2019d make sure that I had a ready vocabulary for actions involved in working in a kitchen (\u201cchop,\u201d \u201cdice,\u201d \u201cknife,\u201d etc.)!<\/p>\n

I thought that the practice of writing up a description of a site \u2014 as we did during the evening in Jerusalem with our instructors \u2013 was very helpful. I\u2019d try to do that more often. At this stage of acquiring modern Hebrew, I felt that the time in the class room with patient instructors was more effective than trying to engage people on the street. Watching Israeli television was also very helpful. (Again, the sit com \u201cArab Labors\u201d was hysterical \u2013 I\u2019d recommend it to anybody for it\u2019s wit, as well as for the informative yet comical way that it deals with the Palestinian\/Israeli conflict.)<\/p>\n

Postcard(s) from Abroad:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Reflection on my language learning and intercultural gains:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Until my immersion experience in Israel this summer, my command of Hebrew was always a passive capacity \u2013 I could recognize forms in reading, but not produce them speedily nor distinguish them aurally.\u00a0 The immersion experience forced me to come to terms with the stark difference between an active capacity for producing forms, and the passive capacity that I had taken to be knowledge of Hebrew.\u00a0 I have a much richer familiarity with those forms that I was forced to use over and over \u2013 especially the participles, which are an integral part of the verb system in modern Hebrew.\u00a0 Four weeks of active speaking is worth at least a semester \u2013 maybe even a year \u2013 of classroom study.\u00a0 I feel that I made significant progress with regard to my goals for language learning:\u00a0 although I am not yet as proficient as I wish to be, I am much closer to being so than I was before going abroad.\u00a0 I think I adjusted to cultural differences with sufficient speed.\u00a0 My main approach to engaging cultural differences was to go out and meet the culture \u2013 navigate the transpo system, eat the food, shop in the market, and talk to people.\u00a0 It worked.<\/p>\n

Reflection on my summer language abroad experience overall:<\/strong><\/p>\n

My overall experience was thought-provoking.\u00a0 I found both the Israelis and the Palestinians with whom I ate and conversed to be very hospitable.\u00a0 At the same time, I have reservations about the sustainability of a social configuration that seeks to divide two groups of people via walls and separate bus systems.\u00a0 The summer language abroad has highlighted the complexity of resolving international and social tensions in the Middle East.\u00a0 It also highlighted the difficulty of even the most basic volunteer work in an international setting without a deep command of the language.\u00a0 I would advise someone preparing to study abroad to work extensively on vocabulary before they go over.\u00a0 Pick an area (e.g. politics) and find out what the basic vocabulary of discourse is for that topic.\u00a0 Practice it while you\u2019re there, and use that as a launching pad for having conversations.<\/p>\n

How I plan to use my language and intercultural competences in the future:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I and three of my fellow Hebrew students are continuing our language acquisition with an online instructor.\u00a0 The language competence achieved via the SLA experience will assist me in reading and interacting with academic sources in modern Hebrew.\u00a0 I will try to continue improving my modern spoken Hebrew.\u00a0 I will also watch events in the Middle East with a more informed and interested perspective on the situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Name: Stephen Long E-mail: slong3@nd.edu Location of Study: Jerusalem, Israel Program of Study:\u00a0Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Four-Week Intensive Modern Hebrew Language Course Sponsor(s): Bruce Broillet   A brief personal bio: I did my undergraduate work in Mathematics and Classical Studies … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":474,"featured_media":0,"parent":38,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-125","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/474"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1256,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/125\/revisions\/1256"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}