4."
Spirituality
M
SHIRT REVITAL BILIK
egan Nesbitt woke to the
sound of the alarm clock
at 4:30 a.m.— a new day
of digging was beginning.
She and nearly 50 other students filed
onto a bus headed for their excavation
site, Zippori National Park in the Jezreel
Valley in Israel's central Galilee.
"The tools for us diggers were
already at the site locked in big cases:
pickaxes, small pickaxes for more
detailed work, buckets, gloves, and
wheelbarrows," Nesbitt said.
By the time real breakfast came
around at 9:30 a.m., the group of
American students had been digging
for four-and-a-half hours in the 110-
degree heat.
Nesbitt, a 23-year-old native of Ann
Arbor and 1999 English and Judaic
Studies graduate from the University of
Michigan, was a member of the William
Davidson Zippori Archeological
Excavation in 1998. The dig, which
takes place each summer, has brought
students from universities around
Michigan, including Albion, Eastern
Michigan and Michigan State, to
Zippori since 1985 for six weeks of
intensive work, friendships and Israel
exploration.
While some students involved, like
Aaron Kaufman, 23, a 1999 U-M
Judaic studies and cultural anthropology
major, join the trip partly to comple-
ment a line of study, Nesbitt said her
reasoning included wanting to learn
more about Israel and Judaism.
"I wanted to go because I really
wanted to visit Israel, to see Jerusalem,
to be in a country where Jewish is the
norm," she said.
The students involved indeed start
out the trip in Jerusalem, learning about
their upcoming experience.
"We always start out with a pre-semi-
nar where students are oriented to Israeli
society, politics, cultural differences,
etc.," said Marty Zimmerman, a 23-
year-old masters student in the Service,
Training and Research in Jewish
Communal Development (S.T.A.R)
masters program at U-M. Zimmerman
interns at the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and helps in the
planning of this summer's trip. The
Federation helps coordinate the program
along with the U-M Hillel and the
University of Michigan. Their efforts are
made possible by Detroit-area residents
Nancy and James Grosfeld, Harold and
Penny Blumenstein, and Doreen and
David Hermelin.
After the seminar, students go on a
10-day tour of Israel. For Rebecca
Zaidel, a Michigan State University
sophomore from Grand Rapids, the
most memorable point of the trip came
in hiking the Golan Heights.
"I jumped off of a cliff into the
freezing waters of the Golan. That is
definitely something that I will never
forget," she said.
Students then settle into Kibbutz
Hasolelim to begin their excavation.
This year's dig is June 19 to Aug. 1.
According to Rabbi Rich Kirschen,
associate director at U-M Hillel, the
site was first excavated in 1931 by U-
M Professor Leroy Waterman. He
found the first remains of an ancient
town, once the capital of the Galilee,
where Jewish Oral Law was codified
into the Mishnah.
Today, the excavation is led by pro-
fessor and archaeologist Zeev Weiss of
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
and his team of experts. Kevin
Berman, a U-M Business School
junior from Bethesda, Md., said hav-
ing Weiss as the dig leader made his
trip more memorable.
"You're going to be excavating history
instead of just learning about it," he
said, "and you're taught by one the lead-
ing experts in the world on Zippori."
Some of the history dug up by the
students included the 1998 unearthing
of the city's defensive wall from the time
of King Herod. The find was featured in
the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz.
While at the dig, students continue
learning about the history of their site
and the Jewish meaning behind it.
"There is an overwhelming sense of
Jewish connection and identity,"
Zaidel said.
Nesbitt said her expectations for the
trip were well met. "It is a great way to
experience Israel, a wonderful dig with
wonderful people, and a real bonding
experience for the participants. It was the
best summer of my life," she said. "Of
course, you have to be willing to work
hard, but the payoff is worth it."
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4/21
2000
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