Ancient and Modern, Holy and Profane: Impressions from my Sabbatical in Israel
Reid Simmons
Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, is an area of contrasts. Where else
does one find 2000 year old buildings mere blocks away from modern
high-rise apartments, shepherds tending flocks outside of high technology
centers, and three major religions practicing ancient rituals in the midst
of a modern society? In this talk, I will attempt to convey some of my
impressions of life in Israel during my six-month Sabbatical there this
past year. I'll describe how my family and I adopted to the cultural,
religious and political differences there, the history and archaeology that
we discovered literally underfoot and, yes, I'll even squeeze in a few
observations about the state of computer science research in Israel.