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1, 1968. On that date, in a formal ceremony at the palace of the
late President Shazar, Ambassador College entered into this joint
participation formally with Hebrew University and the Israel
Archeological Society.
"Do you want a formal, legal contract?" I was asked. "My
word is good," I replied. "And I believe yours is, too, without
any legal entanglements." That was good enough for them, and our
friendship and mutual participation has grown ever since.
Our very important friends in Israel--from the President and
Prime Minister of the country on down in the government--and
from President Harmon and Vice President on down in the University,
have been not only most friendly and cordial--but more--affectionate!
And so I thought that in this letter, you might like to hear
a report on this latest Jerusalem visit.
We arrived Thursday--late afternoon. Friday morning, Mayor
Teddy Kollek met us at the Jerusalem Hilton Hotel at ten. He took
us on a 2 1/2 hour tour of portions of the "old city" where the
Mayor has been supervising rejuvenation and rebuilding. After all
the years of being "trodden down by the Gentiles" the old walled
city has become dirty, decayed--anything but beautiful. But Mayor
Kollek is RESTORING much of its original beauty.
Israel is a very poor country--economically. The government
does not have billions upon billions of dollars for such purposes.
Much of this restoration is being done by volunteer labor. It
made me think of the early days in building Ambassador College.
In those days, as we purchased gradually more and more
property, we used old, dilapidated frame houses for many purposes--
we used volunteer student labor--we improvised as was necessary
to keep building and growing. That is the way the Israelis are
doing in building up their country.
First the Mayor took us through the citadel--or the "Tower
of David." This is an agglomeration of old buildings, inside the
northwest corner of the walled city. Some of these old brick and
stone buildings date back to the second century B.C. The northern
tower of the citadel has been known as the Tower of David since
Byzantine times--but neither the citadel nor Tower of David have
any connection with the ancient King David.
There are many walls and many rooms, and it is being restored
into beautiful and modern condition.
From the citadel we were taken over to the old Jewish quarter
of the old walled city. Here are a cluster of low, domed houses.
Very old. Very unimpressive from the outside. But entering, we
were struck by the BEAUTY, the MAJESTY of the rooms--the high
ceilings which had looked like very low buildings from the dingy
old outside. But Mayor Kollek had done a remarkable job of
restoring this area. There were about four synagogues--each in a
different room in the same building--now very modern, very bright
and beautiful on the interiors.