Under the auditorium arches at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, students and visitors can enjoy music streaming from the 3,000 pipes of a Danish organ, accompanied by an inspiring view of the Old City.
In March 1987, more than 25 years ago, 81 students first began living in the Jerusalem Center. The program soon grew to enroll about 170 students in five programs a year. The center’s curriculum includes scripture and religions, history and politics, cultures and languages.
Student programs were suspended from 2001–06 due to regional tension; the center now enrolls about 82 students in each of three programs a year.
Beginning next year, the center will resume offering—after a 12-year hiatus—a small, once-a-year, intensive Hebrew study program, now to be taught by native-Israeli faculty. | Photography by Mark A. Philbrick (BA ’75)
