Temple Isaiah of Newport Beach (Conservative) will...

Temple Isaiah of Newport Beach (Conservative) will hold a Yizkor memorial service in commemoration of Shavuot (Festival of Weeks) at 10 a.m. Monday at the temple, 2401 Irvine Ave.

Shavuot falls seven weeks after Passover and commemorates the receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Shavuot is one of the pilgrimage festivals celebrated in biblical times in which offerings of the first fruits were brought to the temple.

In the evening, passages of the Bible and other sacred books are read, and at the morning service the biblical Book of Ruth is read. Tradition says that King David, son of Ruth, was born and died on Shavuot, therefore the custom of reading or singing psalms comes about on the second evening of the festival. The custom is also carried out by the preparation and eating of dairy dishes on Shavuot.

Another aspect of Shavuot services includes the singing of the poem “Akdamut.” This poem, written in Aramaic in the 11th Century, has a mystical theme from which inspiring melodies have been composed.

The temple invites the public to attend the service. For more information call 548-6900 or 646-7512.

Students of Southern California College in Costa Mesa will travel to Tel Dan, Israel, to spend part of their summer working in an archeological dig. The 36 students and Nancy Heidebrecht, instructor and professor, will work alongside other archeologists in the careful excavation of ancient civilizations.

Excavations at this dig have been going on every summer since 1974. To date, a city gate dating to the time of Jeroboam, an older, fully standing arched gate of the 19th Century B.C., an important temple or high place plus other important domestic structures have been excavated. Last year evidence of metallurgy and possibly the settlement of the biblical tribe of Dan were also discovered.

On weekends the students will go on guided tours to Capernaum, Mt. Carmel, Megiddo, the Sea of Galilee, Masada and the Dead Sea area. They will also tour Jordan, Egypt, Greece, and Ephesus in Turkey, and make a brief stop in Vienna.