In May 2023, Dr. Elaine Phillips taught historical geography to the most recent cohort of Wheaton in the Holy Lands (WIHL) during their time at Jerusalem University College (JUC), located on Mount Zion near the Old City’s Jaffa Gate. Phillips, a distinguished professor emerita of biblical studies at Gordon College, and her husband, Perry Phillips, a long-time adjunct faculty member at JUC, planned on returning to JUC that year to teach a short-term program in mid-October.
On the morning of Oct. 7, Phillips received news of Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israel. She also received a WhatsApp notification from an M.A. student at JUC. “We’re at war,” read the message.
“It was just devastating, the visceral evil of that,” said Philips in an interview with the Record, recalling that morning. She knew nothing was going to be the same again.
The Oct. 7 attacks stopped the professor couple’s flight to Tel Aviv, which was scheduled for Oct. 10. Three months later, even with the Gaza war raging on, they returned to JUC to teach and “help in whatever way we could.”
As Wheaton prepares for students to return to Israel after temporarily suspending its study abroad programs, the Record talked with Phillips and other members of JUC about keeping its doors open during the Gaza war.
Since its inception in 1971, WIHL has partnered with JUC for the Israel portion of the program, after which students travel to follow Paul’s missionary journey and the development of the early church in Greece, Turkey and Italy. Wheaton also partners with JUC for its Semester in Jerusalem program.
Students stay on JUC’s campus, which is a five-minute walk from the Old City, and are taught by its professors. According to its mission statement, JUC offers students the opportunity to “deepen their knowledge of God and his Word through immersive study of the ancient and modern contexts of Israel and the surrounding regions.”
Ian Weathington ’20, a graduate student at Wheaton studying higher education and student development, studied under Phillips on the 2023 WIHL trip. Weathington said he was grateful for Phillips’ instruction and the relevance she brought to Scripture via geographical and historical context.
“Whether it was learning about the Jewish festivals on the steps of the Temple Mount or reimagining Elijah’s defeat of the prophets of Baal whilst sitting on Mt. Carmel, each of her lessons embodied a depth of knowledge that challenged me to read the Bible anew,” he said. “Even two years later I still find myself in awe at the experiences we got to share on that trip thanks to Dr. Phillips and JUC.”
Wheaton canceled both the spring of 2024 Semester in Jerusalem and the 2024 WIHL trip due to the Gaza war, which has been called genocidal. Both programs hope to return to JUC in 2026. JUC, however, has continued its academic programs through the conflict.
Oliver Hersey serves as president of JUC. Originally a Chicago high school math teacher, Hersey felt called to a line of work involving biblical studies.
“I distinctly remember the Lord impressing upon my heart the calling of bringing people to the Holy Land for the sake of deepening their understanding of him and his Word,” said Hersey.
He holds a Ph.D. in theological studies in Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern history and languages from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He used to teach at North Park University and pastored in the South suburbs of Chicago. He then applied to his current role at JUC, in which he has served since 2021.
Away on a trip in Greece, Hersey woke up on Oct. 7 to many texts and calls from his team at JUC, as well as many unclear news reports about the early happenings of the war. JUC needed to respond immediately.
Hersey returned to campus three days later due to the airport shutdown. All students, faculty and staff were safe upon his arrival. Hersey said that the team at JUC is very well prepared for crisis management. “I was so proud of my team for how they responded without me being present,” he said.
Although there were no direct hits in Jerusalem with rockets, missiles were being intercepted overhead the college in the early months of the Gaza war. In November, the team at JUC anticipated an 80 percent loss in revenue for the fiscal year. It turned out to be closer to 85 percent, according to Hersey.
JUC eliminated 17 jobs before Christmas of 2023 and the spring 2024 semester, giving appropriate severance packages while they still had the resources to do so. Some employees only spoke Arabic, requiring the college to hire interpreters for the layoffs. Although these were very difficult cuts to make, Hersey said that almost everyone let go was understanding of the situation.
JUC has remained operational by keeping costs low and receiving the blessing of abundant donations, offsetting some of the loss. JUC team members were forced to assume many operational roles not part of their job descriptions. Hersey found himself doing dishes and occasionally making pizzas in the kitchen, relying on his days working at a pizza place in college.
“We all chipped in in the ways we could, and that’s how we’ve hung in there for the last year and a half,” said Hersey. “And today we are still solvent and bobbing along, not drowning but definitely not yet in the boat.”
“There is no leadership training or experience in life, perhaps, that’s gonna prepare you for trying to navigate a war and a university that you’re trying to keep open through the midst of it,” continued Hersey. “I’m grateful first and foremost for God and his mercy and wisdom that he’s allowed us to have and for the team that he’s surrounded me with.”
Elaine and Perry Phillips have nearly a half-century of association with JUC, formerly the Institute of Holy Land Studies. After graduating from seminary in 1976, the Phillips couple, both alumni of Cornell University, pursued degrees in Hebrew language and literature in Israel. During this time they began teaching at JUC, with Elaine teaching Hebrew and Perry leading a short-term historical geography course, the latter being the predecessor of WIHL’s course of study.
Upon arriving at the starkly empty airport in January of 2024, Phillips saw images of more than 200 Israeli hostages lining the walls of Ben-Gurion airport.
“There’s one after another after another along that whole avenue as you walk from passport control down,” she said. “It’s overwhelming, it’s heartbreaking. Each of those pictures that are still there, of people who are either dead or alive in Gaza, have messages written all over them — loving, heart-wrenching messages written with the flowers and so forth.”
After arriving in January 2024, Phillips taught two small classes of 14 “splendidly intrepid” students and acted as an academic consultant while her husband worked in maintenance. All students were M.A. students due to most undergraduate institutions, like Wheaton, postponing their partnerships with JUC. Like Hersey, Phillips also helped with operations, including working in the JUC kitchen, as pictured below.
In the early morning of April 13, 2024, a blaring red alert alarm woke Phillips and the rest of the team at JUC. Instantaneously, she started hearing explosions. Iran launched approximately 300 ballistic drones and missiles at Israel that night. While the Iron Dome, Israel’s mobile air defense system, was effective at intercepting the strikes, the possibility of shrapnel from missiles sent those at JUC running for shelter.
“The sirens, when they start going off, are reminiscent of the tornado sirens in the Midwest,” she said. “And when you hear that it just sort of gets you. It gets you in the gut and you run.”
Now back at JUC for the spring 2025 semester, Phillips is teaching and serving as JUC’s interim chief academic officer. Phillips sends weekly updates to a group of 30 people who pray for the Phillipses, JUC and all those affected by the conflict.
Continuing a pattern of many decades, she takes walks around various parts of Jerusalem every morning.
“I walk past people, and I just think, ‘They all have somebody they’ve lost,’” she said. No matter where they are: Jews, Arabs, humans, whatever.”
At the time of Phillips’s interview with the Record, the 2025 Gaza war ceasefire was in effect. Phillips described the ceasefire as “everyone holding their collective breath.”
“We pray earnestly, we pray,” she continued. The ceasefire expired on March 18 after Israel launched surprise airstrikes on Gaza, killing over 400 people, to force Hamas to release more hostages. According to Israel, there are 59 captives remaining in Gaza, 24 of whom are still thought to be alive.
Cyndi Parker, a Philadelphia-based educator and writer specializing in the biblical context and theology of place, is another adjunct faculty member with JUC. She was also their director of short-term programs, as well as a long-time collaborator with the WIHL program.
She finished seminary at JUC, and her time there motivated her to focus on historical geography.
“It had a massive impact on my life, and I love teaching it because a lot of people don’t think about the actual texture of the ground and the reality of the biblical text,” said Parker.
Considering how Wheaton students can better understand the conflict, Parker said to “ask more questions and not assume that news headlines tell the full story.”
“Talk to people who actually live there, sift through the knowledge” she continued.
Parker characterizes the war as perpetuated by both sides, which she described as “poking the bear.”
“Don’t be so monolithic in your views. Keep the story complex,” she said.
Professor of theology George Kalantzis, who is the current director of the WIHL program, said he wants to remind the public that, in addition to employing people from many backgrounds and identities, JUC educates a diverse body of students.
“JUC has historically been the place where many Christian Palestinian students come to study. By supporting JUC, you don’t just support our partner. One supports the access of Palestinian Christians to graduate education in Bible and theology and archaeology,” he said.
Kalantzis encourages students to support JUC in whatever way they can.
“Go on the website and donate; take a course online or in person,” he said. “Even if you cannot give financially, write a short note. ‘We’re praying for you. We’re thankful you’re in ministry. I’ve never been to your campus, but I’m looking forward to the day I can.’”
“Encourage, because everything around them says, ‘Shut it down.’”
Hersey, who is spending this semester in the United States to fundraise, stated that he and the rest of JUC cherish Wheaton as their “most consistent and most long-standing partner of more than 50 years.”
Hersey hopes Wheaton students understand the deeply historical, complex nature of the conflict.
“Learn about it in that light and have empathy toward both our Palestinian brothers and sisters as well as our Jewish brothers and sisters, as opposed to standing on one side and waving a flag indiscriminately or discriminately,” he said.
“Don’t oversimplify, understand that here at this college we employ both Palestinians and Israelis, Jews, Christians and Muslims. Together we try to work toward reconciliation.”
