Israel 2023

Every day we finish the day thinking, how will we top this tomorrow or even equal it?  We don't want to think that tomorrow is going to be anti-climactic, but alas (Bible word)...each day is different and definitely feels like it tops the one before.  A high bar for our new guide tomorrow! We got up this morning- early!  Another big day ahead of us - starting at the Temple Mount.  So the Temple mount is now an Islamic shrine set on top of the site that was one THE Temple during Jesus' time - it is where he was teaching when he was a teen and his mom couldn't find him and it is where later on he turned over the tables of the money changers!  So this was the Holy place where all Jews would come to celebrate the big holidays.  Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times and captured and recaptured 44 times.  Civilizations just keep piling up here.   The Jewish people know they will not get back the area where their t...

 Shalom Shabbat!  On Shabbat, Jews are not supposed to do anything that "creates" (just as God created the world on the 6th day and on the 7th he rested) - so they cannot press a button (they have special elevators that stop on every floor so no one has to put a button), they cannot cook (they prepare ahead of time), nothing that is work, no flame making, no switching switches, etc.  and it all begins at Sundown the night before.  Lots of things are closed on Shabbat.   Our first stop was another National Park (Israel - the size of NJ, has 55!) which is the site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1947)- a couple of Shepherds lost a sheep or two and were looking in the local caves (which dot the sides of the mountains) - they threw a rock into a cave and heard a pot break.  They went in and discovered a couple of large sealed jars.  They got professionals involved and found that the pots contained scrolls, written in Aramaic.  The scrol...

 A couple of years ago, we read the book The Dove Keepers by Alice Hoffman - which as an amazing historical fiction story of a woman who joined a community on top of this Mesa in the middle of the wilderness to escape the cruelty of the Romans.  The story was based on the true history of Masada. King Herod made Masada - the top of this Mesa an lavish winter resort for himself and those he entertained complete with an Olympic sized swimming pool, several terraces, baths, with a water system of cisterns, stored grain, etc.  It was "snob hill."  Eventually, it was conquered and became a sort of hiding place for the Zealots.  The Romans, who had conquered almost everything everywhere, knew that there were a rather small population of these zealots up there, but wanted them ALL gone.  So they built a wall around this Mesa and started to build a ramp up to attack and get them gone once and for all - they attacked, burned down what they could and went to bed think...

 Wow!  Another action packed day - some great hikes and a ton of interesting information.  We started the day at the Bet She'an National Park- the remains of an entire ancient city - right next to the Tel of the original city.  Theaters, bathhouse, Palladius street, the brothel, bathrooms, a giant amphitheater, temple, the whole shebang!  Just beyond these ruins is a giant mound - a Tel- which is the layer cake of ruins of the original city and civilizations that came before it.  A great hike with a spectacular view of the surrounding area. (can you see the stair case that we took to get to the top of the Tel in the background?) We passed an arena on the way in where the blood sports all took place - our guide keeps telling us that a great night in the arena is always followed by a great night in the brothel! Next, we headed over to Jericho - the oldest city in the whole world!  The drive to this town was really interesting.  We passed shepherds w...

 I am sitting here tonight with pamphlets, google, phone notes and a notebook, trying to remember all that we saw and did today!  You cannot believe what we cram into a day and the amount of information we are hearing, seeing, and even some smelling today! Today we hit two beautiful National Parks - first, I did not really know that we would be visiting National Parks and Unesco World Heritage Sites- but the parks we visited today were beautiful and lush!  Not really what I was imagining for this area.  The first park we went to was a nature reserve with beautiful streams  with rushing water.  The first part of the "hike" was actually sidewalks - again, not what I expected. There were huge walls still standing from the 5000 year old city.  We went to an overlook and began our education on some of the modern day politics going on between Israel, Syria and Lebanon.  We ended the hike in a "Gate" - a throne were the king and his court would decide qu...

  Today is Memorial Day here - a very solemn day where they honor those who died in Israel's Wars or terrorist attacks...at sundown it is Independence day!  A time to get rowdy and celebrate.  Because we are here in the midst of these two holidays, some of our itinerary has had to be changed due to closures, etc. Woke up this morning and looked out my window to see the sun coming up over the Sea of Galilee (which apparently used to be connected to the ocean and was salt water, but now is fresh water )the River Jordan runs in one end and out the other.  What a beautiful sight! Our first trip out this morning to us to a Kibbutz - which previously I had thought to be some sort of hippie collective gardening operation, but now see that it can be a complex community with all sorts of ways to work together to generate money and sustain themselves.  Two brothers from this community, sons of fishermen, were walking along the beach one day after a big storm a couple year...

 First day with our guide, Matthew, who was born and raised in Ohio, moved to Israel 20 years ago and made his Aliyah (ascended into - immigrated- to Israel ten years ago).  Great guide!  We are getting a full running stream of information in our ears full time.  Like drinking from a fire hose!   We left Tel Aviv today and headed out to Caesara - A town that was built by King Herod as a promise to Rome to keep him in power.  Herod build himself a nice little resort complete with a homemade bay, port, castle, a freshwater swimming pool, an ampitheater for plays and shows, a hippodrome for chariot races, a colliseum for blood sport - men fighting each other to the death or being fed to lions for example - complete with underground jail cells.  It was in one of these cells that Jesus's disciple Paul was held for committing the crime of spreading the gospel.  They actually charged him with something else, to get him off the streets.  He died...

Today ( a free day) we walked from one end of the Tel Aviv beach to the other (10 total miles on the day) to the ancient city of Jaffa - an occupied city for over 4000 years!  The old city featured a beautiful Catholic Church built on the ruins of an older Catholic Church and the home of Simon the Tanner who had Peter, the Apostle over.   While he was there, Peter raised Tabitha from the dead and in Acts a;:15 interprets his vision as devine permission to preach Christianity to Jews and pagans alike - a historic point in which Christianity evolved to a worldwide religion. This city is also the city that Jonah set off from in the story of Jonah and the Whale.  It has been a very important port in the Mediteranean Sea throughout history. This was followed by a a great lunch at the White Pergula - where there was no actual white pergula and a nap in the sun by the pool.  We will leave Tel Aviv tomorrow.  

 ....but not without it's complications!  On my way in to Karen's to meet the Limo - I see the Limo driving out....what are they leaving without me?  Nope...he got half way down the driveway and figured he had to be in the wrong place and turned around.  I turned him around again and we were ready to go! First stop - EWR - and security seems like a breeze.  But, it turns out that if you are going to Israel, there is even more security...in fact the gate is completely walled off and you and your bags have to be checked for powder and metals!  You can't even go to the bathroom without your passport!  Seemed like people were getting restless and maybe even a bit crabby by boarding time at 10:30. After boarding, the flight attendents let us know that they are short-staffed - so they apologized in advance- for not providing the their normal stellar service.  THEN, they announce that our departure has been delayed because they can't get the video system...

 It seems like it has been a long time coming but our day for departure has finally arrived.  We are weighing our suitcases, debating our backpacks and packing our snacks!  Thanks to an invitation from longtime friend Janet Dodge from the Community Presbyterian Church in Danville, California- We are heading to Israel!  I have done quite a bit of homework for this pilgrimage - and a lot of it has been eye-opening.  I have watched the miniseries The Chosen, read Jesus: A Pilgrimage and Chasing David (okay, full disclosure I skipped to the videos, but time ran out on the reading...I will have to finish it when I get home).  All of these books and lectures were written to tie together the history, geography, religions, politics, and Biblical passages so you will have an idea and appreciation for what you will experience when you visit this region of the world. You could pick any one of these videos - to get an idea of how fascinating this all is.  Lesson 1...