All My Bags are Packed, I'm Ready to Go

All my bags are packed, we're ready to go, to paraphrase John Denver.  We're headed from our northern digs to our southern stay on the Dead Sea.  But first, before the long drive...

Around the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee to Beth Saida.  These ruins, yes, there are more ruins that look like other ruins, are called the fisherman's house (Peter) because 2000 years ago these ruins which are a mile or more from the sea was on the sea.  Because this is on the mouth of the Jordan, it's possible that the delta built up and moved the sea southward.  Across the valley is a place where some theorize where Jesus fed the 5000.  Now we getting close to where Jesus might have walked.  It may not be "holy" ground, or at least not any more holy than other ground, but it is exciting to think that one is seeing some of the same sights Jesus saw and maybe even walking where Jesus walked.

Further east at Capernaum was the house called the home of Peter's mother.  And across the street, literally, is the synagogue where Jesus read scripture.  The synagogue we see is from a centruies after Jesus.  The sunagogue Jesus visited can be seen in a lower layer displayed in one corner.  A a novelty on the floor is sratched a child's game we can Mill as a child; nine stones for each of two players of two colors.  The players take turns placing the stones on the intersections and corners.  After all stones are on the board, players can move to another intersection along the lines.  If a player gets three or thier stones in a row, they can remove an opponent's stone which is not safe "three is a row."  The player whose stones are gone first, loses.

The fourth stop was the display of a boat found a couple decades when the Sea of Galilee was very low; the boat from the first century either before or after the birth of Jesus.

The treat of the day and perhaps of the trip was the drive for Samaria also known now as the West Bank because it is the land on the west side of  the Jordan River and Sea of Galilee.  The check points appeared ominous but we passed through easily.  It was said that most drivers don't like to drive through the area of Palestinians, Arabs, Muslins and a few Jewish settlements.  It was much like some of the third world developing countries we have visited whereas the Israeli cities and countryside appears a developed as the United States.  Lunch was in a small restaurant.gift shop high on a hill at the end of a windy one lane trail conquered well by our driver.  That meal startes with soup, flatbread and numerous condiments.  Then there was chicken, rice and vegetables.  An American-type soda certainly did taste good.

The rest of the day was the drive to Ein Gedi, a communal kibbutz on the Dead Sea.  After finding our cabins we check out the spa pool filled with Dead Sea water and then up to the evening meal.  We'll explore in the morning when there's light.

So Much to Learn

So much to see.  So much to learn.  So much to digest.  We'll do what we can.

It was north to Hazor, pronounced with a long "a" and a German "ts" for the "z": "hay-tsor" or "hayt-sor."  We're near the northern point of Israel with Lebanon to the west and Syria to the east but still not visible despite our perch on the top of a tel on the top of a hill.  The ruins are of a Canaanite time which show evidence of destruction from great heat as seen in the cracked foundations.  Since everything seems to be masonry, whay could burn?  Some interior walls were lined with cedar, there was wooden furniture and perhaps the olive oil from the presses spilled and supported the fires.  The Israelites did the destrustion and built the next layer.  A massive open dig well where women would descend and ascend with their jars of water was a spectacular site.

The Jordan River's source is in this area, three mayor springs.  We passed over the first and stopped at the second one where the walk was often over large round bolders with the spring water running beneath and around and as a strong stream on one side.  It was a nature walk, if you will, but ended around a bend with a large wall of smoothly rounded boulders, the ruins of the city of Dan.  After some stories and explanations (so much to see and learn and digest) we looked out over the valley from the ruins of the temple to Lebanon on the left and Mt Hermon on the right.  Headed back down by another route we passed debris and trenches from a recent war, the six-day war of 1967, I think, only to find the ruins of the gate to the city covered in plastic since the portective structure was badly damaged.  Through these gates Abraham and Sarah probably walked.

The third spring that was a source of the Jordan is called the Gates of Hell.  It is thought that this is here Jesus went when he learned of the beheading of John and where he asked the questions about whom the people and they, the disciples thgouth he was.  Peter says "You aree the Christ, Son of the LIving God." or something like that in his native language.

The spring came forth from a deep hole in a cave which today is dry due to shifting o the earth.  Temples and monuments have been built here in ancient times and their ruins are evident including the Temple of Pan. (So much to learn and remember.)

Lunch was at a Druze village with local foods followed by a stop along the road to take picturs of Syria across the valley.  Damascus was just 35 miles to the the east.  The fotification on the Israel side was impressive, but what whate was seen, unseen and told to us.

The final stop of the day before the hotel was a winery when we learned that the winery had vinyards from the northern hills of the Golan Heights where the grapes grew in a cool high country to near the Sea of Galilee where the climate is a bit warmer and the soils of a different flavor.  This variety of grapes allowed the winery to combine flavors and winemaking techniques to create some fine wines.  There was sampling and buying and a final ride to the hotel in the dark

Fish by the Sea of Galilee

What a day!  First Zippori, or Tsippori, or Sepphoris, depending on your preference of spelling or language.  Zippori is a small community across the valley from Nazareth, a community which was growing fast when Jesus was growing up and possibly or probably where Joseph and Jesus worked building houses.  At that time Nazareth was less than 20 extended families and Zippori was booming. Now Zippori is small and Nazareth is tens of thousands.

We, well, some of us, walked down into and through a man-made mostly underground aqueduct which moved water from several springs to the ancient city of Zippori.  I bumped my head during the crawling phase.  Then we wandered through the ruins of Zippori which revealed the Roman, the Byzantine and the Crusaders era.  There was the north-south main street of the Roman city with chariot ruts in the large cobblestones, the fortified tower of the crusaders on the top of the hill and the ruins of the homes of the rich and middle-class Roman citizens.  On the adjacent hill, more rows of Israeli homes were being built amid rows of existing red-roofed Israeli homes.

In Nazareth we spent most of our time stuck in traffic in narrow busy streets.  They, those who dig up old things, have found the remains of a part of the city of Nazareth that existed in the first century, giving us the hope that where we placed our feet, Jesus may have also placed his feet.  I don't find anything holy about these places, but very moving in that my dear friend Jesus lived here and played here.  They, the same diggers, have created a living village with samples of persons picking olives, crushing olives and extracting olive, spinning and weaving wool, working in a woodshop and caring for the sheep.  While nothing is certain, there's enough evidence that one can convince oneself that Jesus was at these same places.

After a few more moments caught in traffic we walked through a church that is built over the place where Mary, the mother of Jesus, and therefore Jesus, probably lived.  Again one can cast doubt on such thoughts, but using reason and evidence, a reasonable person could conclude this to be the place.  Several churches have been built here but a wonderful feature of the present church is that it includes ruins of past churches.

On the road again for a short distance and a long time - another hour of heavy traffic - we past through a city named Cana but probably not the same Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, but probably close by.  One store advertised Cana Wedding Wine.  At the end of this jaunt we had lunch, even though it was now 3:30PM, of fish from the Sea of Galilee, also called St Peter's fish - this is probably the same type of fish he caught in his successful fishing business.

Being that's it was already late in the day we quickly headed to Beth Saida on the northeast corner of the Sea of Galilee, but it was closed - winter hours and all that.  When one door closes you quickly head back down the road to find an open one, a place called Peter's primacy.  As we stood on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, Pastor David read from the end of the Gospel of John where Jesus appears to the fisherman apostles suggesting they cast their nets on the other side of the boats and after their successful catch, cooked their fish and broke bread with them.  This is also where Jesus asks three times of Peter, "Do you love me?" and when Peter answers in the positive Jesus says "Feed my lambs."  I'm certain that this beach has been redone several times in the last 2000 years, but it could have been where Jesus and Peter stood during that very meaningful exchange.

Back at the hotel, many of us had a light meal just hours after the lunch of fish.  Admittedly I had to turn on my "think positive" and "think of all the great moments today" attitude when the bill for $23 per person was presented.  Breathe deep and move on.  See you tomorrow.

A Drive

Elvis, our bus driver, a tall dark handsome friendly young man, gives us great confidence in his driving as he snakes his huge bus up and down through narrow village streets and along the main thoroughfares.  The windows are very ample with essentially a double seat for each of us as the bus holds 40 and we are but 20.  Monte, our teacher, has a microphone which he uses almost all the time we are driving, tellng stories and identifying land marks, as well as quizzing us about whether we know what happens at certain sites.

We have seen the expected olive orchards, wheat fields which are just coming up, fish ponds for raising fish, acres of net-covered trees which we believe may be banana trees.  We haven't focused on questions about farming because we are still dealing with the newness of being there Biblical history was made.  We drove through a huge flat valley with Mt Carmel - actually a range of mountains, certainly more than hilss but certanly not the Cascades - on the west side and a hill with Nazareth on it and Mt Horeb on the east.  There are numerous other landmarks which after I have time to study the maps I will name (hopefully - it's my dream and intent).

We see some birds like starlngs here and there, and flocks of pelicans, often hanging out around the fish ponds but no cattle, goats or sheep yet.  There were sheep walking amid the Bet She'an ruins followed by a shepherd.   Typcailly the landscape is green.  There was rain some places yesterday; fortunately not on us.  Often we drive through rolling hills with cuts ro the roads to smoothly slip through.  The exposed banks are layers of white sediment type rock.  I will have to ask our resident geologists for more details.

Yesterday and last evening as we came east around the south side of Nazareth toward the Jordan River, we could see the hills of Gilead on the far side which is now Jordan.  After Saul and his three sons were killed in a battle with the Philistines, men loyal to Saul spent all night retrieving their bodies and placing them in Gilead.  At one point, only one point during the drive north along the Jordan River did we actually see the water of the river.  It is not a river amid a barren dessert but an quiet small stream overgown on both sides.  At least that's what we saw in the moment we saw it.

The hills on our left as we drove north to Tiberias with the Jordan River on the right, had no animals or crops, although I could envision both vineyards and orchards.  Perhaps there's someting about the soil or climate or economy that's makes this not suitable.  There were no farm houses or barns, only villages of white houses and appartments, typically on hillsides.

Defining Generalities and Going in Circles

This was an awesome day.  No one got hurt or fell down.  The forecasted rain didn't happen.  The food was awesome.  We had several great experiences with an archbishop and several high school students.  We know that someone or something much greater than us was in control.

We headed west out of Tiberias ending up in a village called Ibillin.  We thanked God and other saints for our wonderful driver who maneuvered his big bus through winding narrow steep streets down and then up to the parking area at the school.  We were escorted into a meeting room where Archbishhop Elias Chacour shortly joined us.  With his little hat (I'm certain it has a special name), black vest over a long-sleeved shirt, and his "Archbishop" necklace (it too probably has a proper name) were all accented by his long great beard and gentle eyes.

I'm sorry about the angle of the image but I'm learning the limitations of blogging from an iPad.

We were forewarned that he'd ask two questions, the first being why did you come to this country.  (I'm very reluctant to call it Israel or Palestine because I don't know who should properly be ruling the part of the world.)  We answered "enrich my knowledge for the college course I teach",  "it's a pilgrimage of faith", "to discover and better understand another culture of the world", "it's a trip of a lifetime", "I'm traveling with family, that's a joy", "to see placenames and feel the connection to the Biblical stories". "to understand the anger of people in the area of the world."  And more.

Then he introduced himself for the next two hours, primarily telling the story of his life which is also outlined in his book "Blood Brothers."  He spoke of how his family was displaced from their home and father taken away by Israeli soldiers,  how they watched as their homes and village were bombed and destroyed, how his father and mother taught love and peace for all, how he went to school to be a minister - his father's dream, how he was appointed to a small village after seminary for 30 days and is still there, how he went to court some 37 times always to get a building permit to build the school where we sat.  His storytelling was compelling.  In his modesty he never mentioned his nomination for the Noble Peace Prize or his accomplishments to create this school that not teaches over 3000 Christian Arabs, which is one definition for a Palestinian.

Lunch followed a tour of the adjacent church.  While it was a special church and there were stories of its unique characteristics, it was basically another special church with unique characteristics.  Four high school students joined us for lunch, a typical Arab lunch.  They were delightful, talked about their school, their families, their dreams and hopes; we talked our families and work, classes and how Arabic writing works.

Content and happy we boarded the bus with plan B for the afternoon.  Instead of stopping by the what seemed to be the nearby site of Zippori we headed to Bet She'an, which we discovered after consulting a map took us in a big circle frm one side of the country to the other and almost back to our hotel.  At Bet She'an we walked through the ruins of a Roman community built during their reign after the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans about 70AD.  Centuries later when the Byzantine ruled the city, they rebuilt it with their cultural trademarks.  Columns which lined the Roman street lie ordered as if destroyed by an earthquake.  (The earthquake fault rules along the Jordan River.)  Some of the group climbed a hill, called a tel, on which city after city was built upon an older destoyed city, creating a taller hill.  The reference to the discovery of these ruins was intriguing until we were told that this city was just found buried under dirt some 40 years ago.  It now is a National Park, protected and in some cases, reconstructed by the government.

Exhausted from another day of extensive information and sensations, we rode back to the hotel, indulged in another awesome meal and prepared for a good night's sleep.  Zippori and Nazareth are on the schedule for tomorrow so we reading our assignments.

Day One

There's more to be said than this writer has energy for this evening.  As stated in the previous post, we landed about 5:00 this morning, checked in and freshened up at the hotel where we were supposed to sleep if we had arrived as scheduled the evening before, boarded the bus and headed out.

The first stop was Ceasarea (I'll do my darnest to spell things correctly but there seem to be several names for some of the places and then there are also variations on spellings and pronunciation), just a short drive north of our hotel along the shore of the Mediterrean Sea.  Evidence shows that Herod the Great loved to build things, he was a big dreamer.  So he build this more or less man-made deep harbor and bustling city of commerce with a temple to honor the Roman government (Ceasarea being a name chosen for Ceasar the Emperor of Rome at the time), a hippodrome, an amphitheater, and a palace for himself with a dining room on the water front and a swimming pool down at the shore of the sea.  The amphitheater has been restored looking toward the sea and is used today for concerts and other promotion.

Our leader, Monte, told us that one very important historical feature of Ceasarea is that it's essentially where Christians were first called Christians.  At first most of the followers of Jesus were Jews and they remained Jews who believed in Jesus.  Later non-Jews started to follow Jesus and the name evolved.  Ceasarea seemed to be the focal point of this transition.  At one of the stops of the tour - a stop is when we are all gathered together, Monte talks about what we are seeing for awhile and then gives us a few minutes for pictures before we move on - Monte started to tell us that the ruins where we stood was probably where Paul was imprisoned before being sent to Rome and his death.  Just as Monte started to told, Nancy Becker tried to sit on one of the ruined walls and missed, falling to the ground and bumping her head.  It took a little time to get her cared for so the schedule was shoved back again.  She rested in the bus parts of the rest of the day.  Basically she manifested what all of us felt after nearly 48 hours without real restful sleep and a regular schedule.

After wrapping up in Ceasarea we headed to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, specifically the mount on which it is believed that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount.  Of course, it's only theory but a solid one so the Catholics have built a church there overlooking the Sea of Galilee.  It appears that many small groups reserve small meeting spaces, either outside or in, to conduct worship experiences.  Monte led us in communion.  About four or five other groups were celebrating similar services in several languages including one in sign language.  The church was octagonal with a side for each beatitude and an altar in the center.  The Catholics care for the facilities and provide the elements for communion.

We hurried onto the bus because we were still behind schedule and we were scheduled for a boat crossing of the Sea of Galilee.  The forecast for tomorrow is rain but the rain obliged us early and provided us with wind and rain during our crossing, maybe like the wind and rain when Jesus calmed the sea. It was late and dark enough that we saw several fishermen out in their boats.  It's tradiational, even from the time of Jesus, to fish at night.

Back on the ground, the winds were calm and we headed to the hotel for an extensive feed, doing our homework for tomorrow and a good night's sleep.

We're here

Yes, our journey through the skies and halfway around the world has ended.  At 5:00 AM local time, after a four-hour flight from London, we strolled through the corridors of the airport outside Tel Aviv to the back of long lines getting our passports checked.  We all made it.

On the bus we met Monte Luker, our teacher for the next two weeks.  He gave us our first lesson on what we were seeing and what we may expect during our journey through the homeland of Jesus and all the characters of the Bible.  As we pulled up to our hotel in Netanya, a short distance north of Tel Aviv (Spring Mound) he introduced our driver as Elvis, or Ahmend.  He likes the character Elvis.  We found a plate of fresh food in our rooms, warm showers and a view of the Mediterrian Sea at the base of the hotel.

We're exhausted and so thankful for the rest until 11:30 when the last of the group will arrive.  Then we off touring and getting out next lecture.