Report from Israel #9 - North to Galilee

By Janice Beurling

Shalom from Israel!

Yesterday was a rest day for Mom and me, but Dad and Krista spent a few hours together at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem’s Holocaust Memorial and Museum. We had all visited this heartbreaking place on our last trip to Israel, but Dad and Krista wanted to spend more time there.

Krista said, “Once again it was still a very sad place to go, but it was good to keep remembering that those events really happened. We should never forget. I hope and pray that it never happens again.”

Dad commented, “It left me with a very heavy heart. I felt that I couldn’t breathe properly. I think going to the memorial helps us understand in a small way the reason the Jewish people never want to forget such horrible events.”

We were glad to see Dad and Krista return home and still be talking to each other! Given their unconventional and erratic navigational skills and the challenges of driving in Jerusalem, we weren’t sure they’d make it to Yad Vashem and back in one piece.

Today, we packed overnight bags and headed to the Galilee for two nights. We drove east through the stark Judean Wilderness, gawking at small flocks of sheep, Bedouin tents and barren, barren hills. At the bottom of the hills in the Jordan Valley (below sea level), we headed north, skirting Jericho and driving by occasional date palm groves and other crops. Most of the land, however, was uncultivated.

Near the top of the Jordan Valley, we reached an Israeli security checkpoint. They took our passports for scrutiny before asking us to pull into an examination area. We had to empty the car entirely and put the luggage and ourselves through the kind of security process you find in airports. They even swabbed our passports, looking for explosives. As you can imagine, they found nothing suspicious and soon sent us on our way with smiles and thanks and our passports. We understood that this process is due to the precarious nature of security in Israel and didn’t mind the delay at all.

Very soon after, we made our first sightseeing stop at Beit She’an National Park. This spectacular collection of ruins was the location of the Philistine city that displayed the bodies of King Saul and his sons on the walls. We visited the amazing Roman theatre that dates from about the second century. It originally had space for about 5,000 in three tiers of seats rising to a height of about 30 meters. We also saw an extensive public bath facility and a wonderful Roman road lined with pillars. The mosaic floors were still visible and really impressed Mom; the reds and blues were amazing. The adjacent hill is actually a tel or stack of ruined cities built one on top of another. We read that the archaeologists have found 20 different levels. It’s hard to believe!

A few miles north of Beit She’an, we turned off to visit Belvoir National Park. This extraordinary Crusader fortress is situated on the top of a mountain. To reach it we drove a six-kilometre one-lane road consisting primarily of switchbacks and gorgeous views. Mom considered it a “white-knuckle drive.“ She and Krista said that, although Dad may have believed he was driving at only 35 miles an hour, from their perspective in the back seat he was doing 65!

At the top of the hill, we were astounded to find such a massive structure, surrounded by a dry moat and with much of the walls still standing. On a clear day, you can see just about forever here -- thus the name Belvoir or Beautiful View (in French). It is hard to imagine the crusaders struggling up the hill in their armour and on their horses.

Dad was impressed by two fairly wide rooms that were covered by an arched ceiling. He said, “If I had built just one wall, I would have felt it was a magnificent accomplishment, but they built a whole fortress and defensive position. It leaves you with a spirit of wonderment at what was accomplished so long ago. It also provides a deep respect for the knowledge and wisdom possessed by earlier cultures -- whether Crusader or Roman or Jewish or some other group.”

After driving back down the hill, we headed a short distance further to the south end of the Sea of Galilee. About six or eight kilometres up a very scary, winding road, we reached Hamat Gader, a spa built over some hot springs. We paid our fee and strolled into the facility with a good number of other people. Like many hot springs, there was a sulphurous smell to the air, but easing into the large pool was, oh, so delightful. We spent about an hour in and out of the 31C water. Then we dragged ourselves slowly back to the car. The hot water was wonderful, but completely enervating.

At last, we turned the car toward the Messianic guest house where we had reservations for the next two nights. Beit Bracha is a beautiful, beautiful facility in Migdal, a hillside village overlooking the Sea of Galilee. We checked in, had supper with the staff and some of the guests and relaxed on the balcony overlooking the Sea, caressed by gentle breezes and contemplating the history that lay within view.

It was a very good day!

Here are some of the pictures Krista and I took during the last two days (click for bigger):

Views of the Jordan Valley north of Jericho.








Pomegranates - early in their growth.




Views of Beit She'an. In this first picture, the Tel of Beit She'an (with the stack of 20 levels of cities) is in the background. The ruins we toured are in the foreground.






























At Belvoir, the Crusader Fortress, we saw the largest planting of geraniums we'd ever seen.


Belvoir is fresh out of crusaders, but has lots of lizards.




The moat at Belvoir.


Other views of and from Belvoir.
















The pool at Hamat Gader Hot Springs.


Hamat Gader had the most beautiful trees with purple blossoms.






The road out of Hamat Gader.


The Sea of Galilee


Views from the patio of the guest house, Beit Bracha.

Report from Israel #8 - Dust and Stones of the Temple Mount

By Janice Beurling

Shalom!

Yesterday was an adventure we were really looking forward to experiencing. Some time ago, as I looked for off beat activities for us here in Jerusalem, I came across the Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation. It’s an unusual opportunity to volunteer on an archaeological project and one that all of us, even Mom, could enjoy.

Let me briefly summarize the project. The Temple Mount has never been archaeologically investigated. Unfortunately, many Muslims who use the Temple Mount today, have expressed a desire to prove that Israel never even had a Temple there. They have not respected the history of the Mount and, a few years ago, began to dig illegally. Under a portion of the Temple Mount, they have built a huge underground mosque. What did they do with the earth that had to be removed to make room for the mosque -- earth that contained the residue of history? They took more than four hundred truckloads of dirt at night and dumped it in the nearby Kidron Valley. These loads of earth contained centuries and millennia of archaeological information! Israeli archaeologists caught wind of what was going on and began to salvage the piles of earth. They’ve formed the Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation and through this archaeologists and volunteers “sift” through the debris looking for bits and pieces of the ages.

Well in advance of our trip, I booked a two-hour sifting adventure for us. Yesterday was the day! We had a rather traumatic drive from our apartment to Emek Tsurim National Park outside the Old City walls where the sifting takes place. The map I had did not correspond to the real world. We couldn’t find the streets we needed and the streets we ended up taking were beyond belief. I shudder to think of that drive! But we made it!

We pulled into the unpaved parking lot of the Salvage Operation. The set up seems very rough -- a few sheds, some huge piles of stones and rubble and a long open-sided tent lined with sifting trays. It turned out that we were the only volunteers to sift that morning, so we received some very personal attention from the staff.

Our two-hour session started with a 30-minute presentation by Yval, one of the staff members. He gave us an excellent overview of the history of the Temple Mount. We found that his timeline really helped us put the history in order.

Then we started to sift! We started with about six inches of rubble in the bottom of a standard garden bucket. It had been covered in water overnight. We dumped the bucket’s contents onto the sifting screen -- something like a horizontal window screen -- and began to hose off the dirt. Who knew what we might find! Some have discovered coins or bits of jewellery. Others have found mosaic tiles or arrow heads. Then again, I read of one man who found a child’s toy car!

Yval had shown us the categories of the typical things we might find and, working in pairs, we started feeling our way through the pebbles and assorted bits of unidentified items. I was surprised at the size of the pebbles we had to look through -- many the size of peas. It was almost impossible to tell the difference between natural stone pebbles and pieces of mosaic carved by man. We were able to identify many bits of pottery -- they were the easiest even though many pieces were half the size of my smallest fingernail. After Krista and I thought we’d gone through our bucket of dirt, Yval checked our screen. How embarrassing! He found at least twice as much as we’d found and discarded half of what we’d set aside as possible artefacts.

Our spirits weren’t dampened. We just took another bucket and started again. This time we did better. Ultimately, among all the unnamed bits we found, we did come up with some specific things. Krista found a large piece of pottery that would have been part of a jar handle. She also found a piece of blue glass that might have been the eye of a statue and a piece of burnt bone that might have been from a Temple sacrifice or from the burning of the Temple or just from some crusader‘s dinner. Dad found a square bit of rusted metal. Mom found another large piece of a pottery jar. I found a fragment of Herodian painted plaster. It was very exciting as you’ll see from the photos below.

The Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation has taken as their theme verse Psalm 102:15: “For Your servants have cherished her stones and favoured her dust.”

Yes, we were very dusty when we left Emek Tsurim, but this was a very good day!

During the afternoon, Krista and I headed to the Old City again and climbed up on the walls for a walk along the ramparts. We didn’t go too far -- it is a very difficult walk over uneven stones and many steps of odd heights and depths and is quite challenging when you’re also fighting heat and fatigue. But it was great fun. The views consist primarily of the walls and roofs of buildings just inside the walls. We saw cats, trash, sad bits of potted plants, lots of satellite dishes and laundry.

Today our primary goal was to take the Western Wall Tunnel Tour. We had tickets of the 11:50 am tour, so we used the morning to visit the nearby Jerusalem Archaeological Park, located outside the southern end of the Temple Mount. These beautifully presented ruins include the original southern steps of Herod’s Temple -- steps Yeshua and His disciples probably used a number of times. This spot was very moving for me on a previous visit and it was moving again. It was easy to imagine the people who must have walked these steps two thousand years ago.

As the morning ended, we reported to the entrance for Tunnel Tour. With a group of about 30 people, a young docent led us along the immense (immense!) stones of the Temple Mount that are now hidden underground. It was not an easy walk for Mom, but she persevered and made her way to the end! This tour is very impressive and we highly recommend it!

Afterward, Mom and Dad took a cab home. Krista and I returned to the Jewish Quarter and bought some shawarma for lunch. These two wraps containing lamb, grilled vegetables, hummus and fresh vegetables were so gigantic neither of us could finish it. Then we headed to the Wohl Archaeological Museum where we viewed the remains of Herodian homes and the burned ruins of a priest’s home -- places that were destroyed by the Romans following the destruction of the Temple. Both were fascinating.

At last, we started to head up through the Old City and soon found ourselves on the same lane we’d walked with Dad a few days before. We even passed by Sammy’s shop again. He called out to us to visit, but we were worn out and, thanking him for the invitation, explained we had to keep going if we were going to make it home.

This was an exhausting for all of us, but a day rich in history. Of course, you can’t escape history in Israel!


Here are some of the pictures Krista and I took in the last two days (click for bigger):

The Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Project tent.


A pile of rubble waiting to be sifted.


The valley location of the Sifting Project. That's our new white rental car in the middle.


Inside the tent, the space is lined with sifting stations.


Yval teaches us about the history of the Temple Mount.


Buckets of rubble soaked in water overnight.


Starting the sifting process.




Rubble waiting to be sifted.


Mom and Dad start sifting.




Did I find nothing worthwhile?


All our finds are placed in these little cups, one category to each cup.


Is Krista excited? She found part of the handle from a pottery jar, a charred bone and a piece of blue glass.




Mom found a large piece of pottery. She loved doing this ... we could hardly pull her away.




Dad found a square piece of metal. His find was put into a special plastic bag. (Krista's find of the blue glass was given the same treatment.)




I found a piece of painted plaster from the Herodian period. That means it may have actually come from Herod's Temple or one of the buildings associated with the Temple!




Once a bucket of rubble has been sifted, the finds are placed in these larger bins, sorted by category.


Yval prepared this plate of our best finds of the morning and helped us understand how they fitted into the timeline.


Independence Park -- near our apartment.






Musicians at the Jaffa Gate.


Views from the ramparts of the Old City of Jerusalem.


























The Jerusalem Archaeological Park.










The original southern steps to the Temple -- in the Jerusalem Archaeological Park.




The Mount of Olives visible beyond the area around the southern steps.


The Kotel or Western Wall.






Views of the Western Wall Tunnel.






An afternoon in the Old City.




In the Wohl Archaeological Museum.