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Archive for August, 2006
August 15, 2006 at 11:56 am · Filed under Birding
Day 9
My day started a little before 5 a.m. this morning. The wakeup call wasn’t until 6:30, but a small group of us decided to spend our last morning in Israel watching the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee. On the way down to the waterfront, I could hear the many birds in the trees. I didn’t recognize their calls and couldn’t see any of them, but they sounded like they were eagerly anticipating the sunrise too. Several groups of Chimney Swifts flew overhead.
We arrived at the waterfront with plenty of time to spare before the sun came all the way up. The air was comfortably cool and there was a very slight breeze. While we waited for the sun, I enjoyed the opportunity to watch the birds. Gulls of some variety circled over the water giving an occasional call. Some of them lazily fought over a preferred perch on one of the boats. Behind me were several kinds of Pigeons (or maybe Doves), that became more plentiful as the morning wore on.
After a while, another visitor arrived that was even more interested in the Pigeons than I was. One of the many stray cats in the area carefully crouched in a pothole hoping for an easy breakfast. But, the Pigeons didn’t want to cooperate, and, after a few failed pounces, the cat soon became frustrated and left.
I heard my ‘Saturn Missile’ Warbler again, and this time I was able to get a look at it. I was relieved to see that I had not misidentified the call; it was definitely not a Pine Warbler. What its true identity is, I still don’t know. It had dark feathers and a long bill, but it was quite a distance away, and without binoculars, I couldn’t tell much more detail.
Some of the Chimney Swifts I’d seen earlier flitted out above the water, never venturing more than a few yards out. The split-tailed bird I’d seen at Tabgha joined them.
Something I didn’t recognize at all, with a very long bill and dark feathers sat in the water not too far from where I was standing. Occasionally, it would dive and reappear a few seconds later, usually with a successful catch.
Soon, the sun peeked over the clouds that were sitting on the horizon. The narrow, elongated reflection in the water created the image of a slowing growing column of fire, gradually stretching toward where we were on the western shore. But, before the pillar of fire could reach its full height, the sun was once again obscured by clouds. However, they couldn’t hold it back too long and soon the sun burst forth in all of its splendor. The fire column was almost too bright to look at directly, the sky turned a brilliant blue, and, coming out from the uniform grayness of just a few minutes ago, white puffs of clouds became visible.
Morning had arrived.
We walked back to the hotel and arrived just as everyone else was waking up. The expense of being a little more tired than we would have been was definitely worth the experience. As an extra treat, breakfast provided a brief glimpse of a hummingbird just outside the window of the hotel restaurant.
At the gift shop on the Jordan River site, I spotted a birding pamphlet I hadn’t seen at any of the other shops before. It was really quite nice, with good illustrations and descriptions, and it only covered the most common birds, which made it easier for me to find what I was looking for. However, this gift shop had a particularly high markup and the pamphlet would have cost me almost as much as the book I’d seen at another site. I was still able to spend a couple minutes flipping through it. The illustration of the House Sparrow was better than the picture I’d seen before, and I can now say without a doubt that is what I’ve been seeing. But, the most exciting discovery was the true identity of my ‘Chimney Swifts.’ It turns out that they’re actually Common Swifts, but I was happy to know that I wasn’t too far off.
That makes at least four birds that I can say I identified for sure: Common Swift, House Sparrow, Fan-tailed Raven, and Tristram’s Grackle.
Israel is a beautiful country.
August 15, 2006 at 11:37 am · Filed under Israel 2006
Random thoughts in no particular order.
The Class
I’m very glad that I went on this trip within the context of a class. There’s no way I would have done all the reading and background research I did beforehand otherwise. Knowing that I would be tested over everything I saw also forced me to pay attention and take notes. The tour itself was different than an average tour. Mishi knew that we were students and this was for a class, so he took the time to go in depth on many subjects that probably wouldn’t have been covered in a normal tourist group. I feel that I gained a much deeper understanding of everything we saw than I would have had I gone on any other kind of tour.
Stop Lights
The U.S. should adopt Israel’s stop light system; it’s ingenious. Instead of the green, yellow, red progression we have here, in Israel, the lights start at green, then the green starts blinking, then it goes to yellow, then red. And instead of going from red straight to green, they go from red to red and yellow (indicating that the other side just got their yellow light), then green. It’s great because the driver gets that much more information about what’s going on. Of course, all the drivers seem to ignore the traffic signals anyways, but it’s a much better idea!
Tradition
Tradition for the sake of tradition is annoying. Many of the holy sites that we went to had nothing to do with archeology but were simply there because that’s where the church had put them many years ago. Take the Via Dolorosa for example. We don’t know that’s where Christ walked on his way to be crucified, and there’s certainly no mention of all of the 14 stations that are marked along the way. I also didn’t like the over-decorated churches like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity. For me anyway, all the gold, silver, icons, incense, etc destroyed the feel of the place. I would have much preferred to have seen the area as it was when Jesus was there. It also didn’t help that the churches in those places are in constant tension between the different factions that control them. The divisions between the different groups at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were so strong that they actually gave the key to the building to a Muslim group because none of them would trust the others to have possession of it.
Street Vendors
The street vendors in Israel are hilarious. They would follow our group around waving their wares at us with shouts of “Two Dollar! Two Dollar!” Followed quickly by “One Dollar! 99 Cent! 100 percent discount!” One of them offered us “Jesus Bread” claiming that it was the same bread Jesus ate 2000 years ago and it was still fresh! They didn’t seem to know much English besides “dollar,” but they were incredibly persistent.
Food
The Israeli diet is lighter than ours and has a lot of salads. One thing that was interesting to watch was the complete separation of meat and dairy products. The Orthodox Jews take a very strict interpretation of a verse in Deuteronomy, which is the cause of the separation, and most everyone in the country follows the rule. We also found out that you can put just about anything inside a pita. We probably had pita bread at least once a day the whole time we were there. I really enjoyed it.
Safety
Suicide bombers, car bombs, and terrorists, oh my! Actually, it really wasn’t that big of a deal. I felt safe the entire time I was there. Even in the midst of the large crowds of crazy people getting ready to celebrate Purim in Jerusalem, there was never any problem. The police and military presence in the country is huge; you usually didn’t have to look very far to find someone with a fully automatic weapon.
Even the incident in Jericho while we were there didn’t really change anything. One thing that was difficult to understand without actually seeing it, was the political and social separation caused by very small distances in Israel. The road we took to Tiberias took us just a couple miles outside of Jericho, but the danger was about the same as being in Longview when something bad was happening in New York. It was silly to worry about it.
Tea
I was very surprised by the lack of good tea in Israel. I figured since it was a country other than the US, they were bound to have good tea. They did serve it at every breakfast and dinner while we were there, but it was just bagged tea. And they left the bags in the pot too! I think I’m starting to get spoiled with my good tea; I could definitely taste the inferior quality and didn’t like it.
Stray Cats
Israel is the country of stray cats; they were everywhere! I was very tempted to pet them, despite having to get rabies shots the last time I petted a stray cat. I finally gave in at Tel Beersheva. But, after a playful nibble that reminded me all too well of the possible consequences, I refrained (most of the time, anyway) for the rest of the trip.
Coming Back
I started this trip with the attitude that I was willing to do whatever it took to get the full experience of being in Israel because it would almost certainly be the only time in my life that I would be there. However, about halfway through the trip, my thinking started to shift from “This will be my only chance to…” to “Next time I’m here, I’ll have to…” Not because I still didn’t want to do everything I possibly could, but because I realized there wasn’t any way I could do everything.
Israel is just too awesome for this to be my only trip. I’m going to find a way to come back, somehow. I almost wish my degree was History instead of Computer Science and Engineering. Course credit at the Jerusalem University College will transfer to LeTourneau without any problems. But, there’s not way I could justify doing that now.
It would be fun to live in Jerusalem for a while. I love that city. There are so many historical things to see and experience, and it’s also a great modern city too. The other neat thing is that, because of its central location, a quick weekend visit to any of the sites we went to on this trip would be entirely feasible. The country is so small that nothing is more than a few hours’ drive away. I don’t think I’d want to live there for the rest of my life, but maybe a few months or a year…
Even if I don’t live there, I will be back, one way or another.
August 14, 2006 at 11:05 pm · Filed under Birding
Day 7
The first site of the day was Capernaum. The area we went to had beautiful gardens, and the temperature was just about perfect. While sitting in the shade and feeling the cool breeze, it was much easier to enjoy my surroundings than pay attention to the site presentations I would be tested over later.
I’m pretty certain that I heard some Pine Warblers in this area. If Pine Warblers aren’t in Israel, then they must have been a close relative because the call was exactly like the one I’ve grown familiar with on the LETU campus. I never did see any of them, even though I was trying my best to spot one the whole time we were there. There were many other kinds of birds in the garden too, but there was so much going on that I never got a good description down for any of the ones I wasn’t already familiar with.
During our boat ride on the Sea of Galilee I saw several different kinds of birds out on the water. Unfortunately, I don’t really know much at all about waterfowl, so I didn’t even know what features to look for to identify them. The most common one was while except for a black face. I think it looked somewhat like a gull, but I’m not absolutely certain what a gull should look like.
The gift shop at the Jesus Boat Exhibit had another copy of the birding guide to Israel that I’d seen a few days earlier. It was even more expensive here, so I didn’t think about buying it, but I did leaf through another similar guide that was beside it. This one wasn’t much better, and once again I didn’t have much time. However, I was at least able to confirm that House Sparrows do exist in Israel. The picture they had wasn’t that great, so I’m still not certain on my identification, but at least now I know it isn’t completely crazy.
On the bus ride to Hazor, I saw what I think were some Cattle Egrets. I remembered from the book at the gift shop that there are Egrets here. I don’t know if Cattle Egrets are one of the varieties that are native to the area, but these egrets were definitely sitting on some cows. So, even if they aren’t ‘Cattle Egrets’ per se, I think I can get away with calling them that.
Day 8
The peak of Gamla had an amazing view. According to Mishi, the area is home to a number of Eagles. There’s even a station not far from where we went that is used specifically for viewing them. I did see three birds circling the area while we were climbing around on the rocks, but without binoculars and a better idea of what I was looking for, there was no way to tell for certain if they were Eagles, Vultures, or something else entirely. They were probably Eagles, though.
The plants of the region were also very beautiful. I’d like to take a whole day and just hike around the area armed with books on the birds and plant life of the area. In particular, there was a waterfall in the distance that we didn’t have time to go see that I’d like to visit.
I really really want to go back to Gamla.
While Mishi was giving an explanation about Tabgha, I got to watch a bird build its nest in the rafters of the atrium. As usual, I’m not sure what kind it was, but I’ve seen quite a few around. It has a blue head with a red neck, black feathers, a white belly, and a split tail.
August 11, 2006 at 4:17 pm · Filed under Israel 2006
Day 9 in pictures.
Several of us decided to loose an hour of sleep this morning and use our last opportunity to view the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee. It was well worth it.
Packing our bags and knowing that this was our last day was sad. It also changed the pace of the day. Everyone was pretty tired by now, and after a long a busy week, the knowledge that the end was near seemed to make it harder to stay awake and keep up with the barrage of information coming at us. I know I slept quite a bit on the bus in between sites.
Our first site of the day was Bet She’an, but we made a quick stop on the way to visit the Baptismal site on the Jordan River. Like Mount Beatitude, this has no historical significance. If anything, it’s likely for sure that this was not the place where John Baptized Jesus. However, it’s where they decided to set the site up. None of us were dressed for a full baptism, and we didn’t have time anyway. So, we quickly got pictures, some of us waded in a little bit, and then it was time to go.
Bet She’an was probably the most impressive set of ancient ruins of the whole trip. The excavated area was huge. The Biblical significance of the site is that it was on the walls of this city that the Philistines hung the bodies of King Saul and his sons after they were defeated at the battle on Mt. Gilboa. Bet She’an, which was also known as Scythopolis, was situated strategically to control the access between the Jordan and Jezreel valleys. It was a largely gentile city, so it had many of the structures that could have been expected in a large, Roman, gentile city.
We started our tour by looking at an amphitheatre that was used for all sorts of brutal entertainment such as gladiator fights to the death, Christians and Jews being fed to the lions, and many others. The Roman Theatre, which was our next stop, was not nearly as violent when it was in use. Instead, it would have been host to many vulgar plays. The theatre could seat about 7,500 at full capacity, and is an engineering marvel of acoustic and structural design.
Next, we traveled to the public bathroom, which provided an amusing group photo opportunity. This was followed by a visit to the Roman baths, and some exploration time on the acropolis, which had an excellent view.
Bet She’an was destroyed by the large earthquake in 749 AD and was never rebuilt.
From here, we traveled to Gideon’s Spring, where Gideon selected the 300 that would help him in the battle. As could be expected, there aren’t any remains that have been found to indicate that this is the correct site, but it is just about the only place that would match the description in the Bible. We took a pretty funny picture, with part of the group being cowards, part putting their faces into the water, and part drinking correctly.
Mount Carmel was next on our trip. Besides being the location of yet another excellent view, the importance of Mount Carmel is that it was the site of Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal. Carmel isn’t really a single mountain; it’s a range, so the event could have happened anywhere. The point we went to was the highest point of the range, so it would have made sense for the competition to have happened somewhere near. Two interesting points were made here about the story that I hadn’t thought of before. The first was by Mishi who pointed out the importance of sacrifice in the story. The Israelites were in the middle of a drought, but Elijah still used twelve jars of precious water to pour on the altar. Mishi compared this to when David poured out the water from the Spring of Bethlehem. Second, Dr. Hummel pointed out that Elijah wasn’t out to prove that God is stronger than Baal. He was out to prove that Baal didn’t even exist.
The last major archaeological site for the trip was at Megiddo. Because of its position near a mountain pass in the Via Maris, a major ancient highway, Megiddo was incredibly important, strategically. With this importance came plenty of violence. 20 layers of destruction and rebuilding have been uncovered at this site, dating from 4000 BC to 400 BC. In 332 BC, the Via Maris became obsolete because of the conquest of Alexander the Great, and the city went into decline. Biblically, Megiddo is familiar because it is mentioned in the book of Revelation as the site of Armageddon. However, it may not mean that the final battle will happen at the physical location of Megiddo, but that the final battle will be similar to the many battles that happened at Megiddo.
My favorite part of the site was the water system of the city. Originally, the inhabitants got water by going to a stream outside the city gates. When the need for a more secure water source became apparent, they built a huge shaft inside the city walls down to the level of the spring and then created a tunnel connecting the shaft and the spring. Since outside access was no longer necessary, and they didn’t want their enemies to take advantage of the spring, they covered up the outside and camouflaged it to look like the rest of the area. We got to go down stairs to the tunnel and walk through it on our way out of the site.
On our way to the airport, we made a short stop at Caesarea to look at the remains of a Roman Aqueduct near the Mediterranean Sea. We happened to get there right at sunset, which was really great to watch. It also meant that the day was bracketed by a sunrise on the Sea of Galilee and a sunset on the Mediterranean.
This was quickly followed by a dinner at a nice restaurant in Tel Aviv of chicken and the pita bread that we’ve grown very familiar with during our time here. Then, it was time to head to the airport and say goodbye to Israel.
Day 9 in pictures.
August 10, 2006 at 6:40 pm · Filed under Birding
Day 5
At Tel-Beersheva, I kept seeing what I think is some kind of sparrow. I’ve seen them quite a bit these last few days, but while we were near the well outside the city gates, there was a tree full of them, so I got a better look. They’re fairly small, have a while belly with a black spot on the neck, a black spot on the eye, a short beak, and brown feathers with white and black tips. The only call they were doing at that time was just a single note, sporadically repeated. Could they be House Sparrows? Or maybe something related’
I also got a closer look at the Pigeons I saw earlier. The have shiny green feathers around their necks with darker feathers on the rest of their body. Their wings are swept back, and white underneath, with a black outline.
Day 6
Today was a great day for birding! Most of our site seeing happened outdoors, so there were plenty of opportunities to watch the skies.
During my research for the site presentation on En-gedi, I found that one kind of bird native to this region is the Tristram’s Grackle. I didn’t really think I’d be able to see one while I was here, but I went ahead and looked up a few pictures and descriptions anyway before I left, just in case. Sure enough, while we were at Masada, I saw one! I got a really good look too; it was sitting on a wall at about eye level and let me get very close, maybe just two feet away. These birds aren’t particularly rare to the area, but I still felt a great sense of personal accomplishment. For the first time, I had successfully researched, located and identified a bird completely on my own. Just a few minutes later, Mishi confirmed my identification by mentioning ‘Tristram’s Bird’ in one of his explanations. We saw more at En-gedi as well.
The information pamphlets we picked up at En-gedi contained a very useful guide to the birds of the area. Using it, I was able to once again confirm my Tristram’s Grackle find and also identify a few Fan-tailed Ravens. There was a picture of a Blackstart that I think I’ve seen hopping around with the bird I cautiously identified earlier as a House Sparrow. But, I wasn’t able to get a good enough look to know for sure on the Blackstart, and I still have no idea if a House Sparrow is even a reasonable guess on the other one.
August 9, 2006 at 6:34 pm · Filed under Israel 2006
Day 8 in pictures.
The day began at Gamla, which was a Jewish city during the first century BC and first century AD. It was destroyed around 68 AD during the first Jewish revolt. What makes Gamla special is that it is situated on the top of a ridge between two ravines. The sides are very steep, not unlike Masada. In fact, Gamla is often called the Masada of the north, not only because of the similarity in physical layout, but also because of how the Jews were defeated. During the final defeat of the Jews here, many of them committed suicide by throwing themselves over the edge of the cliff at the end of the ridge. However, Gamla hasn’t gained the fame that Masada has for several reasons. The most important one is that the mass suicide at Masada was a cold, calculated act. They knew what was coming and made their choice. At Gamla, it was more a part of the situation that they were presented with. In fact, many of the Jews were pushed over the edge, just as a part of the fighting. After this defeat, the city was never really rebuilt.
Some of the important ruins found at the site include a synagogue in a basilica style very similar to the one found at Capernaum. There was also a mikvah, or purification pool, just outside the southern entrance to the synagogue.
Even aside from the historical significance, Gamla is an amazing location. I would love to set aside a whole day and just go hiking around the area. The view from the top of the ridge was beautiful! There’s also a station for watching the eagles that are native to the region. Hundreds of photos were taken and we stayed around the top quite a bit longer than Mishi said our schedule would permit.
Mount Beatitude was next on the list. This location actually has no historical significance whatsoever. What is does have is a very nice view of the Sea of Galilee, a well-kept garden, and a stately church built on the site. Because there is no archaeological evidence to say where the sermon on the mount happened, the Nuns that run the church purchased some land in the area that was available and worked well for their purpose. There’s no reason to believe this is the actual place of the sermon, but there’s also no reason that it couldn’t have been.
The church at Mount Beatitude was much nicer than the churches at the last few holy sites we’ve been too. It wasn’t nearly as crowded or cluttered. This is probably because it is a fairly new church and hasn’t had to endure several factions laying claim to the area.
From there, we went to Tabgha, the church of the feeding of the multitudes. As we walked through the entrance to the area, an elderly couple playing arrangements of Mozart pieces for two violins greeted us. This set the mood quite nicely. The church for this site was also done very tastefully. In fact, they built the whole thing to represent, as accurately as possible, the look of the Byzantine era church that was destroyed by the Persian invasion. It had several impressive mosaic designs on the floor depicting plants and animals from Egypt, which is where the artist was probably from.
After viewing the traditional site of the feeding of the multitudes, the next thing to do was to feed the multitude of LeTourneau students. Instead of bread and fish, we had the very tasty falafels again.
We next journeyed to the site of the ancient city of Zippori. Zippori is interesting because it had the unique situation of Jews and Gentiles living together. A Crusader fortress and a Roman theatre were also built here. Impressive mosaics have been found in several of the buildings that were uncovered.
Dr. Hummel used the Zippori site to teach us a little more about how archaeological digs work. As could be clearly seen from the remains there, all of the work was done in excavated square sections that are called “balks.” As new items are found during the digging process, they are carefully cataloged by location and also the depth at which they were discovered. This system allows the layers of the find to be seen and also provides a walkway, between the balks, that will not disturb any of the remains.
Our final stop for the day was Arbel, which is a huge cliff with about a 1000-foot drop overlooking the Sea of Galilee and the surrounding area. From the top, we could see Tiberias, Capernaum, Kibbutz Genneserat, and many other towns on both sides of the Sea of Galilee. An important historical even that happened here was that, when Herod the Great was still coming to power, there was a group of robbers that based themselves in caves on the side of the cliff. Herod, with typical Roman efficiency and brutality, put soldiers into large baskets, lowered them off the side of the cliff, and easily defeated what the robbers thought was an impenetrable fortress.
This will be our last night in Israel. I don’t want to go back home yet.
Day 8 in pictures.
August 6, 2006 at 10:42 pm · Filed under Israel 2006
Day 7 in pictures.
We started off the day by going to Capernaum, which was Jesus’ sort of “base of operations” during his ministry. In Jesus’ time, the town was a small fishing village with a population of only about 1,500. There were several important reasons why Capernaum would have made a good location for Jesus to base his ministry. The town is right on the Via Maris, a major trade road, and it is close to Tiberias. The proximity to Tiberias is important not only because Tiberias is a larger town, but because of the hot springs at Tiberias. Sick people would have naturally come to the hot springs, and, when they weren’t cured by them, it would have been easy for them to travel to Capernaum to see this man people said had the power of healing.
There were two important structures at the site we went to. One was a synagogue that was built in the 5th century, AD. Synagogues were (and still are) used as general meeting places in addition to the religious center of the Jewish community. The second structure was the remains of an octagonal church built over what is believed to be the remains of St. Peter’s mother-in-law’s home. However, there was a church built above these ruins in the late 90’s that doesn’t really add to the feel of the place. It can best be described as a space ship. In fact, Mishi opened his explanation of the area with, “Before the aliens landed…”
From Capernaum, we went to see the “Jesus Boat” exhibit. But, before viewing the exhibit itself, we went on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. The boat we went on wasn’t anything like what Jesus would have used. Ours was a very large boat that could have easily handled a group of tourists even larger than us. It was still a wonderful experience. The weather was gorgeous and being out on the lake was extremely relaxing. Scott even took a nap for a part of the ride. It was also great to be able to see so much of the surrounding area from out on the lake. I think I have a better understanding of where the different villages are situated and their relative distance from each other now. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay on the boat forever, and it was soon time to head back to land.
Then, we went to the exhibit. In the 80’s there was a drought and the Sea of Galilee receded so far back that there was about a half mile of extra shore to walk on. Some fishermen were walking along this area and found an ancient boat. Experts were quickly called in to excavate and restore it. The boat isn’t really Jesus’ boat, but it is from around the time that Jesus was on earth, so it gives a good representation of what kind of boats Jesus would have traveled in. The boat itself is a fairly simple affair, at least by our standards, but would have been large enough to seat several people comfortably. It also exactly matches a mosaic found at Capernaum that depicts a boat from the same time period.
Lunch was at a local restaurant where we were served St. Peter’s Fish. This was fun because they left the fish whole, head and all. To start with we had the increasingly familiar pita bread stuffed with various salads. Then, Mishi gave a short presentation on how to correctly cut and eat a whole fish, and we started in. There were plenty of funny comments from people that didn’t like their meal staring back at them while they ate, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The fish was quite tasty too.
Mishi also gave an explanation that puts a different light on the miracle of Peter finding the coin in the fish’s mouth. Apparently this particular kind of fish keeps its young in its mouth until they are grown enough to live on their own. Then, after the young fish have gone away, they mother fish instinctively wants to find something to put in its mouth. So, anything shiny on the floor of the lake would have been fair game. It is still common to find coins in the mouths of these fish, so that wasn’t the miracle. The miracle was in the timing.
The next stop was Banias. This site has an important spring that is one of the main sources of the Jordan River. Because of the spring, the site has been a place of worship for centuries. The oldest temple was dedicated to the god Pan, but there were also temples to Augustus, Zeus and Nemesis. Part of the worship of Pan involved a dancing goat ceremony. They actually trained goats to dance for their services! The Biblical importance of this site is that Jesus went to this area to get away from the crowds and teach his disciples. This is also where Jesus told Peter that he would be the rock on which His church would be built and the gates of Hades would not destroy it. The reference to the gates of Hades is actually significant to the area because it was believed that springs were the gates to Hades.
We were going to visit Tel Dan, but we were about 15 minutes too late and they had already closed the site. So, we drove the bus around back and at least got to look at some of the walls and the ruins of a gate from outside the fence. Dan is important because it was the traditional northern limit of the kingdom and is also where Jeroboam put an altar with a golden calf to prevent the people of Israel from going down the Jerusalem after the monarchy split.
Last on the list of sites for the day was Hazor. This was also closed, but we just climbed over the gate. Mishi told us that if anyone asked, we weren’t supposed to say who was in charge of the group! Hazor was the largest Israelite town of Biblical times. It covers an area of over 200 acres and had a population of 20,000-40,000. While listening to the site presentation from Jonathan, we could hear the Israeli army doing some live ammo drills in the distance.
Day 7 in pictures.
August 6, 2006 at 10:15 pm · Filed under Birding
Day 1
I saw several kinds of birds on the drive to Jerusalem, but had no idea what they were. There were two main kinds. One was black with swept back wings and the other was black with wing tips like fingers and flapped constantly as it flew.
Day 2
I asked Mishi about one kind of bird I kept seeing, the one from the first day that flapped constantly. Turns out they’re ravens. There are a few more kinds that I’ve seen quite a bit and would like to figure out. I think one might be a Chimney Swift (the one from the first day that had swept back wings), but I’m not even sure that makes sense in this area of the world.
Day 3
At the end of Hezekiah’s tunnel, I heard some warblers of some sort. Their rhythm was about the same as a Pine Warbler, but the tone was different. They sounded like rapid-fire Saturn Missile fireworks, actually. I also started seeing some Pigeons of some sort.
Day 4
After the tour of The Garden Tomb, I saw a book in the gift shop that I would have really liked to have. A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Israel. It seemed perfect! Unfortunately, it was 61 shekels (about $13) and I didn’t really want to spend that much money on a book that would only be useful for the next few days. I did have a chance to flip through it, though. For being a photographic guide, it didn’t have as many pictures of the birds as I would have liked, and I didn’t have enough time to positively identify anything I’d seen before it was time to go. I did notice that it had a section on Swifts, so maybe my Chimney Swift guess isn’t so far off.
August 4, 2006 at 10:35 pm · Filed under Israel 2006
Day 6 in pictures.
The first thing we did today was to climb the Roman siege ramp at the desert fortress of Masada. When they told us that these were the plans, I happily envisioned a very long hike up a steep, rocky mountain slope. Instead, there were steps and hand railings; I was disappointed. But, it was still a very interesting site.
Masada was a fort that was in use all the way back to the Hasmonean period (which happened between the Old and New Testaments). Many of the structures at the top of Masada are from when Herod the Great built it up as a fortress for his family and as a backup plan for himself. Some of the Roman luxuries he created in the middle of the desert are absurd. He built a full Roman bath with elaborate fresco paintings on the walls when most people in the area would have been worried about just finding enough water to drink.
However, the most interesting story of Masada comes not from Herod, but from when the Sicarri, the extreme wing of the Jewish zealots during the first Jewish revolt, used it as a stronghold. Masada was one of the last Jewish holdouts left standing at the end of the revolt, and because it has impossibly steep cliffs and immense water and food storage facilities, the Romans couldn’t take it immediately. The Romans ended up camping around the site for two years, built a huge siege wall around the whole area to keep the people that were already inside Masada in and prevent anyone from coming to their aide, and built an enormous siege ramp to wheel their siege engines up for the final attack. But, the night before the Romans would have come in to kill everyone, the Jews all committed suicide. Mishi said this event has contributed a lot the current Jewish mindset. Not that they agree with the Sicarri stance of holding freedom as more important than life, but that they want to never be in that situation again.
After Masada, we traveled a short distance to En-gedi, an oasis about 30 miles southeast of Jerusalem. I was particularly looking forward to this area because I did the site presentation for it. I really enjoyed being able to see the place in real life after reading so much about it in books. The most recognizable Biblical event that happened here was when David cut the corner from King Saul’s robe in one of the caves around the spring. There are some ruins, the most important of which is a Canaanite worship center that dates back to about 3000 BC. But we mostly looked at the streams and waterfalls coming from the spring that is the center of the oasis. The plants and animals of the region were awesome to look at. We saw dozens of wild ibex, a few hyraxes, and all kinds of birds. The contrast between the nothingness of the desert just a little ways away and the lush vegetation of the area was hard to believe.
Our next stop was the settlement of Qumran. The most important group to use this area was the Essenes. They were a Jewish sect that protested what they saw as corruption in the temple of Jerusalem by moving into the desert. They studied the Bible (just the Old Testament; this was before Jesus’ time) nearly all day long and wrote several commentaries on it. What makes them especially interesting to us today is that many of the manuscripts they wrote survived. In fact, the oldest manuscripts we have for most of the Old Testament come from here and are known as “The Dead Sea Scrolls.” Something I found interesting was that all but the book of Esther is included in their writings. I asked Mishi why this was, and he said it was because there was still some dispute at that time on whether or not Esther should be included in the “canon” because it is the only book that does not reference God by name. So, the Essenes were just following the accepted practice of the time.
Of course, since we were so near to the Dead Sea, there was no way we could pass up an opportunity to go swimming! It was crazy; the extremely concentrated salt water really does make you float. Leaning back and not sinking is a very strange feeling. We all covered ourselves with mud (which people often pay a lot of money to do) and took plenty of pictures. But, it was soon time to go if we wanted to get to the hotel in Tiberius in time for dinner.
After we got to the hotel, we learned that the day before there was a conflict between Israel and Palestine. Israeli soldiers took two prisoners from Jericho and moved them to an Israeli prison because Hamas was going to free them. It sounded very serious the way it was portrayed on CNN, but Mishi assured us that it really wasn’t that big of a deal.
Day 6 in pictures.
August 2, 2006 at 10:38 pm · Filed under Israel 2006
Day 5 in pictures.
I was sad to say goodbye to Jerusalem. Hopefully I can come back some time; it’s such a great city.
Today, everything moved at a slower pace. We were out of the crazy traffic of Jerusalem, and the schedule was not quite as tight. Most of the sites today were ancient cities in southern Israel. Some of these actually had remains that we got to see, but for many, we just stopped in a field in the area and someone would give their site presentation.
The first site was Beth Shemesh. This is where the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Israel by the Philistines. It was an important control point in ancient times. Because of the layout of the valleys in the area, it is one of the few easy access points from the sea into the Jerusalem area. We didn’t have any ruins to look at for this one, just a nice landscape.
Up next was Gath, the home of Goliath. This is also the city that the Ark started out from on its journey to Beth Shemesh after the Philistines realized that the plagues and tumors they were suffering came from The Lord. We could see some ruins at the top of a hill, but didn’t have time to go up. The field we stopped at was beside an orchard of some sort, and I could see a road leading off into the distance from where we were standing. The weather was beautiful and I really wanted to just take the rest of the day off and go walking around enjoying the surroundings. But, we had other things to do.
Lachish was the next site. It was one of the cities defeated by Joshua the day the sun stood still. It was also the same city that we saw a mosaic depicting its destruction at the Israel Museum earlier. It was one of the last cities to remain standing during the conquest of Babylon. The siege ramp can still be clearly seen. Interestingly enough, according to the sign outside the area, creation of the park was sponsored by Intel.
For lunch we had what is called a Shawarma. It is one of the most amazing things ever created by man. To start with, the meat (turkey with some lamb fat) is slowly cooked by packing it into a large, vertical cylinder shape and spinning the whole thing over heating elements. It was mesmerizing; I could have watched it spin for hours, dripping with meat juice, mmmmm. Then, they shave off portions of the meat and stuff it into pita bread with some sauce. If you’re ever in Israel, you must try one.
We finally got to walk around some ruins for the next site, which was Tel-Beersheva. This town was where Abraham moved after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra and was traditionally the lower limit of Israel. The waterworks made by these ancient people were particularly impressive. The well just outside the city gates is over 200 feet deep and dates all the way back to the Iron Age. They also built a large cistern system for collecting flood overflow during the rainy season. We descended down a long stairway that was almost entirely of the original stone used to build it and went through some of the caverns that would have held massive amounts of water for the city.
Arad was our final ancient city of the day. Like Gath, it was an ancient Canaanite city. Arad is the city that captured some of the Israelites while they were wandering in the desert. However, God destroyed them and the city never completely recovered. One thing that would have been really neat to see if we could have gone up to the ruins was the remains of a temple from Solomon’s time. This temple apparently had two altars in its Holy of Holies. One large on for God and another smaller one for a Canaanite God, demonstrating Israel’s continuous struggle with maintaining true monotheism.
Our stop for the night was in a Bedouin camp. Well, it’s not actually a Bedouin camp; it’s a tourist trap dressed up like a Bedouin camp. Despite some aspects of it being obviously fake (did the traditional Bedouin’s really have permanent bathroom facilities, electric lights, and cars?), the camp was still fun. We started off with a camel ride. I’m sure the people that led the camels for us think us American tourists are crazy for making such a big deal out of a camel ride, but it was a very unique experience. I can see how it would be convenient to have something like that to ride through the wilderness, but I never was able to get quite comfortable. It was still fun, though!
The camel ride was followed by a tea and coffee ceremony. The tea was sweet tea. Oh well, at least it wasn’t as sweet as most of the stuff in Texas was. This was followed by an awesome dinner. They had meat shiskabobs (still not sure what kind of meat exactly, but it sure did taste good), with a tortilla-like bread to wrap the meat in, dipping sauce, little pizza things, cucumbers, more sweet tea, a desert pastry, and more. If the quality of the food wasn’t enough, the quantity was also very impressive. They kept bringing more and more meat, even after we said we were done. Yum.
After dinner, Caleb and I went hiking in the desert wilderness. We didn’t go very far because I needed to get back and write these journals, but it was still great. There was a full moon, so we didn’t need any flashlights. The impressive thing about the wilderness area around there is how empty it truly is. I don’t think I saw a single plant the entire time we were hiking. It’s just endless mountains covered with rocks. Nothing else. It must have been crazy for people of ancient times to travel across something like this. We were able to get over a ridge where we couldn’t see any unnatural light. It was nice to get away from civilization, at least for a little while. Unfortunately, the full moon meant the stars couldn’t been seen too clearly.
I give my site presentation over En-gedi tomorrow. I should probably figure out what I’ll be saying.
Day 5 in pictures.
We arrived at the waterfront with plenty of time to spare before the sun came all the way up. The air was comfortably cool and there was a very slight breeze. While we waited for the sun, I enjoyed the opportunity to watch the birds. Gulls of some variety circled over the water giving an occasional call. Some of them lazily fought over a preferred perch on one of the boats. Behind me were several kinds of Pigeons (or maybe Doves), that became more plentiful as the morning wore on.
Soon, the sun peeked over the clouds that were sitting on the horizon. The narrow, elongated reflection in the water created the image of a slowing growing column of fire, gradually stretching toward where we were on the western shore. But, before the pillar of fire could reach its full height, the sun was once again obscured by clouds. However, they couldn’t hold it back too long and soon the sun burst forth in all of its splendor. The fire column was almost too bright to look at directly, the sky turned a brilliant blue, and, coming out from the uniform grayness of just a few minutes ago, white puffs of clouds became visible.
Hi there. My name is Curtis Hawthorne, but most of my friends call me Fjord.