I'm home safely but wanted to get down a few events from my journal.
we visited Masada- which was bigger than i expected. none of my pictures turned out well because it's almost as if you're so high up on the mountain you dont have a good view. it's like seeing the bottom from the window of a plane. Masada means fortress, and it is where Jews during the Jewish rebellion against the romans, came for refuge. What i didnt know before was that this area of Masada had already been built by Herod the Great. This guy ran all around Israel building all kinds of stuff (and basically killing, enslaving and being an all around jerkface). He had built himself a luxurious palace on top of Masada. complete with 3 bathhouses, fake streams, just for the image and a SWIMMING POOL. This is pretty over the top considering it's in the middle of the dessert where money means more than shekels. We're not sure if the Romans ever inhabilited his palace, or if it was built and deserted but there is no trace of a battle between that time and when the Jews showed up to live on this mountain. They used it as refuge to escape the Romans who would force them to worship false idols and enslave them. So in the yr 66 CE, this group took Masada, and converted the palace walls into living facilities, bakeries, leather maker quarters, synagogues and become self-sufficient from this mountain. They lived there for 7 years, while the Romans destroyed all the Jews in Jerusalem and othe rplaces in Israel. When they were discovered it took teh Romans 9 months to make it to the top of the Jewish fortress. they had to build this ramp, using Jewish slaves. Evidence was found of a speech given to the group by a Jewish soldier, convincing them that they must take their own lives rather than submit to worshiping idols and becoming slaves. they drew lots, which were also found. each stone had the name of the 9 or 10 men on it that would be responsible for killing the group and each other. In Judaism suicide is allowed for three reasons: 1. If you're going to be forced to commit incest, 2. if you're going to be forced to worship idols and 3. if you're going to be forced to murder
When the Romans found them there were a couple children and women left, who told the Romans what happened, and were kept as slaves.
Other interesting things we saw on our trip:
Homes of Druze. This group of religious people can only be Druze if you're directly descended from Druze. You cannot be converted, adn if your parents dont marry other Druze, you are not Druze and are isolated from the community. They live in Israel and have fought alongside the Jews many times. Their religion is al most an 'offshoot' of Islam. They also believe in reincarnation.
View of Nazareth- this was amazing. Usually on this trip we had to try to look at a pile of rocks to imagine what the city would have looked like 2,000 years ago. in this case we had to look at a city of thousands and try to imagine it with only 200. We hiked up Mt. Precipice to view the city and on the other side we viewed the Jezreel valley and Megido, where Armageddon is prophesied to take place in Revelations. it was interesting to look onto one side and see the place where Jesus was born and the other side where the end of days is supposed to take place. But the most amazing part of this section was the peace and quiet from this mountain. the wind seemed magical up there. the word Netzer is Hebrew for new chute. on an olive tree, if you dont prune it chutes will come out of the roots. to cultivate the tree and get good olives, you must cut the chutes. there is analogy in Psalm 128 and Romans 11:17. We also got to visit Megido, and some ancient archaological sites there as well. It was there that one of the donors wigs blew off.
We visited Cana, the site where Jesus turned the water into wine for a wedding. We learned that people typically got married on teh third day of the week because in Genesis on teh third day god said 'and it was good' twice. At this site we visited a chapel and Jerry held a ceremony where coupls renewed their vows. it was pretty special. The surrounding city seemed to be a lot of shops where people tried to sell you creepy pictures of Jesus and Mary, where if you turned the picture slightly their eyes would open. THey also sold 'Cana Wine', which was horrible prune juice type stuff. i'm sure the wine Jesus made was top shelf and nothing like that stuff. ick.
We visited a bomb shelter in Tiberius. Where 40 people had to sleep, including children, during hte crisis in 2006. At that time, there wasnt any plumbing or blankets or food, but the Fellowship has sponsored renovations on these shelters and there is now a toilet and places for people to sleep.
Mt. of Beatitudes
Overlooking the sea of Galilee, there is a church built there for people to pray and enjoy. There are well maintained gardens and stone walkways. in my journal i wrote, "Beautiful and amazing. they read the sermon on teh mount but before they read it i was crying and couldnt stop. Why is it so beautiful? I kept asking, Why is it so peaceful? It felt like paradise"
Safed
We got to visit the ancient Jewish city, where the Qabbalah and Jewish mysticism was born and we heard many jewish miracle stories like one group who was worshipping in teh synagogue and right when they knelt over for prayer, shrapnel flew over their heads and landed in the mdidle of their shuel. Becaues they'd bowed at that moment, no one was hurt.
Ride on Sea of Galilee
We got to eat a delicious lunch and take a boat ride on the sea of galilee. But first we received extravagent entertainment: Jerry had a woman with an interesting head wrap play some dramatic music that sounded like it was from a Western. She said "Thank you, International Fellowship of Christians and Jewish, please look to the sea!" We looked outside as the music was turned up and there on the boat was a large man, unenthusiastically holding an American flag and waving it. Then she tried to lead us all into singing God Bless America. Some were led. And then came out two Jewish girls wearing white robes who did a dramatic slow dance to a song about Jesus. I have all of this on tape. i couldnt make any of this up if i tried.
the significance of the Menorah- there are seven branches for seven hebrew words which mean "Not by force, nor by might, but by my spirit"
Baptized at Jordan River
Here is what i have in my journal of this event:
"The water did, in fact, smell like poop. And i felt strange putting on a white robe, but i also felt overcome by emotion. And there were otters swimming in the water. Otters!!!!! there were also some huge minnow type fish that i told people were piranas. When i went underwater the whold world was silent and when i came out, i did feel new. Ever since i've been in the best mood. i feel refreshed like the best version of myself. Talking to Danny may have been part of it too."
Bus Problems
One day we had bus problems. People were mad that the same people seemed to get to the bus first and claim seats in the front. it became a race issue. the people in the back were black and the people in the front were white. one lady was crying. we made a mandatory rule for all people to sit in a different seat every day on the bus.
Beit Shan
This was an amazing archaological dig where we got to see AN ENTIRE CITY. stores, toilets, houses, temples, everything you would need an a city, well preserved. it was amazing.
We visited the Upper room, where some believe was where the last supper took place. There was an engraving of a Pelican, because apparently Pelicans, if their children are starving, they serve their babies their own blood and their own flesh.
We had a full last day of our trip.
We first visited a center that is funded by our organizations hard work. It provides space, material and stipends to elderly people aged 65-90 who do not have enough food to pay for food and medicine. We give them a small amount of money, enough to be comfortable, also feed them lunches and breakfasts while they work. but most importantly, give them a pride in a job that they can do and show others. These elderly make hand made greeting cards, wooden ornaments, clothing, jewelry, etc. They are so skilled that our travel guide told us that she and many other Jews go to the sourvenir shop to purchase these items at least twice a year. The quality is not that of someoen who works for charity but of high professional standard. We got the privelege of walking around the shops, watching these cute people work and admire their work. Some were shy and didnt speak. But many others held up their work with pride, or proved their English skills by asking us what part of the states we were from. it was a wonderful experience.
From there we went to this AMAZING marketplace. Now at this point i was out of film so i had to try to write everything that i saw. On my journal this is what i have: "..stands of the freshest and most exotic fruits and vegetables, booths of fresh homemade cheeses in all different shapes, sizes, colors, small butcher stands, booths of hand-made candles, cookies, various breads, dried fruits, dried beans, dried spices, small home-made falafel stands, entire booths devoted to different olive salands, bootsh of plumbing materials, clothing, shawls, jewelry...ultra orthodox Rabbis talking on cell phones, young IDF soldiers carrying rifles, booths of donuts for the upcoming Hanukkah celebration..."
After the market we visited another project that our organization funds. it's a very unual soup kitchen. At this place, anyone can eat, whether they can pay or not. Men in business suits eat, and then drop their money in a box at the back of the restaurant. Many put no money in the box, if they can't afford to, or they might drop a note of thanks in, or a children's drawing, or an 'IOU' (and many later come and give money when they're back on their feet.) This place also makes up to 1,800 sandwiches every night for children, and delivers them to schools. the teachers put these sandwiches in the designated students lunches, while the children are not present so that others will not know that the child is poor. Right now in Israel, 435,000 families live below the poverty line. the poverty line is $24,000 for a family of four.
We then visited the Israeli museum which held art and history for Israel. The most noteworthy piece being an exact replica, 1/50th of the size of the city of Jerusalem from what it would have looked like 70 AD. What was amazing about seeing this model was that i thought everything was so large in person, but the model shows that what i saw was only a fraction of what was left. the Western wall is just a supporting wall of an enough platform that held another story-- the sacred Temple.
Also at the Israeli museum we got to view the Dead Sea Scrolls. I had tried to look into the dead sea scrolls previously and wasnt really sure what they were. Previously we had gotten the opportunity to visit Qumran which is the archaological site of the dead sea scrolls. And at this museum we could see the scrolls themselves. Basically, about 30 years before the time of Jesus, there was a group of Jews who were unhappy with how Judaism was being observed. So this group, known to some as Yachad (light) or the Dead Sea Tribe, moved to these caves on the dead sea and practiced a somewhat new version. they emphasized scribes, which are still very important to Judaism today. All the bible is hand written very carefully. In fact, amazingly the entire bible, other than the book of Esther was found at this site. Some, obviously, have thousands of years, was damaged, but the book of Isaiah was complete, with nothing missing. What's also fascinating about this find, is that this is the oldest Isaiah found and has very little, if any variance from the Isaiah book we find today. In addition there were a 100 extra Psalms that are not included in the bible today. in addition to scribes, this group obstained from all pleasure. They wrote, mediated, prayed, and ate in silence. These men believed they were given the true knowledge of the calendar so theirs is slightly variant on thh Jewish calendar. These Jews also had a strong emphasis on mikvas (ritual baths Jews used). They also have a unique prophecy about an end of days last battle, which is not something that you'll typically find in Judaism. The style of this prediction is more in the style of what you could find in the New Testament. This group lived in these caves for about 40 years, and we're not sure what happened to them. Their documents were buried, which could mean that when they left the site, they did not intend to come back. Some think they could have possibly joined the Jews fighting on Masada, because a similar document was found on that site, but just a theory. All of this archaological preservation was made possible because of the lack of humidity in Israel.
We left the museum already exhausted and arrived at Yad Vashem, the holocaust memorial. this, as i expected, was so emotionally and spiritually draining. we only had 2 hours to visit the entire museum, and that doesnt include the separate museum that honors the 1 million children killed. After the visit the rabbi came and gave a solemn talk, sharing his thoughts, and then sang a melodic prayer in Hebrew. We left a wreath from IFCJ in honor of the group of rebels in the ghettos that rose up and fought valliantly against the nazis.
From there i went to dinner, as if i was in the mood to eat, and then got on a bus to go home.
My trip home was so much easier than my trip there. Security didnt hassle me and i slept for 12 hours!!! I must have been tired. There were no delays or problems with either flight. And i'm now home, trying to get back to my schedule.
It was a wonderful trip, i was almost sad to leave. Israel is a very unique place
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