Last Week in Israel

The last several days we had in Israel showed promise of future rain! One morning the air was distinctly laden with the scent of rain… the sky was cloudy, and we so hoped it would just pour. The fires of the north had subsided, and we heard that area actually got rain, but a little too late to help extinguish the flames. It was a great loss of forest, homes and most importantly, 41 lives. We were only in this very area weeks before, and as we followed along the news reports, we knew exactly where the fire was raging. Israel welcomed the many countries who came to her aid with firefighters, trained dogs, and air support with water…and finally the BIG weapon sent by a private American company, a Boeing 747 that held so much water and fire retardant that two swipes over the fire and it was out. Even countries who are not Israel’s close friends came to the aid, and we are hoping that some of those barriers of animosity were crossed.

Celebrating Marius’ birthday was special, as all of Boaz & Rinah’s kids & grandkids got together for a huge picnic and we loved being a part of their family. A Poyke was put together, ingredients were chicken pieces, corn, veggies, sauces and spices. Two hours after bubbling away on the grill, voila - it’s "chow time!" This park was a paradise for the little kids as they had natural pools around, intended for children to have a wet play. Shown left are Rinah's daughters Erica with Amit (pronounced Ah-meet) (1-1/2 year old boy) and Karen with Shoham (pronounced Show-haam). (2-1/2 yr. old girl)

I checked on my hot-house
plants for the last time, and remarked how much they had grown! I so enjoyed participating in this venture, having learned greatly from Boaz’ expertise and Rinah’s patience. There’s just something about getting your fingers in black dirt and helping something grow! Tiny little seedlings actually made it into small plastic containers to large black plastic bags, next step being into the ground.

Our last day in Israel was memorable! Boaz took the day off and with Rinah, plus a new friend Katrin from France whose husband was away for 10 days, and her little 6-month baby Eyelet (pronounced Eye-ye-let) joined us. We had rented a car several days earlier because of the need for convenience, so we followed the Dreyer’s car and made a day of seeing wonderful parts of Israel yet not discovered by us. It was also wonderful for Katrin as she was new to Israel, and did not have a car. Being cooped-up with a baby alone without transportation for 10 days could have been quite lonely, but Rinah took care to make sure Katrin and Eyelet were kept company.


Boaz took us into the eastern part of Israel, to The Valley of Tzin, but desert none-the-less. We went to the summer desert home of David Ben-Gurion, in Kabbutz Sde Boker. Ben-Gurion was a most beloved man of Israel, and former President – who was tremendously successful in bringing Israel into statehood. We toured his simple small home, with the only one vast room which was his library, filled with hundreds of books. He and his wife were simple Israeli’s with huge hearts and tremendous love for their fellow men and this beautiful land.

Not far from this place was a nature park I’ll soon not forget. We walked around on wonderful paths that encircled woody-rocky-hills where several Mountain Sheep called home. Very much like America’s Rocky-Mountain-Sheep, these “big boys” had tremendous racks of antlers and two sheep gave us quite a show sparring. The clack of their antlers making contact ricocheted off the canyon. Boaz, who has a business making shofars (see his website Shefa Shofars) was truly admiring these antlers, but said this particular sheep’s antlers were used exclusively for High Priests use.

We looked out into the vast expanse of the northern-tip of Mizpah Rimon, and could not believe the beauty of this wilderness. Each turn of the eye was a totally different vista.

Finally the day came for our departure. For our “last supper”, I made a huge pot of chili and Rinah made a fine pan of corn bread. There were even leftovers for them to enjoy, remembering us even as we were no longer joining their table. It’s always melancholy when fare-wells are said, and there’s always something at the airport or in the airplane you remember you wish you said.

Our last sight-seeing trip was made to the Israeli Air Force Museum. The day was perfect with mild weather, and walking around this vast outdoor museum was great. We found old and new jets, transporters, tanks and helicopters. As it became dusk, we bid our friends farewell, Rinah and I hugged and hugged! Almost 3 months working side-by-side Boaz and Rinah were finally ended, and as they returned to the Negev with Katrin and Eyelet in tow, we took our rental car the hour’s drive north to Tel Aviv area where Ben Gurion Airport is located.

We had been told that at Ben Gurion Airport, before we ever get on the airplane, we are checked visually by their security people at least 4 times, but the thing was – these people were milling around incognito, just watching peoples behavior as they make their way to their gate.
There was never any frisking, we kept our shoes on and did not need to remove belts or heavy jewelry, or remove the computer from its case. And this airport has never had an incident of security breach. There’s much America can learn from Israel in this regard. The inside of this new airport was just beautiful, and modern as any airport I’ve ever seen. As you can see, our flight home worked! We are here, now have Milo back in custody, and getting our hours switched around ever-so-slowly. Next episode to this adventure will bring everything to a close, with our favorites list in Israel! Already I can tell you, our favorite part of returning to America is… our bed! Not food, not shopping or large stores, but our bed. Hooray!

The Final Two Weeks

Work awaited Jerry and Boaz at the house they had been working on. Joining them was Marius, son of Boaz, who had just learned he secured a "real paying job" with a local dish network company. He'll soon be leaving home, beginning his new job first week in January. So now the guys are pressed to get as much work done as possible. The project they work on now is laying tile. Hard work, but the finished product will be lovely. The photo of Jerry in the house is old, that room is now completely tiled, along with 85% of the house. Wahoo!

Something else Jerry has been working on, is Boaz's website. Already established, Boaz wanted to add and change some things, so Jerry has been very helpful to Boaz. Much of Jerry's downtime has been computer work, not only with Boaz, but also with a man we met in Alfe Menashe, Steve Kramer. Steve and his wife Michal are from New Jersey, and made Aliya many years ago, and raised their 2 sons (now adults) in Israel. Steve needed a website, and Jerry has been working with him to make that happen. Before the American elections a few weeks ago, Jerry was working for a group in Phoenix, building and updating their website, which he still does now and again.

We've been privileged to be a part of the Dreyer families birthday celebrations of late. . . there was a family gathering for Boaz' birthday early in the month, and their two younger daughters came, Carolyn is single but seeing a particular guy who came, and Erica and her husband Danny, and their little baby, Amit, came, and of course Marius was already here. Recently their oldest daughter Karen came with husband Leandro, and their little girl (age 2) Shoham. Carolyn lives in Tel Aviv, the other two daughters live about 30-40 minutes drive from here. This weekend we will be celebrating Marius' birthday, with a big outing to a National Park, not too far from home. We'll have our last opportunity to visit with Boaz & Rinah's children, whom we love as if they were our own. Actually, it makes us homesick to know our own children aren't here with us! The birthday plan for Marius is to bring the ingredients to make Chamin, a big special cook pot filled with all sorts of things, chicken and veggies, cooked on an open fire right there on an open flame. We are so looking forward to this outing! We hope the weather holds for us, as lately it's been just beautiful during the days. We know winter will eventually arrive in Israel, but we hope we’re enjoying Arizona winter by then. Actually, Israel is suffering from a serious drought. . . if the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinnerett) drops down any more, the damages could be irreversible. We constantly pray for rain.

The Dreyer household has had their problems with colds, bronchitis and the like, and we are doing our best to stay as healthy as possible! But not feeling well didn't stop Boaz and Rinah taking us to a birthday celebration of a friend of theirs yesterday, in Be'er Sheva. Held on Shabbat, which typically means nothing is open, this restaurant is secular and was open. We were two of about 13 people, and all conversation was in Hebrew. Interestingly enough, watching the animated faces I could imagine the kinds of conversations these friends were having. Israeli's are very animated, using hands and loud voices – kind of Italian, in a way. Every now and then someone across the table, who knew we did not speak Hebrew, would translate for us, and that was such an act of kindness. One man read something of some length, and read it again for our understanding… it was a most compassionate piece, and I complimented him on his writing. He said he takes no credit, as Charlie Chaplin was the author of the piece he read.

One of the more interesting (and costly) things we did a couple of weeks ago, was package up things we didn't want to load our suitcases down with. I fastidiously put all sorts of things for ourselves, and gifts for the family, in a large box. It was tight as a nutshell, and heavy as Jerry's tool-box. We groaned when we saw how much this precious box of cargo weighed, and cost, to send to our son Joel. All my most favorite precious things I bought were in this box. Thankfully, nothing was breakable, but we did have a plastic jar of date honey included, which I regret to this very day not putting it in a plastic bag. I was a bit paranoid as when the young girl finished labeling the box, she put it on a counter behind her, when only minutes later, in slow-mo, I saw this box lean over the side of the counter and come crashing onto the floor. Of course, I cried out to catch the postal clerk's attention, but she didn't understand my jabbering and frantic waves in time to do anything about it. I could see that things I carefully arranged in perfect tidy order went askew and imagined the bottle of date honey splitting open and coating my favorite things. I sent a much smaller box to our friends in New Zealand, which they do have, minus 2 small rocks from Israel I wanted them to have. Apparently the New Zealand Customs people didn't want rocks from Israel in anybody’s home. After what seemed an eternity, we heard from Joel that our box arrived in perfect order. Praise God!

As I write, the IDF continues its War Games, but when I use those words to our friends, they will remind me of the days when they weren't Games at all, but the real thing. I need to remember to use my words with caution, as not to offend. Jets are streaking across these deserts, below radar, rattling windows and brains alike. I hear them coming, run outside to see them, and by that time they are already out of sight. Now, that's fast. At night we hear the tanks having artillery practice. We always wonder if they know something we don’t, and of course, they do. So, we praise God that they are looking out for Israel, and every inhabitant. They will be sharp as tacks should the situation arise, and surely it will. We’re thankful that our Heavenly Abba’s words:

"I will lift up eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip – he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." Psalm 121:1-3

He is watching out for His precious children here in the Land. Israel is bordered by countries that abhor Israel – this tiny piece of property is sought-out to be annihilated by its enemies. It is the history of these people, and they are used to it…hate it, but they are used to it. This photo depicts a sad new scene to Israel, a fence or barrier that separates Moslems from Jews. It is a fact, that Israel is a place of unrest, but our God is greater than any fence, and He alone can create peace when there is none.

Winding Up Our Stay in the Galil

I spoke last time of the wonderful travel guide we had in the Galilee, or Galil as it's known here, Alon Barak. A wonderful man, gifted in teaching as he went, explained many things to us from Scripture, confirming much of what we already knew. Alon was an educator in California, and in the L.A. area he had started three private schools. Long before he became an administrator, he was a regular middle-school and high-school teacher. A student of his was Dusty Rogers, one of Roy Rogers & Dale Evans sons. It was great hearing of his relationship with the Rogers family, as Roy and Dale were always people I admired greatly. Alon went out to their ranch occasionally, and learned plenty himself from Roy and Dale, many things Biblically. One thing Alon is passionate about is Scripture, and each place we stopped along the road he had knowledge of Biblically.

He had us stop at an olive mill tourist area,and was excited for us to see what a millstone looked like. He reminded us of the Scripture from Luke 17, when Yeshua said, "It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So, watch yourselves." The millstone was a tremendous hunk of hewn rock, used to crush olives to a pulp. Later on, Alon took us to an "8-star (as he put it) hotel", The St. Andrews, in Tiberia, overlooking the city and great view of the Kinnerett Sea. Here he showed us an antique anchor, which would have sunk anyone to the bottom of the sea just as effectively.

We spent a lot of time at "Ancient Galilee Boat Museum", where the skeleton of a rotted boat was recovered from deep mud situated close to the shoreline, presumed to be one like the Boat Yeshua sailed in with His disciples any number of times. We watched a video on how the remains were carefully unearthed by a team of archaeologists. The remains are now kept inside with a ramp around the area so people could view, but signs are everywhere not to take photos, but of course, everyone but us took photos.

We finished our 4 days with Alon and Ronit in Tiberia, celebrating new friendships at a wonderful sidewalk café, named Cherry. Days before we met Alon, Jerry and I stopped along the same sidewalk, ate a meal at a different restaurant, and we were sorry we hadn’t discovered the Cherry first! As I love to cook and get presentation ideas, I had to take a picture of my "French Onion Soup." Joining us was a young couple from Haifa, who were in Tiberia visiting their dentist. They chanced a call to Alon to see if they could meet them for lunch there, not knowing they were already in the city. Amanda and Fernando had a sweet 3-month old son, Isaac. Fernando, like Ronit, made Aliya from Brazil, and his wife Amanda came from Pennsylvania. They grew up together as childhood friends, and after Fernando finished his education, he came a'courtin' Amanda and won her heart. It was great meeting this beautiful young couple, who also have a tremendous love for Yeshua, yet adapting well into life in Israel.

Giving hugs around the table, making these new friends in such a short amount of time, we made our return trip to Alfe Menashe. I did a major clean-up of the Frank house, spent a couple of days visiting with Yonatan (the Frank’s son), then left for the airport to pick up Boaz and Rinah from their 2-week Lubbock, Texas tour. This is part of the livelihood for the Dreyers, leading tours. We heard the tour was really great, but we already knew that anybody from Jerry’s birthplace HAD to be wonderful! We took a very tired Boaz & Rinah back to Be’er Milka and we returned to our tiny little B&B (may it ever be so humble), where we remain now till our departure. The clock is ticking, we are now counting the days when our long tour of Israel will be complete.

The Galil and The Golan Heights

We left the wonderful life at the Frank's house to take a 3-day journey up north, which became a 4-day journey.
We made a phone call to friends of the Dreyer's who lived in the Galil, also known as Galilee. I talked with Alon Barak . . . first question I asked, was, "Do you speak English?" Alon’s quick answer was, "Better than I speak Hebrew" with a familiar real American accent! We became fast friends in just 3 minutes of talking. We told him we were coming north for a few days - we heard he sometimes had a rental we could use. His advice: "Get up here!" So, on our way up north, we made a stop in Tiberia, also known as Tiberius . . . had coffee on a wharf overlooking the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and made our way into The Galilee Experience, a Christian Judaica Shop, which we had been to 14 years ago.

Making our way up the hill to Had
Nes, where the Barak's live, was a piece of cake. Alon greeted us with a great smile and showed us the way to our "cottage". Alon just LOVES this area and knows it like the back of his hand, and offers to be our personal tour guide. We meet Ronit that night and just love her! She’s a Brazilian Pediatrician, finishing language school in order to have her practice in Israel. Alon and Jerry map out our journey for the next day.

We made some stops along our morning, first to view places that were important for the military during the recent war. We passed an ancient Synagogue (mainly ruins) at Capernaum; saw a long stretch of banana and mango orchards; stopped briefly at Tavgah, the place presumed Yeshua fed the multitudes bread and fish (but now a resort owned by the Catholic church). From not too far away, Alon pointed out a very high hill where Yeshua went by himself to pray, known as Mt. Arbel. We stopped at Ancient Migdal, which was now a very new excavation site. In the process of preparing for a parking lot for a new hotel, workers came across an ancient menorah, and before long archaeologists set up camp. There were two worksites, one was totally off-limits to nosey travelers, the other we could watch from a safe distance. Migdal was the place where Mary of Magdalene lived when Yeshua set her free from demons. At the time of Yeshua, Tiberia was a "red-light" district, which was only short miles from Migdal.

We left and drove up a big hill to the most unremarkable place to the visual eye . . . "The Tomb of the Matriarchs". The site looks over the sea, the area given Naphtali and Dan, who were Bilhah’s sons. So it is believed that somewhere here, Bilhah's bones are buried, and a tomb built in her honor.

The best part of our day was spent
at Arbel, the mountain where Yeshua went to pray alone. Alon, our tour guy, had Jerry take this twisty windy road up the backside of the mountain to a parking lot intended for many tour buses and cars. There was only a handful of people there, so we enjoyed our leisure hike to the top of the lookout. It was an amazing sight, we imagined Yeshua there, sitting on a rock praying to His Father, looking over all this land He so loved. On one view was Tiberia and the Kinneret Sea, another view was north to the Golan Heights, then more farming/agriculture acreage devoted to mangos, bananas, olive orchards & grape vineyards. It was easy to see that this land had indeed been richly blessed, the land promised to the Children of Israel that they were to inherit upon entering the promised land. We met a man, probably late 60’s, who had hiked up to Mt. Arbel from Tiberia and was taking a much-needed rest, and lunch break. He was a German man who lived in Tiberia, and told us right off that he was a Believer of Yeshua the Messiah. I hope I’m (someday soon?) that unabashed to tell some perfect strangers that I, too, was a follower of Yeshua. We enjoyed visiting this dynamic witness, then left him to his lunch, making our way back down the hill. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

The City of Dan

After Moses died on Mt. Nebo, Joshua led the sons of Israel into the Promised Land. The book of Joshua records the conquest and division of Canaan among the various tribes of Israel. The allotted land for the tribe of Dan was a section located between those portions allotted to Ephraim (to the north), Judah (to the south), and Benjamin (to the east) and included today’s Tel Aviv. However, Joshua 19:47 says, “But the Danites had difficulty taking possession of their territory, so they went up and attacked Leshem (or Laish), took it, put it to the sword and occupied it. They settled in Leshem and named it Dan after their forefather. These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the tribe of Dan, tribe by tribe.” A more detailed account of this venture is given in Judges 18. Here we see that the tribe of Dan “went on to Laish, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city.” (Judges 18:27) Then “the Danites rebuilt the city and settled there. They named it Dan after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel – though the city used to be called Laish.” (Judges 18:28) They immediately set up idols for themselves and although the city remained occupied by the Danites until the time of the Assyrian conquest and destruction around 720 bce, there is no reason to believe that they ever worshiped the God of their forefathers in the manner that was laid out in the Torah of Moses.

The archeological site of Tel Dan is very well-preserved. The stone walls of the city are still very visible along with the city gates. There is also a well-preserved “high place,” likely the site of many pagan rituals and sacrifices. When the Kingdom of Israel was divided after the reign of Solomon in about 930 bce, the first king of the northern kingdom (then called Israel) was Jeroboam I. He feared that if his subjects continued to travel south to Jerusalem three times a year, which was required by the Torah, that he would lose control of them. So he copied elements of the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and built temples in two cities in the north where his subjects could go worship. One of these cities was Beth El and the other was Dan. He made two golden calf idols and set up one in each city, clearly in rebellion to God and His Word.

Dan was (is) the northern most city in Israel, about 50 miles due north of the Sea of Galilee (or Kenneret). The ruins of Dan are located in the Golan Heights, about 25 miles from both Lebanon and Syria today. The area is stunningly beautiful, with lush green trees and grasses and the Dan River, a tributary of the Jordan River, running through it. It sits on a hillside overlooking the green Hula Valley, a stop over location for millions of migratory birds. Today, Tel Dan is probably more well-known as a nature reserve than it is as an archeological site. A visit to Tel Dan, along with other sites in the Golan Heights and the Hula Valley, is well worth the time and can be a very pleasant experience.

Yaffa, Tel Aviv and Caesarea

We spent two special nights with wonderful friends we've known since we lived in Germany, 1988-1989. Tova and Yosef invited us into their lovely home in a very large high-rise condominium complex, near Tel Aviv.
Their son, Zivan, was a very good friend of our son, Jon, when they both attended the International School of Stuttgart as 2nd graders. Yosef would not allow us to spend money on anything, indeed he spoiled us rotten with wonderful cafés and restaurants. They planned our stay with them very carefully, and our first trip was to Yaffa (modern name is Joppa). We had been to Yaffa 14 years ago on our first trip to Israel, and I’m glad to say the city remained antiquated without too much change, but Tel Aviv, it’s neighbor, exploded in size and commerce. Yosef is short in stature but makes up for it in chutzpah, as he barely clears the height of the steering wheel and drives with a foot each on a pedal. All this, talking at the same time - hands going every which way to make a point – ignoring the honking horns of cars in back of him, or passing him giving him the evil eye.

Tova is a bit taller, and is a historian at heart, fascinated with each nook and cranny of sights, and is often on a trail of her own accord, while Yosef is yelling at her in Hebrew with what we imagine, saying, "Tova! Where in the heck are you going!" They just celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary, and are very forgiving to each other. After walking through Yaffa, Yosef drove us to "Old Tel Aviv". What an amazing place, as many of the ancient homes are currently being renovated - stone for stone - to re-make the old place into something new, yet ancient looking. The streets are narrow, studded with art shops, gift shops and cafés. We stopped for a late-afternoon meal, and the food was quite memorable. Their son, Zivan, recommended two places he was sure we’d enjoy. Bravo, Zivan! This photo was my favorite: a very old house still remaining in the old city, butted up to New Tel Aviv. The old house reminded me of the movie, "Up"!

Our final stop with our friends on Friday afternoon was to Caesarea, a bit north of Tel Aviv. Built by King Herod, this fortress now in ruins was a booming city about 37 – 4 BCE. We spent a few hours learning all we could, and two films provided for tourists gave full record of the history of Caesarea.

 

 

 

 

 

When we returned to Yosef and Tova’s home, we were all exhausted and Yosef exclaimed, "A siesta was required". These two dear people toddled off to a 2-hour nap, awaking at 7:00 pm, and then proceeded to lay out a magnificent Erev Shabbat dinner. Tova and Yosef had not celebrated this type of a Friday evening event for many, many years, although every-other Friday they have their children and grandchildren over for dinner. Tova brought out the candle-stick holders putting in new candles, Yosef found the spot for reading in his Sedur (book of prayers), and they presented a very wonderful celebration of the Shabbat meal. It was tradition to Tova’s family that we started off with Gefilte fish (uh, not to be a tradition in our home!), yet a tradition in many religious Jewish homes. Tova and Yosef will tell you outright they are not religious! On to a chicken broth with noodles, then beef and chicken with boiled potatoes and veggies and a beautiful Challah that Yosef bought that morning. When we knew there was not another inch of room in our tummies, Tova brought out a fruit compote and chocolate cake.

In the morning we hugged and hugged, and they sent us on our way back to Alfe Menashe. Now it’s evening, I’m putting this all down on the computer, with a glass of red wine by my side (thanks, sweetie Jerry), and very thankful for all that the LORD has blessed us with in sight, sound, and friendships. Toda rabah, Abba! (Thank you, Father!)

Akko and Zichron Ja'akov

These past few days we’ve been traveling fools. Give us a car, a set of keys and some gasoline, and we’re off! We rented a car in Natanya and started our own private tour of the mid section of Israel. Natanya is a coastal town, not far from Alfe Menashe, where we are “headquartered” the next two weeks. Rinah and Boaz dropped us off at the home of Ephraim & Rimona Frank who had actually left us for a 6-week trip to the Far East! It was a quick hello-goodbye to these wonderful friends, who gave us the key to their home. Their son, Yonatan, is a university student and here most of the time.

Our first day trip took us to Akko, a northerly city on the Mediterranean coast where we stopped for lunch and a walk around this ancient fortified city. The city is mostly a Palestinian city, but many Jews live there as well.

We heard that a city not far away (Zichron Ya’akov) was most pleasant to visit, and was noted a special place of remembrance to a wealthy man from England whose name was Jacob (Ya’akov) Rothschild. He had a special heart for Israel, and endowed quite a lot of money in the building of cities in Israel. We found this particular city so charming that we felt if we lived in Israel, it would be wonderful to live here. The streets were well kept, and several blocks were closed off from traffic as a walk-area for residents and visitors to roam from shop to shop. Also there was a Memorial Park built to honor Rothschild, where he and his wife are buried. The Carmel Winery and vineyard is located here, which we visited.