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.

An Anniversary Celebration in Jerusalem

For Rinah and Boaz’s wedding anniversary, they treated us to a fabulous tour and hotel stay in Jerusalem. They are both experienced tour guides, and are indeed presently on a tour with 19 travelers from Texas for two weeks. But our stay in Jerusalem was more than we could have ever anticipated. Most memorable was a “Light and Sound Show” in the Citadel of David, early evening. Just going into the citadel was such a cool event, but at dusk, as we were all seated on little folding chairs crowded together like sardines, the show began. There are no words to describe what we saw… some kind of projector used as a backdrop the stone walls of the citadel to tell the story of Israel, from the ancient beginnings to present day. The sounds were from the animals and people acting in the presentation as well as a great musical score. There was no narrative, as it was clear what was going on. Most amazing. Photos were not allowed, so if you’re ever in Jerusalem, make sure you see this… the best thing by far.

We also went into The Jerusalem Archeological Park (at the south end of the Temple Mount), where there were huge marble stones and parts of the Second Temple strewn about, when this temple was destroyed.

We also made a visit to the Western Wall where this little guy caught my attention, and Rinah and I went into the Women’s section to pray, and I stuck a little prayer for special friends inside a crevice of the wall. .

In Kadesh Barnea

Welcome to the next edition of our blog. We’ve been doing a day-trip in Kadesh Barnea, very close to where the Moshav we live is located. Moses and the Children of Israel were camped for MANY years at Kadesh Barnea – such a wilderness you would not believe! But in the midst of today’s journey of Kadesh Barnea, one will find wonderful treasures and places of creature comfort.

But nothing like golf courses, 5-star Hotels, Disney World or any facsimile thereof. You may remember the photos I sent of our own “home away from home” at our Moshav, but this selection of paragraphs and photos will be about other vacation spots and not too far from Be’er Milka! A 45-minute drive from where we live is a place roughly translated to The Bedouin Inn of Kadesh Barnea. This place is swarming with families, laughing children of all ages, finding lots to do in the desert not requiring electricity or modems or cell phones. There was such an electricity of togetherness in these several family groups – probably new lifetime friendships were being developed before our very eyes.

This “hotel” was no slouch either, note the gracious bathroom and the view you have brushing your teeth in the morning. Toilets lined one side, showers line the opposite side, and it was men & women together (like that will ever happen in America!).

Families either slept communally in a large room or had separate quarters that hung hammocks for beds. The host is this local lad whose picture I had to take! He asked why I wanted his picture, I answered “Because you have a great face!”

From here we took a hike to a blackened hill, known as the Hill of Writing. Ancient petraglyphs were scratched deeply into the rock, showing animals, birds, and ancient words. So our thought was, what blackened this hill? Not a tree in sight for lightning to hit. Hmmm.

Completing our day’s travel, we stopped by a new area that is part of Be’er Milka, begun through the ministry of Ronen Shalom, called Eretz Yah (God’s Land). We met Ronen and his American wife (Mariah) in Florida when we lived there. Early this year we had opportunity to buy an olive tree to be grown in this new olive grove (you can also buy a tree for a minimal cost, let me know if you’re interested).

The end of the perfect day was celebrated by entering our Friday evening event of Erev Shabbat, where The Light of the World is celebrated and honored by the lighting of the Shabbat candles, the Challah bread honoring The Bread of Life is passed around and eaten, and red wine is drunk honoring Him who gave His life that we might have ours. Shabbat Shalom!