Nava Gan

Its taken me some time to put together this last entry, partly because I don't want it to be over, and partly because I have had a hard time finding the words to sum up the experience. This trip was truly a dream come true, and everything that I have shared with you is just a fraction of what we truly experienced. For all of us who went, it was more than a physical journey or a simple vacation. It was a journey of the heart and the spirit, and what I have shared is really just the tip of the iceberg. For each of us, the trip has been a deeply personal experience, and I am sure if you asked, we would each give you vastly different answers about how we were affected by the ... read more

It was another bright and beautiful morning here in Yerushalayim. We started our day off with a tour of the City of David. King David's capital was originally founded south of the Temple Mount outside the walls of what today is the Old City. It was only in later generations when more space was needed that Yerushalayim was expanded to the north and west beyond the Temple Mount. Today archeologists are still working to uncover and preserve what remains of David's original capital and the earlier Jebusite city that he conquered and rebuilt. The City of David is an archeological preservation park. We began our tour with a 3-D movie about the site and what it looked like in David's day. We also toured the remains that have already been uncovered. Then we climbed down into ... read more

Today was our free day in Yerushalayim to do anything we wanted. So what did we do? We shopped of course! After breakfast, we walked from our hotel through the neighborhoods of the City to Ben Yehuda Street. It is one of the shopping districts of the City, and there were many interesting things to see and to buy. From there, it was only a short walk up Agrippa Street to the Mahane Yehuda Market, and since we hadn't been able to see the whole market on our previous visits, we decided to go back to see more. We also had lunch while we were there. What did we eat? Falafel of course! As I mentioned before, there is a falafel stand on every corner here like there is a Starbucks on every corner in the ... read more

We started the day at the Jerusalem Archeological Park. We entered the park through the Davidson Center, where we were able to see some of the artifacts discovered in the area. We were also able to look at on overall model of the City. We watched a movie presentation about what the Temple may have looked like in the time of Y-shua. Then we entered into the park near the southwest corner of the Temple Mount. We were able to see the remains of the street and some of the buildings from the time of the Second Temple period. We were also able to see the corner piece that archeologists believe may once have been where the Levites stood to blow their silver horns based on a fragment of an inscription that was found on these ... read more

It was another beautiful morning in Galilee. We began our day with a drive to Bet She’an. Bet She’an was the capital of the Decapolis. The Decapolis was a confederation of ten Gentile cities around the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. At one time, Bet She’an was a fortified city built on a tel, but by the time of the Roman Occupation of Israel, the population had out grown the original city walls. At the height of its inhabitation, Bet She’an was a beautiful city laid out on the Roman grid pattern with the places of worship and government at the heart of the city and residences built around this center. On the tel was an acropolis, a temple devoted to the worship of the Romans’ pagan gods. There were many other temples and ... read more