Fourth Day: Masada and More!

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Debby is back today on the blog. Thanks David for yesterday.

I'll add more tomorrow night when I have time to catch up, but briefly today began for some of us (others slept in another hour) with a wonderful talk by Prof. Hazan from Hebrew University on politics and Israel -- describing three stages of political life from the start of the State. And the challenge now. I'll try to add some detail later to the blog. Put the war the past summer into political perspective. And put an interesting spin on the relationship of right to left, and hawk to dove, within Israeli parties.

Then all of us met up and headed off the Masada -- the fortress built by Herod the Great, and later used by the Zealots in a stand against the Romans at the end of the great war in which the Temple was destroyed in the year 70. Our guide taught me a new view on why the Zealots should not be admired for their actions - as they separated themselves from the main struggle that went on in Jerusalem and elsewhere.

The time at Masada began with a morning service at which I read a bit of Torah -- but the main event was one of our group, Jacob Zelman, who became a Bar Mitzvah. He chanted Torah blessings and gave a fantastic talk about the portion -- relating it to Israel's ingathering of Jews in need (and others.) He was awesome, and everyone in the group was so moved, especially his parents who read him a beautiful blessing.

Got to run to dinner, but tomorrow will add about going to the Dead Sea and hiking Nahal David with the waterfalls and hyrax. (Look that one up!)

Laila Tov (Good night),

Debby

OK: updating this on Saturday night. Didn't want to skip the awesome nature walk. We went up Nahal David (that's part of Ein Gedi). It's where David fled from King Saul. We saw lots of animals -- including wild boar on the crest of the hill. And birds. And something like gazelles (ibis?). And hyrax -- like big woodchucks, but they are actually from the same family as elephants. There were lots and lots of them. They were even cooler than the yellow and black salamanders we saw later in the week at Tel Dan.

Anyway, it was so relaxing. And so much easier to hike in the winter instead of the summer heat. Ran into my friend Maureen who had told me she was going there too -- she loves to connect with the spirit of King David. We passed each other on the trail. Seems we see each other more in Israel than in New York!

Then on to the Dead Sea where most of the group (not all) went into the water and also covered themselves with mud. The kids loved climbing in a mud pit. Eventually we'll add photos of that here.

What is a day without shopping? We stopped at the Ahava store by the Dead Sea; we loaded up with mud, creams, etc. The U.S. deficit took a big hit because of us.....

Back in Jerusalem for our last night, I walked down with Joe and Ralene to Emek Refaim neighborhood where there are lots of restaurants. Lots of full and busy restaurants. It was almost impossible to find a place just for the three of us! Don't worry.We managed after 20 minutes and had a great pasta meal. Also bought a small gift for Peter (my husband). So exhausted I left it at the restaurant and had to walk back at 10:30 pm from the hotel to get it. Everything was still crowded -- Jerusalem during high tourist season is as busy as Tel Aviv! Lots of kids from Birthright (Taglit) programs were around. Beautiful night to walk -- but cold.
I love Jerusalem in any season, but was happy to be leaving before snow was scheduled to arrive.

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