South to North continued

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Had to pause this morning to set off on our Tuesday adventure, but let me finish up Monday's diary first....
We were driving by the Dead Sea in my last entry. Came past Mount Sodom; though it turns out the real Sodom from the Bible is on the other side of the Dead Sea -- where Jordan is today. And of course, the destruction in this area was caused by a great earthquake, since there are earthquakes along this rift every 100 years or so.
Well, the hills changed to real mountains and we came up to the bottom of Masada. The new Visitor Center, just a few years old, is beautiful. We headed up in the cable car, not enough time for climbing. On top we explored the story of Masada as written by Josephus. I knew what to expect as I had toured with Zvi before. He has a unique way of helping a group rethink the story and de-mythologizing it. Makes one think of new meanings to "Masada will not fall again." Won't write the deatails here, but you can read abuot the Roman siege around the yaer 70 at the end of the Judeo-Roman war. Suffice it to say that Josephus embellished the story, and downright made up parts of it. the Roman siege camps, the ramp built up the side of the mountain by the Romans (well, their slaves did the building), the catapult stones, they are very real. How the Jewish zealots met their end is not so clear: suicide was not a Jewish act.
After a couple of hours on Masada we headed down on the cable car, onto the bus, and continued along the Dead Sea past Ein Gedi to a little sore/access point to the beach at a place called Mineral. Zvi gave us one hour to have lunch (they seel sandwiches there) and take a swim. not really a swim, but a float. I did the Dead Sea thing last back in 1975 in rabbinic school when I lived a year in Israel, and that was enough for me. But I went down and watched the majority of the group try it out. Warren put mud on his wrists and arms for the therapeutic effect (good for arthritis and such); Jenny was smiling and amazed; and Paul just lay back and relaxed. Thought he might stay there forever.
It took a bit over an hour and then we were on our way again. Almost immediately we crossed over the Green Line - the line that divided Israel from Jordan befgore the 1967 war. Technically we were now in Occupied Territory. A very peaceful part of the West Bank (we are on the west bank of the Jordan river, of course). We passed Jericho on our left, then drove and drove until we came back across the lione many miles north. We continued on to Beit Shean, the name of both a town (city) and an archaeological site. Until an earthquake in 749 C.E., Beit Shean was one of the largest Roman cities. They have excavated only 7% of the ancient town. We entered the site very late - it was technically closed but they stayed open for us. thank you National Park! We had a little "play" in the amazing ampitheater. the script was written by Zvi, and performed by Greg (age 11 - dressed in robe and tallis) and Jenny (adult - dressed in toga and Roman headdress) They played two different kinds of Jews who would have lived there in the later Roman period -- one who hated the Greco-Roman culture and thought Jews should avoid it; and the other who thought we could accomodate - for example, praying in Greek instead of Hebrew. (Sounds pretty modern, eh?) The sound was great -- we all sat in the last row and we could hear every word from the stage perfectly.
Next we walked down the main shopping road of the city.Columns were restored -- but in Israel they are very careful to show what is ancient and waht is restored. We saw basalt cobblestones, mosaics (original!) and much more. I've been there many times and the archaeologists continue to uneart more every year.
It was getting dark as we reboarded the bus for our last leg of the drive up to the norht. We drove past Never Ur, a kibbutz my brother volunteered on back in the 70's. I wlways recognize it, even in the dark. Soon we came to the southern end of the Kinneret, also known as the Sea of Galilee. Of course, it's just a big lake -- not a sae.The Jordan reive enters in the north and exits on the south. We drove along the western bank, and could see two sets of lights across the water - the ones by the shore were kibbutzim and moshavim which were there before 1967. the lights on top of the ridge were where the Syrians had used to shoot down on the faremers before the 67 war. now it's Israel.
We passed through the city of Tiberias in the dark. Lots of fancy hotels as this is a popular place for Christian tourists who use this as the place to stay when visiting the Galilee to experience Jesus' life. For Jews, this is one of the four holy cities: Hebron, Jerusalem, Tiberias and Tzefat. It is also the burial place of many famous rabbis, including Maimonides (Rambam.)
From Tiberias we turned east and north up the finger of the country, up the Hula valley to Kibbutz Kfar Blum which has as one of its main businesses a great hotel called the Pastoral. It now has a classy lobby, and an enlarged and modern dining room, like a hotel and not a kibbutz. The meal was excellent -- served buffet style. Great salads, then hot food including ground meat kebabs, beef, chicked cooked two ways, and fish. Then desserts: the apple strudel was just right! I ate sitting with the folks from the Rye congregation and thanks to Larry (there are three Larrys in our group!) we had a glass of wine and really relaxed. I told funny stories about King David, and we discussed Hebrew and Yiddish names. We laughed a lot. needed that after two very long days.
After dinner a few of us hung out and talked by the bar and had one more drink. I tried an Israeli brand of amaretto -- almost no almond taste. Oh well.
Then, to sleep. Slept a full night. For Tuesday's adventure, go to the next diary! 😊

Rabbi Debby Hachen

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