Jerusalem

One of the most popular travel websites, Trip Advisor, recently set up a list of top 10 culture and sightseeing destinations. No, sorry to say, Jerusalem did not make number uno, but a proud number seven.

The list was compiled following a survey on the site.

This is what they have to say about Jerusalem:

Religious pilgrims have been traveling to Jerusalem for centuries, yet you don’t have to share their zeal in order to appreciate this city’s profound cultural and historical significance. Plan on seeing the major sights, but also leave plenty of time to walk through the streets and simply immerse yourself in the daily life of such an ancient and revered place.

On a personal note, I must tell you that Jerusalem has developed its own very special after hours life. More and more young, secular people are returning to Jerusalem, and creating something new and exciting.

So when you feel you can’t take more culture and history and religion, relax in one of the cities excellent eating places, or go our for a drink somewhere. There are too many for me to recommend here.

Tel Aviv

This follows a no less honorable place for Tel Aviv, as one of the top 10 Beach Cities in the world, by the prestigious magazine National Geographic.

This is what they say about Tel Aviv:

Call it Miami Beach on the Med. Tel Aviv is the Dionysian counterpart to religious Jerusalem. In the “bubble,” as it’s known for its
inhabitants’ tendency to tune out regional skirmishes, some restaurants, discos, and clubs are open until dawn. By day, the scene
shifts to the city’s promenade and eight miles (13 kilometers) of beach literally steps from town. Head to wide and sandy Gordon
Beach to sit in a seaside cafe or take a dip in the saltwater pool.

So if you are looking for a holiday that should include both history, culture and religion, as well as time for relaxing and a night out, all
within a hour of each other, Israel is your place.

Eilat

And just in. BBC Travel in conjunction with Loney Planet has come up with a list of 10 weirdest bars and restaurants. Yes, Israel is again on the list, this time as number two with the Red Sea Star in Eilat.

This is what they have to say about this place:

The Red Sea Star is a bit like Stromberg’s underwater lair in the 1977 James Bond flick The Spy Who Loved Me – which is unsurprising considering that it is 5m below the Red Sea in Israel. The interior of this bar-restaurant feels somewhat reminiscent of a mermaid’s lounge, with fishy fantasy motifs – including jellyfish-shaped stools and starfish-shaped lights – and huge windows through which curious (or possibly vengeful) fish and other marine creatures eyeball the customers eyeballing their seafood platters. If you crane your neck, you might see a ship overhead from time to time. Landlubbers will be relieved to find the rooftop Metro Bar is open 7pm-3am, the underwater bar opens from 10am; details at www.redseastar.com.

Of course, while in Eilat, you may enjoy some water sports and scupa diving, or snorkling. Or take in a desert tour. Or just use the beaches, or its amazing night life.

And if you do this in the winter, you could include a ski trip on the Hermon Mountain, with ski lift and all.

So there you have it. Culture, history, religion – Jerusalem. Beach city – Tel Aviv. Weird eating place – Eilat. I wonder what else we may have for us to be included in top ten.
What about the Dead Sea, for Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

There was once a wise Jew, who said that everything boils down to you have in your head.

His name was Moses

After him came a second wise Jew, who said that everything boils down to what you have in your heart.

His name was Jesus

After him came a third wise Jew, who said that everything boils down to what you have in the stomach.

His name was Marx

After him came a fourth wise Jew who said that everything boils down to what you have between the legs.

His name was Freud

And finally came the wisest of them all. His name was Einstein and he said that everything is relative.

It is just coincidence that Jerusalem’s International Annual Half Marathon, the 18th, falls on March 18th this year. Participating in sports events of this kind is definitely being alive, and bringing more life to the city.

As in previous years participants come from all over Israel and all over the world. The route begins and ends in the Givat Ram Stadium of the Hebrew University and goes through some of Jerusalem’s unique and pictoresque landscapes. The route will take runners on a slightly hilly and challenging route and past the Shrine of the Book, housing the Dead Sea Scroll, the Israel Museum, the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, and the Jerusalem forest.

The Marathon is set with two lengths: half marathon of 21.1 km and the fun run of 10 km. There are 18 different race categories, split by gender and age, from below 16 to 73 and above. 6 prices will be given out.

Participants of the half marathon are invited to participate in a gala dinner of pasta the evening before the race. All runners will receive a t-shirt and a certificate and medal.

Price for participation is $25-$40. Registration can be done online through marathon page in English on the municipality’s site www.jerusalem.muni.il.

If you are lucky you may run side by side with Nir Barkat, the mayor of Jerusalem, and an avid marathon runner himself.

Nahal Saar is one of those experiences. Nahal Saar flows between the Hermon Mountain and the Golan Heights in the north of the Israel. The word nahal means stream, and as with many streams in Israel water can only been seen in late winter and early spring. This on condition that there has been a good amount of rain through the winter, and hopefully also some snow on the Hermon Mountain and the northern Golan Heights.

This year has been like this. I was fortunate that the other day I was touring up in that part of the country with my tourists, and I had the time and they had the interest to stop for this special experience. The day was glorious, way too warm for this time of the year, but we made the most of it. So we stopped at Nahal Saar, where it has created a fairly large waterfall.

I have to tell you that we were not the only ones there. Though I did not film it, I could hardly find parking place on the other side of the road. Some people even hiked up for an even better view, but we made do with the low view. This is what I am sharing with you here.

Overlooking excavations toward Tel Beit Shean

Beit Shean is located in the Jordan Valley, some 30 km south of the Sea of Galilee. It is considered one of the oldest towns of Israel. Archaeological excavations have revealed that the first human settlement took place in the Calcholitic period (4th millennium BCE). But it is most famous as the Roman city Scythopolis.

Origins and Name
As with many other ancient towns it was travel routes that determined location. Beit Shean is situated on the cross roads of the north-south route through the Jordan Valley and the eastern entrance to the Jezreel Valley at a point, where there is easy crossing over the Jordan River. It could therefore serve as a stop on the trading routes, as well as a buffer town and defense of the Jezreel Valley, the largest and most fertile valley in Israel.

The origin of the name is lost in the mist of time, but place names beginning with Beit (house) is an indication of the age of the site. The name may have derived from a god by the name of Shean, once worshiped in this place. Excavations have revealed almost continual settlement from the beginning to 8th century BCE, when it was conquered and destroyed by Tiglath Pileser III of Assyria, when he conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 732 BCE.

From the theater toward Tel

It was resettled in the Hellenistic period, but attained its finest hours in the Roman and Byzantine periods, when it became known as Scythopolis, one of the cities of the Decapolis. It is mainly this period that is Beit Shean’s cause to fame, and part of the Israeli touring map.

Excavations and History
The excavations have revealed a strong Egyptian influence in 15-12th centuries BCE. According to the Bible it was one of the cities that were NOT conquered by Joshua, and it continued as a Philistine-Canaanite town till the early part of the 10th century BCE, when it was destroyed, possibly by King David.

Although not part of the areas settled by the early Israelites, Beit Shean in mentioned in the Bible (I Samuel 31:10-12) as the place where the bodies of King Saul and his sons were impaled after their defeat at Mt. Gilboa to the south. It is also mentioned as an important administrative center during the reigh of King Solomon (I Kings 4:12). After its conquest by the Assyrians in the late 8th century BCE, it declined in importance and very little evidence has been found from this period.

Greek and Roman
In the Hellenistic period (beg. 323 BCE) the town sees a revival. But only with the advent of the Romans under General and triumvir Pompey in 67 BCE does the town rise to new importance. As part of the new administrative order Beit Shean is given a new name, Scythopolis, and made part of the Decapolis, Union of Ten Cities, with the other nine towns being on the east side of the Jordan River.

As the name indicates, it became an autonomous town (polis) with extensive self-ruling rights, including the right to mint its own coins, as well as counting the years from this date. Dionysis was accredited with having founded the city, and was therefore the main Roman god worshiped here. Nysa, Dionysis’ nursemaid, was believed to be buried there.

Massive new public and private construction begins, little of which can be seen today, due to reconstruction in later periods. It is primarily in the 2nd century CE that Scythopolis reached its final shape that we can see today.

Following the earthquake in 363 it was rebuilt and expanded. Many churches were built in the city, often on top of the former Roman temples. The expansion continued through the fifth century , when Scythopolis became an important resting place for Christian pilgrims journeying between Galilee and Jerusalem. It reached its greatest size then, some 40.000 residents.

Arab and Crusader
As a result of wars in the early seventh century and the conquest by the Arabs in 636 the city begins its final decline. The collapse of the city was finalized on January 18, 749 during the massive earthquake that shook the whole region. Although an Arab village was built on the ruins, and a Crusader fortress was built nearby, Beit Shean never recovered and got buried under the earth and sand of time.

Only the modern excavations have begun to reveal the glory that was Beit Shean/Scythopolis.

A tour through Beit Shean should include
The Theater
The Great Bath House
The Street of Palladious, The Sigma Square, Mona Lisa Mosaic
The Monumental Building
The Amphitheater

The tour can also include:
Sylvanus Street, Nymphaeum, Colonaded Pool
Tel Beit Shean

We live in an age of a great religious war.

The Islamist enemy seeks to overwhelm and subjugate the planet. Their goal is to erase all other religions and belief systems. This attack on cultural diversity and freedom of thought has come at a time when the West is most vulnerable. Most people in the West seem to have lost their religious belief and cannot really accept that they are facing an enemy that truly believes that they are carrying out the orders of an omnipotent, supernatural being.

These Westerners, blind to the truth, are convinced that there must be some “other” motivation behind the suicide bombings, the rioting, the terrorist attacks, and the hatred! Some motive that could be satisfied by improving economies, fighting poverty, relinquishing land, or some other “rational” concession. Strangely, even the government of Israel refuses to play the religion card and to announce that we are the Chosen People living in our Promised Land, having returned from exile as prophesied in both the Bible and the Koran.

An exception is, of course, the millions of Evangelical Christian Zionists in America. A community that a majority of Jews have been taught to mistrust. If you are one of those Jews please check out CUFI, Christians United For Israel.   (ed. I agree especially with the last paragraph)

As a tour guide I am always on the road. I see the same places again and again. But every so often land and nature give me surprises.That happened yesterday, as I was touring Masada and the Dead Sea.

On purpose we had chosen yesterday to go to Masada and the Dead Sea. Weather forecast was for rain and storm, and the previous days had been just glorious. It’s always good to get out of Jerusalem, when there is that kind of forecast. At least down at the Dead Sea there is less chance of rain. After all, it only rains 5-10 days a year in the southern part and a little more in the northern part.

Despite the extraordinary strong wind we were able to see Masada in all its glory. And this time the starlings played along, and I was able to get a lot of good shots.

Just as we had finished seeing the model of the water collection system, a jerbil decided to come out and get some sun, and allowed me to take a picture of it.

But most spectacular was the view traveling back up northwards. Most of the time the water of the Dead Sea is smooth as a mirror, but yesterday the strong wind ripped up the water, so that small white tops appeared. A rare sight I could not catch in on film, but there were even small whirl winds on the water, as if the beginning of a hurricane.

The clouds were heavy over the mountains of Jordan, and I was happy that Jordan also is getting some much needed rain. There were still some sun coming through, and it lit up the clouds. Enjoy the few photos I was able to get of this.

It is mid-winter.
Good winters are filled with cold and rain, and hopefully snow in the higher regions of the country. In this coldest, darkets time of the year, Israel celebrates the holiday of Tu B’Shvat, the Festival of the Trees.

This is not a religious holiday like most of the other Jewish holidays. What this means is that it is not a holiday stipulated in the Tanach (Hebrew bible) and so there are no particular religious ceremonies to keep. In modern Israel work and school continue as usual.  The holiday usually falls in late January or early February.

Tu B’Shvat derives its name from the Hebrew month of Shvat. Tu is the 15th day of this month, the day of the full moon. The original purpose of the holiday as described in the Mishnah in Tractate Rosh Hashanah was as one of the four new years in the Jewish Calendar:
- The first of Nisan – new year for kings and festivals
- The first of Elul – new year for animal tithes
- The first of Tishrei- new year for calculation of the calendar, sabbatical years and jubilees, for planting and sowing
- The fifteenth of Shvat – the new year of the trees

There was a very important function for determining the new year of the trees. According to Jewish law fruits of trees could not be eaten or used as tithing during the first three years (Leviticus 19:23). Tu B’Shvat became the cut off date. In the final year, fruit ripening before Tu B’Shvat were considered mature and was permitted for tithing. Fruit ripening after this date was not permitted as tithing.

Let’s face it, tithing in those days was a form of taxation, so this could be very important for the farmer. In some Jewish ortodox circles these rules are still adhered to in determining if something is kosher or not.

Customs around Tu B’Shvat
It was always customary to mark this day by planting trees and eating of nuts and dried fruits. From a practical point of view this is natural. This is the time of year that is best for planting trees, as the soil is wet and more rain is still expected. The trees have the best chance to flourish.

Nuts and dried fruits. Mid-winter. No doubt people on purpose prepared dried fruits and stored nust for the time of the year when there would have been a scarcity of fresh fruits.

In 1890 Rabbi Zeev Yavetz took his students in Zichron Yaacov and planted trees on this day. This tradition was adopted by the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayement l’Israel) and the Jewish Teachers Union in 1908.

It is no surprise that the two organizations leading Tu B’Shvat are these two. Throughout most of modern Israel school children go planting, often in collaboration with Jewish National Fund. But many adults join in, and this can go into the millions total.

As part of keeping the traditions, many families make a seder meal with dried fruits and nuts, a seder meal emulating the Passover Seder, even with its own hagaddah.

Symbolism
For most Israelis Tu B’Shvat marks the beginning of the end of winter. The sign for this are the almond trees. When they bloom in pink or white flowers, we know that longer and warmer days are approaching. In their own right the blossoming almond trees are a magnificent sight, the tree being without leaves, and the middle of fields or orchards green from the winter rains.

After creating heaven and earth God created Adam and Eve. And the first thing he said was:

“DON’T!”

“Don’t what?” Adam replied.
“Don’t eat the forbidden fruit.” God said.

“Forbidden fruit? We have forbidden fruit? Hey … Eve, we have forbidden fruit!”

“No way!”
“Yes way!”

“Do NOT eat the fruit!” said God.

“Why?”
Because I am your Father and I said so!” God replied, wondering why He hadn’t stopped creating after making the elephants.

A few minutes later God saw His children having an apple break and He was ticked.

“Didn’t I tell you not to eat the fruit?” God asked.

“Uh huh” Adam replied.
“Then why did you?” said the Father.

“I don’t know” said Eve.

“She started it!” said Adam.
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“Did not!”

Having had it with the two of them God’s punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.

But there is reassurance in the story.
If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom and they haven’t taken it, don’t be hard on yourself.
If God had trouble raising children, what makes you think it would be a piece of cake for you?

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
1.  You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk.
Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.

2.  Grandchildren are God’s reward for not killing your own children.

3.  Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young.

4.  Children seldom misquote you.
In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.

5.  The main purpose of holding children’s parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.

6.  We childproof our homes, but they are still getting in.

ADVICE FOR THE DAY
Be nice to your kids. They will choose your nursing home one day.

If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle:
Take two aspiring and “keep away from children”.

PS. If you think you know someone who could benefit from this lesson, let them have this link

This is also my experience as a tour guide. Many of my tourists get mixed up. After all Israel has quite a long and rich history with many events that have had impact on the world.

Because of this I have created a time line with the most important events, historical and biblical references. I made it pictorial, only to make it more colorful. It does not go into all the intricate details, but I have included the most important events for each time period.

I hope you will find this useful and inspiring.