Well
I'm getting into the flow of living in Jerusalem. It's been nice to have some
time to get into the swing of things before the students arrive on Wednesday.
This week has been very busy. We took a quick 3 day trip up to the Galilee to
see some of the places that we will be taking the students in November.
Day
1 we went
to
Caesarea
Maritima (Herod the Great's capital city that he built as a roman luxurious
city, with its massive aqueducts, theater, man made harbor, palace and
hippodrome),
Acco
(the last holdout of the crusaders with its underground city and Turkish
baths), and Nazareth (which was totally empty. There was no one in the Church
of the Annunciation with us, which I have never experienced before).
We
stayed at the kibbutz Ein GeV where the students will stay for 10 days.
Day
2 we went to the upper Jordan region to
Banias
and Caesarea Philippi (where Jesus asked, whom do men say that I, the Son of
Man, am?),
Tel
Dan (the northern most city of Israel, "from Dan to Beersheba"; this
is one of the springs that is the source for the Jordan River and the Sea of
Galilee; it was a monumental gate that dates to the time of Abraham and May
have been where he chased the kings who had kidnapped Lot to get him back.
While we were there we could hear the mortar fire of the Syrian rebels
overtaking Assad's army and capturing the border town
Hazor,
a major archaeological site with palace, synagogue and watchtower
Berthsaida
the home of Peter, Andrew and Philip
Hippos,
on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Sea of Galilee. We watched the sunset
from them—absolutely gorgeous
Day
3
Magdala
the home of Mary Magdalene and the major fish processing place in Jesus's time.
I had never been there before and they have some interesting new excavations.
I've decided that this is where I'm going to teach about Jesus and the women
Arbel
a mountain cliff overlooking the Sea of Galilee. This will be the place from
which the students first see the Sea of Gailiee.
Sepphoris
another major Roman city. It was the capital of the Galilee and is just across
the valley from Nazareth. In all probability Joseph and the young Jesus would
have come here to find work. It is a city full of luxury. There is no record of
Jesus ever coming here during his ministry. This is also the place where Judah
ha-nisei wrote down the Mishnah
Bethshean
another massive Israelite city. One of the cities of the Decapolis in Jesus'
day. Lots of gorgeous ruins, theater, amphitheater, market place with beautiful
mosaics.
It
was a very long trip that wore me out!!!!! I slept very well when we got back
to Jerusalem.
Today (Sunday) I went with one of the service couples to play the carillon bells at the YMCA in
Jerusalem. I thought that I was just going to watch, but they got me to
play!!!!! I played Lightly Row and Ode to Joy. It was a lot of fun!
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