A Short Trip to the South of Israel

A few weeks ago, while one of our sons was visiting us, we took a short trip to the south of Israel, driving down into the Jordan Valley, along the western shore of the Dead Sea (430.5 meters below sea level), stopping at sites along our way to Eilat on the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba on the Red Sea. Jerusalem was still pretty cool, so getting some warmer weather was wonderful. Groves of date palms were along the roadside as we headed south from Jerusalem.

We stopped briefly at Qumran, the site of the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were written by the members of the Essene sect which lived there around the time of Christ.

Despite its name, the Dead Sea is really quite beautiful.

We decided to stop at Masada, an ancient fortress in the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea's southern tip.

A cable car and a "snake path" can take you up to the top. It takes about an hour to climb the snake path; about 5 minutes to take the cable car. We chose the cable car. Here's a view of the snake path from the cable car.

On top of the mountain are the remains of two palaces and fortifications built by Herod the Great between 31 and 37 BCE.

According to Josephus, the first century historian, there was a siege by Roman troops of the Sicarii rebels hidng at Masada. The Romans built a ramp up the back side of the mountain, allowing them access to the fortress. These photos show the ramp from the top view and from the side..

When they reached the top, the Romans discovered 960 people -- the rebels and their families -- dead, an act of mass suicide chosen rather than to be captured.This story is seen as representing a great act of courage by Israelis, 

 The square shape center left in this photo is the site of the Roman camp.

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 Leaving Masada, we drove further south to the resort town of En Bokek, where we spent the night and bathed in pools of Dead Sea water, ate delicious food, and enjoyed the changing light of the great view from our hotel room window.

Our next destination was Israel's farthest south point, Eilat on the Red Sea. Directly east of  Eilat in Jordan is the resort city of Aqaba, which we have visited in the past. Both are famous for their beaches and snorkeling. This photo is looking towards Jordan in the east.

The hotels along the beach in Eilat remind me of the ones along the Strip in Las Vegas. Here are a few examples.

The water is clear and the beaches are beautiful.

Since we'd travelled to Eilat along the Dead Sea, we chose to see a different landscape and drive back to Jerusalem through the center of the country through both the Judean and Negev Deserts. The rock formations and different colors of sand and rock remind me of Death Valley in Southern California.

Not far from Eilat and very close to the Egyptian border (show in the first photo) is Red Canyon, where we stopped and hiked a bit. 

The canyon is like a miniature Petra and very beautiful.

From Red Canyon we headed north through Mizpeh Ramon, the site of the largest erosion crater in the world (measuring 40 km long and between 2 and 10 km wide. It's pictured below.

One special treat of our trip was seeing this ibex, wandering in Mizpeh Ramon.  He seemed as interested in us as we were in him.

The trip was a reminder to me of how beautiful the desert can be, and how enjoyable a road trip is with people you like. 

I wish you peace, salam, shalom.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Garden Tomb

For Christians, probably the most visited sites in Jerusalem are the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and (especially for Protestants) the Garden Tomb. Both are within a few minutes' walk from where we are living, so we have visited numerous times on our daily walks. We also joined an excellent tour led by an Armenian scholar whose family has had a long history with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church has a rather inauspicious entrance, squeezed between other buildings in the Old City; however, one can see its domes much better from a higher vantage point. The small plaza outside the main door is usually crowded with people.

The church is built over two major shrines -- Calvary or Golgotha, the place of Jesus' crucifixion, and Jesus' empty tomb. It is the shared property of several religious groups, amongst them are the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Coptic Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, and Ethiopian Orthodox. There are many stories of altercations between the groups, and about the difficulties in accomplishing anything because of the need for everyone to be in agreement. Most famous of these is one about the "immoveable ladder" which has been in this exact position (even though it has had to be replaced because of deterioration) since before 1852.

No Protestant denomination has a presence in this church, which may be why Protestant groups often prefer to visit the Garden Tomb. Below is a diagram of the church structure and shows its many chapels and other areas.

The first place you see on entering the church is pictured below. It is designated by (fairly recent, I'm told) tradition  as the anointing stone upon which Jesus' body was laid to be prepared for burial. Usually someone is kneeling and kissing it, or placing some object on it, or praying with hands outstretched touching it.

The areas of the church designated traditionally as the hill of Calvary or Golgotha are upstairs and in a couple of different locations, depending on the denomination that maintains the area. Sometimes groups move from one location to another in the church, having services with candles, chanting, and readings along the way. We've followed along behind such groups occasion.

This ceiling is made from mosaics. From a distance it looks like paintings. Very beautiful!

The site of the burial is enclosed within a 19th century shrine called the Edicule. People line up and wait for sometimes 1-2 hours to enter  for a few seconds of viewing or contemplation.

Below is a view from above the Edicule and of the waiting line.  The entrance is on the right side.

Here are photos of some of the side chapels. I don't recall which is which as there are many of them and signs are nonexistent.
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On the tour with a guide, because of his connections, we were taken into locked areas of the church not usually open to visitors. One such place was under the church where there have been some archaeological excavations of earlier phases of the church's history. We descended to a chapel via stairs, where pilgrims over the years have marked their presence with hundreds of graffiti crosses in the stone walls. There were also places where they have carved out bits of the wall to take home in small jars to sell to believers as "relics" from the Holy Land.

We entered the excavation area through this locked door with a grate in it.

As you can see, it's quite deep under the present church. 

The area is now used as a storage room for various things used in the church, but one thing of particular interest was this picture of a boat on a stone, presumed to have been drawn by a pilgrim to the site sometime in the first part of the 4th century A.D. The inscription has been translated from the Latin to read "Lord, we shall go." Numerous scholarly articles have been written about this piece.

Not far outside the current Old City walls is the Garden Tomb. unearthed in 1867. Many Christian pilgrims like to visit this site because it is more evocative of what is usually pictured or imagined as the burial place of Jesus, though scholars have dismissed claims of its authenticity. That being said, the place is peaceful and beautifully maintained. When visiting, one often sees groups of visitors having prayer services in the outdoor "chapels" set in the beautifully landscaped grounds.

Adjacent to the site, you can look at what has been suggested to be Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. If your imagination is good, you may see the eyesocktets of a skull in the cliff.

This past Sunday was Easter, and we were able to attend a service at the Garden Tomb. The day was very cold for this time of year, with occasional rain and blowing wind, but we still found it moving to be celebrating the resurrection somewhere close by where it actually happened. Here are some photos taken at that time.

 

Inside the opening to the tomb, a sign reads: He is Risen. I wish for you the peace that belief in a resurrected Christ has brought to so many.
Peace, Salam, Shalom.