Israel cont’d from preceding page
Page 17-THE NEWS-May 1994
Caesaria: ancient ruins of tiie Roman period. Photo/Rita Mond
Bedouin boy with his village in background.
Safed
Jericho — Fruit stand in center of town.
Irving stopped to chat with schoolboys and their rabbi in Mea Shearim,
Jerusalem. All Photos/Rita Mond
dustrial city. One of its most
beautiful attractions is the Bahai
Temple/Shrine and its exquisite
Persian Gardens. We continued
on to Safed, the city known for
its artist colony and Kabbalistic
movement (mysticism). I
brought back some rather nice
sketches from there. We then
stopped right outside of Safed
at Rosh Nikra where there is a
U.N. army base and spoke to
some of the French soldiers who
were going on leave. It is right
at the Lebanon border ... in
fact from the sea there is a cable
car operating. We then pro
ceeded to Naharia, a very nice
resort town, which has lovely
beaches. The U.N, has offices
there. We then went to Acco,
known as the underground city,
where we saw the remains of the
wall of the city which dates back
to the Crusades. It also has a
large fishing harbor. We stayed
overnight again in Haifa.
Thursdayf Mar. 10
An early morning trip, this
time to Megiddo (also known as
Armageddon). It was a vital
strategic site throughout history
and the scene of mighty biblical
battles. We saw the many ruins
of this “chariot city” built by
King Solomon in the 10th cen
tury B.C.E. It also has a museum
which contains model recon
structions of the main buildings
and photographs of replicas of
the more exciting objects found
there, including the famous
Megiddo Ivories.
Our next stop was the Beit
Alpha Synagogue which is locat
ed right at Kibbutz Heftzi-Bah,
at the foot of Mount Gilboa. The
kibbutz is known for its dairy
cows.
Bet Alpha's mosaic floor is
one of the most beautiful, elab
orate and well preserved disco
vered in Israel. The main dec
oration was in the nave. In the
part of the mosaic, near the Ark
are depictions of Jewish ritual
objects — a holy Ark flanked
by lions, birds and menorot and
surrounded by animals, fruit and
geometric designs. The central
section of the mosaic contains
a zodiac, with the symbols of the
months and their names in
Hebrew and Aramaic. In the
center is the sun god, Helios,
riding in a chariot drawn by four
horses. In the four comers are
figures of women, symbolizing
the four seasons of the year. At
the base of the mosaic is a
depiction of the sacrifice of
Isaac, accompanied by passages
in Hebrew. The synagogue was
probably destroyed by an earth
quake at the end of sixth ccntury
C.E.
We then drove on through the
Jordan Valley and stopped at a
park, Gan Hashlosha. which is
unique for Israel as it has a
lagoon with a waterfall.
Then our second time in
Jericho. We stopped in the
center of town and there were
very few tourists due to the
recent Hebron massacre. How
ever, all was peaceful there and
we did not witness any unkind
attitudes on the part of any of
the Arabs.
We stopped along the way
back to Jerusalem to see some
of the Bedouin villages and were
surprised to see how many cars
of Arabs were returning from
Jordan to Jerusalem. Of course
there were several check points
by the IDF along the way.
We checked into the King
Solomon Hotel in Jerusalem
and looked forward to a good
night’s sleep. The last few days
of our visit to Israel would be
spent in Jerusalem.
Friday^ Mar. 11
We finally decided to do some
shopping and so we headed to
Mea Shearim, the very old
extreme orthodox community in
Jerusalem. We were told that it
was the best place to buy reli
gious items and artifacts. Irving
wanted to buy a new tallis and
kippot there and I wanted to buy
some matzo covers for my
daughter and daughter-in-law as
Pesach was nearing. We did
make these purchases there, plus
of course, some other gifts.
However, we could not get
over just how interesting the area
is. We felt that we were put back
in time in a typical shtetl of
eastern Europe. The streets were
fairly crowded as it was Erev
Shabbat and everyone was busy
making last minute purchases in
food shops, bakeries, etc. Oh
how wonderful those breads and
cakes looked!
Words can hardly describe the
sights and smells that we en-
countered...I could not resist
taking plenty of photographs
when I was roaming through all
the streets and alleyways. We
were fortunate to meet a young
man, originally from Chicago,
who had made Aliyah several
years ago, and he graciously
gave us a private tour. We found
out that he deprograms people
who are in the cults. He was
leaving the next week to depro
gram a Jewish boy who was with
the Hare Krishnas in California.
Chaim Levin was quite interest
ing...he had graduated from of
all places, Notre Dame, having
gone there on a football schol
arship. He has been written
about in “Give Peace a Stance”
by Hannoch Teller.
Stores close in Mea Shearim
on Friday at 2 p.m. so we
continued on to one of the main
shopping areas... Mehane Jehu-
da...on Jaffa Street. Before we
could do much looking around
it started to rain and surprisingly
there was a sudden hail storm.
The hail stones were almost as
large as golf balls. We made a
mad dash back to our hotel and
for the first time during our trip
actually took a late afternoon
nap.
Saturday^ Mar. 12
We decided to go to Masada
and the Dead Sea with a bus
tour. We had a very internation
al group of passengers, but the
most prominent group were 14
Canadian Christians. The num
ber of Christian tourists far
surpass those who are Jewish.
The scenery along the way was
magnificent. We passed Qumran
and saw the cave where the first
of the Dead Sea Scrolls were
discovered. When we arrived at
Masada we decided to take the
easy way up...by cable car, but
we then walked the 80 steps to
the summit. The story of Mas
ada, of course, is fascinating and
the ruins discovered there are
remarkable. The group was
there so long that we got to Ein
Gedi very late for lunch and
though we brought our bathing
suits to “swim” in the E>ead Sea
(and what a gorgeous sight that
was), it had gotten too cool for
us to go in — well do it when
we hopefully return the next
time (during the late spring or
early summer).
When we got back to Jerus
alem it was raining, but Israel
does need the water, every drop
that they can get! The evening
was spent with Irving’s cousins
at an excellent dairy Italian cafe
near our hotel.
Sunday^ Mar. 13
Our last day in Israel ... and
freezing rain. We braved the
elements and went for a walk
after the disappointing news that
our plans to visit the B’nai B’rith
Children’s Home in Bayit Vegan
fell through. The person who
was going to give us a tour, could
not make it that day. We had
looked forward to meeting with
the boys who live at this won
derful place; it is one of the
institutions that I have always
supported. Next time...
Mondayf Mar. 14
Woke up before the roosters
to catch an early morning flight
from Tel Aviv. We hated to
leave, but as they say: “All good
things must end sometime.” It
was a wonderful trip, an inspir
ing trip. We can't wait until we
have the opportunity to go back.
We urge everyone to go, whether
it’s a first time or a return visit.
If you'd like to know more
about being a “tourist in Israel”
ni be glad to tell you more, just
give me a call.