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Israel Pastor's FAM Trip
January 2-13, 2019
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Blessed Are The Flexible: for They Will be Bent, but Not Broken
Breakfast in Neve Ilan, Jerusalem, was an adventure; without being able to read the buffet labels, it was anyone’s guess, “What is that?” With shrugged shoulders, we bravely sampled the early morning fare served with rounds of cheese and salad.
Taking a cue from Genesis, we started our tour in a garden. Sans pretty flowers, we were handed samples mint, sage, and lavender. Learning about the seven staples of Israel, we discovered that the land flowing with milk and honey, weren’t references to cows and bees, but goats and dates. Sitting in threshing floor, Ronan shares a typical rain, and by extension, harvest schedule and the accompanying feasts. After learning about gat shemen (the olive press), we moved on to the ancient Israeli version of eHarmony, the dance floor of grapes for unmarried women.
Before a picnic lunch, we looked out over Azekah where an unassuming but anointed Benjamite slung a rock victoriously, defeating his giant foe...Perhaps you’ve heard of him, King David? Envisioning the camp of the Philistines, with their iron weapons from Greece, taunting not only the Israelites, but their God, our passions were stirred by a shepherd boy, who couldn’t fit in armor, but stood alone when no one else would.
Azekah
Azekah (Heb: עזקה, ʿazeqah) was a town in the Shephelah guarding the upper reaches of the Valley of Elah, about 26 km (16 mi) northwest of Hebron. The current tell (ruin) by that name has been identified with the biblical Azekah, dating back to the Canaanite period. According to Eusebius' Onomasticon, the name meant "white" in the Canaanite tongue. The tell is pear shaped with the tip pointing northward. Due to its location in the Elah Valley it functioned as one of the main Judahite border cities, sitting on the boundary between the lower and higher Shephelah.[1] Although listed in Joshua 15:35 as being a city in the plain, it is actually partly in the hill country, partly in the plain.
Descending 40ft into a muddy-floored pigeon farm, we contemplated the spiritual applications of cisterns verses streams of living water. Finding ourselves in another enormous quarry under ground in Beth Guvrin, we learned about the economic value of limestone as a building material. We seized the opportunity to sing praises to our God with the help of our very own tourist song master and his guitar, with How Great Thou Art echoing off the cavern walls.
Beth Guvrin (Maresha)
Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park is a national park in central Israel, 13 kilometers from Kiryat Gat, encompassing the ruins of Maresha, one of the important towns of Judah during the time of the First Temple,[1] and Beit Guvrin, an important town in the Roman era, when it was known as Eleutheropolis.
Archaeological artifacts unearthed at the site include a large Jewish cemetery, a Roman-Byzantine amphitheater, a Byzantine church, public baths, mosaics and burial caves.
Leaving the farmlands of the Shephelah, we descended to the Rift Valley, passing nomadic, Bedouin communities, where we are staying at a beautiful hotel below sea level. Starring out at the glittering Dead Sea as dusk slips into night, I resist the urge to nap before our first Shabbat Dinner reciting “Now that my coffee cup is full; jet lag has no hold on me”
Written by Rachel Reed
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