Day 01 - Shephelah Region

Shalom friends! We made it to Israel after nearly 24 hours of travel, and had our first day of touring on only a few hours of sleep. We awoke in Kiriath-Jearim, eager to explore some ancient practices and aspects of life in Bible times. We learned about how olive oil and wine were processed, ritual cleansing habits in a Mikveh, and traditional burial practice. After a short drive through the countryside, we arrived at Bet Shemesh, overlooking the fertile Soreq Valley. Here we reflected on the story of Samson in the book of Judges, and how his Nazarite Vow affected his decision making and relationship with the Philistines. Here we also descended into an underground cistern, capable of holding 54,000 gallons of water! From there, we traveled to Azekah, or the Valley of Elah, notoriously known as the setting of the battle of David and Goliath. It was so powerful to be able to picture the Philistines and Israelites on opposing hillsides, and a humble reminder of David’s faith based courage rooted in God's power. We even got to take home a few smooth rocks as souvenirs for a few lucky loyal blog readers ;). Our final stop for day 1 before heading south to the Dead Sea was for lunch and to visit a few columnbariums. These underground caves were used to breed pigeons for food and rituals, they were very dark and stinky and still had some brave pigeons living in them! Stay tuned for our salty adventures to come!

Shannon Cessna