Loving hands and sweet tea

Boker Tov - Good Morning in Hebrew

Today was quite an adventure. We started out by going to Masada National Park. Masada is an ancient fortress in southern Israel’s Judean Desert. It's on a massive plateau overlooking the Dead Sea. We took the cable car up instead of walking the snake path up to the fortress. This Fortress was built by King Herod the Great as a refuge. King Herod was an awful man, but he was considered a genius at building palaces and fortresses as well as understanding economy. His son was Herod Antipas who killed John the Baptist.

Next we went to Kfar Hanokdim in the Negev Desert. This was built by the Bedouin people who are nomads that travel the desert. Here we rode camels, which was really cool, and learned about the Bedouin people. It is customary that a guest is greeted and given tea, coffee and pita bread. We got to experience this as we sat in a tent covered by blankets made out of goat hair and watched them prepare the tea, coffee and pita bread as we learned of their customs. The tea was wonderfully sweet, coffee strong and bitter, and the pita made with loving hands made from flour and water and cooked on the fire. Hospitality means love of strangers and this is how the Bedouin people are, they love strangers and put their guests first, above all. We learn about this in 1 Peter 4:9-10 - Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

After our visit to Kfar Hanokdim we drove about 45 minutes to Tel Arad National Park where we saw another fortress and Canaanite city of Arad, built by the kings of Judah.

Our final stop was back at the hotel to change for a float in the Dead Sea. We lathered up with dead sea mud and then floated around. It was cold initially but once you got in it was a pleasant. A great way to end the day!

—Karol-Jeanne M.