Day 05 - Galilee: Katzrin, Mount Bental, Caesarea Philippi, Tel Dan

Today began with an amazing cultural emersion experience. We arrived at Katzrin only to learn that we needed to put on robes and head coverings. We then spent a good amount of time laughing at how ridiculous we all looked (except Cerena, she pulled it off!) 

We were guided to the wine station where we smashed grapes with our bare feet and then drank it. The motto was, “just don’t think about it.” The juice was actually pretty good; only a little funky. We then made bread over a fire and ate it together with olive oil, the herb of Israel, hyssop, cream goat cheese and olives. 

The sweetest part of that experience, (even sweeter than the date honey) was when we all huddled together in the little home, and Paster Paul taught us from the “upper room” about Jesus  healing the paralytic. Getting to see what a first century home would actually look like really brought the story to life. 

Afterward, we hiked to the top of Mount Bental. From the top we saw how close we were to the boarder of Syria. Here we learned that Israel builds all the way up to the borders, even though their neighbors are really friendly. In the past, when they withdrew from their borders, they lost the land, so now Israel does not retreat and “concurs the land by learning it, planting in it and making it fruitful. There were farms right up the boarders. 

Next we went to Caesarea Philippi and learned its dark history including their worship of the god Pan. We read Matthew 16:13, when Jesus asks Peter, “Who do you say that I am” and Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” We learned that Jesus said, “on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.” The cave to the left was referred to as the gateway to the abyss and indeed a church was found over the ruins. 

Our final stop was in Dan. The waters of the Jordan River originate from Dan which used to be called Liesh. This place is mentioned many times in the Bible. One of the highlights was the beauty of this place. It seemed like water was flowing from everywhere and the water was the coldest we have felt yet in Israel. There was also a 4000 year old city gate made of mud bricks which could have likely been the City Gate of Liesh.