Tag Archives: narratives

Israel through new eyes – a reflection

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I have been home from Israel for almost three days. In that time I have spent a lot of time looking at and sorting through the more than 5,000 photos I took on my Canon DSLR, iPhone 6, and handy-little powershot S100.   So many things jumped out at me. This was a trip unlike anything I have ever done. Ever. I have been trying to figure out how to summarize it.  This is my first take at it.

Going to Israel was way outside of my comfort zone. I am talking thousands of miles outside of it. Forget the fact that I do not like flying (a miserable experience in the 14 years since 2001), this was going to a country in one of the biggest hot spots of the world, where just seven months ago a war was going on.  So, Israel was way out of my comfort zone, yet going there somehow resulted in considerably expanding my comfort zone. There was not a single moment when I was in Israel or on the West Bank when I felt unsafe. I never had a panic attack, I was totally comfortable with my inability to understand more than a handful of words in either Hebrew or Arabic. It simply did not matter.

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A Visit to Masada, The Dead Sea, and more conversations

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Today was the one day I had planned as nothing but a tourist.  From the time I was a kid, I have wanted to see Masada.  I was so taken by the mini-series that aired in the late 1970s, I ended up buying the book it was based on, and have always been fascinated by that story.  Today, I was able to visit it.

I took an organized tour to Masada and the Dead Sea.   The tour was kind of frustrating, primarily because the guide never shut up.  Blah, blah, blah…    From the moment he got on the bus.  It took 25 minutes to get from Jerusalem to the Jordan River Valley, descending from 800m to -300m. As has been par on this trip, the weather was ok, but there was a good haze.  We got half-way down the dead sea and he announced a bathroom stop.   It was at a Kibbutz, that really was a big store for one of the major Dead Sea Salts companies.  It was very clear this was intentional, and master marketing.  We went inside, and the first thing was watching a movie on the production of products from the dead sea.   Come on already, lets get to Masada.

 

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Caesaria and powerful conversations

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I will admit it.  I like old rocks.  I like rocks that were set in place by people 1,000 years ago, or 2,0000 years ago. Or longer.  Just as I was fascinated by Mesa Verde when I lived in Colorado, I am fascinated by the architectural treasures that are everywhere here in Israel.  Yesterday we saw the ruins of the ancient village of Nazareth, circa the first century (under and key to the Basilica of the Annunciation), today we visited Caesaria National Park.  Caesaria is named after Caesar.  Because it was the primary roman port built by Herod BEFORE the time of Jesus.   The ruins are extensive, and we saw the port, and the basic docks where boats would come in, the hippodrome, where the horses races were held, Herrod’s pool, in the Med, and the amphitheater,  PLUS the giant Roman aqueduct that brought water from the Med inland.  It was very cool.

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