Aaron’s Blessing

Israel victory over Syria in Yom Kippor War

Holding the high ground

found object sculptures

Mameluke Crusader Fortress

“Garden of Eden” at Dan

greenery, pools of water, abundant fruit

BBQ on the terrace

Day 10 Tuesday

Today was very much a walk through Jewish history.

We started the day in an old Jewish settlement that has been partially restored to reflect the time of the Talmud scholars. Scholars who began to write down the Torah and its interpretations that had been oral traditions passed down through respected Rabbis in the Temple. But, once the temple was destroyed in about 70 AD, and the Jews dispersed, they began to write these things down and the writings became known as the Talmud. The village reflected the first century, so similar to life in the early years of Christianity, but with an emphasis on this post-temple time period of Jewish history.

From there we jumped ahead to the time of the Yom Kippur war (1973) and made our way backwards in Jewish history. We drove to Mt. Bental an area attacked by Syria during the early days of the Yom Kippur war. It remains in Israeli hands, but is contested and we looked out at the surrounding countryside which included lush farm land, grazing lands, vineyards, and the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria under UN peacekeeping protection. I remember seeing a documentary before we left that the Israelis focus on controlling the high points in the land and Mt. Bental was a clear example… such commanding views of the countryside from there. On a more mundane note they have decorated the walkways leading up to the look offs with these adorable sculptures made of abandoned army tank/military parts, the paths are covered in wild red poppies (the only place we have really seen red poppies), and a little cafe where I was able to buy mint tea with honey :).

We were at the Mameluke crusader fortress in Nimrod at lunch time. Quite an amazing fortress built high up on top of a mountain to guard the trade route to Damascus and the north.

Our last stop was in Dan where we recalled the richness of Solomon’s Kingdom the farthest boundaries that the nation of Israel knew, broken into two kingdoms by his sons. The Northern Kingdom had its upper limit at Dan, the headwaters of the Jordan River. It was an amazing lush area, nicknamed the garden of Eden. It had the most lush vegetation and most water of any place we have visited. We saw fig trees, pomegranate trees, pistachio trees, olive trees, all laden with fruit on our walk past rushing streams. Tomorrow we will be in the Riff Valley, one of the hottest areas in Israel and, right on cue, we are expected to have our hottest temperature of the trip … a predicted high of 101F. So, it was good to enjoy the cool of the trees and water today.

We had a delightful end to the day sitting on an outdoor patio of the flat/hotel enjoying a Korean Bar-b-que cooked by one of the couples in our group and sharing the wine from the vineyard tour yesterday.

Tomorrow we will have our last full day of touring and return to Jerusalem to spend our last 3 nights at Ecce Homo.