Day 8

Saturday is the Sabbath in Israel. That means that come 6:00 PM on Friday night, the shops close down and the Jewish families have to have completed all cooking and work for the next 24 hours. Even the elevator in the hotel stops at every floor automatically so that Jews do not have to do the work of pushing the elevator button…seriously!

Breakfast was cold and old…no hot food and the bread and other stuff seemed to be left over from the week. This made for a not so great morning when we had to get on the road by 7:00 AM. Oh well.

We started off for Masada, the fortress of King Herod that was later occupied by the last Jewish revolt against Rome. Rome eventually built a siege ramp and broke down the wall to find that the Jews had all committed suicide the night before. It was a powerful image of freedom and the willingness to die for something you believe in. Some of us rode a cable car, 700 feet up to the fortress and others walked the Snake Trail…I rode!

Here’s a picture of Jenny and I at the top of Masada

Inside Masada, there is an ancient Synagogue that matches the kind of Synagogue Jesus would have had in his day.

Here’s Lee and Vicki in the Synagogue

There are ravens up at the top that allow you to feed them, right in midair. It reminded me of the Bible passage where the ravens fed Elijah right in the same area. Jenny loved feeding the birds.

Here’s Jenny feeding the ravens…Dr. Dolittle in action!

One strange thing at Masada was a 2000-year-old toilet. Our group loved it. Richie and Lee couldn’t help themselves, they had to pose. I’m sorry if these pictures disturb you…they disturb me…but it was fall down funny!

Hanging out with Le and Vicki is a laugh a minute. Lee has a way of saying things that makes me cry with laughter. Here’s a picture of Lee doing his handiwork and me crying.

Next we went to the Salt Sea or you will know it by Dead Sea. We all went in and floated…no swimming, just floating. It was bizarre! Adam got a mud covering or exfoliation…basically he got muddy.

Next was Jericho…yes, I know we went the once already, but it was dark and the group begged to return. We got to see a sycamore tree…in the daytime, and walk the Old Testament dig site. Jericho is very poor and there are many homes that have been bombed and are riddled with bullet holes. Here’s a picture of the street and a better shot of the tree.

To end the day, we stopped in the middle of the Judean wilderness on the top of the mountain range. Here we could see the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, the place Jesus walked and the place f the Good Samaritan story. It was one of the highlights of the day.

Our time in the Holy Land is nearing the end. Tomorrow we head north to Caesarea, Megiddo, Nazareth and Cana. Jenny and I will be renewing our vows there with Richie officiating. I got a neat ring for Jenny that has Hebrew writing on it that says, “I am my beloveds and he is mine.” Tomorrow will be great!