the Easter place

As Easter has approached, we've thought back on our trip to Israel last year when we got to visit places of significance to the Easter story. The Garden Tomb (above) was peaceful and beautiful and profound. I'm in awe of what happened there and grateful for the season we have to commemorate it. Happy Easter!

Dead Sea and Massada

Our first day in Israel was spent touring Masada and taking a dip in the Dead Sea. Massada is an interesting place, a former palace and fortification overlooking the Dead Sea. In about 74 AD a group of Jewish Zealots expelled from Jerusalem carried out a mass suicide rather than be taken as slaves by the Romans. Masada is on top of a high rock plateau so we took a cable car to the top. Here we are next to the oldest working synagogue in Israel. (left) It's on top of the Masada plateau and therefore only accessible via the cable car. Apparently people still have bar mitzvahs there.

In the photo below you can sort of see the Dead Sea in the background while we were at Masada.

The Dead Sea was amazing! We had heard of the buoyancy properties but didn't think it would be too remarkable--we were wrong! Jacob said it best--not only can you float easily, it's impossible NOT to float. It made for a difficult time trying to wash all the mud off--we couldn't keep our shoulders underwater long enough! (Below: Jacob floating, whether he wanted to or not. Right: my feet.)

Apparently the water and the mud have curative properties. So we covered ourselves in the mud, and had a great time doing it. Who knows if it was salubrious--it was definitely fun!

During our trip to and from the Dead Sea the tour guide pointed out one of the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Apparently the entrance to the cave had been covered up, so it wasn't until an actual search for the Scrolls was done that they were discovered.

Holy water

Our second day we took a trip to Nazareth (where Jesus grew up), the River Jordan (where Jesus was baptized), Capernaum (where Jesus lived during most of His ministry) and the Sea of Galilee. We also passed other cool places on the drive, like Armageddon, Mount of the Beatitudes and Cana, the place of Jesus' first miracle (water to wine). Most people think Jesus spent a lot of time in Jerusalem--He totally didn't. After his family returned from Egypt he spent the majority of his life in these places. It was a great day for us and really cool to have a visual image of these pivotal places. (Above: Jacob's unsuccessful attempt to walk on water at the Sea of Galilee)

In Nazareth there's a huge church built over the site believed to have been the house where Mary, Joseph and Jesus lived (above). It was interesting to see what centuries and churches have done to the place...The above ruins are from Capernaum, where Jesus lived during most of his ministry. The actual room where he lived in Peter's house has a huge church built over the top of it. The floor of the church is partially see-through so you can see down into the ruins of the room. (No, we're not fond of the practice of building churches over these sacred sites. We wish we could just visit the sites without having to do it through someone else's worship paradigm.)


Speaking of Peter, below Jacob is eating St. Peter's fish. It was yummy!


We visited the official--but not ACTUAL--site of Jesus' baptism on the River Jordan. The site is set up so pilgrims can be baptized in the River; a few people on our tour did so. Below Jacob thinks I need to be baptized. You can tell I don't agree.

Below, the sun setting over the Sea of Galilee. Beautiful.

'O, Jerusalem'

Jerusalem is such a fascinating city! We had some great experiences there, and we were grateful to be there. (Above is a view of the city from Mount Scopus.)

For both of us the Jerusalem highlights are the Garden Tomb and the Garden of Gethsemane. We really felt the holiness of those places. (Below: me coming out of the tomb and a photo of Gethsemane)

It was also really cool to see the wailing wall. The men and women were separated, and Kim and I decided to write our wishes and place them in the wall, as is customary. I'm not saying I believe my piece of paper in the wall is more likely to come to God's attention by being there than it would if I prayed for it, but it was a great experience and I'm glad I did it.

Jacob had to wear a yarmulke, and he opted not to make a wish. Our tour guide says people fax their wishes, and someone's job is to put them in the wall!

Below is the Mount of Olives. You can see that it's basically a huge cemetery because Jewish people believe those buried on the Mount will be the first to be resurrected. Our Jewish tour guide (Raphy) mentioned it was very expensive to be buried on the Mount of Olives and that he would be happy waiting a few more seconds to be resurrected.
The photo on the right shows Jacob eating an olive on the Mount of Olives (that he had just picked from the tree behind him). The olives were awful--way overripe. But it was fun to hike the Mount. We actually hiked most of the Mount in Orson Hyde Park, which covers a vast area of the Mount.

Jericho

Famous for its Old Testament connections (Joshua and the Israelites destroyed it on their way into the Promised Land in Joshua chapter 6), the town also has appearances in the New Testament. One of the cool stories features the below Tree of Zacchaeus, a short dude who wanted to see Jesus but had to climb a tree to do so. (For the full story see Luke 19:2-10)

We came across this amazing fruit stand where we found the people to be kind and welcoming. This guy introduced us to the pomelo fruit, which we all fell in love with--it's amazingly delicious!

From Jericho we also saw the Mount of Temptation, supposedly the site where Jesus was first tempted by Satan after finishing his 40-day fast.

Eilat

We spent our last vacation morning relaxing on a beach on the Red Sea in southern Israel. It was a gorgeous morning, and the water was clear (see above photo). Jacob and Shawn decided they needed to sport European-style swimwear... And yes, we're pasty--we live in England where the sun rarely shines. :)