Our Long & Winding Road

On our way out of the Teaching Steps/Steps of Learning outside the southern retaining wall or the Western Wall area - I forget which - a large stream of IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers were coming in. A few things struck me. (1) They are so very young.  (2) They are all Israeli Jews. Israeli Arabs do not have compulsory service; in fact, they are not allowed to serve even if they want to. And Orthodox Jews are exempt. As a result, it's quite likely that there is a strong single narrative rather than a blend of narratives among IDF soldiers and officers.  (3) Some of these young soldiers carried their automatic weapons with the tip pointing out rather than down. It was a bit alarming for me to see into the barrel of an assault weapon; I can only imagine what it is like for Arabs - not only Palestinians but Israeli Arabs, too.  When our tour guide, a Christian Israeli Arab, saw these soldiers heading toward the al Aqsa mosque with guns at the ready, a fellow traveler heard

Today has been a great day. Before I reflect on what we did, saw, heard, learned, etc., I want to lay down some history for context. THIS is a really helpful timeline of Jerusalem. (Check it out if you want to geek out on it as I just did before deleting a few lines that attempted to summarize thousands of years of history - you're welcome.) Here in Israel, we keep seeing physical evidence of the Herodian (37BCE-70CE), the Roman (70-324CE), the Byzantine (324-638CE), the early Muslim Dynasties (638-934) that preceded the Crusades (1099-1187CE), and the Muslim Dynasties that followed the crusades, namely the Mamluks (1250-1517CE) and the Ottomans (1517-1918CE). Most churches we have seen, for example, are modern churches built by some European country in the 1920's or 30's or 50's - on top of Ottoman or Mamluk ruins that are on top of Byzantine ruins that are on top of Herodian ruins. What I'm calling ruins are not all scraps and rubble. Rather, conquer

Our entire day was spent around the Sea of Galilee. I can't get over how much history this small place holds! It was part of a major pathway in the time of Jesus; in fact, it was the only way to get from Nazareth (see Mt Precipice circled on map below) to Magdala (Migdil on the map), which was the next closest Jewish town, and onto Capernaum, the center of Jesus' ministry. We saw the Valley of the Doves and saw Mount Arbel, where Jews tried to hide in caves from King Herod and his troops. We went on a boat ride in the Sea of Gailee, the site of quite a few of Jesus' miracles - calming of the seas, walking on water, etc. In fact, we got to see the wreckage of a 1st century boat that was recovered only 15 years ago. Fascinating. While we can't know if Jesus or Peter or their crew sailed on this particular boat, it's not impossible as they existed in the same place at the same time. Capernaum was quite a bustling place in its time! It's an archaeologists'

Yesterday was our first full day in Israel. We visited Caesarea, built by King Herod to demonstrate not only his strength and wealth but also his new allegiance to the Romans. Like all Roman cities of the time, it included a theater, a hippodrome, and a temple. I hadn't realized that it was the Romans who coined the phrase "bread and circus" - they understood well that if you keep your people fed and entertained, they are highly unlikely to take issue with their government. Herod created a sort of concrete made with volcanic ash that he used to create new land in the sea. Most of what was built on this Herod-made land has been eroded over time and is visible only to SCUBA divers - how incredible would that be?!? - but you can see some parts that are still above the water. Here, for instance, is what remained of a palace replete with a swimming pool in the center. Nearby was an incredible example of a Roman aqueduct, which was necessary in Israel, 60% of which is

Lest you think our vacation was all fun and games I will confess I was in quarantine for 10 days. At the airport in Miami on the day returning home I took my mask off for just a moment and a woman (who I had noticed had a cold early and worried she might be on my flight) strolled beside me and sneezed about two feet from my face. Four days later I contracted this terrible sickness. Alas I had been hosting a meeting that morning, and while I had tested negative the day before I did not test again before the meeting. The rest of our time home was a bit of a fog to me. Immediately upon testing positive I quaranteend my self in the downstairs room. Notified my doctor and went to sleep. I had a virtual meeting with a Covid Nurse the next day who reccommended I take Ibuprofin (I guess Covid is an inflamitory disease) drink a liter of water an hour (I was very dehydrated but a liter of water an hour is hard to injest I just did the best I could), and use Afrin. I did all this and ten days

Cruising's like luxuriating in a pretty darn high-end resort that magically transports you to a new destination every day or two. Our stops were Great Skipper Cay (Bahamas), St. Thomas (USVI), Torolla (BVI), and Dominican Republic. The first is an island apparently owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines, and the only stuff on the small island seems to be geared toward handling a few thousand people for excursions and beach time. Rali and I took the first tender (cruise jargon for the smaller boat that takes people from a ship anchored offshore to a destination - a ferry) at around 7:30am and were in the first group of zip-liners on our first full day of the cruise. It was FUN! I wish the course was much longer, but the zip lines and elements in between them were fun. It was especially cool to sail over the crystal clear water seeing the our ship just off-shore, noticing the differences in depth and terrain, and trying but failing to name the color - colors - of the water. Turquoise