Journal #10 (10/11)... Holocaust To Market

Today was one of those days like our visit to Auschwitz and the Holocaust Museum that will haunt me forever .  The enormous museum takes you in a zig zag way to the end. It starts with the very early times when Hitler wasn't so powerful.  I thought it seemed to me that it started as a thin string growing into a wire of hate and soon was woven into a cable of hat when it was too late and too strong to break.  It worries me as I am seeing the string turning into a wire in our country against Jews, Mexicans, Blacks, and any immigrants.   We are already at the place when shootings that are hate based and happening in Schools,, Mosques, Churches and Walmart, etc!

I was only half way through when I realized that I would have to go quickly to meet the group at our meeting place in time.  That was OK as the rest was the atrocities and I have seen much of that.  We then went to a " burial memorial " for those whose  bodies are not buried here but were killed " over there".  Names of the camps  and wreaths are put there at different times.    There were wonderful metal gates that were fashioned by a famous artist here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: The Memorial to Bodies Not Returned.   Right: Inside

The next stop was the one that cut to my heart.  That was the Memorial to the one million children killed in the Holocaust.  I entered a cave which was very dark .  I held on to a handrail on my right  and saw lights like stars in the sky.  At few there were not many.  I could hear the name of each child in English, Hebrew and Yiddish and the age of the child.  This goes on all the time until every child is named and then begins again.  As I looked around the stars became more numerous until it was nearly the Milky Way.  As that happened it became more and more emotional until I was sobbing uncontrollably.  The more I tried to hold it back the more I cried.  By the time I got out to the light  I felt totally spent!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside the Children's Memorial. The broken pillars signify the one million whose life was cut short before their time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entering the dark tunnel to the memorial.

Right: Man (center) who was bloved and had to leave but stayed with the children of the orphanage and died with them.

 

We boarded the bus and drove to the market.  Since Sabbat would enter  it was busy...more than just busy but busy on steroids,  It was hard to move but so much to see and smell.  Wonderful foods, spices, colors,....to me it was invigorating.  Something I needed after the Museum.  I am so glad they did it that way.  There was so many tastes that were new.  American peanuts with a hard covering that you ate in its entirety.  I bought some.  I saw so many dried fruits that people were buying by handfuls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found some of our gang having beers at the "brewery stall" but there were not enough chairs for us.  We went to the next stall and the guy was cooking wonderful food.  I chose chicken skewer dinner and Michael chose a pita with beef. The food was so delicious we ate it all.  Sunny, one of our group came by and Michael gave her a fourth of his meal as it was too much and we sat together and enjoyed a conversation.   We gathered later on a wildly painted wall and waited for Annie and the rest of the group, boarded the bus among the crowd.  I can't imagine driving in this mess.....especially this humongous bus!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: Michael's lunch   Right: My lunch

No wonder we were not hungry for dinner.

Chicken, parsley with spice and onion, lemon with ??, delicious Cole slaw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: Linda & Gary

Right: Linda and me.

 

 

 

 

 

On our way home from the market we went to a special place that is where  they believe the Last Supper occurred.......not at the building rather the place. In the upper room is sometimes confusing as in the desert many places had underground rooms, therefore the upper room could very easily mean the ground floor.  Needless to say the room we went to was up the stairs.  I think everything here has lots of stairs, up down or picture 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a mosque now, but once it was a Christian church

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right: Check out the Lamb of God finial on the ceiling.

 

 

 

 

 

By then we were hotel bound.  We all talked about going to dinner at the train  station but we were so full we didn't bother leaving the room.  I caught up on my journal.....one reason it was so long.  Finally after Troy One to find something good on t.v.( sorry, Shabatt limited that since "no one can be watching".). We watched the news but the conflict in Syria  but that was repeated over and over and was too disturbing to dwell on .  Are there any countries left that will trust us?   We are certainly losing allies!!!

Bedtime. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Grove

 

Journal #11 (10/12)... Visiting the Land of a Thousand Caves

 

Today after Shabbat breakfast of Salmon salad, quiche, and pita bread went outside through the Shabbat door ( not the  automatic revolving around one) to the bus.  It took us across parts of Israel and then a small area of Palestine, there were checkpoints for us but that we are  not Palestinian so there were no problems or long stops and we were certainly not turned away!

 

The land around looks exactly as it would have when Jesus was here.  When we passed across into Israel we saw the difference .  Israeli people plant trees as  one of those many commandments.  When we got to Israel it was forested!  

 

October 12/1

 

I ask how the trees were watered and she explained much is under drip irrigation from water cleaned from our toilets and sink and is used only for agriculture. The water does not go through the desalinization plant for agriculture or forested area.  The water is simply filtered...all water is used. 

In the area we visited  a thick layer of limestone covers a huge area of chalk.  The chalk was mined out leaving caves.  The first cave Annie discouraged me to go as it was st EPA and I lose air but at the last minute I took the challenge and went every where but the first deep little cave.  I was there at the  top to take pictures as they exited the deep little cave.  We saw a cistern and a structure that had been built on the floor to show what the house would be like on our way to the bus.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: Our group of Cave Hunters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right: I waited for folks to come out to take their picture.

 

Second Cave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite though was the huge Bell Cave.  For some reason Michael thought it was only a bathroom stop and stayed on the bus to fix his camera missing the Bell Cave.  That is Ok as I took many photos.  I think it is the only thing in all our travels that I saw and he didn't!  Usually it is the  other way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Jerusalem Museum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are now traveling back to Jerusalem.  We are going to visit the Museum Of Israel.  The biggie we will see there is The Sea Scrolls.  The story goes like this.  Not long ago as history is concerned, a Bedouin boy was caring for his goats n the desert and lost a goat.  Fearing that the goat had fallen in a cave he through a rock inside hoping to scare the goat and make him come out or at least bleat so the boy would know  he was there.  Instead the boy heard the sound of broken pottery.  He was worried but still curious so went back and found many huge pottery jugs.  Inside these jugs were scrolls with writing on them actually written on the skins of animals as real parchment is.  What he had found was the Dead Sea scrolls.  The dryness and lack of moisture had kept them safe.  Surprisingly enough it had been written I Hebrew, the same language us d as now.  At first they kept them...and even burned one or two to heat their food, but finally they were sold to an antiquities dealer and many made them everywhere in the world.  The Israeli s bought them back for a fortune and the replicas are in the museum.  They make it look like the real ones are there until you keep reading.  They make the extra fine replicas to keep the originals safe.  In this area with wars, you don't mess around with the originals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: Parts of a water pipe. So Big!   Right: Beautiful sarcophagus.

 

 

 

The part of the museum that house the Dead Sea Scrolls. Water sprays on it and it is bright white which is opposite a black wall. It is suppose to resemble the lid of one of those huge pots that held the scrolls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were no pictures allowed inside but these were in the lobby. It told how they were used to start fire by the bedouins and how they were smuggled to places including USA. Some of the prople in cut them up to sell as souvenirs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also visited the archeology part which took us from prehistory to recently but we were short on time. We took a look at four synagogues which were taken apart and reassembled in the museum from four parts in the world.

 

October 12/5m

Then it was time to call it a day.  We went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner.

Until tomorrow,

Grove

 

 

Journal #12 (10/13)... Jerusalem to the Dead Sea and LOTS In Between

Today we leave Jerusalem and it is with mixed feelings.  It has been the most religiously  historic place I have ever been.  There are venues all over that are holy to Christians, Islamics, Jews and even Pagan.  We have seen so many places during Shabatt when there was very little traffic being here on the most holy day used for Jews, Yum Kipper, we saw them walking to the Old City with their white shawls with blue trims and many tassels  and many with their families.....curly headed girls, and little boys with their kippas and payos (sidelocks).  Many Jewish and Arab children almost use it like their playground.  Their parents are  near but the children have met their friends and are running around talking to the vendors  and laughing and just being kids.  Such cultural richness with so much to see from all the people. We saw it in clothes, customs, and of course food.  Actually being here during the holidays was the best , one elevator, no transportation,  well worth no toast, no coffee maker etc.  

Before  leaving Jerusalem we stopped at the garden of Gethsemane.  This is a garden of mostly 2000 year old olive  trees.  Israel adopts the olive tree as its most important tree as it show how it carries life on.  The roots are 2000 years old but there have been grafting, like new generations and the olive tree continues to flourish and be fruitful.  The word Gethsemane comes from the Hebrew word meaning " olive press ".  People who visit the gardens were breaking off pieces of the branches to take them home so they have constructed a metal fence to keep folks from doing that?  It is believe that Jesus prayed all night while his disciples slept in this garden and in the mornings he was arrested.  

These are 2,000 year-old olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane. These trees witnessed the arrest of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is right next door to the Church of All Nations. The church was built over the remains of two earlier churches.  It has windows of dark and special glass to keep the church dark as dusk, evoking a feeling of night.  The tile floor is really beautiful.  There are "window" in the floor to the older church so they know what the tile patterns were.  The " rock of Jesus "is in this church.  I did see a rock and it could be 2000 years old to match those trees.  It is a really beautiful church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have seen places and things from the time of Kings of Judea, the Hellenistic  Period,   The Roman times, a Byzantine times, times of the early Muslims, the Crusaders, The Mamluk, the Ottomans, The British Mandate, and what is now Israel.

As we drive along by the dead see we see caves where people would stop on their journey to get out of the hot sun.  We are seeing very little life as we ride around the edge of the Dead Sea, but Annie says there is wildlife. (Ibex , which are mountain goat,  Hyrax, which are rat looking animals without tails.  We saw those in other ruins where Christ lived.  There are lizards, birds, foxes, and it used to have wolves and tigers but they are not seeing that anymore). Later we stopped at an oasis and saw many ibex, those goats, in the shade under some trees.  Many got good photos and shared with me.  We have learned to Air Drop from Sylvia.  It is so cool and easy to transfer photos from iPhone to iPhone.  That is why we had so many photos of the baptism......many air dropped us their photos!

 

 

Our next stop was on the way to Masada.  At the point of sea level we took a group photo. And visited with a Bedouin young man with his jewelry and camel.  He took a photo of all of us and Leona and I bought necklaces supposedly made of camel bone.  I can't imagine he had a dead camel hanging around, but if he did there would be plenty to make jewelry with.

 

At Sea Level:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right: This is the Bedouin young man who took our picture and whom we purchase his necklaces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it rains and the fresh water touch the earth that is heavier in salt the earth will melt.....collapse causing sink holes.  There are many and Annie once saw a sinkhole appear right before the bus.  During rainy season they are warned  not to all out near the sea in these areas.  Many Bedouin  people are swallowed up or hurt and the government tries to keep them out during wet season, but they will not leave; it is such  a part of their culture and they won't change.  We actually saw a place where a Kibbutz had to move as some of the homes were swallowed.  They have moved but the people with skin conditions come here and swim in the Dead Sea no matter the weather.  There are many skin cosmetics sold.  There is very little rain but when it does it causes flash floods and is very dangerous in this area.  

Very soon we were at Masada, built by King  Herod ( the elder we are always talking about ) as a Winter Palace.  He was quite a master of engineering and of course he had many slaves to do the dirty work.  He was so paranoid he wanted to be protected.  It would be very difficult to climb the mountain without being seen, Andy he people on top  could roll down rocks on their enemies.  Herod established a cistern and an amazing water system from fresh water pools.  He had many storage rooms filled with dried fruit, dates, wine and grains.  He always had to be " prepared as he was so paranoid".  Remember he is the one pickles in honey.....his sweet wife!  He had many children but had most of them killed.  He did allow three of his sons to live but was always worried they would kill him.  It is said, " it is better to be a pug in the barn than to be a child of King Herod.  The King Herod we know (Junior) is the wine we read about during the birth of Jesus.  King Herod...the elder, had many palaces made for himself but he  died before he could enjoy it much. 

We first have lunch then get on the  cable car to take us up the Masada. After reading June's book at home, this is very exciting.  The snake trail is the old way up to the top.  Thank God that is not how we will get there.  King Herod built his palace being disconnected from other places....in case of need he could go on there while under siege.  The great revolt of the 73 AD happened here.  There were many people living at the top.  They were the Jewish Zealots and they were hiding from the Romans.  They reached the top of Masada knowing there would be food and water and a good protection.  These people didn't want much...water to purify themselves to pray and a few dates and bread.  It was pretty clear the Romans couldn't starve them out and besides they didn't want it known that they  couldn't capture these 900+ Jews.  When they tried to climb up they were pelted with rocks.  When they catapulted rocks to the top, the Jews rolled it back back down on  them.  In an attempt to dissuade them and make them give up, the Romans even catapulted bodies of Jews at them.  That didn't work so the slaves of the Romans started building a ramp at night.  Eventually they were able to push up the catapult up the hill and after several tries, even though the wall had been fortified they broke through the wall causing a fire.  The fire would be out by morning so the leader of the zealots talked to the people on the hill.  "Do you want to die free or do you want to see your wives raped and your children made slaves?"  They decided to kill each other .  When ten men were left they each took a turn killing each other and the last one fell on his sword.  When the  Romans came the next morning expecting to find 900 + Jews to take into slavery they found only dead bodies and a few women and a few children.  The women had gone in rooms and were unable to kill their children.  Brutal eh?

 

Going up the hill of Masada looking down at the snake trail.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top of Masada:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By then we were so hot and tired we couldn't wait to get to the hotel.  We got to our rooms, got in our suits and Michael and I headed to the regular fresh water pool it was so refreshing.  Then we dressed for dinner...a Buffett of every kind of meat from veal to goose breast. (No pork or shell fish).....and of course tables and tables of fruits and veggies and salads, and desserts.  Tonight was meats and tomorrow morning it will be dairy.  This place is kosher and there must be at least six hours between the two. The Sukkot and Shabbat rules are working.  Leona and Vic were the last ones to dinner because they got on the  Shabbat elevator and it went slow and stopped at every floor although they were the only ones on the elevator.

It was then time to write this and get sleep for happenings tomorrow!

Grovey

 

Journal #13 (10/14)... Dead Sea and Jeep

 

Today we had a kosher breakfast......dairy, fruits , veggies, and grains......now it's still Sukkot, another holiday celebrated here now.   I will write about it later.   So no coffee or hot tea and one slow elevator.  Been there, done that!

Annie had  arranged for us to take a jeep ride out in the desert.  To say it was bumpy was a terrible  underestimation!!  We saw the salt mountain and the limestone mountain  and learned the difference.  We were down in the valley, we were up on the mountain....and we learned the difference! It's more than about salt and geology;  it's about carnallite  and all the wonderful minerals that come out of it.    We even passed by the factory spitting out pure white potash.  The Folks from India didn't think it was real until they started dying it red for them.  Between the guide and Vic we have had a great insight in this area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: Here we are with one of our four jeeps.   Right: Limestone cliffs

 

Left: Salt Mountain   Right: Getting ready for the picnic while we learn about desert plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right: Our "Ironman".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right: They take that and get potash. Fertilizer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LUNCH!

 

It was bumpy as I said and HOT ( after all it is the desert)  and a stop at a stinky bathroom at a gas station didn't improve the ambiance.  Getting in and out of our jeep  was obscene.  Our driver was Efem who he shortened to Effie. That sounded like Fe which is iron so we renamed him "Ironman!  Sylvia , Jan and I rode in that jeep and I think Jan and I laughed our monies worth in the back seat.  In fact we could have scrapped the picnic on stools under a bridge and opted for a light lunch in an air conditioned hotel room and we would have been A-OK.  I think others there shared the same thought. 

When we got back to the hotel I'd had my fill of the desert in spades, but three who were on the jeep trip climbed a desert mountain kind of like the snake road at Masada to see some waterfalls!  Forget that.  

I sent pictures from my journal and Michael and I got a shuttle to the beach to " swim" in the Dead Sea.  That was about as successful as our attempt years ago on the Jorden side of the Dead Sea.  I'm already super buoyant in The Mediterranean, in the Dead Sea I can't even stand up without popping over on my back and floating out to sea.  I had to have Michael pull me back.  That wasn't pleasant for him as he couldn't wear his flip flops and the bottom of the sea wasn't a few rocks and some mud like in Jorden, but about a 6 inch thick layer of round hard balls of salt?  Evidentially the wind and current from the Jordan side push them our way.  Ouch!   We made it for  thirty minutes and bade the sea goodbye in time to catch the shuttle back to the hotel.

There we tried both of their salt sea pools and although the bottom of the pool wasn't filled with salt balls, I still had a heck of a time standing there too,  finally we gave up, showered and made it to the fresh water pool........HEAVEN,  

We met for dinner, packed to leave for Tel Aviv  tomorrow.  Watched ". Show me the Money" with Zellweger, Cruz and Goodwin Jr.  now it is time to plug this in and get some shut eye!

Good-night.

Grovey

 

Happy Sukkot!

This holiday translates as " Festival of Tabernacles". Also "Festival of Ingathering,

It varies from late September to Late October.   The Israelites were commanded to perform a pilgrimage to the Jerusalem Temple when it was in existence. The word means "booth" or "tabernacle" which is a small walled structure with plant material.  It is the name of the temporary dwellings used in the Book of Exodus and Leviticus .  The families make them and decorate them and during the holiday they eat in them and something me sleep in them.  They wave four species of branches and decorate with one type of fruit.  We saw all that being sold in the old city as well as the market.

The etrog.... is the fruit of the citron tree

Lulav....a ripe, green, closed frond from a date palm

Harass....boughs with leaves from the myrtle tree

Aravah.....branches with leaves from the willow tree.

They treat the holiday sort of like another Shabbat.

 

 

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