July 1st – Diaspora Museum;Jaffa;Negev Desert;TelSheva;Ramon Crater

July 1, 2014

Wow! It’s July 1st already. We ended up having an incredibly busy day today. We just checked in last night after 9pm and had to be repacked and bags ready to be loaded by 8am today! I slept a bit, happy not to be in a plane seat, but it does take time to get the sleep cycle right! It’s just before midnight as I’m writing this. It took forever for the 70 or so photos I took today to upload before I could actually set down and write this.

I was able to get Michael his own room last night and then we met back up for breakfast with the whole group this morning. Everyone in this group is really fantastic. I’ve been very lucky on my “independent” travels that all the folks I’ve had the luck to travel with have been exceptional people. And they all rallied around Michael! I think Michael got a send-off from nearly a dozen “moms” and they were all so sweet to him. We only have one gentleman in our tour group; but we have a male van driver and our incredible guide, Amos Davidovitz! (you can google him–he’s brilliant). And Amos decided that they would drive Michael to the train station on our way to Jaffa today. That saved him at least 30 shekels or more (which equates to about $10 I think. And we all got to wish him a happy goodbye! He did fine, notified me via text, and took the train to Haifa and then caught a bus to just outside of the Kibbutz and then was picked up by someone from there. We had arrived at the rear entrance to the museum but walked out the front and from the top of the steps I got lovely pics of the overview of campus and the Mediterranean Sea in the background! Here’s a link to a little more info if you’re interested:

We went to the Diaspora Museum at Tel Aviv University. Tel Aviv University is a really lovely place and the Diaspora Museum follows the movement of the Jewish People and collects the data and tracks the information. It’s a small museum as museums go, but it is filled with tons of pertinent exhibits and information aiding in the understanding of the different cultures and changes in the the whereabouts of the Jewish People. It is also called Beit Hatfutsot, Museum of the Jewish People. We had a lovely lady guide who gave us the quickie tour. I wandered off while she talked or wouldn’t have been able to see some of the stuff I wanted to see and photograph! I even saw a replica model of a synagogue in Elkins Park Pennsylvania designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; and a model of the oldest surviving synagogue in Amsterdam, Holland which I did see from my hop on hop off tour there a could years ago! It was interesting to hear the guide explain particulars about the Jewish people and hour COMMUNITY is at the helm of who we are as a people to our mainly non-Jewish tour group. And it never hurts me to hear and be reminded of that! It was actually cooler outside with the nice sea breeze than in the museum, but we weren’t in there for too long! I knew it was going to be a bit warm because they had a HUGE fan on facing the registration desk! http://www.bh.org.il/

We went to Jaffa; originally a walled (gated) city. We had a great time walking all throughout Jaffa and listening to Amos explain to us where the walls were placed and then we got to see the main park after a hilly good walk (it rises over 40 meters). We saw some luscious views of the Mediterranean Sea (I’m ticked that my pictures aren’t uploading in order as I’ve named them in such a way that they should–hope to figure that out in the future) The views rival the best of any cruise water views I’ve seen and loved. We started by Clock Square, walked past two Mosques. It’s Ramadan now so there was peaceful prayer going on. We went past St. Peter’s Monastery and the Catholic Church on our uphill rise. There is an ongoing archaeological dig…a continuation of earlier digs which has uncovered some amazing history, assuring that it’s over 7000 years of inhabitance! It’s wild when you think about it. Jaffa had very run-down areas which was eventually reinvested in and is now a really neat artist colony resembling that of Safed (Zfaat). We climbed up and down and around throughout and then went on our own for lunch. I went off by myself in desperate search of Air Conditioning! I couldn’t have cared less what I ate…I wanted to cool off. Israel’s in the middle of a high heat time and well, WOW, it is really hot!!! And we were there at the height of the hot day which exacerbated the effects! We shuffled to shade whenever we stopped to speak with our guide. Here’s a link to a little more on Jaffa! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa

I got to know some of my tour-mates better on the ride from Jaffa to the Negev. And we also got to visualize exactly how narrow and vulnerable Israel as at some of the short 4-mile distances of its borders. It is utterly amazing how they’ve been able to use nature and technology and just sheer genius to grow olive trees and grapes, etc. in this desert land. In the short time since Israel has been Independent is it really a land of abundance.

Amos was giving us tidbits of information on the ride there, but many of our group fell asleep. Not at all out of disinterest, but because we’re still getting acclimated to the time change and loss of sleep from the plane ride! We all roused awake to view the herds of camels resting along both sides of the road! I’m not entirely sure if groups of camels are called herds or not! The other thing we saw a lot of was sheep! And, of course, in Israel, it sure looks biblical! And we were also amazed to see Shepherds too! Maybe we’re easily amazed! Who cares?!

We got to Tel Be’er Sheva National Park – Remains of biblical Beersheba complete with the horned alter for animal sacrifice back in those days. Abraham’s well, which is over 70 meters deep is amazing as it’s important in our biblical stories. But the even more fascinating (to me) thing was the water system that was built complete with a super deep cistern. We climbed down the whole thing! It was actually cooler down there. How ever did they build a system lake that so long ago? We were there very near closing time for the park, so we were really lucky to get to go through it at all. But even better was the little discussion/study session we had regarding Genesis 12 and Genesis 18:25 and thoughts on why Abraham would leave where he was to go where there was no infrastructure, etc. to start a new lineage/people! A touch on the near sacrifice of Isaac came up with everyone’s sadness about the 3 teens that were recovered murdered and buried in a narrow grave, suspectedly by Hammas. I know my loved ones are worried about Michael and my safety being here during this difficult time and, I must admit, I do know it is a serious issue here. There is considerable extra alert. And I don’t believe anyone is better prepared to execute these alerts than Israel. But it is more sadness than anything else. Everyone is so sad. Thousands attended the funeral today of these boys. It’s so unacceptable for this to have happened. Here is more info on this National Park: http://www.attractions-in-israel.com/negev/negev-national-parks/tel-be%E2%80%99er-sheva-national-park-%E2%80%93-remains-of-biblical-beersheba/

Everyone was ready to get to our Ramon Inn hotel! A 6 floor hotel with no elevator! I was actually relieved to have a 2nd floor room! They did offer to help us with our bags to our rooms; I took my first one myself figuring I only had to go up one floor…WRONG. I guess reception area is Ground Zero!!!! We were only to take about 15 minutes in our rooms and come back down to the lobby to go for our walk to the Ramon Crater. Makhtesh Ramon. It’s not really a crater but a geological phenomenon. I’ll include a link to discuss all about how it comes to be, but what is amazing about is beyond how deep it is, is the many colors and types of sand, dirt, etc. that comprises this huge, deep, rut. Right next door is a geological museum and research center…no surprise there! We got to see it at sun down. My pictures below don’t seem to capture the enormity of it nor the beauty of seeing it at sunset. In readying myself for writing my SACRED SPACES paper(s) for my Independent Study college credits, I can’t omit the specialness of natural phenomenon in this holiest of lands as their own sort of sacred space. Especially when you get to observe everyone’s reactions to these visits we’re having. One can’t help but believe in miracles and wonder. The Ramon crater area doesn’t look like anything could live there, yet, while we were overlooking, we saw 3 goat-like animals (small, medium and large!) that Amos identified as Ibex. That’s another amazing thing. 2 years ago when I was here and went to Masada, there is absolutely no visible means of survival, yet there are these black birds who definitely reside there aplenty. And these animals surviving here. It defies explanation. Here’s a little link! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makhtesh_Ramon

We walked back to the hotel for late dinner. It was delicious and in abundance as breakfast in Tel Aviv was. So many fresh veggies and fruits make it very special and delicious. I am apologizing right now to my sister Laura. I did not take any pictures of dinner and I really should have because it was just beautiful! But I was tired and a little cranky and well just sort of “done” for the day. I don’t know if I mentioned this earlier in the blog, but I walked over 13,000 steps in this 100+ degree heat! It was a long day in the heat…but a day I would never have wanted to miss! GRATEFUL ME!

13132 steps

sunset at Ramon crater