Israel Trip: Day 3

In advance, I apologize for misspellings and occasional unintelligible sentences, these are written in the evening after a full day and rarely read over much before uploading for the sake of time.

Day 3

March 14, 2010

Today we stayed right near the Galilee area. A word on breakfast. Breakfast here is quite good, but it is primarily some form of eggs, cheese/yogurt, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Different ways of preparation, though always a big bowl of cucumbers and a bowl of tomatoes. On our way to our first stop, a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee (Yam Kineret), I notice and IDF soldier at a bus stop (you see a fair number of them around town) and noticed he had facial hair. Apparently in the IDF you can have facial hair, a cultural thing I guess, how much you can have though I'm not sure. Our boat ride on Galilee wasn't specifically connected to an even in particular but more the fishing aspect of things. A presentation was given on it with some geographical details and what miracles were performed there. It was in this area that Jesus' ministry focused, more specifically around Capernaum. Around the sea of Galilee is a lot of agriculture and it used to have a large fishing industry in Bible times, but isn't commercially fished now because that would fish it dry. It is noted for having sudden violent storms as cold fronts off the Golan Heights sweep over the lake and interact with the warm air there.

A boat like the one we rode on

Next we drove to the Mount of the Beatitudes, there is a Italian Franciscan monastery there as a place of dedication and remembrance of the sermon on the mount. It is unlikely that is the place it actually occurred, but there isn't enough detail to know where other than the Northern show of Galilee, though that is OK, they have created a place there to remember and reflect on the sermon on the mount. It was ironically enough funded by Mussolini in the time before WWII. It is a nice place with a beautiful garden to relax and reflect in. Something of note is the word “blessed” is translated from the Hebrew word that means more than that, it can mean joyful, happy, rectified, and/or approved.

The main church where there is a shrine/monument to the Sermon on the Mount/Beattitudes

From there we went to a dig about 4-5 miles from Galilee where Geshur and Bethsaida (claimed) are found. Geshur is dated to the time of David, it is where Absalom's mother was from and where he fled to. So it is around 3000 years old. There is another town there that is claimed to be Bethsaida, but it is unlikely. Bethsaida was a fishing village, it is where Peter was from. But, this location is 4-5 miles from the shore, a little odd for a fishing village. Some claim sediment build up and earthquakes have changed things in 2000 years, but on the other side of the lake near the shore currently is a village dating to the same time. This explanation doesn't hold up very well. In the ruins here there were also modern Syrian fortifications, bunkers and trenches, from when they still held it. It is an interesting mix of time, but rather sad because the site was damaged when they did so.

One of the Syrian bunkers at the ruin at Geshur

Then we went to Capernaum, this is where Jesus lived with his disciples in Peter's mother-in-law's home as the base of Jesus' ministry. There are two synagogues there; the synagogue was first introduced by the Jews after their return from Babylon after the 1^st temple period. Since the temple was destroyed they created local places of worship, though God still resided in the only Temple in Jerusalem on Mt Moriah. It is thought that a large amount of traffic to Jesus in capernuam was because of his healing. There were hot springs in nearby Tiberias that had supposed healing powers, but when people went there and they weren't working, they would hear about this Jesus fellow down the road and go visit him, then they would hear his teaching and stay and listen. Jesus role in Capernuam is rather interesting, he was kind of their Rabbi. They didn't have the money for a full time rabbi there, and Jesus, kind of like the young man out of seminary doing the low paid job of youth ministry trying to gain experience, offered his service to Capernuam. They really couldn't say no since he was an “ordained” Rabbi and was offering his services for free. Since he wasn't charging he was able to have the time still to do his other ministry away from Capernaum.

Finally we went to the Kibbutz Ginosaur on the lake of Galilee. Here also is a famous ancient boat. It is a remarkably well preserved fishing boat from the time of Jesus. It is dated by carbon-14 dating on the boat and artifacts found in it. It is a similar type boat as would have been used by the fishermen disciples and what they would have been in when on Galilee and Jesus was sleeping and a storm came up. It was discovered in the 80s during a drought and was excavated in 11 days. It had to be kept in water to keep the water-logged wood from drying out and being destroyed. After being cleaned up they submerged it in a warm water/wax solution for 8 years to replace the water in the wood with wax so it is now on display for people to see and won't be destroyed.

The preserved 2000 year old boat from Galilee

Then we visited around the kibbutz there. A kibbutz is a volunteer oriented communal living arrangement. It started as the palestine area was being settled, it is a socialist mindset in that everyone works according to their ability and gets according to their needs. However, it is considered communitarianism rather than communism because it is all volunteer based rather than forced, the only reason it has worked as well as it has. It was a good support system for those immigrating to Israel after surviving the holocaust. They were also founded as outposts, stronger as a whole, often settled by members of the Palmach, a sub group of the paramilitary group the Haganah, before the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) was formed. They are often largely agriculture based, but will have factories as well and the one we visited ran a 5-star hotel quite successfully, along with some tourism business. Since they were formed most kibbutz have slowly progressed to a more prvatized system. While still communal, there can be multiple streams of income from standard living stipend and also an extra from the work you do either inside or outside the kibbutz. To join one you apply and if they accept you you work for 1-2 years probation and then are voted in, you must have >50% of the vote, though more is preferable if you actually want to live there. You don't have to be of a particular Jewish sect or religion to live on the kibbutz, there are even Christians and such living Kibbutzim, it isn't a big deal now. The idea of a kibbutz may be wonderful, but even though it is volunteer based, it is hard to realize in real life. Just like communism/socialism it is a rather idealistic outlook on human nature. In real life humans don't have that pure altruistic outlook of the betterment of the whole over the individual, there is far more concern for the self and survival.

An additional thought. It seems to me, whenever I travel outside the country with other people and they are sitting around discussing the trip, it seems inevitable that a "Home Bashing" session seems to occur, to one extent or another. I am by no means saying America is perfect, and I think traveling to other countries and cultures absolutely gives one another perspective on life and one's own country, including failures and successes, and that's good, it can be a time to learn and improve. However, it seems to me people just get a feel good moment out of saying how they wish America was just like the country we're in, one way or another. Often times, they make comparisons that aren't valid, they get excited/emotional about it because it is something they experienced that day, and it's fresh in their mind and they haven't thought it through. Anyways, enough on that for now.

Off to another day of seeing stuff!

Have a good day yourselves, and feel free to comment.

Jim/Hopps