Been to the Desert on a Camel Named Jafar...

So, part of my Israel adventure was a two day camping trip in the Negev. We wandered where the Children of Israel spent forty years, and with the same lack of indoor plumbing. I have to be honest that I really, really hated my days in the desert. I spent most of what was the longest night of my life, shivering. I stoked the fire so much that my leather jacket from this time forward will always smell like beef jerky. I hated the idea of washing our dishes in the same basin from which the camels ate our table scraps. I hated the gritty sand in our ash bread. And I really, really hated having to walk twenty minutes up a mountain to find a place to well, you know.

Our guide, Shia, said the Hebrew word for desert is "He speaks" - meaning God. Which leaves me to conclude that God was saying to me in the desert something very much like a sarcastic snigger.

If we were going to play "the glad game" (borrowing from a Haley Mills movie) then I suppose the good thing about my trip was (borrowing from another Haley Mills movie) now I have something I really hate that I can give up for Lent.

There were some good moments on the trek. For example, everything you have heard about gorgeous sunsets in the desert is true...



Unfortunately, you have to go the desert to see them.



Here is our guide, Shia, making our flatbread for lunch. It was really good. Of course, to me, pretty much anything you are dipping in humus and mashed up roasted eggplant is going to be good.


Here are my friends foregrounding our luncheon campsite, and trying not to look dubious about this whole idea in the first place.


I really enjoyed the camels. I mean, I would have rathered not share eating vessels with them, but I found myself admiring them tremendously.


Our campsite for the night (aka "The Scene of the Worst Night of My Life."). Shia said to me at one point, "Barbara, you have to surrender to the desert." Which seems to me to be the same kind of surrender that a man makes when he is bound hand and feet and three quarters of the way to the ground after having been thrown off a mountain.

This sandy lump was the gist or our breakfast after the night from hell.
Desert ultimately good for modern Los Angeles entertainment industry humans? Here it is. We report, you decide.

Qumran

As with all the historical sites maintained by the State of Israel, Qumran is clean, well-run and very instructional. If archeology is your thing, you really can't miss the extensive Essene community remains that they have excavated here.


Here is one of the caves in which the shepherd children in the 1950's made one of the greatest finds in modern Biblical archeology. Along with lots of scrolls about "Rules for Living as a Good Essene," the Dead Sea Scrolls contained a copy of every book in the Hebrew Scriptures...except for Esther.




I learned that in one of the caves they found something like 40,000 fragments of parchment. It seemed like an impossible task to try and put them together until some bright soul figured out that that because parchment is animal skin, it would have DNA. So, they used DNA testing to isolate fragments from common parchments and then were able to put the pieces all together.

I also learned that the Essenes would wash seven times a day. But I never was able to learn where they got all the water to do that. There are cisterns and pools everywhere, but it just doesn't rain enough to suppport that many mikvahs. The Dead Sea is too far away to cart that much water. And you wouldn't want to wash in all that greasy salt anyway.

Here are my friends, and our hosts for The Writers Gathering, Gary and Cindy Bayer posing at Qumran. You can see the Dead Sea in the background.

The Road to Jericho

This is the Judean Wilderness. As with everything in the Holy Land, I was surprised at how close it was to Jerusalem. We didn't even drive 30 minutes out of the city, and here we were.



You can't really see it in the pictures, but somewhere in these shots is the old Jericho road. This road is where Jesus set the story of the Good Samaritan. And having seen it, you really can imagine a lone traveler being set upon by thieves. This would have been the road traveled by just about everybody going "up" to Jerusalem from Galilee.



You can just barely see this really old monastery built on the original Jericho road. It is down in a cleft caused by thousands of years of water trickling by in some stray river way down there. My friends tell me that if you hike down there, the monks will give you tea and cookies.... To my mind, there are easier ways to get tea and cookies, but if you are really hungry...


I couldn't bring myself to take any shots of Jericho. As with everything in the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, it was kind of a filthy slum. There was garbage everywhere, incomplete construction on every block, hoards of sullen looking arabs with nothing to do but glare at the tourists driving by, and lots of young men with cigarettes and Uzis. Pretty scary all in all.

But this guy sitting in the chair was the one bright spot in Jericho. He calls himself the King of Jericho. He is a businessman from New Jersey and his shop/restaurant is literally an oasis in the area. It is named "Temptation" because it is just beneath the mountain that traditionally has been the spot where Jesus was tempted in the desert.

Via Dolorosa

We interrupt this tour through Galilee in honor of Good Friday. Here are some images of the Way of the Cross.

Somebody once quoted me something from one of the mystics, "Christ will be suffering until the end of the world." Walking through the banality of the place where Jesus carried his cross, this citation kept coming to my mind.



Here are my friends Rob and Matt posing right mear the plaque marking the 8th Station.

Just one more address on any old street anywhere...


This is one of the three remaining arches from the Fortress Antonia. There is one arch outside, and then this church was built around the two arches inside. It was here that Pilate cast judgment on Jesus. "Then Pilate said unto him, 'Do you hear how many things they are witnessing against you?'" (Mt. 27:13)

Here is a broader shot of the chapel.


Here is Rob in front of the outside arch which really marks the beginning of the Via Dolorosa.


Downstairs from the condemnation chapel they have excavated down to the first century floors. On the floors are markings where Roman soldiers had carved circles and shapes for dice games. It was probably here that Jesus was mocked and where the cross was placed on his shoulders.

Adjacent to the Fortress Antonia remains is another chapel, this one commemorating the flagellation of Jesus. (sorry, it was dark inside.)

Over the doors of the Chapel of the Flagellation...

This pillar is in the courtyard.

They do have a few chapels built into the walls along the Via Dolorosa. They are tiny little places of reflection usually just a few paces from a vendor selling tacky t-shirts and lamb kebobs. Here are some of the nicer ones at the third and fourth stations.

Capernaum

"And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is on the sea coast..." (Mt. 4:13)









Capernaum stands out as one of those wonderful places in the Holy Land in terms of its archeological rigor but also for its attention on the holiness of the site. As with most of the best maintained spots in the Holy Land, Capernaum is overseen by the Franciscans. Next time the Franciscans come asking for money for their Holy Land places, open your wallet. I have been repeatedly grateful to the quiet friars who are hovering around in the background praying and brooding over the streams of pilgrims.

They aren't afraid to be firm...


St. Peter looms largely over the whole experience of visiting the Sea of Galilee region. When you look out on the Sea, you keep thinking of Peter fishing there...of him being called with his brother Andrew.... of him walking on the water towards Jesus... and then of him being challenged, "Do you love me more than these?"



Peter's house is at Capernaum. "And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid sick with a fever. And he touched her hand and the fever left her; and she arose and waited on them." (Mt. 8)


"And when the evening came, they brought to him many... and he healed all that were sick." (Mt. 8:14-16)


There have been several churches through the ages built over the site of Peter's house. Here is the latest one.


In front of the altar inside, they have kept the floor all glass so that it looks right down into the house.


The day we were there, a large group of Korean pilgrims was in the church singing hymns. It was very touching because their faith resonated so strongly in their songs. No crappy "Gather Us In" from that bunch.

The Temple at Capernaum has been well-excavated. Of course, it figures largely in Jesus' preaching in the area.




"And thou, Capernaum, which has been exalted to heaven, you shall be brought down to hell..." (Mt. 11:23)



"...for if the works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day." (Mt. 11:23)