Israel and the Holy Land

I have been to Israel twice before and I am planning another trip there this year. Both of the previous trips have been work related and the upcoming trip will also be a work related trip. Israel is an amazing place and is steeped in history. It can be a bit daunting travelling to Israel as there has been, currently is and always will be, a high level of unrest in the region. It is still an amazing place and well worth the visit. Both my previous trips were before digital cameras and my photos are on slides. So the photos are, once again, in this post, not my own.

The Israeli military is permanently on standby. It is not uncommon to see people on the streets and beaches with their rifles. Seeing a beautiful girl on the beach, without her top on but a rifle slung over her shoulder is strangely appealing!

The land is just full of historical sites from the Bible. Close to Tel Aviv is the old city of Jaffa. A magnificent old city and a good place to find something nice to eat. Along the shoreline, there is a statute of a whale and that was the place that Jona was spat out of the whale.

Old city of Jaffa

Jaffa

The first trip was quite some time ago when my ex-wife needed to visit the vaccine factory in Israel. The first thing you notice is the very, very tight security when you try to get onto an El Al (Israeli airline) flight to Israel. On my second trip, I got a letter in Hebrew and once I showed this to the security, I just went through security.

Once in Israel, there is a strange mix of people.  There is the very Orthodox religious Jews and then a large group of people form many different parts of the world. If you look at the history of the country, soon after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the state of Israel was destroyed by the Romans and the Jewish people were scattered to all parts of the world. Then in the 2nd world war, Hitler and the Nazi tried everything possible to exterminate the Jewish nation and many millions were murderd. Shortly after the war in 1948, the Jews reclaimed their land from the Arabs who had moved in,  and the current State of Israel was re borne. The Arabs and particularly the Palestinians did not take too kindly to Israel being re-established and this fight is still ongoing.

On the first trip, I did get to see Jerusalem with all of the sites and also Bethlehem and the site of the birth of Christ. One thing that struck me when we went to Bethlehem, the Israeli troops in the area where fully ready for war. Heavily armed and many had grenades attached to their flack jackets as well. It is a land in a constant state of unrest.

On my second trip, I was invited to assist with a problem on some chicken farmers, again by the same vaccine company as the first visit, now called Phibro. This trip included some travel to various poultry farms. One of the farms was close to the Syrian boarder. In fact you were looking into Syria from the farm. While driving to the farm, the Israeli guys in the car said that if I see an incoming rocket, to please let them know. They were not joking, but the casual way in which they said it showed that they were pretty used to that lifestyle. Luckily no incoming rockets on that trip.

We also went past the "Sea" of Galilee which is mentioned very often in the bible. It is a really small lake, but very interesting to see.

One the way back to the head office of the vaccine company, we passed a small dry river bed. One of the guys casually told me that this was the sight where David had killed Goliath! Interesting land.

Of course, there are all the religious sites in Jerusalem. Holy sites from three very different religions are found in Jerusalem. There are all of the Christian sights, then there is what is left of the Jewish Temple and then the Muslim Dome of the Rock mosque, which has been built right on top of the Old Temple. The Christian sites are normally quite full of believers following the path of the Via Delarosa, which is believed to be the path that Jesus carried the cross. Then you get to the site where Christ was crucified. Then it becomes a bit of a circus. There is a stone where Christ was laid after the Crucifixion. There are people kissing the stone and crying. It is a stone! it is not the body of Christ, who has risen anyway! Even if this was the exact place where Jesus lay, it is just a stone. There is speculation about all of the sites. They were identified some three hundred years after the time of Christ by the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine.   Historically very interesting to see, but these are just historical sites where the Bible stories could have happened.

Church of the Holy Sepical

Stone in the church

Via Delarosa

One of the most interesting experience I have had on any travels was at the wall of the temple.   It was the day before the Israeli day of Independence. There I was standing looking at the wall of the ancient temple. Suddenly two F16 Jet Fighters flew low over Jerusalem and when they got to the temple, the went vertical and climbed into the sky. The roar of these might fighter jets and the contrast with the ancient temple wall, just gave me goose bumps all over. The contrast between the ancient and the modern. Very interesting

I also stayed in Ceasarea  where the ruins of Herod's palace can be found. Very interesting ruined palace. Well worth a visit.

Old Aquaduct