We’ve had the big Lag Ba’Omer bonfire night on Friday, which was a huge success. About 50 people all in all (well, half of them were kids), lots of food and conversation. My feet were killing me by the end of the evening though – I don’t think I had a minute rest through out.
We had a very special guest with us, David, an American pastor that I met during the Naqba seminar in Givat Haviva. I have this terrible habit (shared by my husband and my in-laws) to invite people over. We just love interacting with people from other countries. Strange, I find that it teaches me not just about other places, but about my own country as well. Somehow, the new perspectives add so much.
So, following an intensive evening by the bonfire on Friday night, we got up not too late the next morning, cleaned around and after a hearty Israeli breakfast (large vegetable salad, eggs, low-fat cheeses and chala bread), we set out north. David had already spent time in Jerusalem, Haifa, Nazareth and the West Bank, but this would have been his only chance at seeing the “far” north of Israel, i.e. the Golan Heights. Funnily, he will probably be in Israel again in the future, but since we’re not sure the Golan Heights will be in Israel in the future… this seemed like a good enough reason to go take a look. Additionally, it’s cherry season and we got a phone call from y brother-in-law, Uri, who lives in a kibbutz up there, that we simply must come and get our share of the cherries this very weekend.
So, off we went for a packed day. We started with a stop in Megido – the Biblical Armageddon – just to take a glance at the stables of the four riders of the apocalypse. The hill of Megido is excavated and has a nice visitors center with an interactive display that explains about the history of the place. Other than the interesting Christian Doomsday connotation, this is also the most ancient excavated human settlement in the world, or so they say, going back 9000 years. Layer upon layer of human settlement, with some pretty interesting structures, if you’re into archeology, that is.
Next, we headed towards the Sea of Galilee and specifically to the site where Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River (according to the Israeli version – I understand that the Palestinians have their own site for the same occasion). I have been there before, but this visit turned out to be extra special, since there was a baptismal service in progress and I had the privilege of getting some insights from our guest about what they were doing and the meaning of various elements in the service. A plastic bottle filled with holy water from the Jordan later, we moved on to the Golan Heights.
We had a great time there, thanks to my brother-in-law and his wife, Uri and Sarit, our gracious hosts in every visit to the Golan. The kibbutz was as peaceful as always, and we spent a nice time just sitting there, on their lawn, cracking pine nuts from the trees and talking, learning some new things about Christianity and the Church, something that your run-of-the-mill Israeli (that’s us!) doesn’t get to learn about at school, or anywhere else for that matter.
I think I pretty much covered the actual events. Not the conversations, many of which were thought provoking on many levels. David proved to be a wonderful partner for conversation on pretty much any topic – and I am still working out some things in my head too. I’ll keep the conversations private, mostly, but I know that a new layer of fresh insights has been seeded in my mind over the weekend.
Here are some pictures from our weekend – click on the image for a larger version with some text and then click again for the full version if you want.
