The Crossing Into Israel

Sunday, June 9, 2011
by Bruce Stern

Dateline Amman:

Zaccheus' tree in Jericho

After a lovely breakfast we boarded the bus at 8 am to leave Amman. We were again entertained with jokes and local site information by Sami, our wonderful tour guide, on the way to the border. We sadly left Sami at the border as he was not allowed by Security arrangements to go any further. We will miss him and we wish him and his family great happiness and joy.

The Crossing
We took on a new tour guide, Raymond, at the Israeli border and we were also expertly shepherded through Customs by Ed Schneider. With everything we heard about Israeli Security I was immensely pleased that we passed through effortlessly and without incident, although there was a moment that I thought we would have to leave Liz as a sacrifice, but we were relieved that we did not. Maybe it's us but the border crossing was a piece of cake.

Jericho

Dot, Karen, and Missy fall into temptation

We continued on into Israel with our first stop at Jericho, the oldest known settlement in the Z. It was the first place where crops grown from seeds and animals were raised.  This meant the people of the period stopped being hunter-gatherers and became farmers. They could now live in a safe, secure society instead of travelling to find food. Additionally, they built a wall around their settlement to protect themselves from invaders. Despite their efforts their settlement was destroyed a number of times and new settlements or cities were built on top of the old creating a mound. Archaeologists discovered the layers of city upon city and excavated it to reveal the area's history. It should be noted that layers of ash, the remains of the destruction of the cities enabled the carbon dating of materials so we have an accurate timeline of events. Raymond turned out to be wealth of knowledge about early Jewish life and pre-history. Raymond's illuminating presentation drew some comparisons between biblical history and the history of the peoples who populated the land. Above Jericho is the mountain of Temptation where it is believed that Jesus was tempted by the devil. All in all, it was fascinating and it made you want to learn more about life during that period.

Raymond explains Qumran

Qumran

A Dead Sea Scroll Cave

Next stop, Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. According to Raymond the scrolls were discovered by a local shepherd tending his flock. He had come upon a cave, caves seem to be plentiful in the hillside, and he threw a stone into the cave striking a jar containing the scrolls. Frightened, he ran to get his friend who thought, not realizing their momentous discovery, that they could salvage the leather the scrolls were written on and possibly use them for shoes. The scrolls were ultimately sold to an antiques dealer who then got them into the right hands. It is the world's great fortune that the shoemaker realized the importance of the writing on the scrolls. He recognized that the writing was in Aramaic and that it could be of great importance. Amazingly only two books from the Old Testament were missing. It was practically a complete set of the old testament that was transcribed by the Essenes, a religious group that objected to the current religious practices. The Essenes earned their living by copying Bibles. The Essenes sought to live a purer, more holy life and ordered their society around it. They set up a system of living that included two ritual baths a day to purify themselves for the copying of the holy texts. Interestingly, archaeologists discovered that the ink they used was made from ashes and water and the scrolls were made from leather. The scrolls were placed in ceramic jars and stored in the cave. The Essenes were non-violent and upon hearing that the Roman army was approaching, which usually meant death or imprisonment, they stored their scrolls and escaped to Jordan where they were believed to have become part of the early Christian movement. We toured the carefully preserved excavations and it was a breath-taking experience to actually look back into time and see what they saw so many, many years ago. Mud bricks that were used to build their houses and structures were still there. And it is believed that more scrolls are still in undiscovered caves in the hillsides. Only the fact that the area is below sea level (about 800 feet below) along with the arid climate, were the only things that keeps the still undiscovered scrolls from being destroyed.

Impressions
The scenery of the area was magnificent. The vast Rift Valley stretches before your eyes between Jordan and Israel. The mountain range stood out a great backdrop.The Dead Sea was directly in front of us and through the years it has sadly decreased in depth and area - as much as 30 percent of its original size. It was very hot and I am personally amazed that anyone could live and prosper in this area. But still I must admit, green stretches of palm trees and crops are visible along the valley providing a stark contrast between the desert and the valley.

The Concert

St. George's Episcopal Cathedral

Today's concert was held at The Cathedral Church of St. George the Martyr in Jerusalem. It was a well attended Evensong service. The Choir performed excellently. The pieces performed were Lord, Our Dwelling Place, words and music by Eugene Butler, The Magnificat by John Ferguson, Open Thou Mine Eyes by John Rutter and Surely The Lord is In This Place by Herbert Colvin. Cal and Yvonne performed several pieces and performed them perfectly. We are constantly amazed at Cal's ability to adjust from one organ to another and Yvonne is a consummate professional always hitting the right notes. After the service and performances we were given a tour of the Cathedral and we learned, interestingly, that St. George for whom the Cathedral and College is named was originally a Palestinian. He was tortured for his Christian beliefs and eventually became the patron saint of England.The Cathedral grounds and buiding is like a slice of England in the Mid-east. The gardens surrounding the Cathedral and College were lovely. As the sun went down the temperature cooled and the walk back to our hotel was lovely. Dinner and good fellowship followed in the hotel restaurant that overlooked Jerusalem. Some of the Choir decided to go to the Old City because we were told that the Mayor of Jerusalem had created a light show that was dazzling.

To see a video from tonight, follow this link:
Magnificat at St. George Cathedral in Jerusalem, Israel.

On a personal note, my Blackberry worked in Israel and I had 192 e-mails....

Chancel Choir at St. George's