Flowers in the Negev

Flowers planted by our Interfaith pilgrims during our visit to the Hagar Association in Beer Sheva last spring.

Lauren Joseph, Development Director of the Hagar Association, tended the garden along side us.

A fine family photo

From right to left, Lauren, Shira and Saul Joseph hard at work at The Hagar Association school in Be'er Sheva where Lauren is the Director of Development.

Four children in Jerusalem

Another photo courtesy of Sheila Smith.

Four school children in Jerusalem.

The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.

Here is a photo from the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem courtesy of Sheila Smith.

The Garden Tomb, an Anglican site, is one of two sites in Jerusalem claiming to be the burial place of Jesus after his crucifixion. The other is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a Roman Catholic site in the old city.

Photos from Jordan II - Courtesy of Peg Bassion

Peg forwarded these awesome photos with minimal comment. I will provide the caption where I can.

A local girl in Petra.

Petra Treasury - camels and all.

Another view of the Treasury in Petra.

The end of the Souk in Petra, Jordan.

Another photo from Petra.

Peggy, Paul and Peg at Petra.

The Temple at Petra, Jordan.

Another shot from Petra.

The Treasury in Petra.

Photos from Jordan I - From Peggy Ulrich-Nims

A series of photos, with explanation, courtesy of Peggy Ulrich-Nims.

A giant hand at the Citadel. If the rest of the statue were in scale, the original would have been 30 feet high -- the hand of Hercules, perhaps?

 A classic Roman "cardo," this one in Jerash.  The cardo was the main street of any city built by the Romans.  We first saw one in Caesarea Phillipi near the northern border of Israel, and the old city of Jerusalem is another example we saw.  There would have been awnings for shops on either side, supported by the columns.

The great triumphal arch built for the Emperor Hadrian when he visited the area around 130 C.E.

One of the amphitheaters of Jerash, complete with bagpipes and drums.

The ancient Byzantine church in Madaba, just south of Amman, has the oldest floor map of the known world - done in around 400 C.E.

Here's a key to the ancient floor map.

Moses stood on Mt. Nebo in Jordan where he was permitted to see the Promised land but not to enter.  This key at the top of the mountain shows where to look to see the Promised Land.

Shira and Saul with the Promised Land behind them.

A sign left by Beduins providing directions or the like.  We added a few stones of our own -- hopefully they won't cause someone to go left instead of right.

As we approached the castle perched on the top of the mountain, we found that not everyone was excited to see the ruins...

... but we were!

This is a first view of the stunning Treasury at Petra, which appears suddenly at the end of the walk down the long, narrow "souk," a well-defended winding passage through a gorge between two steep cliffs.  The Treasury is actually an elaborate grave, presumable for royalty, and it is entirely carved out of the sandstone of the cliff behind it.  The columns, too, are carved, not constructed.  This technique is typical of almost all of the graves in Petra, of which thre are hundreds.

We started into the park soon after it opened at 8:00, some on foot, some in carriages that went the souk directly to the Treasury.  The walk took about 45 minutes - though we also paused for explanations from our guide.

The streaks of minerals running through the carved sandstone are one of the most remarkable aspects of the carved tombs of Petra.  

Crossing the border from Jordan to Israel  on Saturday 4 p.m. Why do they make us cross hundreds of yards of asphalt in the blazing sun?

Some scuba divers are more excited, some less.

Under water, everyone is gorgeous.

How would you like to be caught in the jaws do a shark?  Then again, Jonah managed to survive when he set off from Joppa so he wouldn't have to warn the citizens of Ninevah -- Israel's great enemies -- that God would destroy them unless they repented.  Of course, he encountered a great fish, not a whale -- and certainly not a shark!

The view from inside the Underwater Observatory in Eilat, a viewing platform some 50 feet below the surface of the Red Sea.  Here there are no tanks, no constraints on the fish, and a forest of live coral.  After building the observatory, the coral structures that had been damaged by the construction were repaired with a special glue and wire, and the coral came back to life.  The fish seem to like the observatotry, too.  Thousands swarm around all of the windows.

And here our adventure ends - we're taking of Monday at 6 am after a grueling five hour drive through the night from Eilat to Ben-Gurion Airport.

Thursday, May 3, 2012 - Jordon Day 1

Thursday, May 3, 2012 Today our little troupe of 17souls split up to go off in three directions.  Six of us returned to the States on a VERY early flight (as in, out of the hotel at 2a.m.). Three remained in Jerusalem for some quieter visits there and in Tel Aviv, and the rest of us headed across the Allenby Bridge to Jordan to continue our travels fora few ore days, this time on the east bank of the Jordon River with Petra as our ultimate destination.  After the usual formalities at the border, we said a affectionate goodby to our Israeli guide Amir and got on the our Jordanian minibus.   Our first stop Thursday was north of the crossing in the ancient ruins of Jerash (known to the Romans as Gerasa).  The city was among the Decapolis - the ten cities built by the Romans in and around ancient Palestine.  at the entrance, you first see an immense arch erected in honor of a visit by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in about 132 C.E.  The arch was built well outside the city gates because the leaders hoped the city would expand that far, though it never did.  Instead, there was a hippodrome where gladiators once wrestled, horses raced, and other games were held.  We passed on the opportunity to watch a re-creation of the ancient games, though we did have a chance to see some of the costumed actors as we left.  The city was ultimately destroyed and abandoned on 749 C.E.,when a great earthquake destroyed many ancient cities, churches & so on in Jordan.  There were also two amphitheaters, one of which featured a traditionally-dressed Arab playing a series of familiar tunes on a bagpipe accompanied by a drummer.  We were puzzled about when bagpipes might have been introduced in the area - by the British, no doubt. From Jerash we went to Amman, where we had the opportunity to drive through the city and see a number of neighborhoods, including one of the Palestinian refugee camps.  We the. Went up to the Citadel on the top of o e of the hills overlooking Amman.  This site was strategically located on a defensible hilltop and contained artifacts from as early as 2500 B.C.E.  the most impressive item was a giant hand, apparently from a statue.  If the hand was made in proportion to the rest of the body, the statue itself would have been 30 feet high - from which some archeologists suggested that it might have been an image of Hercules. We need our rather tiring day with dinner at the Chams Palace Hotel, where we were fortunate to be joined by James Bowker, a member of Second Parish and a student of Arabic at Tufts who has been studying Arabic in Jordan since January.  We found it very helpful to be able to talk to someone who's been living in the area and getting to know both the people and the realities of daily life and politics in this part of the world.  We peppered James with so many questions that we had to lay off abut so that he could finish his dinner.