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Jerusalem 360 vista

An active vista taken from the top of the Mt of Olives

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Here us a new 360 degree active photo of Jerusalem starting at the top of the MT of Olives/

Mt of Olives (Hazaitim) Panoramic View – The Holy City Of Jerusalem

I will soon be back with new blogs.

Just back from a long holiday.

Thanks for your patience and support.

Joel

My Favorite Tours in Israel

By Joel Berman – JTours – Your tour guide in Israel – http://www.jtours.co.il 

Jerusalem – City of Gold

• Christian, Jewish, Muslim or of other faiths, there is no way to resist the majesty and beauty of this city.

• See Mount Moriah and the Dome of the Rock – where Abraham brought Isaac to be sacrificed; where the Holy of Holies of the Jewish Temple stood; where Jesus overturned the stalls of the merchants; where later the Prophet Muhammad stood before ascending to heaven.

• Walk up to the Western Wailing Wall and write your personal request.

• Walk along the Via Dolorosa, seeing some of the Stations of the Cross, to theChurch of the Holy Sepulcher where Jesus was crucified and buried.

• View the Old City from the heights of the Mount of Olives and spend a few moments of silence in the Church of the Garden of Gethsemane.

• Visit King David’s Tomb and the Room of the Last Supper.

• View the ancient steps which Jesus surely climbed to enter the Temple.

• Walk thru the alleys, feel the atmosphere and smell the aromas of the Arab markets.

The Mystical Galilee of the Jews

• Visit Sipphoris the capital of the Galilee after the destruction of the Second Temple, and home of the Rabbis who compiled and edited the Talmud and the Mishna. There you will see the beautiful mosaic floors, the ritual baths, the cardo and the ancient reservoir.

• Visit Safed, the Mystical City where the Kabbalah reached the peak of its influence, see the synagogues, the verandah where The “Ari” wrote prayers still used today to welcome the Sabbath, visit the graves of the holy people of yesterday. See the mountain view, visit the artist quarter and feel the atmosphere of an ancient and modern holy city.

• Visit Tiberius, built at the time of King Herod the Great, later the burial site of Jewish nobles, like Rabbi Moses Ben-Maimon. Visit the 2000 year old mosaic floor of the synagogue. See the mystical Mount Meron and the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus in the Galilee

• Visit the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth where the Angel Gabriel first appeared to Mother Mary. Travel thru the village of Cana and see the “Wedding” churches dedicated to His first miracle.

• Visit the churches on the sites that He preached – Mount of Beatitudes where He gave the Sermon of the Mount; Tabcha where He fed the multitudes on five loaves and two fish; Capernaum – the village of Jesus with its ancient synagogue and first “praying room”.

• Visit the traditional baptismal site at Yardenit.

• Travel thru the fields and by the Roman roads where He and his Disciples walked.

The nature of politics or the politics of nature – a day on the Golan Heights

• Visit Kibbutz Tel-Katsir, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and see how the members lived under the guns of the Syrians between 1948-1967.

• Ascend the Golan Heights to visit Peace Vista and see the view that the Syrian soldiers saw looking down from their emplacements.

• Tour the 55 by 24 kilometers (wide) plain and view its beautiful landscape, snow-covered mountain peaks, flowers, volcanoes, streams and waterfalls, reservoirs, villages, Roman Crusader era ruins and fortresses, agriculture, sheep and cattle, and other nature and geological sights.

• Visit the ancient town of Katserin and its museum. See and hear of the heroic stand and fall of the town of Gamla in 67 BC and of its rediscovery in 1967. See how the people lived during the Talmud era.

• Ascend to the viewpoint on top of the Mount Bental volcano (Tel Abu-Nida), an Israeli military position, overlooking the Syrian Golan heights. Learn about the military situation of the area, the strategic importance of the Heights, the disposition of the two armies and the history of the Syrian/Israel conflict.

• Visit Mount Keramim and see the Druze villages, the Hermon Mountain and the Ram Pool – a volcanic crater. Take tea with a local Druze artist and see his works, meet his family, see their house and hear his views of the situation.

7000 Years of History in One Day of Archaeology

• Visit Megiddo (Armageddon) and see more than twenty archaeological layers of successive human occupations that started here some 7000 years ago; Kings Solomon’s and Ahab’s stables, walls and gates, a hidden tunnel to the spring, a silo and many temples.

• Walk in the recently reconstructed center of the Jewish/Roman/Byzantine city of Beit-Shean and see the temples, the cardo, the fountain and pool, the theater, the amphitheater and the Roman baths.

• Climb the ramparts of the Crusader Fortress of Belvoir and enjoy the view. Travel thru the Jezreel valley where Gideon ambushed the Midianites, where the Judge Deborah brought havoc upon the mighty chariot army of Sisera and where King Saul and his son Jonathan lost their lives to the Philistines.

The Judean Plain – a day of awe and beauty

• Visit the Armored Corps Museum and Memorial site at Laterun. Climb the tanks and feel the might of the Israeli Army.

• Walk thru the Absalom stalagmite caves and see nature’s beautiful creations.

• Visit Beit-Guvrin and Maresha, an immense area full of Greek/Roman man-made caves used as reservoirs, olive presses, bath houses, burial caves and bell shape mines. See the amphitheater.

• Travel thru the Elah valley where the shepherd boy David slayed Goliath. See the Roman milestones on the ancient road to Jerusalem.

The “Dead Sea” – was it always?

• Descend to the 400 meter below-sea-level Dead Sea thru the Judean mountain desert.

• Visit Kumeran where 2000 years ago the “monks” of the Essene sect wrote and later hid the Dead Sea Scrolls.

• Visit Massada, a massive table mountain, that King Herod the Great used as his mountain retreat. See his palaces, baths, pools, synagogue, store rooms and fortifications. Hear how later the Sicarii zealots defied the Roman siege.

• In the afternoon relax at the beach and swim in the sea.

• On the way see the Inn of the Good Samaritan. Cross the plains of Jerico where Joshua marched, where Elijah ascended to Heaven in his fiery chariot and where John the Baptist roamed. View the magnificent wonders of the geological formations of the Dead Sea Rift Valley.

“From the cave of Elijah to the caves of Rosh-Hanikra” – the Western Galilee

• View the beautiful mountain and port city of Haifa. Spend a minute of solace in the cave where Elijah the Prophet hid from King Ahab. Visit the majestic Bahai Shrine and its hanging gardens.

• Tour the Crusader Fortress of The Knights of Saint John in Acre. See the White Mosque with its underground reservoir, the port of the Crusader trading fleets and modern fishing boats, the Ottoman Khan, the bath house, the secret escape tunnels.

• Take the cable car to the grottos at Rosh-Hanikra carved out by the massive force of the sea. Have your picture taken at the Lebanese Border gate. View the beautiful northern sea-coast of Israel.

Life in the desert – A day with the Bedouins

• Drive through the northern Negev Desert to a Bedouin tent camp near Dimona. Enjoy their hospitality and learn about their way of life, customs and adjustment to today’s society.

• Take a 2-hour trek on the back of a camel and see the mountain desert and nearby canyon.

• Later relax in a Bedouin tent and participate in the traditional “Hafla” – a Bedouin meal of “Mansaf”, pita bread, salads, soft drinks and coffee.

• In the afternoon visit the ancient, 2000 year old, ruins of the Nabathean town ofMamshit (Kornov) and see how the nomad tribe of camel train navigators adjusted to the then Roman urban society.

• If time permits (daylight) tour the Big Machtesh, a unique geological “crater” formation and see the wonders of the forces of nature.

The Donna Gracia House (and hotel) – Tiberius

by Joel Berman – your private tour guide in Israel – JTours – www.jtours.co.il 

During the years of the Inquisition in Spain (15-16 century AD), many Jews were forced to convert to Christianity, yet secretly maintained their Jewish faith, hoping to return to it when the situation improved. Most of these Jews (called Marranos or Conversos) became assimilated into the Spanish culture, but some Jews succeeded in escaping Spain and finding new homes where they could return to Judaism and follow their religion.

Dona Gracia (nee Beatrice De Luna, or Hana Nasi in Hebrew) was the daughter of a Jewish family. She fled the inquisition in Portugal, worked in Antwerp and then in Venice and finally settled in Constantinople.

By her thirties she grew to be a significant merchant, in fact, the richest woman in the 16th century world – mainly due to her marriage to Francisco Mendez-Nassi, member of one of the largest international trade and banking firms in the world.

With the blessing of the Turkish Sultan, Dona Gracia promoted and worked for the establishment of a Jewish state in Tiberius and the Sea of Galilee area. She built the walls of Tiberius, but her sudden death at the age of 59 brought an end to her remarkable Zionist initiative.

As wealthy as she was, so were her deeds filled with generosity, as she dedicated herself to saving her expelled and persecuted brethren. Donna Gracia is best remembered for her overwhelming generosity towards her fellow Jews, and her patronage of those who needed her wealth to escape from Spain and start their lives anew.

The Donna Gracia hotel, an old hotel, has been renovated to tell her story, as well as the story of the Jews who fled Spain during that period. The museum and public parts of the hotel are decorated and furnished according to the 16th Century style.

Apart from staying at the hotel it is possible to tour the museum, which is part of the hotel. On Saturdays and Jewish Holidays there are organized tours every 2 hours, in the middle of the week phone to reserve a tour. The tour takes about an hour – partly guided and partly a self-tour of the written and photographic display.

Hotel entrance

Hotel lobby and museum

The lounge

The “Venice” room

Donna Garcia

One of my tourists having fun all dressed up in 16th Century fashion

Black Arrow vista and monument

חץ שחור – התצפית והאנדרטה

by Joel Berman – your tour guide in Israel –  JTours – http://www.jtours.co.il

In the Western part on the Northern Negev desert, sitting on a hill overlooking part of the patrol road and surrounding the Gaza Strip – and with a beautiful view over the Northern Gaza neighborhoods – the  Black Arrows memorial site is both an interesting memorial and a great vista spot. See the map

The immense size of the site and the number of soldiers and civilians memorialized in the groups of large white rocks placed around the site reminds you some of the heavy Israeli losses incurred in military and terrorist action over a three-year period in the 1950s.

The Black Arrow Association was founded by a group of veteran paratroopers who served during that dramatic period of reprisal actions. The Association set out to create a military heritage site to preserve the memory of comrades killed in battle, many of whom having died a short distance from the site and is a salute to their bravery.

The site is dedicated to the military heritage of the paratroopers during “the period of reprisals”.  From the end of the 1948 War of Independence to the outbreak of the Sinai campaign in 1956 hundreds of Israelis were killed and more than one thousand wounded in terrorist attacks inside the State of Israel.

Since the beginning of the 1950s, groups of soldiers from neighboring countries and armed Arab terrorists known as “Fedayoun”, spread fear, death and destruction, mainly in the border villages, many of them new immigrants having just recently felt the brunt of the Nazi’s and the Anti-Jewish persecution in North Africa..

Reprisal actions were planned by the Israel Defense Forces. In the early 1950″s, Israeli forces, mainly from Unit 101, carried out 70 commando attacks against Gaza and the Jordanians-in the West Bank in retaliation for the acts of theft and murder carried out by the Fedayoun.

Unit 101 was created in the summer of 1953 and those who served in the unit were revered. Their most famous of  warriors and their commander  was Major  Ariel Sharon – later a most famous General, M.P., Minister and Head of State.

On each of the large rocks a plaque gives details of each of those raids. Explanations provided  in Hebrew and English.

Nearby is another monument dedicated to Colonel Nab’i Meri – a Israeli deputy-commander of the Gaza Strip who fell in battle in 1996.

 

The history of the site

A stone dedicated to the founding Commander – Ariel Sharon

A map of the commando raids

The roll-call of the dead

The first operation

The view looking west at Gaza

Soldiers from a patrol along the border taking a break

The topography of Israel

by Joel Berman – your tour guide in Israel – JTours  – http://www.jtours.co.il/

Holy-Land chronology

by Joel Berman – your private tour guide in Israel – JTours – www.jtours.co.il

Here is a table that will help you place the different periods in their correct sequence:

Yunes – the best Arab restaurant in Israel

by Joel Berman – your private tour guide in Israel – JTours –  http://www.jtours.co.il/

I am totally biased on this restaurant. I first started eating there around 1965 when they were still in Old Jaffa and can’t wean myself from their great food.

To be politically correct I should say  Mediteranian restaurant but that includes too many countries. Arab restaurant means good food.

Today their main establishment is in the north near Tiberius and they have a couple of  smaller subsidiaries north of Tel Aviv. The first restaurant was opened by the two brothers and now  all their establishments are run by their 6 sons. My good friends – Sabri, Muhammad and Achmad run the northern and main branch. In their restaurant all the chefs, waiters and bus-boys are from the family who come from the adjacent  village called Turan. On the weekend and during school holidays you can see the family teenagers doing their apprenticeship as busboys or assisting the chefs.

Their secret is the now 80 year old Mrs Yunes’s home-recipes and the so-very-fresh ingredients. As an Arab restaurant they excel in their hospitality and service. 

Also – look around at the other customers – most of them will be local Arabs  – that means authentic.

What to order:

• Start with an assortment of small plates (mezets) of very fresh salads including hummus, tahini, falafel, tabulli, Turkish salad  and Kubbeh (meat-filled chick peas). They are for  all the party and should be shared. If you are a big enough party you will get up to 25 plates of goodies. Except for the olive oil and the different types of pita bread – nothing is fattening. The plates are refilled as soon as you empty them so if you especially likes some of the dishes you can refill over and over again.

• As the main course you can choose from lamb, beef and chicken shish-kebabs, grilled sea or fresh-water fish, lamb chops (my favourite), Sinia (lamb cooked in tahini or tomatoes) and many other dishes. The dishes are served with fries or my favourite Migadra (rice with black lentils).

• The desert is fantastic. First they move you to a clean table (the Diwan – as in lounge) and then you get tea or coffee, baklava, fresh fruit, dates and Malabi with rose-petal sauce. This is Arab hospitality and included in the price of the meal.

• Drinks – they are Muslim so no alcohol is served. My favourite is their freshly made lemon juice with Nana (mint).

• My advice – go easy on the amount of pita bread you eat with the starters otherwise you will never get to the main course.

• If you just want a snack you can order just the first course. I often go there just for hummus and salads.

• Allow at least 90 minutes for the meal.

I take all my tourists there when we are in the north and my family and most of my friends are all frequent visitors. It is like home for me. You can also have a “Hafflah” there – a traditional Arab feast. I have even had a few Bar-mitzvah lunches there over the years.

Kosher? No – Halal, but you can enjoy all their wonderful salads and have fish as the entree. All Muslim restaurants have Halal meat – so no problem with there being pork.

The restaurant seats 270 inside  and over 400 including the cool verandas. No reservations needed.

Prices – you will be more than pleasantly surprised.

They are open every day between 7 AM until midnight (Yes – hummus for breakfast!!). Friday afternoon and evening, Saturday lunch and dinner, and all holidays are the busy times and you might have to wait in line for 30-40 minutes.

How to get there – the restaurant is 10-15 minutes west of Tiberius, on route 77 – a kilometer west of the Golani junction – routes 77/65 – at a gas station on the north side of the road. If you are coming from the west turn left at the traffic light to the quarry,  just before the restaurant, and immediately right onto a small access road to the as station (If you miss the turning go to Golani junction and do a U-turn). Plenty of parking.

Baking the pita bread in the Tabun

The mezets

Yummy lamb chops

My good friend and favourite waiter – Abusalech inviting us to the Diwan for desert

With friends after a great day of touring

With tourists

How can you tell that you are on a Tel

by Joel Berman – your tour guide in Israel –  JTours  – www.jtours.co.il 

A TEL (also spelled Tell) is a hill created by different civilizations living and rebuilding in the same spot. Over time, the level rises, forming a mound. Excavating a tell reveals buried structures such as government or military buildings, religious shrines and homes, located at different depths depending on their date of use. They often overlap, horizontally, vertically, or both. Archaeologists excavate tell sites to interpret architecture, purpose, and date of occupation. Since excavating a tell is a destructive process, physicists and geophysicists have developed non-destructive methods of mapping tell sites. (Archaeology  in Wikipedia)

In Israel there are many tells.

The main reason for that is the geographical location of Israel in ancient times – in the middle of a large geographical arc called the “Fertile Crescent” (Israel, Lebanon and Syria of today).

This area, situated between the two large empires of the time – Egypt in the south-west and the Euphrates river Empires in the north-east (Babylon/Persia/Ur/Akkad/Elam/Sumer), was continually caught-up between these Empires’ conflicts.

The city or kingdom rulers owed allegiance to the various empires and if they rebelled they were immediately conquered and their cities laid to ruins.

Some years later the conquering ruler would decide to build a new city on the same location.

Not having the mechanical equipment we have today his builders would straighten out the ruins and on a slightly higher level, above the remains of the earlier city, build a new city – ever-so-often with the same name.

No other land in the whole world was conquered and rebuilt as many times as the Middle East. A half a dozen layers of occupation is usual.

Standing at the Western Wailing Wall on the today’s level of the road, you have to go down some 50 feet to get to the street level of the Second Temple period some 2000 years ago. Take the Tunnel tour to see for yourself.

Megiddo, or as you may call it Armageddon, is the most extensively explored tel. The first excavations were started by Schumacher at the beginning of the 20th century and they are still going on today. At the site they have found 24-26 layers of civilization; yes!! conquered and rebuilt 24-26 times between 7000 BC until 586 BC – some 6500 years of occupation. When touring this city, even you, the non-professional archaeologist, can see with your own eyes 10-12 different vertical layers and almost a dozen different praying altars from various periods. The side of the mountain that Schumacher excavated looks like the side of a slice of multilayered chocolate cake – each layer representing a different period of time.

The archaeologists dig up (or thru) the layers and find evidence of the previous civilizations – coins, tools, letter seals (called bullas), pottery, inscriptions, historical evidence (like burnt houses), architectural and structural designs and more.

If you are lucky and find an inscription saying something like “Zorro was here” (just my joke). This will give proof to the existing historical writings or traditions that we have all heard about.

The vertical strata in a Tel

Details of a Tell

An archaeologists vertical sketch/map of  city walls at different levels of occupation at Tel Gezer and Tel Shechem

(Thanks to the Archaeology Department of the Hebrew University – Jerusalem)

Tel Beit-Shean in the north – aerial view (Israelite, Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods)

(Photo from Kadmoniot 107) (1 Samuel 31 / 1 Kings 4:12)

Tel Sartaba (Alexandrium) – aerial view (in the eastern Jordan Valley) First Century BC fortress

(Photo by the great aerial observer – Amnon Ziv)

Tel Arad  – South East

(Aerial Photo by Amnov Ziv) (Numbers 21:1)

Tel Gerar  – South-West

“And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar” (Gen 20;1)

Tel Tsafit – the ancient Philistine city of Gath

( I Kings 2:39–2:40  /  II Kings 12:18)

Belvoir Crusader Fortress on the Jordan Valley

(Aerial photo by Amnon Ziv)