Shalom #6

Early Sunday morning, September 21, (our Sabbath in Israel is on Saturday), we boarded our 2 buses with 81 students, 4 professors and wives, 1 security personnel and his wife and Doctor Dad & I for an 8 day trip to Egypt. This is one of the highlights of the semester in Jerusalem for the students. Much planning and preparation by the faculty goes into an excursion such as this. Dad also spent much time preparing for the trip. During a planning session, he dressed as a tourist--hat, flashing his camera, sunscreen (not rubbed in all the way) as he talked about the importance of eating and drinking safely along with other hazards while traveling in third world countries. He had selected 4 students who had some medical background--2 guys and 2 girls--to be a part of his medical team. They were called the 'Bus Docs'. With his supervision and in anticipation of any type of problem, they prepared medical bags which included medicines, bandages, wraps, etc. for each bus, even a suture kit. Each bus had their team of 2 medical personnel--a guy and a girl. Their responsibility was to carry with them at all times a medical bag in case there was an emergency on any part of the tour and of course to give reports to Dr. Allen. He was available at a moments notice on any issue. The great news is that we had no major injuries, illnesses, or accidents--which is a testimony of prayers offered each morning before we started our day. The Old Testament is the religion class they are taking the first part of the term. The sites chosen to visit are part of what they are studying.
Our first stop was Beersheba. It's on the northern fringe of Israel's Negev desert. The first historical reference to Beersheba is found in Genesis 21, where Abraham is credited with giving the site its name. Abraham had dug a well ...(which by the way a team of archaeologist actually discovered) which was 200 ft deep.

Water was so important to these desert people. These steps took us down to a large Cistern for water storage.
Behind me is the Wilderness of Zin. Seeing this wilderness underscores the harsh reality of Israel's 40 years in the wilderness. I can understand the murmurings of the children of Israel to Moses after seeing this area. The Lord was so merciful and kind to provide a cloud by day and fire by night. The temperatures easily reach the 120 in the summer. No shade of any kind, anywhere. What a desolate place. Behind me off in the distance is what they call a Wadi - which means a dry river bed. You can see areas all throughout the landscape around Jerusalem where the term Wadi is used to name a location or town.
Avdat is a city founded in 3rd century BC. It was a stopping point along the incense and spices route originating in the Arabian Peninsula and the Far East to a Mediterranean port where these precious items would be shipped to the European continent.
We decided this was the original McDonald arches...dating 1200 B.C.
Guys, look what we found....yes these are beautiful Ibex. Look how tame they were.
This fellow was relaxing in the shade and allowed us to get a close picture of him. This is a state park and the area which had the overlook of the Zin Wilderness where Moses travelled with the children of Israel for 40 years. They didn't have the shade like this guy did!
These Ibex were all over this lookout area.

Another look at the wilderness area. Aren't you thirsty?

This was the graves of David Ben Gurion...the first Prime Minister of Israel and his wife. Israel became a state on May 14, 1948. These are how they bury their dead....above ground. They do NOT embalm the body which is why they must bury their dead within 24 hours. There is a small hole in the top side of the vault which lets in the air to help quicken the decomposition of the body. I am putting ROCKS on the tomb as a sign of respect. Because the flowers are scarce in the desert this is their tradition. Hey it's cheap and they don't wilt in the sun!

It was late in the afternoon when we arrived at Kibbutz Yotavata. We had a bus tour of the Kibbutz and learned much about the philosophy surrounding their beginnings and existence. Kibbutz' started in the early 1900's as a socialist ideology. It is a voluntary socialist organization set up for equality and unity. There is no private ownership of anything...all things are owned by the community. This particular one started in the late 1950's. It is a totally self-sufficient community raising all their food, dairy, etc. Being religious is not a prerequisite for being a member of one. Although most are of Jewish heritage, they are not Orthodox. All adults help with the cause and the children including newborns, are put into daycare or school, while the parents work. There is basically no family life as we understand it. There is no one specific job to do. One day a person might milk cows and the next day he would dig ditches for the water line and the next day work as a cook in the central kitchen. The gentleman who gave us a tour had been in this Kibbutz since he was a young man. He and his wife raised 3 children there but their children when older moved out and have moved on to another way of life. He said that new ways have changed the Kibbutz and not many young people choose to stay. The main industry of this one is their Dairy. After dinner and great ice cream, we boarded our buses for Kibbutz Eliot which is at the border of Israel and Egypt. This particular Kibbutz specializes as a hotel and restaurant. It was a long day, but seeing the Bible come alive as we visited these ancient sites was amazing.