Milk & Honey & Torah & Harvest

My family’s been in Israel long enough that I don’t remember a time when we weren’t wandering the trails through old crusader buildings, vineyards and olive groves, passing bus stops throughout our small motherland, feeling the sun on our skin and running into the Mediterranean, and subsisting on the produce of the land.

Pomegranates in Tzippori

Turkish coffee in Yafo

We arrived the beginning of May and spent the first few days in Tel Aviv. We enjoyed seeing friends, going to the beach and swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, walking along the port and wandering to Rothschild Boulevard, visiting Tel Afek, finding a lunch spot in Petach Tikva, and going to Haifa for the day, including the beach.

Upon the Simons’ arrival at Ben Gurion

Sarah at Aroma in Tel Aviv

Sarah taking pictures at Tel Afek

Sisters at the Yafo Port

After these first days in Tel Aviv, we left on a two-week tour of the country. Before leaving Tel Aviv, we saw the Palmach Museum (our first time) and Independence Hall. We stayed in a hotel on the beach and enjoyed walking along the boardwalk area that night. The volleyball players, walkers, runners, and bikers mixed with people at clubs and restaurants along the shore. We began by seeing the Shephelah, southern and Dead Sea sites, staying in a “Bedouin” camp and kibbutz. Besides the archaeological sites in these areas, we also stopped at Sede Boqer (home of the Ben Gurions) and hiked in the Tzin Canyon. I finally saw Avdat, satisfying after studying the Nabateans for a couple years.

Tel Gat(h)

 My dad at Avdat

My dad wandering around Masada

The Ein Gedi synagogue

 Reflections at the Palmach Museum

My mom’s first time in Independence Hall!

 The Canyon of Tzin

 Caves of Qumran

Kibbutz Almog on the Dead Sea

On our way to the Galilee region, we stopped to see Shiloh – a first for my family. The video at the site was fun (I like some of the kitschy site introductions!). We stayed three nights in a magnificent hotel on the beach in Tiberias; the view across the water was beautiful each morning. My sister stayed with us the three nights in Tiberias, which made our time even more fun! We saw many sites around the Galilee, including Katzrin, always a favorite of mine. I showed a couple people the overlook at the bottom of the trail to Nimrod from Banias, and had fun seeing our dig sites at Dan for the first time since our dig. I worked on a paper in the synagogue at Tzippori and enjoyed singing a few nigguns with my sister as we took a boat ride across the Galilee.

Sarah at Kfar Nachum

Our favorite night of the time touring was our second night in Tiberias. We met a friend from New York who was staying in a nearby hotel. After a short walk around the city to see Maimonides’ grave, we wandered down to the sea – or should I say lake – shore. After walking a couple blocks, we heard music and looked over to see several people in an Israeli dancing circle. We quickly found our way into the group and danced for a while!

After the Galilee region, we made our way to Jerusalem for five days. During our time there, I was able to see many friends who live there and some with whom we overlapped travel schedules. We enjoyed many favorites: Herodium, the Jewish Quarter shops (including the Fifth Quarter and Shorashim’s), the Tunnel Tour, Yad Vashem and the Israel Museum, Tachanah Rishonah (including a Yom Yerushalayim concert!), an art gallery and talk, and a couple nights on the roof of our hotel drinking and talking with friends while taking in the view.

Among the Judean Hills

Part of an art installation on the ceiling of the Tachanah Rishonah

Israel’s 70th at Shiloh

 Yom Yerushalayim concert at the Tachanah Rishonah

 Inside the Hurva Synagogue

 St. Peter of Gallicantus (or Galactica, as I like to call it!)

We bid farewell to the tour group after Jerusalem and took the train to Haifa. My mom and I relaxed the first afternoon while my dad and sister took the Haifa Trail with a couple friends. The next day was Shavuot. We enjoyed cheesecake and ice cream at a cafe overlooking the Haifa port near the Promenade. While in Haifa, we had our own routine of leisurely Israeli breakfasts, doing some work and reading, walking to the Promenade… We saw Beit HaGefen with one of Sarah’s roommates and did some shopping. We went to Tel Aviv University and saw the Diaspora Museum (Museum of the Jewish People). The Jews and Comedy exhibit was hilarious and fun, and their Jewish life and tradition exhibition boasted models of synagogues and excellent videos. My dad went with Sarah to Beit She’arim while I took my mom to the airport (I was jealous!), but then I spent the day in Tel Aviv with a friend.

 Sarah in front of the Haifa Port at the Louis Promenade

 My mom and I in Haifa

Sarah’s porch view!

Jewish Humor exhibit at the Diaspora Museum

The end of the week we packed our bags and took the train to the airport to meet the group coming in to dig at Tel Gezer and Tel Hadid. We came to Neve Shalom, our kibbutz where we stay during the dig. We wandered the area and swam that weekend, then began digging Sunday. For two days, we worked in the tunnel area of Gezer. The last three digging days of the week, we went to Tzippori to work on the Arches Reservoir. We stayed in Nazareth during this excavation. We explored the area near Neve Shalom with a rental car the next weekend, seeing the Tank Museum at Latrun (Yad LaShiryon) and Ayalon (JNF Canada) Park.

 Sarah at Tel Gezer

 Digging the Arches Reservoir at Tzippori

 Dad LaShiryon – Laturn Armored Forces Memorial

Latrun Trappist Monastery

Last Saturday we picked up friends from HUC at the airport and went to Haifa. We swam and enjoyed the beach, ate schwarma at the Promenade with Sarah’s friends, and stayed in a nice hostel near the port. Sunday I drove Sarah to Megiddo to leave some bags with a colleague, ate breakfast with friends, and drove back to meet the rest of the HUC group.

 Haifa night views from the Promenade

HUC friends at the Tachanah Rishonah

My family went to Jerusalem for three days. We shopped and hung out on Jaffa and Ben Yehuda Streets, ran some errands and saw new neighborhoods, and went to take in the view from Mt. Scopus and explore Hebrew University. We took my HUC friends out for dinner and gelato at the Tachanah Rishonah. While we planned to stay in Jerusalem one more day, we were invited back to Neve Shalom early to dig at Tzippori Thursday. We decided to make our way back to the area via the old train from Jerusalem to Beit Shemesh. The winding trail was slow – the perfect pace to see the hills out of Jerusalem into the Sorek valley as we wound by the river.

 Sarah on the train from Jerusalem to Beit Shemesh

The Sorek River and Valley

In Tzippori, we were lucky to get to the bottom of the areas in which we were digging, and we were excited to see the raw discoveries. As more time is spent analyzing the site and what was found, we will be excited to see what happened in various time periods in the Arches Reservoir. This weekend we swam, worked, and walked to Latrun Junction and the Latrun Monastery (where we bought wine from their vineyards!) from the kibbutz.

Finished dig at the Arches Reservoir

Next week is the last week digging at Tel Gezer and Tel Hadid, then we will continue to Tel Dan to dig with HUC.