We were joined by five other people; a couple from New Jersy who had immigrated from Muldovia about 15 years ago. The wife, 
Faina, of the couple was of Jewish birth, but had very little experience with Jewish culture and history. The husband, Simon Vonberg,is a Micro-biologist; A mother and daughter from South Africa, the daughter, perhaps our age named Linda du Plessis and the mother Mary du Plesis ; rounding out the group was Joe Hanania, a Jew born in Iraq immigrated to the US when he was 4 is q reporter for the New York Times and was researching a book that he is writing about a WW II holocost rescuer.
So the seven of us headed out in a Chevy Van to See northern Israel. We traveled north along the coast to Haifa, which is actually on Mt. Carmel over looking the Mediterranian Sea. Elisha would never have recognized the place. What we saw at Haifa was a really great view over a modern harbor and a spectacular garden constructed around the Bahi Temple. These guys are great gardeners but have a pretty lousy theology.
Faina, of the couple was of Jewish birth, but had very little experience with Jewish culture and history. The husband, Simon Vonberg,is a Micro-biologist; A mother and daughter from South Africa, the daughter, perhaps our age named Linda du Plessis and the mother Mary du Plesis ; rounding out the group was Joe Hanania, a Jew born in Iraq immigrated to the US when he was 4 is q reporter for the New York Times and was researching a book that he is writing about a WW II holocost rescuer.
So the seven of us headed out in a Chevy Van to See northern Israel. We traveled north along the coast to Haifa, which is actually on Mt. Carmel over looking the Mediterranian Sea. Elisha would never have recognized the place. What we saw at Haifa was a really great view over a modern harbor and a spectacular garden constructed around the Bahi Temple. These guys are great gardeners but have a pretty lousy theology.
After Haifa we headed furhter up the coast to the extreme northwest corner of the country at the border with Lebanon. The limestone rock permeated with black flint has been erroded by the waves creating some interesting caves where the water continues to rush in and crash into the back of the cave creating a colorful show. Currently the only way to access the caves is by cable car In the same general area the british in the early 1930's carved a tunnel through the edge of the cliffs to make way for a rail line that would link Egypt with Europe. The British suspected that they would need this route to transport materials and troops. 
The tunnel has subsequently been closed by the Lebanese and other is a heavily made check point in the area now.
The tunnel has subsequently been closed by the Lebanese and other is a heavily made check point in the area now.
Next we headed east along the northern border of Israel and Lebanon, passed the Sea of Galilee to the Golan Heights. We went up on a fairly high mountain (Mt. Kofee) overlooking the Syrian border. This whole area was involved in the '67 war and was under Syrian control. The Israelis were able to capture the mountain and about 15 miles to the north. At the top of the mountain there were remnants of machine gun emplacements tunnels and bunkers through which we were able walk. From the top of the mountain we could see the valleys between this high vantage point and the new borders of Lebanon and Syria. Also in the distance we could see Mt. Herman. After a cup of coffee from the restaurant we headed over to the Kibbutz. 
We went by one of the three sources of the Jordan. This site is suggested as the location where Jesus questioned the disciples about who the people thought he was and who they thought he was and Peter replied that he is the Son of God and Jesus declared that on that rock the Church would be built.
A kibbutz is a commune like community typically with housing farm land, with orchards, vineyards, gardens live stock and usually some small industry and a hotel where the members of the commune can earn money. There are several of these communities in Israel which in the early days of Israel’s recent history were settlements in areas where there was very little support from the government and were pretty much frontier living. The kibbutz where we stayed, Kefar Giladi, is on a small point of land that protrudes in between the borders of Lebanon and Syria. From our room at the hotel we could look at settlements in Lebanon to the northwest and Syria to the northeast. A point of interest also visible from the hotel room was a bunker with a base for mounting a machine gun in case the area came under attack and needed to be defended
We had a nice buffet meal in common dining room and then Karen and I went on a long walk to work off the calories. I also went for a short run to record a route on the GPS watch that will be able to show some of the elevation in the area. Did I mention that there are lots of hills in the this part of the country.
