We had to get to Matan very early today because our tour bus was departing at 7:30am. As I walked along, I discovered some biblical Hebrew graffiti- this says בעל זבוב, also known as Beelzebub, also known as Lord of the Flies. Apparently it’s also a band, so maybe that’s why this individual felt compelled to deface the sign.
As I wound my way through the streets of Jerusalem, avoiding feral cats (cats are as prevalent here as squirrels in Chicago), I heard someone say Ben Zonah. Since I only ever heard that curse in Fauda, I was amused to discover it’s real and language people actually use.
We boarded the tour bus and began our journey to our first destination, Har Kevitzah, also known as Mount Precipice.
We went to this mountain so that we could look out at Har Tavor and the Yizrael Valley. Mount Tavor is important for a number of reasons, especially when it come to the story of Deborah in the Book of Judges. Rabbanit Shani Taragin, our tour guide, provided us with a great deal of background information about the history and circumstances that were relevant to the Book of Judges.
I asked Shani to suggest resources she thought Tanakh teachers should use or be aware of. Here’s what she recommended:
Da’at Mikra
Olam HaTanakh (but this is from a totally secular perspective so teachers should bear that in mind when using it for preparation/ teaching purposes)
The Raging Torrent by Mordechai Cogan
Traveling with the Bible by Galia Doron
(And then, for people like me who love love stories, she said to read The Source by James Mischner.)
Of all of these, I was most interested in purchasing Traveling with the Bible in English but a friend checked and said the Jerusalem Steimatzky doesn’t have it. This is unfortunate.
After Mount Tavor, we went to Harod Spring. This is the site of the shofet Gideon’s famous dog-lapping test. It was located within a beautiful national park (and I am sure many families love to visit there!)
Shani believes in biblical reenactments, so she asked members of our group to get down and demonstrate cupping the water in their hands as opposed to lapping it like a dog. She correctly noted that after watching this demonstration, none of us were likely to forget the experience or the images.
We then went to Tel Yizrael and Katef Shaul (which is the specific mountain of the Mt Gilboa series of mountains that is named for Shaul). From Tel Yizrael we looked down at Emek Yizrael, a lush and fertile land. Shani says that most fruits in Israel are still grown in Emek Yizrael.
Shani explained that Tel Yizrael and Shomron were the same thing, which meant we were standing on the mountain where Ahab and Jezebel had their palace. Due to this, we were able to look down and see Kerem Navot, the vineyard that belonged to Navot and that Ahab had wanted.
We then came to Har Gilboa- or more accurately, Harei Gilboa. Apparently Gilboa is a series of mountains, so it’s unclear exactly which one King Saul was on when he died. However, there’s a case to be made that it was Ketef Shaul, the one we ascended today- in which case I stood on the same mountain where King Saul died, which is pretty incredible.
Shani took us through the Tanakh scenes that referenced Mt Gilboa and also read us a moving poem by Shaul Tchernichovsky about King Saul and his death.
We ended the day by seeing cows wandering around.
Then we returned to Jerusalem and I was lucky enough to meet up with my friend Alexis!
Only one more day left in Israel, and then I fly home.