Day 7 Summary

We started the day at Masada. This is a site where 1000 Jews stood for 2.5 years against the Romans in about 70 AD. When the Romans finally breached the fortress, the Jews committed suicide rather than be taken into captivity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada
The memory of Masada is still alive in Israel. They will not be captured again. They have the means and the will to defend themselves.


We visited the "little town of Bethlehem".
Here we saw the cave/stable where Jesus was born. It is under a large structure that houses 3 different churches.


Traveling to Bethlehem required entry into the West Bank.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_bank
We could sense the tension between the Palestinians and the Israelis - evidenced by the graffiti on the large wall separating the two territories.

Day 6 Summary

We started Day 6 at the Holocaust Museaum in Jerusalem. This is a very well-done museum with lots of very moving memorials.
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/index.asp





Our next stop was to the site where Jesus was kept in jail the night before the crucifixion.








We went to the Western wall and prayed. The men were separated from the women. The women complained that their area was smaller and cramped.

The Western Wall, sometimes referred to as the Wailing Wall is an important Jewish religious site located in the Old City of Jerusalem. Just over half the wall, including its 17 courses located below street level, dates from the end of the Second Temple period, being constructed around 19 BCE by Herod the Great. The remaining layers were added from the 7th century onwards.



We walked the Via Dolorosa, the route that Jesus took between his condemnation by Pilate and his crucifixion and burial.

Along the way, we went to the basement of a church where they have preserved the actual road from the time of Jesus.

Our last stop of this day was Garden Tomb. The Garden Tomb, is considered by some to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Tomb




It is adjacent to adjacent to a site believed to be Calvary or Golgotha the site, outside of ancient Jerusalem early 1st century walls, ascribed to the crucifixion of Jesus. It is called "skull hill" because it looks like a skull.

The place where the cross was is now a very busy bus terminal.

Day 5 Summary

We started this day at Megiddo - an ancient ruins where a series of civilizations are built on top of each other. When one city was deserted, another group of people would build right on top of the old ruins.


Mt. Carmel is where Elijah slayed the 450 prophets of Baal. This site offered terrific views of the valley of Jezreel valley (the valley of Armageddon)

The view from our hotel room in Israel.

We went to a museum where the some of the Dead Sea scrolls are on exhibit. The water fountain symbolizes the lid on the container used to store the scrools. We studied a model of ancient Jerusalem.

We enjoyed a little "American" food on the way to Jerusalem. The menu was Kosher and completely customized to Mid-Eastern tastes

We felt secure when we saw the very-focused Israeli soldiers.

The Romans buit a very nice city at Caesarea by the sea. There was a very nice theater as well as a palace buit for the Roman ruler complete with a pool cut into the rocks of the shoreline.

Gethsamane is the area where Jesus and the disciples went after the last supper to pray and rest the before the crucifixion. This is where Judas betrayed Jesus witha kiss on the cheek. Some of the olive trees in the garden are 1700 years old!






The Dome of the Rock is stucture built by the Muslims in 691 on the Temple Mount

The Temple Mount, also known as Mt. Moriah and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is a religious site in Jerusalem. Due to its importance for Judaism and Islam it is one of the most contested religious sites in the world. This is the place where Muslims believe Abraham was willing to sacrifice Ismael. Christians and Jews believe this to be the site where Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac. This site has been a place of great contention for centuries.



One of the highlights of our trip was our meeting with Iris Goldman. She is a dear friend that used to work with Jon at CFA. She now lives in Jerusalem and works for a Messianic Jewish ministry. She gave our SLU students the Jewish perspective on the Arab/Israeli situation.