My sister and I have always wanted to visit Israel because I have read much about the country, heard much about stories from the Bible from my Christian friends and also I have a compelling love for ancient civilizations. We had wanted to go about three years ago but back then, we chose Egypt and we also had a go at it last December but the cost was way beyond my sister's budget. This year, we were determined not to be disappointed and on 12th December, we packed our bags and set off!
We first landed in Jordan but a snowstorm ruined our plans for our visit in Amman, the capital of Jordan. The roads were filled with snow and as a result, the authorities closed the roads and we were forced to stay in the hotel for a day and a half! I was very upset that we started the trip with such negativity but there was nothing that we could do either. Fortunately, we were blessed enough to see improvements in the weather and successfully set off for Wadi Rum and Petra on our 2nd day in Jordan. However, it was not easy. We had to drag our luggages through the snow-filled roads to the coach which was about 500m away but the roads were slippery and for once, my sister and I were really glad that we travelled really light.
Understanding Jordan:
1. Governed by the Ottoman Empire (turkish) between 1560 to 1916
2. English Colony between 1916 and 1946 after WWI
3. Gained Independence from 1946
4. Wars with neighboring Israel meant that there was mandatory national service prior to 1992/3. Subsequently, peace was attained and national service was no longer compulsory.
5. Appointed their first king, King Abdullah and when he visited the Al-Asqa Mosque in Jerusalem in 1951, he was assassinated, his eldest son, King Tulane took over but only ruled for 2 years. King Hussein, the longest serving King took over the throne in 1953 and ruled until 1999. Currently, his son, King Abdullah II is on the throne.
6. The British brought the Jews to Palestine starting from 1916. Israelis occupied everywhere in Israel except the Gaza Strip and West Bank - border of 1948 (green line)
7. Significance of Wadi Rum - Desert where the revolt against Turkey began. The Arab tribes gathered in the desert of Wadi Rum to plan their revolt. It is the only sand desert in Jordan and yes, the sand is soft and you could slide down the sand dunes and have your feet sinking into them as you walk.
8. Significance of Petra - One of the crossroads in ancient times and the Nabataeans are the settlers of Petra. Petra is located along the King's way, a major route where the Greeks, Persians and Romans took when moving from Europe to Middle East. As such, trade flourish. Petra is one of the 7 New Wonders of the World because of the famous Treasury but it is merely a burial ground for the Kings. It is like a canyon and as you walk through the narrow passageways in the Canyon, you feel the breeze and also get to see the ancient way of life.
What we saw in Petra:
- Statue of the "God" that the Nabataeans pray to
- A wedding ceremonial ritual of the ancient times
- The Treasury
- The 600 steps to the shrine - the highest place for worship for priests - completed only 3/4 due to time constraints
- The monastery which is the burial ground for Aaron, brother of Moses - we could only see from afar and not get there personally.
- Differences between royal tombs and those of commoners - one with decorations and the other without
- Existence of a byzantine church
9. Mount Nebo and School of Mosaic - Moses was believed to be buried at Mount Nebo but the exact location is unknown. It is written in the Bible that Moses struck the rock with his rod in today's Moses Valley (area in Petra) to bring forth water thus he was only allowed to have a glimpse of the Promised Land from Mount Nebo but not enter it personally. So he died on Mount Nebo and is supposed to be buried there. Beautiful view, I can attest to that.
That pretty much sums up Jordan.
Understanding Israel:
1. Israel means Jacob in Hebrew. Jacob is the son of Isaac, son of Abraham, the origins of the Jewish race
- Capital - Jerusalem (largest city that houses about 1m people),
- Tel Aviv is the 2nd largest city and perhaps also the financial capital,
- Population of 8 million whereby 62% of it is desert. The Israelis is working to shrink the desert by planting trees to beautify the nation and also have their own agricultural sector,
- Star on the flag represents: Star of David OR Union of men and women OR current and future life OR 2 triangles OR symmetry OR ? It simply can mean many things.
- Center of the world: Connects Europe, Asia and Africa, the 3 largest continents in the world and also two of the oldest civilizations - the Egyptians and the Babylonians; lots of ancient civilizations which explains the vast amounts of ancient coins from archaeological findings.
2. Oldest city in the world - Jericho but it is currently under Palestinian control. Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank (Dome of the Rock and Al-asqa mosque), Bethlehem are also under Palestinian control. Israel does not recognise Palestine as an independent nation (I think) but they grant them internal control over certain cities. Nonetheless, Israel maintains control and authority over all foreign affairs.
3. Had 5 wars since independence in 1948 - Most significant one:
- War of 1967: to gain control of Golan Heights as it was a mountainous region and back then, Syria had control of it. This meant that they could easily attack Israelis living in the region of Tiberius (near Golan Heights) due to the high ground that they had control of and also the Old City of Jerusalem and also Mount Olives and beyond
4. What drives their economy? High-tech industries such as diamond cutting, weapons (haha! expected), Dead Sea products, etc.
5. Compulsory military service for boys (3 years) and girls (2 years) - This is something that really makes me salute the women in Israel. For women to carry guns, undergo military training, throw grenades, experience bloody scenes and still maintain emotional stability is something that is really beyond me. Perhaps the biggest difference between them and us is that they serve the army purely out of love and duty to their country to maintain peace for their fellowmen whereas in Singapore, a lot of it is because the government dictates it. From the way the tour guide talks about his experience in the military service and how everyone in Israel sees military service, you can feel the passion and love that he and his fellowmen have for their country.
6. Geography: 500km in length and width ranges from 15km (narrowest) to 130km (widest); 79% are Jews, 19% are Arabs and the rest are Christians and other minorities; Highest mountain: Mount Heron; Biggest ports: Haifa and Ashdod ports
7. Education: Their education system is very much like Singapore's, whereby they have childcare centers, have public universities that are more prestigious than the private ones, etc. The only difference is that education is free for all! To the Israelis, education is important because they need to interpret the bible and also, a good education is the gateway to good jobs. Law is probably the most prestigious course, not because they aspire to become barristers but that a law degree leads to better job opportunities. To quote our guide: Not every country is like America whereby you have freedom of speech and free rights and any accidental blabber can lead to a law suit and financial opportunities for lawyers. Lol!
The Holy Land Journey:
Day 1: We crossed the Allenbey border in the morning but there was much delay as usual! Sis was stopped when we went through the security check for no apparent reason (my conjecture was that it was due to the bottle of water that she had inside her bag). Having heard many stories from friends who travel to UK and US, I was worried that they might detain her for private checks. Fortunately, they did not. Then it was my turn to get unlucky because my luggage was detained due to the power bank that I had inside. I did not have a good first impression of the Israelis owing to the encounters with the women at the checkpoints. They were rude and I even saw one playing candy crush on her handphone while at work. The woman who was supposed to clear my detained luggage was also very unfriendly and shouted at our tour leader. Perhaps it was the nature of her work that required her to be stern and firm on her end but she really could have showed more courtesy. When we had to return to Jordan a week later, the lady at the VAT refund office was another difficult one to handle as well. Sometimes I really feel like telling these people off that, "You are paid to do this and if you ain't happy, you should just quit your job rather than vent your frustrations on unrelated people." Then again, I try to avoid confrontations as I grow older so I chose to keep quiet. Nevertheless, the rest of the journey was a fulfilling and splendid one.
Biblical Places that we went to:
- Yardenit: It was believed that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river but it was at the Jordan's side of the Jordan river as in the first century, Jordan and Israel were one. However, pilgrims these day go to Yardenit for baptism. One of the tour members then asked a funny question about whether there are priests on site that could provide Baptism services? The tour guide said, "NO" but he can consider starting such a service if there was sufficient interest.
- Church of multiplication: It was believed that Jesus taught his disciples a lesson at this very church. Back then, followers from all over the world came to Tiberius after hearing about Jesus and his teachings. There were thousands of followers gathering but Jesus's disciples told him that they only had 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish left to provide food for these people. Jesus asked them to leave whatever that they have on a rock and not to turn away these people. He then performed a miracle whereby He fed all the people with the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish by having them multiplied. What Jesus wanted to teach his disciples that you might be small, but so long as you faith, you will survive. They call the fish St. Peter's fish and it is actually Tilapia.
- Sea of Galilee: Important to the Christians because it is the site where a lot of miracles happen for the Christians. Fun fact: Sea of Galilee is actually a lake. However, in the Bible, lakes are known as Sea which explains why they call it the Sea of Galilee.
Besides the biblical significance, most of us who studied Social Studies or read up on History would have known about the conflict between Jordan and Israel over the Jordan River. Back then, the Israelis built a Dam to the stop freshwater from the Jordan River from flowing southwards to the Dead Sea (high salt content). This created uproar in Jordan. However, the Israelis felt that they needed to do that because they face a constant shortage of water and building the dam would help to satisfy their water needs. Water in the Jordan River comes from Golan Heights and the Sea of Galilee.
Kibbutz: A collective community that sprouted in Israel after independence which is traditionally based on agriculture. They were started by some Russian Jews who settled in Israel after independence and they changed the ideas of how life should be in the holy land.
- No one was to have their own private property
- Everyone donated their salary to the kibbutz to be redistributed
- Children were also property of the whole group in this agriculture style of living - had to work to milk the cows and help out at the fields - teaches them values of having to work hard to earn a living and not take things for granted. Fair enough.
- About 25 years ago, they started to disintegrate - communism fell out of favor around that time
- Some changes were made to the villages whereby they no longer share everything equally but they live in a community whereby they celebrate occasions together and maintain the safety and security of their village
- No tall buildings, congestion and pollution
As we observe from the outside, you feel serenity and because we were in the area around evening time (5 plus), it was absolutely silent and sometimes, I long for such peace and tranquility of rural life.
Day 2: We toured the places around the Sea of Galilee. We started the day at Banias, an archaeological site in the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi. The place is named after the God of Pan who had the upper body of a human but the lower body of a goat. However, because the Arabs cannot pronounce the letter 'p', Paneas became Banias. Fun fact/ Joke: The word 'panic' is derived from the Pan's name. Whenever Pan sees beautiful women, he will tap them on the back and when they turned around and saw him, they will scream and run away because of his looks. The biblical significance of Banias is that it was at Banias where Peter (Jesus's disciples) confessed and gave his view that he believed Jesus was the messiah. However, Jesus related his eventual destiny and Peter rebuked Jesus. Here, Jesus gave Peter the keys to heaven.
Golan Heights: The meaning of "Golan" means all Jewish towns. Unfortunately, the area was covered by a lot of snow and we did not manage to ascend Golan Heights and see the Syria-Israel border! Ah! However, if fate permits, some day I will visit Israel again and get to Golan Heights. Instead, we went to the Golan winery. [Travel agent: Scott Dunn to camp in the alps.] The Golan Heights region is one whereby there are volcanoes and hence, the soil is very fertile and can allow a lot of agriculture to take place should there be sufficient irrigation. The Israelis invest in a lot of technologies to conserve and create new water sources and if you see purple pipes in Israel, it means that it carries recycled water, which is mainly used for irrigation purposes.
Biblical places that we visited:
- Church of Beatitudes: Jesus talked about the 8 beatitudes which explains why the church is octagonal and uses 2 colors, black and white. Beati means "blessed" in Latin and beatitudes means "all people are blessed".
- Capernaum: Home of Peter, Jesus's first chosen disciple. It was here that we learnt a lot about the differences between Judaism and Christianity. There were remains of a first century synagogue which they believe it is where Jesus prayed because it had an entrance that was facing Jerusalem. Archaeologists found scripts with Jewish language they were buried because the Jewish believe in returning things to the ground i.e. earth.
- Kanna city: place where Jesus performed his miracle of turning water into wine.
- The Jews only believe in the Old Testament and the Torah whereas the Christians believe in the New Testament, written by the disciples of Jesus and the Bible.
- The Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God i.e. he is not the messiah which explains why he was crucified by the Romans. Jesus believes that this was his destiny to atone for the sins of mankind. So the Jews are still waiting for the Messiah, whom they believe is a descendant of King David. Reason being that the Jews believe that the Messiah should be someone who would be born into a respected family but Jesus was born into a humble family.
- In Judaism and a synagogue, there should not be any statutes or rocks (unlike churches which have the statues of Jesus) and Jewish face Jerusalem to pray. Fun fact: they did not have synagogues prior to the destruction of the Second Temple Mount because people could simply go to the Temple to pray. However, after the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans, synagogues were built as a common place to study the bible and pray.
It will probably take me hours and days to blog all about the trip but spending that kind of effort and time in exchange of a lifetime memory and remembrance of Holy Land, I believe it is worth it.
So stay tuned for Part II in the next few days or weeks!
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