Our goal today was to give the children a sense of Israel via the areas connected to the stories of the prophets, and our first stop was the Kever of Shmuel Hanavi (Tomb of Samuel the Prophet). I guess what was most interesting to me as we started out was that our itinerary for the day included so many places that I had never visited. I hadn’t expected that. For example, this site was only designated as a national park in the 1990s.
Nabi Samwil, as the location is referred to in Arabic, is said to be the burial site of Samuel the Prophet, the man who anointed both Saul and David as king of Israel. The thing with all of these burial locations, however, is that there is no solid proof, merely oral traditions maintained through time and also passed between reigning cultures. Holy sites tend to remain holy, so thus it was that the grand building at the site was built as a mosque but also has a church attached, as well as a synagogue.
To get to the mosque/church/synagogue, one first walks over a bridge over the current extensive excavations, which have revealed a number of layers of settlement surrounding the tomb. The main building itself is quite impressive, even as it is extremely simple. We entered and I was immediately in awe of both the incredibly high ceiling and the amazing difference in temperature. Where outside was I-want-to-faint-hot (and remember, this was still the morning!) inside was very pleasant. Speaking of the high ceiling, Gershon next invited us up a narrow, stone staircase so he could present the tour from a proper elevation. It was breathtaking, of course, and we were able to see the strategic value of this mountain that made it historically significant. Gershon pointed out the sites of the Gibeonite territory and how close it was to Jerusalem, and he showed us the location of the battles of the Maccabees.
Alas, the roof of the mosque was turretted, and the boys found the domed slopes of the turrets too inviting to ignore, so I spent most of the roof-top tour slowing people down from being wild. After we descended from the roof, we headed to the synagogue. We took the opportunity to recite Tehillim (Psalms).
Following Nabi Samwil, we headed to the Shamron, frequently translated at Samaria. On our way, we stopped for Gershon to point out the location believed to be the palace of King Saul. The site is particularly easy to point out, even from a distance, because it is on top of a hill and there is now the large skeleton of a building that is hard to miss. This framework is the beginning of a royal palace that King Hussein of Jordan began to build in 1964. In 1967, the Six Day War interrupted the project and now only the metal outline of the building remains.
I feel that for anyone unfamiliar with the situation, I should mention that the areas we entered today were all in what is known as the West Bank, the land reclaimed in the Six Day War. While politicians talk about the ownership in land, there is no question that the area is rife with Jewish antiquities!
The next feature of our tour was, again, not a real stop, but rather a narrative of the place we were passing. Gershon pointed out that this was the location of the story of Elisha and the Bears (see II Kings 2:23-25). What struck me was the fact that I only picture bears in woods, and there hills were not particularly woodsy. But, then again, after thousands of years of people passing through and conquering armies marching forth, it is not surprising that the terrain is greatly changed.
We were headed to Beit El, but we detoured first to visit the Psigaot winery. I’ll have to have one of the kids submit a description of this stop because Asher was fast asleep in the car, so I stayed with him.
I had last been in Beit El in the 1990s when I knew a few people who lived out here. I remembered it as a settlement – meaning that, while there were a few houses, many of the people lived in caravans (temporary homes). It was now a very large town with numerous neighborhoods. But we didn’t stop in the town. Rather we headed just north of it to a fascinating archeology area that is now believed to be the site of both Jacob’s dream (Genesis 28) and one of the temples with golden calves built by Jeroboam (I Kings 12). The site is incredibly rocky and dry. As at most such historical spots, there were the remains of a small mosque that had once serve as a Crusader church. Holy sites in Israel remain holy throughout history! Another fascinating feature of this site was an oak tree that was a thousand years old. It was cooly gnarly!
These types of archeological sites often require a tremendous amount of visualization. Often times it is a matter of accepting the guides explanation of what archeologists see, and Gershon spent time explaining why and how this spot was identified by archeologists. Particularly he explained where and why King Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel erected a temple here in order to distract pilgrims from heading to Jerusalem and the Temple in the Kingdom of Judea. I believe there are midrashim that say that Jeroboam chose the site because it was the site of Jacob’s dream.
After exploring the rocky terrain and taking some silly pictures of our own Yaakov (Jacob) with rocks under his head as pillows, and with the children getting rather peckish, we continued our tour. We stopped on the way to pick up pita, hummas, and other exciting food (This time we also grabbed salami for the kids) so that we could start our trip to Shilo with a picnic lunch.
Once again, we arrived at an important Biblical site to which I had never been. I actually looked it up to understand that it had also not been open to tourists until well into the 1990s.
Our very cool tour of Shilo started out with a picnic. Although the lovely visitors center and gift shop had wonderful air conditioning, it was a bit crowded with us inside and there was too much stuff to draw a toddler’s attention. Behind the tourist center was a truly lovely picnic area, which included a neat pond (that had plants whose roots acted as a water filter) and several hammocks in addition to a plethora of picnic tables and shade. Around the picnic area there were small archeological excavations as well as some booths (not in use at the moment) for when Shilo opens up for re-creation tours to show how people lived in Biblical days.
After a very long lunch, we headed toward the archeological park
The kids were a little bit tired of the intense heat and the heavy walking, so they were a bit whiney even after their lunch, but I was really excited. We headed through an excavated village site that is more interesting/entertaining when there is a program running. Our destination was a building with a multi screen presentation. (The ramp up was aluminum metal and Asher definitely hesitated to go near it. Poor baby.)
The presentation at Shilo was excellent, presenting a somewhat reenacted overview of the role of Shilo in Jewish history. The presentation talked about the Mishkan (Tabernacle), Elkana and Chana, King Saul and the story of the war with the tribe of Benjamin. After the video, although we didn’t go down because the party was really just over-tired, we could see where they were excavating what they believed was the site of the Tabernacle. I found it very impressive.
It was late afternoon so we headed back toward Jerusalem, stopping only to drop Gershon off at a place from which he could easily get home. Dinner was an in-house, simple affair and we all made an early night of it.
For those who are wondering how Asher was fairing, I should add that each day included a 45 minute session of changing Asher’s bandages. This was accomplished by sitting him on the counter near the sink, taking out one of our electronic devises and distracting him with a great set of videos called Truck Tunes ( I believe) that are all these songs about different types of trucks. I had found this site before Israel by googling monster trucks and the first song they have was all about Monster Trucks. We love these videos. The first few times we used the videos to calm him own, but by day four or five it was just part of the routine. We rinsed the burns I cool water, dabbed them with clean cloths applied creams and applied new bandages. David was unbelievably good at this process.
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