Friday--Ein Gedi

Friday--January 7

The sun is out again today.

outside the dining hall

I started the morning with an over abundant breakfast in the oh so modern dining hall.  

After breakfast, I went to the lobby to find out about getting to the Nature Reserve.  I found a woman (I’m not very good with names) who was trying to organize the Friday International Heralds (their Friday paper is like our Sunday), for the shop and started talking to her.  She has lived on the kibbutz for 40 years and originally from Beverly Hills.  Eight kids later she has remained here and runs the shop for the hotel.

I had thought I would take the 11:00 yoga class, but she dissuaded me saying “You can take a yoga class anytime”, 

She suggested I walk the back way through the kibbutz to the ancient synagogue and then to the reserve.  She phoned her husband to make sure the gate would be unlocked and then described how I could get to the gate.  She also told me her daughter had been the first person to get married at the synagogue in 1,000 years.  Now that’s impressive.  

the view from where I started on the kibbutz

So I tried to follow her directions and of course was off track from the get go. I could see where I needed to go but had taken a wrong turn, had to go all the way back from where I started and then found the right road.  Good thing I have a good sense of direction, ha.  

I was walking down the road, taking in the Dead Sea to my right and the Judean Hills on my left, when I heard this big tractor coming behind me.  I stepped to the side so as not to get run over.  Actually it was a good thing he had come by because when I got to the gate it was locked.  It was o.k. because he had the key.  He kindly unlocked for me and I went through the gate.  The next thing I know I was standing in front of an Ibex. 

more morning friend

 I stopped, and very quietly got my camera out, I certainly wasn’t expecting this.  

I was careful not to move too quickly or loudly thinking it might spook him.  As I was taking photos I saw another Ibex coming up over the hill and before I knew it there were four of them.  

Just there out in the open me and the Ibex.  Wow.  Those horns are amazingly beautiful and set against the Judean hills spectacular.  

After my little visit with the Ibex I continued on my way down the road.  It took about 20 minutes to find the road that had the signs to the synagogue.

the floor of the synagogue

I entered through the gate that had the sign for the “ancient synagogue”.   It was awfully quiet and I seemed to be the only one there. I found this rather strange since it was around 10:30. As I approached the area of the unearthed synagogue I found a woman sweeping the dust off the mosaic tiles. 

the holy ark and bamah

“Shalom”, I said.

“Shalom, she said.  You’ll need to pay for the entrance.”

“o.k, where”, I asked

“don’t worry when you are finished here you can come back to the front.  I’m just cleaning here because the workers aren’t here on Friday.”

Her name was Noa and she told me that the the mosaics were incredibly preserved due to the dryness of the desert.  

a menorah

The sight was covered by an enormous tent which I’m sure is not only to protect the sight but also shield people from the sun.

The mosaics were wonderful.  

They weren’t so colorful but the designs were interesting.  The middle of the floor had the signs of the zodiac.    Noa also told me a little of the history (go to this site for more information) and of the curse.  

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20-%20Archaeology/Ein%20Gedi%20-%20An%20Ancient%20Oasis%20Settlement 

Warnings to those who commit sins causing dissension in the community, passing malicious information to the gentiles, or revealing the secrets of the town.

The one whose eyes roam over the entire earth and sees what is concealed will uproot this person and his seed from under the sun and all the people will say, Amen. Selah.

She thought that maybe the curse was because these people made a perfume that had a secret formula and they didn’t want anyone to tell.  It was a very rich community and if the secret were let out then they might not continue to gain their fortune.

Rachel

While I was walking around another woman, Rachel arrived.  She is actually the one who is in charge of the “antiquities”, not an archeologist she said but the overseer to make sure no one hurts any of the items at the site.  


She told me about another site, Zippori, in the north, that she said had 5 of the best mosaics in all of Israel.  

It’s easy to loose track of time when talking with people.  I needed to start my walk to David’s Fall before I lost the sun light.

Noa suggested that after walking to David’s Fall, if I had more power (energy), I should continue to Dodim’s Cave.

I walked from the synagogue to the entrance of the Wadi David.  14 buses were in the parking lot so I knew there would be many tourists.  One is never alone.  Mostly what I was hearing was Russian.

The walk to Wadi David was very easy.  There was much water at the fall.  

Wadi David

I sat down for a moment and took out an orange I had in my backpack for a snack.  

Suddenly a young man appeared and said,”you cannot eat here.”

“really”, i said.

“No, we don’t eat in our national parks.”

“Oh, I just saw people over there having a picnic”, I said.

“Where?” he asked.

Are you kidding, no eating in the park!  More rules I don’t understand.

O.K. so I slipped a piece of chocolate in my mouth instead.

I continued to the path toward Dodim’s cave.  The sign at the entrance said, “only for fit hiker’s”, and believe me it was more than true.  This was a straight uphill climb.  The views were amazing but a bit scary at times.  At some points on the trail, there were steel bracket handles to hold onto.  At times I needed to put my camera in my backpack so I could concentrate on my footing.  This climb was more difficult than Petra’s 800 steps, but I pursued. 

When I leveled off I met two men and asked them how much farther to the cave.

“Oh about 20 minutes” they told me.

O.k. The trail was level for a while then headed downward into an area where there were pools of water, kind of like Red Rock outside of Santa Barbara.  

The rocks were very slick due to the water so I needed to really watch my step.  I came upon two men and a woman at these pools and asked if this was the cave.

“No”, you must continue”.

I continued not quite sure where I was going when I came upon two college aged Americans (a boy and a girl).  They were in Israel on a 2 week program with the army. 

I was glad to meet them because I wasn’t too sure about where I was going but the girl ventured ahead and told me to continue on the path.  I doubt I would have done this by myself because as we neared the cave there were those steel handles again but bigger for your feet because it was necessary to climb down.  I’m sure this is the closest I will ever come to rock climbing.  They took my backpack and helped me down.  Wow.

Dodim's Cave

Who could have ever found this place and let alone live here.  

It was time to have my orange.  
Peel away I did and shared with my new found friends.  

I thought climbing out would be more difficult but actually it was much easier.  Whoever put these steel footings/handles here was a genius.  

Another friend of nature posing for me

Up I went and back down the trail.  It was 1:30 p.m. and the brochure said you needed to be heading back from this area no later than 1:30 p.m. in order to make it out on time.  I didn’t have time to walk to Ein Gedi Spring but I’d had a good hike none the less.

The view walking down

What took me nearly an hour to get to the cave took maybe half an hour to walk down.  

The Dead Sea looking toward Jordan

I thought I would get the 3:15 bus back to the kibbutz so I walked out to the road and sat at the bus stop.  It was 2:50 when I got to the bus stop and by 3:30 no bus.  I started to walk back to the kibbutz.  I had to take the main road because I figured the gate would be locked and I didn’t want to take the chance of walking that way and having to come all the way back down.

I knew the main road would eventually get me there.  Walking on the road was like walking along Pacific Coast Highway.  There wasn’t much traffic and it took about 30 minutes to get to the road that lead up to the kibbutz.  On this road, finally a bus arrived.  He did stop for me and I said,

“I was waiting for the 3:15 bus at the Nature Reserve,” I said

“There isn’t a bus today, it’s Friday.  The last bus was at 2:00.” the driver told me.

Silly me.

I was glad to have the ride, even though short, because this road was up hill and I was tired.

I went to my room, took a shower and relaxed before dinner. 

At dinner there were many religious families and even though I’m sure the kibbutz is secular, the dining facilities are kosher.  I found that at Kibbutz Lotan as well.

The evening’s entertainment was an outdoor concert.  Where else in the world can you sit outside in January and have a concert.  It was quite enjoyable.  I am having trouble uploading video so I can’t include it here but I did take a short one.  When I can figure out how to upload video’s I will include them.

The end to a very nice day.