Working the trails at Yeyhudia National Park in Israel’s Golan Heights, for butterflies. March 2016 it was, and there I was alone for hours, often stopping to Thank G-d for the opportunity to walk these ancient paths. I refrain from sharing too many landscapes here on wingedbeauty. On this trip to Israel, the Land was so lush, so verdant, that I realized that this rule of mine had to be slightly adjusted.

The recently ended winter produced average precipitation, and that insured that the Land of Milk and Honey would green from end to end, from Rosh Hanikra to Eilat. For decades now, Israel has been taking the husbandry and conservation of its resources very seriously.

This is the land that Americans never see. Our media prefers to blast the orchestrated, ready for camera/prime-time noise that they sniff out. Those 5’3″ settlers who began coming in the 1890’s and continued coming after the Nazi barbarism, now have 6’3″ great grandchildren, who are earnest about the future of Israel. Whizzes at high tech and adept in military service, they will shepherd Israel forward.

Those stone buildings in the foreground? Abandoned in 1948 by Arab farmers, who chose to flee at the behest of faraway Sheiks. Flee from the skin and bones 5’3″ survivors of ovens. Really.

The green vista here just leaves me in awe, I tell you. Mid-ground in the image is a huge valley, watered by streams and springs from the Golan mountain range in the background. Those towns at the base of those mountains are Arab towns and Israeli towns. Beyond view is Mt. Hermon. I’ve been on the top of Hermon. You look down into Syria, and you can see more than 100 miles into that cauldron of Hate and Death.

An ancient land, Israel. And not like any other. Stand in Ben Gurion International Airport, and you will not know what most are saying, because they speak in 100’s of different languages. They come from cities, towns and villages around the world, to savor the Christian, Jewish and Muslim roots that they cherish. They are good people, and moral people, and they come in . . . peace.

Jeff