Each time we share a new look of the HolyLand, we enjoy increased traffic here. There are friends among us who relish seeing the real, actual vistas that our Patriarchs and Matriarchs actually walked. They note that they have never seen beyond the picture postcard routine views of Israel, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Galilee, The Dead Sea, Negev, Haifa, Tiberias . . .

You may remember that at times I gently, patiently tease, challenging them to book, fly El Al with its multiple layers of Security and comfort. Truth be told, I’ve to date not succeeded with a single ‘I just booked my flight to Ben Gurion Airport.’ I get back to them with, if you’ve been dreaming of your trip to the HolyLand for what, 36 years, why not go? Many of you have the wherewithal. I resist group tours. If you have worked hard all your working life, and have achieved some, hire a private guide for 2 or 3 days, and never forget the experience.

This look is from the slope of Mt. Hermon, the little village of Neve Ativ. We are looking westward to the Upper Galilee region. Beyond the horizon, straight ahead of us, is the bluer than blue Mediterranean Sea. That raised fortress that you see in the right, mid-ground, reachable by a steep, winding road (good surface, as all  Israeli roads) is King Nimrod’s Fortress. I leave the history of it to you. The mid-ground is the valley that stretches all the way south to Yom Kinneret, the huge lake. All you Christians know better than I, Who was born there, grew up there, and began teaching there. Won’t you ever visit there, and experience Where It All Began? Where you’ve thought about, all those Sundays of your youth?

The roads are excellent with very light traffic and excellent signage (I  don’t use GPS). They are lightly populated by humans and generously by butterflies. Butterflies. Mimi?

Jeff