Jerusalem, Tiberias and beyond!

Time just has a way of getting away from a person.  I have finished my 5^th week in Hebrew Ulpan (language school) and it is starting to get more challenging although by building on what I already know and practicing regularly, I am getting the hang of it.  There is so much to do and see in Jerusalem, and that, coupled with showing my dad and Betsy around, I find myself ready to branch out a little. We have done the big things, plus some stuff I haven’t done before.  Some of those things involve walking in the West Bank, in East Jerusalem, and while I understand the idea of not wanting to take a large group of tourists there for safety’s sake, there are things not to be missed.  Things like walking up the Mount of Olives from Gethsemane; things like walking through the Lion’s Gate where Stephen was stoned to death as the first Christian martyr, and walking around the ruins of the pools at Bethesda where Yeshua (Jesus) healed a crippled man. We have been to the serene Garden Tomb and walked the Via Dolorosa from “The Pavement” where Yeshua was tried by Pilate, to the elaborate Church of The Holy Sepulcher. Walking in and out of the Damascus Gate and in the Muslim and Christian Quarters calls for keeping a watchful eye, but overall, it has been awesome.  We went this last week to The Davidson Center near the Dung Gate and they have recently opened the Ophel: the corner where the old old city met the Temple.  It was very cool ascending the giant marble stairs that once up led into the Temple grounds and seeing the remains of houses and mikves and other artifacts and excavations. I had to hum Shir LaMaalot (a song of ascents – Psalm 121) while I was going up to the Temple Mount.  This weekend we are in the Galilee in places like the Mount of Beatitudes and Capernaum, walking around the hill area that Yeshua and the disciples knew so well.  Staying in a nice apartment overlooking the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is nice too. As I write I see fishing boats on the glassy waters of the Kinneret with a light fog subduing the far shore.
We have had a lot of rain (torrential at times) but it makes everything so green and beautiful, not to mention cleaning the air.  Of course when you add in the cold weather, it has been just short of miserable on some days. There have been a few more terrorist attacks since I last blogged, awful things, but I have managed to stay out of trouble.  There are lots of police and IDF strapped with weapons and riot gear standing by, everywhere from the holy sites to the trains, so I feel like as long as I don’t get crazy, or act too suspiciously when trying to get a cough drop out of my bag, I will be fine.  That last bit bears mentioning since people always seem to wonder about safety.  At least I am not in Ferguson.  I feel quite safe in my ‘hood in Jerusalem, but as a Palestinian classmate told me the other day, “Of course you feel safe here.  You are not a Jew or an Arab.” I suppose everything is relative. My life is blessed and my opportunities are a gift…a thing I have to keep in front of my mind. The pictures are from top to bottom, then left to right: Mount of Olives; Golgotha (Garden Tomb); Temple Stairs (Ophel); police at Damascus Gate; Soldiers in the Jewish Quarter; Byzantine remains (Old City); Western Wall tunnels; Pools at Bethesda; Tower of David (Citadel); Dome of the Rock grounds; Gethsemane; Calvary (Church of the Holy Sepulcher);  White synagogue at Capernaum; Jordan River