mom and dad's israel trip

Hello again from Israel on Monday, Oct. 22/2012. I think that we have recovered from the hiking last week. One thing that we haven't done as yet is to introduce you to Dad's patient.
From Dad:
Michael (Mishka) is a Jewish man in his mid forties originally from Russia, who came to Israel about 30 years ago grew up in a kibbutz near Be'er Sheva. At the age of 19 he was diagnosed with MS and has become progressively physically limited. He speakes Russian, Hebrew & English although it is hard to understand his speaking. He used to do translation work (Russian to Hebrew or English) until the MS became severe. He now lives in a handicapped home with about 24 others and there is help available 24/7, although currently they are understaffed. One of the workers there knew Michael from the Kibutz 28 years ago. The home and beautiful grounds surounding it are owned by a Catholic Monastery but rented to a Jewish health organization. Michael's passion is airplanes and he has several models which he has built with the help of volunteers. He also loves classical music.
He seems to be enjoying the time I am able to spend with him when Mom is doing Hebrew lessons. We walk in the park, stop in the shade to just talk about ourselves, listen to music and share pictures of our travels. He loved seeing the pics of the desert-Mitzpe Ramon & the Jesus Trail Hike as well all of you and our camping trips. There are just two more visits before we come home, but I was able to give him prints of the pics below which he was delighted to receive.

From Mom;

I am spending about 2 half days a week at Hebrew lessons and a bunch of time at home studying.

It is also fun to try to hear some of the language people speak outside. My teacher Reut and I have really connected both about Hebrew and about our realtionship with God.

We have also gone on some outings,the market a couple of weeks ago, and this week to Yad Vashem. It will be challenging to go there with an Israeli person and try to talk about it in Hebrew.

The dayafter we finished the Jesus Trail hike we stayed in the north of Israel to see some of the interesting things in the Golan Heights. (sorry we didn"t have tome to go to the Golan Winery that Yehuda took us to)
One of the fascinating places there is called Gamla-The Masada of the North.
The name comes from the Hebrew word "gamal" which means camel, due to the shape of the location. This site was found and excavations started in 1967 thanks to a detailed description by the first century historian Josephus. This place was described in Jewish literature as a walled city dating form the time of Joshua about 1500 BCE, destroyed later and rebuilt in the second century BCE. It was built on the slope of a very steep hill only reachable by one path, the same path that reaches it today. If you look on the picture below carefully at the path you will see some people walking-gives you an idea of the scale of the hill.
In a town called Katsrin, the Golan Heights Archaeological Museum has an amazing video and scale model of Gamla.

Gamla was attacked by the Romans in 67 CE, and although they town held them off for most of a year, the superior numbers of forces and catapult technolgy eventually resulted in 4000 people being slaughtered. However as in Masada, many refused to be captured by the Romans and 5000 more people died jumping off the cliffs. During the seige the people minted a coin whose inscription said

" For the redemption of Jerusalem the Holy"

Below is the breach in the wall that was made by the Roman battering ram still there after 2000 years!!

4 Ft. Lance Roman Catapult

Also in the Golan is the Hula Valley Nature Reserve, part of the Rift Valley fault line that goes for 7000k from Europe through Africa. The Rift Valley includes the Jordan River, the Lake of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Hula is a huge lake/swamp that for thousands of years has been a stopover for migrating birds who fly for thousands of miles from their nesting grounds in Northern Europe on their way to summer feeding grounds in North Africa.

500,000,000 , 1/2 billion birds travel through here per year!!!!

Because this is supposed to be the migration time for storks, we went to check it out. We saw some birds, turtles, wild boars, muskrat, but no large flocks of birds at the time we were there. Best time is early morning and evening, and certain weeks when the flocks come.