Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Vrees, Waagmoed, Trots..... Die Geskiedenis van Masada


Die Masada Plato lê aan die ooste kant van die Judeaanse woestyn en kyk uit oor die Dooie See, tussen En Gedi en Sodom.  Die plato lê ongeveer 450 m bo die Dooie See, is omtrent 650 m lank en 300 m wyd.  Die feit dat hierdie berg so geisoleerd staan was ‘n groot voordeel toe dit as ‘n fort ingespan is tydens die Tweede Tempel periode.
Die merkwaardige storie van Masada is deur Josephus Flavius, die eerste-eeuse historikus en destydse kommandeer van Galilea, aangeteken. Volgens hom is die eerste fort op Masada gebou deur Jonathan die Hoë Priester. In 37 – 4 BC, het Herodus baie bewus geword van die strategiese voordele wat Masada inhou.  Hy het besluit om hierdie gebied te gebruik as ‘n skuiling teen sy vyande, en het ‘n paleis gebou waarheen sy familie kon gaan gedurende die winter maande. Benewens die paleis het hy ook verskeie groot stoorkamers en opgaartenks hier gebou - wat later as behoud vir 'n paar vlugteling Joodse families sou dien. Na die dood van Herodus in 4 BC, het die Romeine Judea oorgeneem, Masada beset en 'n garnisoen daar gevestig.
In 66 n.C gedurende die Groot Revolusie tussen die Jode en die Romeine, het die Sicarii – ‘n groep Joodse families - die Romeinse gealieerdes op Masada oorval en die berg oorgeneem. Die Sicarii leier, Menahem, was die seun van Juda die Galileër, wat vermoor is in Jerusalem. Na dié moord, het Eleazar Ben Yair uit Jerusalem gevlug na Masada, en die kommandeer van die rebelle geword.  Die laaste van die rebelle het na Masada gevlug in 70 n.C nadat Jerusalem verwoes is. Vir bykans twee jaar het die families bo op hierdie asemrowende plato gewoon en dit hul tuiste gemaak, maar gevaar was op die horison en hulle moes 'n plan maak om hul gesinne teen onvermydelike slawerny te beskerm.

Masada was een van die laaste plekke waar die rebelle nog mag gehad het.  In 73 n.C het die Romeine toegeslaan om die berg stadig, maar seker weer oor te neem.  Die Romeinse legioen het uit 8 000 troepe bestaan. Hulle het agt basise gebou aan die voet van die berg.  Die plan was om 'n helling van onder af teen die berg op te bou met hout pilare wat dan met grond opgevul word. Vir etlike maande het die Joodse gesinne dag vir dag gesien hoe die Romeine nader kom. Hulle het intussen van binne af nog ‘n muur opgerig van sand en hout om as beskerming te dien, maar met die inval het die Romeine dit eenvoudig net aan die brand gesteek. Die verhaal lui dat toe alle hoop op oorlewing begin verkrummel, Eleazar Ben Yair sy mede Jode toegespreek het met 'n ondenkbare voorstel: Dit sou beter wees om te sterf as om vir die res van hul lewens as Romeinse slawe dear te bring. Hul sou hul eie lewens, en die lewens van hul families neem - Elke Vader verantwoordelik vir sy gesin.  Hier volg een van die uittreksels van Eleazar Ben-Yair se toesprake:
“Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God Himself, who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time is now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice.  And let us not at this time bring a reproach upon ourselves for self-contradiction, while we formerly would not undergo slavery, though it were then without danger, but must now, together with slavery, choose such punishments also as are intolerable; I mean this, upon the supposition that the Romans once reduce us under their power while we are alive.  We were the very first that revolted from them, and we are the last that fight against them; and I cannot but esteem it as a favor that God hath granted us, that it is still an eligible thing to die after a glorious manner, together with out dearest friends…
Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted slavery; and after we have slain them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually and preserve ourselves in freedom as an excellent funeral monument for us.  But first let us destroy our money and the fortress by fire; for I am well assured that this will be a bitter blow to the Romans, that they shall not be able to seize upon our bodies, and shall fail to our wealth also:  and let us spare nothing but our provisions; for they will be a testimonial when we are dead that we are not subdued for want of necessaries; but that, according to our original resolution, we have preferred death before slavery.”
Kom kyk saam met ons na die Historiese Monument Masada. Ervaar die verhaal eerstehands en beleef iets van die brawe Jode wat God Sy Volk noem!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

General tour itinerary to Israel and Jordan

Departure from Johannesburg

Day 1           
Arrival at Ben Gurion airport and transfer to hotel in Jerusalem to for dinner and overnight...

Day 2            
We start the day with a visit to the Holocaust memorial and museum Yad Vashem. We stop
to see the Menorah in front of the parliament building (Knesset). In the afternoon we will
visit Bethlehem where we will visit the church of the Nativity and the shepherd's fields.
We then return to Jerusalem for dinner and overnight.

Day 3           
Today we start by ascending the Mount of Olives and from there we will see the whole city
of Jerusalem. We walk down to the Garden and the Church of Gethsemane and from there
to the Lions gate. Here we enter the old city and go to Bethesda and the Ecce Homo arch.
We walk through the market along the Via Dolorosa and visit the Church of the Holy  
Sepulchre.  We end our visit with a visit to the Garden tomb. Dinner and overnight in
Jerusalem

Day 4            
We start with a walk over the Old City walls and after that we proceed to the Wailing Wall
to participate in the celebrations of the Bar mitzvahs when 14 year old boys are reading
from the Thora scrolls for the first time. The afternoon we will go the Mount Zion where
we visit the room of the Last Supper and the tomb of King David. The rest of the afternoon
is at own leisure. Stroll through the markets or do some shopping at the Jewish quarter.
Dinner at the hotel and overnight in Jerusalem. After dinner you may visit the Old City
with its vibrant street café’s, street musicians and many exciting shops.

Day 5           
Today we descend to the Dead Sea area through the Judean desert. We visit the fortress of  Masada, the Biblical oasis of Ein Gedi and " float" on the Dead Sea. You can even take a mud bath – Cleopatra’s secret to beauty! This is also an excellent opportunity to buy some famous Dead Sea products! After a short visit to Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were found, we continue to Eilat for dinner and overnight.

Day 6           
We cross into Jordan and visit Petra. Jordan is well known for mosaic craftsmanship. Put
on your walking shoes and explore the secrets of one of the seven ancient wonders of the
world! Dinner and overnight in Petra.  

Day 7 
We visit Mount Nebo and Medeba and we drive to sheikh Hussein Bridge to cross back to
Israel.  Dinner and overnight in our hotel in Tiberias


Day 8           
First we visit the Holy sites around the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, the Mount of Beatitudes
and the traditional place of the miracle of loaves and fishes (Tabgha). Then we visit the
Golan Heights, and one of the sources of the river Jordan and Banyas; Biblical Caesarea
Philippi .We visit the site where the river Jordan leaves the lake. We end our day with a
boat ride over the Lake (Sea of Galilee). Dinner and overnight in Tiberias


Day 9 
Today we visit the mount of transfiguration, Mount Tabor (Sanctuary of the Transfiguration
of Christ), Nazareth village, where we see how life was in the times of Jesus. We also visit
Cana where Jesus performed His first miracle. In the end we return to Tiberias to our hotel
for dinner and overnight


Day 10             
After a visit to Megiddo, biblical Armageddon to Mount Carmel we go to the traditional
site where the Prophet Elijah’s altar was. From here we continue to Caesarea where we
will see the excavations of this crusaders town.  Today we end our tour with a visit to
the old port of Jaffo, the house of Simon the tanner and we make a city tour of tell Aviv.
Dinner and overnight in Tel Aviv


Day 11 
Today we bring you back to the airport for your flight home.

Arrive in JHB
Shalom and lehitra'ot


Monday, October 11, 2010

The garden of Gethsemane

The Garden of Gethsemane is a very important place for the Christian belief.  It is here that Jesus spent His last night before He was arrested.  In Gethsemane there are huge olive trees which might suggest that it may very well be the same trees that were there, over 2 thousand years ago.

The word "Gethsemane" originates from  the Hebrew expression Gat Shemen, which means "olive press" (The Land of Jesus, Bonechi & Steimatzky, 81, 2007).  It is significant then that Jesus spent His last few hours here, since He was pressed from every side and His "soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" (Matthew 26:38).

When you stand in the midst of this Garden, you will definately be reminded of the intensity of what Jesus had to go through, for our sakes.  Amidst the beauty of the age old olive trees, lies the sorrow of what Christ had to bear.
http://www.gotquestions.org/garden-of-Gethsemane.html

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Ben Yehuda Street

In one of the fundamental ironies that defines modern Jerusalem, one is just as likely to hear English as Hebrew on the street named after the father of the revived Hebrew language, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda.

Ben Yehuda Street, most commonly referred to simply as the midrachov (pedestrian mall), is the heart of Jerusalem's downtown business district and the axis around which much of its tourist life revolves. Dozens of mostly indistinguishable gift shops, offering the ubiquitous Hebrew Coca-Cola shirts, Judaica and commemorative knickknacks, line the smoothly paved street, many still sporting the yellowing "Big Discount for Brave Tourist" signs which date back to the dark and empty days of the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

Restaurants tend toward the falafel and ice cream end of things, with only minimal holdouts from the era when Jerusalem residents crowded intimate downtown cafes. And at all times, an eclectic crowd of Jerusalemites and foreigners mill about: street musicians, self-styled prophets, Chabad emissaries behind tefillin (phylactery) tables, frosted-tipped, tight-shirted teenage Israeli peacocks, excitable Anglo girls and boys studying in a post-high school yeshiva, guitar-slinging young Korean Christian choirs singing their missionizing hearts out in a language nobody understands, grim-faced Border Police, beggars, buskers and everyone else.

At its best, Ben Yehuda conjures up everything weird and wonderful about Jerusalem; at its worst, you may find yourself wishing for a few less screaming teen girls. Net types should be pleased to discover that the entire street offers free wireless Internet access courtesy of the municipality.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Church of All Nations

The verdant northern slopes of the Mount of Olives are home to not only the ancient, olive-studded Garden of Gethsemane but also several of the most impressive churches in all Jerusalem, churches representing a broad swath of Christianity.
Among the Catholics' holdings is the Church of All Nations, a singular work of religious architecture built between 1919 and 1924 with donations from Catholic communities in dozens of countries. As way of thanks, the national symbols of each donating country were built into separate domes on the church's ceiling, lending the roof its memorably odd bubble structure.

While the Church of All Nations is relatively new, it has roots in earliest Christianity: a 4th century Byzantine basilica once stood on the site, until it was destroyed by an earthquake that ravaged Jerusalem in 746 A.D. Centuries later, a Crusader chapel was built on the site but was eventually abandoned.

Stunning mosaics adorn the facade of the church. From a distance, the luminous tiles brilliantly reflect the Middle Eastern sun. The mosaic depicts Jesus acting as a conduit between God and the nations of the world.

Inside, the windows are of tinted alabaster so that the lighting is subdued, creating a somber atmosphere. In front of the high altar is the Rock of Agony, lying flat and smoothed with the passage of time, surrounded by a crown of thorns made of wrought iron. The murmur of prayer is the only sound here; all else is silent.