First Month: Beginnings

Shalom from Israel :)

  

View of the coastline from the plane coming into Israel

I've now been living in Haifa for a month, which is hard to believe. The first few weeks were mostly training, a trip to the south, ulpan (Hebrew lessons), and getting to know the area and people I'm living with. I live in an apartment with four roommates on Mt. Carmel.

 

The view from my apartment balcony in Haifa - day & night :)

 

At an overlook near the top of the B'hai Gardens in Haifa

The trip to the south included driving through the Negev. We visited the Mizpe Ramon (place where a meteor struck the earth) visitors center, and saw the exhibit about Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut as well as an exhibit about “Machtesh Ramon” and its unique nature life.
From there we continued to Kibbutz Ketora, where Bill from the kibbutz explained to us about the Kibbutz, and Sharon (also from the kibbutz) gave us a taste of being a Kibbutz member.
On the second day we traveled to the dunes in the desert and had a silent experience after hearing a bit about the dunes. From there we hiked in the Red canyon and finished with a short visit to Eilat.

 

Overlook at Mizpe Ramon visitors center of the crater below.

The dunes in the desert

Hiking Red Canyon

  

 A view from the drive to Eilat

 

 A week or so before my internship began, I went to a meeting at tel Afeq where I talked with the team about my job of photographing archaeological national parks sites for documentation and future reconstruction (if needed). We took some photos at Afeq to "practice," and then I went to Tel Aviv and ate at Tsvika's apartment. Tsvika is my boss, senior archaeologist with the INPA (Israel Nature and Parks Authority) who I know from digging at Gezer in the past.

 

Tel Afeq ((תל אפק - bottom part is the ancient site, the higher is the crusader castle. I visited this site last summer when we came to store equipment from our dig. Tel Afeq, or Aphek, is mentioned in the Bible in Joshua 19:30 and Judges 1:31, as the inheritance of the Tribe of Asher. The place was given to Hiram I by Solomon as a gift for help in building the First Temple (1 Kings 9:12). The site includes structures from the Chalcolithic Age, as well as from the Middle and Late Bronze ages. Pottery has been excavated from Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine times, as well as Crusader times. The Hospitalliers owned water mills here, and had a dispute between 1235-1262 with the Templars about the water. This site includes the Ein Afeq nature reserve as well. 

 

 In Tsvika's study

 

I caught a great view of the beach sunset at Hof HaCarmel when I came back to Haifa that night! 

There have been many travel adventures so far, both with work and other things. Before our trip to the Negev, we were told to get water and food for the trip, but since it was Shabbat we had to go down the mountain (there is a larger Arab population further down, so more is open; in our area it is a larger Jewish population and stores are closed on Shabbat). My roommate and I walked down and up the mountain, which was beneficial to see the area, but coming back up was unexpectedly difficult!

Another time, I had to find a cell phone store to get my plan and a friend came with me, and it ended up taking four hours with bad directions by both the bus drivers and the gps. I'm taking public transportation a lot, so one day when I traveled to Korazim I had some trouble, but after that I was an expert.

Some people from Tel Aviv came to visit one weekend for Shabbat and we showed them around Haifa, and went to Bat Galim beach:

 

 

A friend from the beach 

Another thing we do here is Tuesday trips. The first was Haifa, and we toured the Baha'i Gardens and went into the shrine as well as seeing street art in Haifa neighborhoods. The Baha'i Gardens, with the shrine to the Bab, are here but Baha'i is not prevalent in Haifa as a religion. However, Haifa is a place unique in Israel because it is very inclusive. Here are some photos of the gardens:

        

On the job, I began with a visit to Belvior Fortress before beginning my time photographing Korazim. Belvior Fortress is 12 miles south of the sea of Galilee and along the trade route to Damascus.

 Belvoir Fortress, which I visited and will photograph soon! This site includes more Crusader history, which I will include in a future post!

 

I finished photographing Korazim and have been working on organizing and editing photos. 

"The town of Korazim is first mentioned in sources from the Second Temple period, noting the fine wheat the inhabitants raised there. It flourished at the end of the talmudic period. In the New Testament, Korazim is mentioned as one of three towns – together with Bethsaida and Capernaum – which Jesus cursed because they did not heed his teachings (Matt. 11:20).
The beautiful synagogue at Korazim, built at the end of the fourth century or the beginning of the fifth century CE, is made of basalt, the region's most common stone, carved in geometric, floral and faunal patterns. Many present-day visitors use the synagogue for Bar Mitzvah ceremonies and weddings.
Also found was a carved basalt seat, for the community's most respected members, known in the ancient sources as the Moses Seat, bearing an Aramaic inscription. The ancient ritual bath has been reconstructed near the synagogue, along with two large dwellings and an olive press.
There is also a Bedouin sheikh's tomb at Korazim." (Source: http://www.parks.org.il/sites/English/ParksAndReserves/korazim/Pages/default.aspx)

 

Find the coneys in the rocks at Korazim! There are a lot of them just staring at me! :) 

The second Tuesday trip was Tel Aviv, and I went to Yafo by myself instead of going with the group since it's my favorite place:

 

This coming week I will be photographing Bet Shearim (http://www.parks.org.il/sites/English/ParksAndReserves/betshearim/Pages/default.aspx), which I am really excited about because it includes a lot of Jewish history following the destruction of the Second Temple. It is traditionally the place where Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi (Judah the Patriarch), the codifier of the Mishnah, is buried, among other notable historical Jews, and includes many caves with tombs as well as inscriptions, and carvings of menorahs and more...so watch for photos and info on a future post!