Given the recent events in Israel, the story I'm about to tell isn't quite as amusing as I thought when it originally happened. I'm going to tell it anyways.
Two Thursdays ago, we ventured into the West Bank on a tour organized by a colleague of mine. The intent of the trip was multi-fold: to visit Herodyan, try to find a drilling company, philanthropy, and treasure hunting.
Herodyan is supposed to be a great site to see, and so Jana and Atom came along too. And adventure we had.
It started with a group of two cars crossing into the Israeli controlled area of the West Bank. We first had to pick up two main characters of the story at their village (might be considered a settlement by some). Meet Miro. Miro is some sort of security head for areas in the Judean Desert. He's an expert in desert survival and combat, providing training to military special forces including the US. For that day, he was our unofficial tour guide.
Meet also David. David is a self-proclaimed archeolgical scholar. And one of the main reasons for this trip was for me to meet with him. Ok, well not necessarily him. I was supposed to meet with someone who had worked with Wendell Jones. Now Mr. Jones, also called Indiana Jones by some, was in search of the treasures of the Second Temple for quite some time. He unfortunately died at the end of last year before I had a chance to meet him. It was thought by my colleague who arranged this trip and Miro that given my knowledge of rock-penetrating measuring instruments, I may be able to help in locating some of the archelogical treasures that may be hidden in the Qumran caves as described in the Copper Scroll. Anyways, the original person I was to meet couldn't make it (former Mousad operative), and David was asked to substitute. More on this in a bit.
In the village we were first asked to visit the synagogue. There a Rabi explained how he wanted to expand the synagogue such that one could see the top of the Dome of the Rock from the second floor. It would be the only synagogue that had such a view. He also had a theory that linked old Judea (present day west bank) with the shape of a fetus. For instance Bethelem was at the mouth and "lechem" is hebrew for bread. Another was that Hebron was at the center of the head and Hebron meant something in some language, and many other connections of those sorts. That particular part of the trip was intended for my colleague with a small fortune. I'm not sure if he was convince to contribute though.
From there we drove into the Judean Desert. We drove past a few Palestinian Villages and many goat herds. We were in the middle of nowhere, but it was beautiful.
During the car ride, I spoke with David. Like I said before, David had worked previously with Wendell Jones. His claims though were quite interesting to say the least. First, he believed the Arc of the Covenent is still in a sealed vault in the First Temple and that only politics were keeping us from uncovering it. He also thought the Arc was ancient technology for controllin
Now, we were also out looking for some drilling rigs that Miro had spotted and relayed back to my colleague. We thought it would be useful to see who was doing the drilling and maybe have them work with us. So in the middle of the Judean Desert we found the wellsite. It turns out these were water wells being drilled for the Palestinian Authority courtesy of USAID. It was nice to see my US tax dollars at work. They were drilling 6 other water wells in the area.
From there we headed back out with hopes of reaching Herodyan. The lead car though was driving quite fast. Rather than speed to catch up on the very winding roads, I went slow and took in the scenery. I thought I new the way back but very soon, the scenery didn't look so familiar. I didn't remember being in such a dense Palestinian village. I didn't remember seeing so many Palestinians staring at us so awkwardly. When I made it to the mosque, I admitted to the car, "I have no clue where I am." I had two Israeli's in the car along with Jana and Atom. The Israeli's made comments such as "I don't like the way they're staring at us" and "I'd feel safer if I had a gun." Surprisingly, Jana said she wasn't scared. And we couldn't get cellphone signal to reach the lead car. Rather than stop to ask direction from the locals, I did the manly thing and simply turned back around. We could not however high tail it out as we ended up being stuck behind a school bus. So we slowly left the village, stop by stop.
We finally left the village and met up with the lead car waiting for us at the Zone A entry point. Little did we know that we had entered Zone A, areas of the West Bank that are under Palestinian controlled and illegal for Israeli's to enter. Afterwards, I googled Zone A and found that the signs marking the beginning of Zone A generally stated: This way leads to Area 'A' located in control of the Palestinian Authority. Entrance of Israeli citizens into Area 'A' is forbidden, life-endangering, and a criminal offense. I thought that was pretty cool. I'm sure the two Israeli's in the car didn't.
After that we finally made it to Herodyan. For being 2000 years old, it's amazing what has remained intact. There are also a series of tunnels used by the Jews in the various revolts to launch sneak attacks on the Romans. The little dude thoroughly enjoyed it.
Two Thursdays ago, we ventured into the West Bank on a tour organized by a colleague of mine. The intent of the trip was multi-fold: to visit Herodyan, try to find a drilling company, philanthropy, and treasure hunting.
Herodyan is supposed to be a great site to see, and so Jana and Atom came along too. And adventure we had.
It started with a group of two cars crossing into the Israeli controlled area of the West Bank. We first had to pick up two main characters of the story at their village (might be considered a settlement by some). Meet Miro. Miro is some sort of security head for areas in the Judean Desert. He's an expert in desert survival and combat, providing training to military special forces including the US. For that day, he was our unofficial tour guide.
Meet also David. David is a self-proclaimed archeolgical scholar. And one of the main reasons for this trip was for me to meet with him. Ok, well not necessarily him. I was supposed to meet with someone who had worked with Wendell Jones. Now Mr. Jones, also called Indiana Jones by some, was in search of the treasures of the Second Temple for quite some time. He unfortunately died at the end of last year before I had a chance to meet him. It was thought by my colleague who arranged this trip and Miro that given my knowledge of rock-penetrating measuring instruments, I may be able to help in locating some of the archelogical treasures that may be hidden in the Qumran caves as described in the Copper Scroll. Anyways, the original person I was to meet couldn't make it (former Mousad operative), and David was asked to substitute. More on this in a bit.
In the village we were first asked to visit the synagogue. There a Rabi explained how he wanted to expand the synagogue such that one could see the top of the Dome of the Rock from the second floor. It would be the only synagogue that had such a view. He also had a theory that linked old Judea (present day west bank) with the shape of a fetus. For instance Bethelem was at the mouth and "lechem" is hebrew for bread. Another was that Hebron was at the center of the head and Hebron meant something in some language, and many other connections of those sorts. That particular part of the trip was intended for my colleague with a small fortune. I'm not sure if he was convince to contribute though.
From there we drove into the Judean Desert. We drove past a few Palestinian Villages and many goat herds. We were in the middle of nowhere, but it was beautiful.
During the car ride, I spoke with David. Like I said before, David had worked previously with Wendell Jones. His claims though were quite interesting to say the least. First, he believed the Arc of the Covenent is still in a sealed vault in the First Temple and that only politics were keeping us from uncovering it. He also thought the Arc was ancient technology for controllin
Now, we were also out looking for some drilling rigs that Miro had spotted and relayed back to my colleague. We thought it would be useful to see who was doing the drilling and maybe have them work with us. So in the middle of the Judean Desert we found the wellsite. It turns out these were water wells being drilled for the Palestinian Authority courtesy of USAID. It was nice to see my US tax dollars at work. They were drilling 6 other water wells in the area.
From there we headed back out with hopes of reaching Herodyan. The lead car though was driving quite fast. Rather than speed to catch up on the very winding roads, I went slow and took in the scenery. I thought I new the way back but very soon, the scenery didn't look so familiar. I didn't remember being in such a dense Palestinian village. I didn't remember seeing so many Palestinians staring at us so awkwardly. When I made it to the mosque, I admitted to the car, "I have no clue where I am." I had two Israeli's in the car along with Jana and Atom. The Israeli's made comments such as "I don't like the way they're staring at us" and "I'd feel safer if I had a gun." Surprisingly, Jana said she wasn't scared. And we couldn't get cellphone signal to reach the lead car. Rather than stop to ask direction from the locals, I did the manly thing and simply turned back around. We could not however high tail it out as we ended up being stuck behind a school bus. So we slowly left the village, stop by stop.
We finally left the village and met up with the lead car waiting for us at the Zone A entry point. Little did we know that we had entered Zone A, areas of the West Bank that are under Palestinian controlled and illegal for Israeli's to enter. Afterwards, I googled Zone A and found that the signs marking the beginning of Zone A generally stated: This way leads to Area 'A' located in control of the Palestinian Authority. Entrance of Israeli citizens into Area 'A' is forbidden, life-endangering, and a criminal offense. I thought that was pretty cool. I'm sure the two Israeli's in the car didn't.
After that we finally made it to Herodyan. For being 2000 years old, it's amazing what has remained intact. There are also a series of tunnels used by the Jews in the various revolts to launch sneak attacks on the Romans. The little dude thoroughly enjoyed it.
you're very open minded. Also, I'm not sure that it's completely crazy to imagine that at least some Palestinians were Jews before converting. The history there is complicated. Next time, maybe go to the West Bank without the settlers in tow...
ReplyDeleteLordy! Lordy! Would you please think of the safety of your son and wife?! My very first and very precious Grandson and only daughter!!! I'm sure you enjoyed the venture, as you always seem to like anything exciting, and I admire for that BUT, be careful with your family in tow. I have enough to worry about with the other family in Tokyo and their radiation problems. I would only feel safe if Harold is with you when you take Makai and Makell.
ReplyDeleteLots of love,
Mom/Oma