Planning a Trip to Israel
Combating the Fear of Terrorism and Planning
When and Where to Travel
Traveling around Galilee is beautiful. Going to Jerusalem offers so much variety. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv also have 2-3 good museums, each.
Plan your trip in the spring or fall. Winter isn’t as pleasant and summer is too hot.
You may find staying at a Kibbutz as pleasant as a hotel, and cheaper. Galilee International Management Institute was a place I Googled just now, but I don’t think I stayed there. I was trying to find where I did stay, but I’m not sure I could identify it now, after all these years.
Life in Israel Today
Part 1, Behind and Where the Conflict Lies
Why can some Arabs live peaceably with the Jews, and others can’t? Why do the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip always hate the Jews? We don’t hear objective specifics on the news that makes sense out of all this hatred. We just hear injustices that seems to excuse and even fuel hatred. So, what really started it?
This clip explains how the problems got started. The wind is a problem so on-screen text compensates for this. We had Jewish license plates on both tour buses (both years) so we could drive through the West Bank, but we couldn’t stop. The Gaza strip, however, is a different story. We didn’t go there.
Part 2, The Problem with Sunshine and Friendliness
Aside from learning about ancient times, touring Israel offered a few other pleasantries. Every local was warm and receptive. The sun almost always shone. I was so happy to be there I always wanted to greet the locals with “Nice day out.” But this presented an odd problem.
In Eastern Canada, where I live, it rains a lot. But there it’s almost always sunny, so they take the sun for granted. I had to resist greeting locals like this because they long for rain. And I didn’t know what else to say as I greeted them. Looking back, I should’ve mentally prepared to be happy with just doing what they do, saying simply “Shalom.”
See more about the friendliness of the locals.
Places to Go on a Trip to Israel
The Israel Museum houses one of the most valuable sites for Christians to go to in Israel, the model of the first century Jerusalem. This is one of the best places to have a good tour guide as well. A local tour guide will spend more time talking about how it was made and moved from where it used to be than the different things we’d like to know as Christians.
My pictures and video footage will often show comparisons of footage from this model alongside other things.
Here are pictures of things found in museums mostly in Jerusalem, but also in Tel Aviv: a model of a stone building and dishes in the background, statues, Pilot’s name on grey stone (originally found in Caesarea Maritima), and an ancient stove surrounded by a low, stone wall.
Next you’ll find a few things you could experience to help with envisioning the Bible world, like seeing animals at the “Biblical Zoo”, the empty tomb, riding camels and walking in an underground stone tunnel.
Here you’ll find more things of interest: the Valley of Ellah (where David fought Goliath), the Dead Sea Scrolls, a view of the top of Mount Carmel (where Elijah called down fire on the sacrifices) and one of the numerous boats tourists can ride on Galilee.
The “Jesus Boat” is a fascinating little museum that won’t take you long to go through, by the “Sea of Galilee” or what is now known as Lake Tiberias (also Lake Gennesaret or Lake Kinneret). It mostly features how they preserved it, which was a very elaborately planned and executed strategy. It dates to Christ’s era which is why they call it the “Jesus boat.”
The most interesting fact about this boat is its flat bottom, which would allow the fishermen to pull it up onto shore easier. Galilee can get so rough at times, it was the only way to protect their investment. But flat-bottomed boats are much more tipsy than a boat with a deep, even keel. So their fishing ventures were all the more hazardous.
Neot Kedumim offers a wonderful nature walk where there are some sheep, donkeys, plants and trees with signs referring to Old Testament verses, etc. This is more for those who like exercise, flora, and/or for serious students of the Bible time eras.
Booking ahead, you can probably get a guide on-site to spend time explaining different things to you (of course, for a price).
I bought 3 books from Neot Kedumim which were written by one of its founders: Nature in Our Biblical Heritage, Tree and Shrub in Our Biblical Heritage. and Desert and Shepherd in Our Biblical Heritage. I’m glad I did, and quote from them a little in my blogs.
Most of the rest of the places I’d recommend will be covered in the numerous documentary links found referenced under the main menu option “Tour Israel.” Also, a few other options to consider are:
Other Ideas for Planning a Trip to Israel
You can go as a volunteer to help the Biblical Archaeology Society with one of their organized digs. This will make you more familiar with the hands-on experience as an archaeologist. But you will also be less familiar with the many other aspects of ancient life covered in a guided tour.
It is more back-breaking and tedious to keep sifting through dirt trying to find bits of bone and clay pot shards. But you will be in Israel for more after-hours relaxation, culture and perhaps even site-seeing, as well. You’ll get lots of sun tan and go through lots of lotion!
You may feel you should go to Israel to work with an organization like Bridges for Peace. This organization seeks to address the current conflicts going on in Israel and reaching people for Christ. Their vision is to have Christians and Jews working side by side for the greater good in various ways.
Also Friends of Israel offers tours in Israel by hiring a local tour guide, and this is the organization I went with the first time. They have a mandate for reaching Israel in the face of so much opposition against Israel as a nation and as a people.
The above pictures of the first century Jerusalem were found online:
The first century model of Jerusalem were captured from this video of the First Century of the Jerusalem temple, also at: https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x1502d7ce0705a587%3A0x748e59f4740b0f83!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPv07MNxLJ2WyyHTVDiaXa8vlKfdM3dkIHUOikv%3Dw396-h223-k-no!5sisrael%20museum%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipNlBh9cC5Mrr12cVYB83vymLu81CBSHC5mvh9tX&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZjMD7lJ_4AhWgq4kEHRR4AgoQoip6BAhvEAM
The map of the first century Jerusalem: https://bible-history.com/jerusalem
Where I got the above pictures from:
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envisionbibleworld.com
Tour Israel by remote through my website with a Christian archaeologist. Find pictures, video clips and information to envision the Bible world better.
This stuff is great! Check it out, about half an hour but real interesting
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted. I read this book recently & enjoyed it as much as Joachim Jeremias, which says a lot :)
www.biblicalarchaeology.org/reviews/jesus-last-night-with-his-disciples/
www.biblicalarchaeology.org/reviews/jesus-last-night-with-his-disciples/
I like AI (Artificial Intelligence) improving my pictures in my blogs, although I hope in the future it can improve them more. AI is recent technology & usually the 1st versions of anything improves with time. I never liked pictures of Jesus for a few reasons (i.e. accuracy is only 1 reason), but would like them better if his face was mostly hidden by the angle &/or his clothing. Yet I felt I needed pictures to display what my blogs were about. So I look forward to improving this in time.
So it turned out to be too much this year for my student to get my recent research database available online, we went back to the demo from up-to 2016 research again. Perhaps if I get 1-2 real good student next year it may be within reach now, but I'm content with researching off-line & with hopes my programmer/friend will find time to do it eventually.
Check out my YouTube Account (www.youtube.com/@tourisrael). Just keep in mind the YouTube Account play lists are still under construction as of July 6, 2024, which will soon show all my documentary links. You may want to check out my trailer for the documentary, too:
Did you read your Bible lately?
Heather, May 2023
