Middle East Memoirs: Day 5

Date: Monday, April 4
Location: Egypt/Israel Border, Israel Wilderness, The Dead Sea
Temperature: Mildly hot with a cool breeze
Excitement Level: *****
New Discoveries: The Dead Sea is indeed salty. I do not recommend rubbing water on one's lips "just to see".

So, this morning as I was waking up in a Hilton hotel on the Red Sea after a two day climb up and down Mt. Sinai,...

Sorry. It never gets old. I'm looking forward to subtlely interjecting a plethora of trip comments into everyday casual conversations. "I know what you mean. This one time, on Mt. Sinai..." or "Haha! Hilarious! That reminds me of a conversation I was having once with a friend as we were swimming in the Red Sea..."

Speaking of the Red Sea...

Here it is!


The water is so clear, you can see your feet. I collected come red rocks from the bottom as part of my souvenir. I have a vision. It involves sand from the Sea of Galilee, rocks from other major Biblical bodies of water, a mini-scrapbook, and an apothecary jar. I think we can all see where I'm going with this. And if not, get with the program. Or read a recent Better Homes and Gardens magazine.


We left Egypt early in the morning and spent about an hour and a half going through Israeli customs. Being from Lynden, I don't get border nerves. Crossing the border around here is like stopping for a coffee. It's what we do. It's NOT what the Israelis do. You can't just simply walk up to the counter with your suitcase heavy laden with rocks and say, "Hi! My name is Emily, and I'm here on a Bible tour! Have a good day! Shalom!"

Nope. Not how it works.

First, we need to get permission from the Egyptian government to leave. Your bags are scanned as you walk through security. With a clickity-clack and a stampety-stamp, you're free to go.

Then, you make your way over to Israeli customs. Note: Dragging one's suitcase through the headache that is Middle Eastern security is NOT easy if a back wheel has broken off somewhere between Cairo and the Sinai wilderness. This is especially stressful if one's 4-wheeled Samsonite spinner suitcase is already a tripod due to a front wheel snapping off somewhere between Seattle and Sioux Falls. Therefore, I had one wheel in the front and one in the back. This meant that I needed to balance a 50 pound suitcase on two wheels while dragging a smaller, carry-on Samsonite spinner suitcase behind me. Awesome. There is no shalom in that. But I digress.

We make our way over to Israeli customs. We show our passport to Agent #1. Then we walk into a waiting area where we wait in line to tell Agent #2 who we are, where we're going, why we're going there, what we're planning on doing there, how long we plan to be there, and what we plan on naming our first born. If you said a Biblical name, you were good. Kidding. But there were a lot of questions.

THEN, we took our bags through more security. And it was there that yours truly learned a valuable lesson in Israeli Customs Etiquette. Never, EVER, put your bag on the security belt before an agent instructs you to. Whoopsie. That will be very valuable information next time I visit Israel.

After you regain consciousness, wait for Agent #3 to wave her hand as an instruction that it is now OK to place your two-wheeler-former-four-wheeler-spinner-Samsonite-suitcase on the security belt. And show her your passport as you walk through the full body scanner. And I'm kidding about the regaining consciousness part. Though, if looks could kill...

Proceed to one of two open counters and answer more questions regarding your coming and going and names of your future children. Wait for the sound of the stampety-stamp, and you are officially welcomed into the country of Israel.

I can feel the shalom.

Once everyone was through security, we hopped onto our new Israeli bus and headed for our first hike of the day.

Southern Israel very much resembles Egypt. Hot, dry, and deserty. Is that even a word? Deserty? You get my drift. It's very desert-like.


On our way to mystery mountain, we drove past this sign:

Uh oh. Paradise. It was about this time in our ride that the investments in the back of the bus began scanning the horizon line for white 1984 Toyota Land Cruisers.

The bus pulled over in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, we always pulled over in the middle of nowhere. We gathered our 2-liter water bottles and hit the trail.

Our Rabbi. Gotta love that man.

Our hiking on Day 5 was, for the most part, flat and fast. My calves have never been happier.

We made our way through the wilderness and stumbled across this:

Well, looky hear! A tabernacle! In the middle of the desert! I feel a faith lesson coming on...

Now, I think it goes without saying, that this isn't "the" tabernacle from the Old Testament, but I'm going to say it anyway. The above picture is not "the" tabernacle from the Old Testament. It's a replica. And a pretty darn good one, if I do say so myself.

Now, picture the tabernacle in the middle of an Israelite encampment. There were twelve tribes wandering in the desert. All twelve tribes would have set up camp around the tabernacle with the tribe of Judah leading in the front, and the tribe of Dan bringing up the rear. I could say something really sassy here about a certain "Dan", but I will refrain from all sassy comments. And I am now biting my fist. Moving on...

God said, "Build a tabernacle so I can dwell among them."

Among. God wants to be in the midst of his people. His Word is not from on high. He wants to be in the middle. He wants to be among his people.

The altar.

The blood on the altar is not to please God. The blood on the altar is our way of asking God to remember His covenant to His children.

A mikvah or ritual bath. Priests needed to wash before entering the priests' court. Jesus made a reference to the priests' court at the Last Supper as he washed his disciples' feet. Peter protested and said, "No, wash all of me!" Jesus told him, "Only your feet and hands need washing." Just like the priests in the tabernacle and the temple. Jesus is making us into his royal priesthood.

The Ark of the Covenant.

Inside the Ark of the Covenant, were the Israelites' most treasured possessions. The Ark of the Covenant, the presence of God, carried them through the wilderness. We don't carry God. God carries us.

After hiking back to the bus, we headed for the Galilee. And on our way there, we witnessed something that no other group in the history of Rabbi George's teachings has ever witnessed...

A wadi washout.

Now before you release a large *SIGH* because all you see is water coming over the road, let me inform you of just how little it EVER rains here. The Pacific Northwest can receive as much rain in 2-3 days that Israel will see in a year. A YEAR, PEOPLE. And we were visiting near the end of the rainy season. Yes, they have a rainy season. If you blink, you'll miss it. So anyway, it started to rain! On one side of the bus, we had a beautiful rainbow. And on the other, water. Water rushing through the wadis. It was unbelievable.





We arrived at our first Israel Hotel named....wait for it....the Isrotel (clever, huh.) in plenty of time to grab our bags, change into our suits, and hit....wait for it....The Dead Sea. And unlike the Red Sea, most people joined us wild Lyndenites for this little dip. Well, honestly, how could you not! It's THE DEAD SEA, people!

What a good lookin' bunch of floaters. I did say to myself, "If I go in and DON'T float, I'm going to drown myself." Lucky I didn't have to follow through on that. Phew! That was a close one.


Tomorrow, we're going on another hike up a mountain. A mountain with stairs. And since I'm writing this AFTER the fact, you all know that I survived. Again, it was a close one.

Until tomorrow...