Big Day, Big Dig...Can You Dig It?

On Sunday, we visited with Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC). Ms. Hoffman explained that there is no Hebrew word for "pluralism", which speaks to Israel's parochial views on religious and civil matters. There is no separation between "church" and state here, and religious matters are governed by Orthodox officials. The IRAC works to advocate for non-Orthodox Jews in Israel, as well as for gays and lesbians.

Our next and last stop in Jerusalem was the Theodore Herzl Museum, which is a multimedia experience that puts visitors in Herzl's place in late 1800s Vienna, where we felt the anti-Semitism he did. We then traced his steps in establishing the World Zionist Congress that led to the State of Israel 50 years later.

We file in among World Zionist Congress participants.

We left Jerusalem behind, on winding roads down mountain passes, and saw the millions of trees planted by JNF over many years. Still, the central and southern parts of Israel are stony and arid. Next was the "big dig," and hands-on opportunity to explore underground rooms holding many artifacts from the ancient city of Maresha, from the Hellenistic (Hanukah) era 2,200 years ago. Like a good day fishing, we quickly came up on broken vessels and hards of pottery, followed by a tunneling adventure.

Serena Newburger digs for ancient artifacts.

Ellen Halfon (above) and husband Rick Leibovich (below) climb through underground tunnels in the Maresha archaeological dig.

We discovered that Sally the Camel has one hump, when we alighted these biblical vehicles at Kfar Ha-Nokdim in the Judean Desert. Later, we learned about the Bedouin lifestyle, and feasted on a delicious communal meal sans silverware!

Steve Wexberg and Anita Rothschild ride a camel.

Dinner, Bedouin style.

Off to bed, as we will wake up at 4:00am, when we make our way to a sunrise climb up Masada.