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| The Leonardo Hotel |
Meet Rolley
Where is Daren?
Hello, Ala!
Bus ride to Haifa
The Leonardo
Mediterranean Beach
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| Mediterranean Beach By Leonardo Hotel |
Kelly's notes Bus Ride to Haifa-day 2
We arrived at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. Naomi was stopped by guards as she was ‘suspicious-looking’. They let Kelly stay with her but they told
Jerri and Mike to ‘move along, it wasn’t their business ’. Uum, okay now we were worried. They wanted to know how long we were staying
and how many were in our group—at that point we were still unsure, about 20. Guess we weren't too interesting after all.
On the bus Rolly explained
where we were and where we were going, got out THE MAP. We would be traveling
north along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea toward Haifa, the third largest city.
Israel is about as big as New Jersey.
Jericho is the lowest point
on earth.
Lydda city is very near here. Acts 9:32 “And it came to pass, as
Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt
at Lydda.”
In Joppa, which is nigh to Lydda, a certain disciple named Tabitha,
which by interpretation is called Dorcas, was sick and died (Acts 9:36-42). Peter came and raises her—and he gave her his
hand and lifted her up (vs. 41). Symbol: raised up with right hand as
life will be breathed back into us at the resurrection.
This miracle has happened in
our day. Lorenzo Snow was at a
conference when he was made aware that a young woman had died. He could not get away at once. An hour later he came and blessed her and
then returned to his meetings at the conference. Two hours later she sat up and asked for a
glass of water.
It is here in Joppa, that Peter has the vision about
unclean things and that the gospel is to go to all the world. Cornelius, a centurion and a devout man, has
a vision and is told to send for Peter.
And so the mission to the Gentiles begins.
Jonah was called to preach
to Nineveh while he lived in Joppa.
It is the only record in the Old Testament of a mission to the Gentiles.
Joppa was a very important port in biblical times.
Joppa
(Joffa) is the oldest port in the
world, it is now Tel Aviv. When the Jews started coming back in mass
they landed in Joppa. It as crowded and
noisy and there were too many people.
They wanted more space. 66
families bought beach land and divided it into 66 plots. They made it into a town modeled after the
English towns. They wanted a good name. They
chose ‘Tel’ which is an archaeological mound of layer upon layer of civilizations, very old, and ‘Aviv’ which means spring or new.
8 million people in
Israel=5.7m. Jewish 1.3/4m Arabs the rest are others. 70 o/o
of Jews are not religious. Groups in
Israel are: Jews Muslims, Arabs, and Druze.
Ben Gurion, the ‘Father of Israel’, is the first
Prime Minister.
Theodore Hertzel started the spark in the 1860’s. He was
an Austrian Jew. He wrote how they Jews
need to go back to their homeland to fulfill their purpose. This is referred to as Zionism. He wrote many books. Interesting to note that Orson Hyde
dedicated Israel in 1840’s. There is a
Zionist group today but it means different things.
The day begins when the sun
goes down.
Jewish holidays go by lunar calendar
and by seasons.
Tomorrow is a festival where
kids will light bon fires, families will walk on the beach, go swimming and
tell stories. The celebration is for
remembrance of a miracle. Between
Passover and Shabalo (?)(Pentecost or the feast of harvest), there are 55 days.
It is a time of mourning. There are no
weddings, except on day 33. On that day they
celebrate something that happened 2000 years ago. There was a plague and on day 33 there was a
break from it. And so tomorrow is that day.
Most power is from coal. Recently discovered gas, so things are changing.
Independence Day is May 14
celebrates 65 years. This country has
grown very much in spite of challenges.
It is in the difficulties that the triumphs are found.
Rolly will use the word ‘tradition’
a lot. It will describe where they think
things have happened.
Rough history: 70AD: Temple
destroyed by Romans (desecrated by Greeks but destroyed by Romans).
135AD: Jews thrown out of area as there was too much
revolting against the Romans. (Think Spartacus/gladiators/Ben Hur).
Third century: ‘Christianity’
becomes a religion. Constantine’s mother
converts and tells him to become a Christian.
Her name is Helena. She looks
for all the places which were sites of religious importance.
The Jews are very good at
finding legal ways to break the law. For
example they aren't allowed to count people, so they count shirts. They are not allowed to raise pigs on land—so
they built platforms and raise the pigs on the platforms. This will be a reoccurring theme.
---Kelly
feel free to correct any mistakes/spelling and add anything you remember.
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