{"id":640,"date":"2016-12-12T22:06:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T22:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/12\/cana-bet-alfa-saynagogue-bet-shean-roman-town-bethlehem-and-jerusalem\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T04:59:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T04:59:44","slug":"cana-bet-alfa-saynagogue-bet-shean-roman-town-bethlehem-and-jerusalem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/12\/cana-bet-alfa-saynagogue-bet-shean-roman-town-bethlehem-and-jerusalem\/","title":{"rendered":"Cana, Bet Alfa SAynagogue, Bet Shean Roman Town, Bethlehem and Jerusalem"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\nNov 23, Wed: <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\nCana-Bet Alfa Synagogue, Beit Shean Roman Town, Bethlehem,
\nJerusalem.<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span><\/span><\/b>We
\nhad our last buffet breakfast in Hotel
\nGalei Kinneret<\/i> in Tiberius as we piled our baggage back into Moti\u2019s van. We
\nwould be leaving the area to make our way towards Jerusalem where we would
\nspend the next three nights in another hotel. However, we did stop at many
\nplaces of significance before we arrived in Jerusalem.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nArrival in Cana and Visit to the
\n\u2018Wedding Church\u2019:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>The first stop of the day was the
\nsmall town of Cana where Jesus is said to have performed his first public
\nmiracle\u2014the Changing of Water into Wine at the Wedding Feast. A church has been
\nbuilt at this spot and, to reach it, you need to park quite a distance away and
\nfind your way on foot to the entrance. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Like most of the churches in Israel,
\nthis one is built of stone. Its fa\u00e7ade is Portuguese in conception for it has a
\nwide three-arched entry portico, a balcony over it and twin steeples that flank
\na statue of Christ at the very center. When we arrived, first thing in the
\nmorning, we found masses of people in the small front yard of the church.
\nInside, the altar is distinctive for two things: the lovely painted altarpiece
\ndepicting Jesus at the Wedding Feast being approached by his mother who
\nrequested his help when the wine ran out. The second aspect is the lovely stone
\njars that were and are still used to store wine in the Middle East that are
\nplaced high on the altar as decoration and as a means of recalling Jesus\u2019
\nextraordinary powers. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Downstairs in the crypt, reached by
\nflights of stairs, we saw a wine jar of the kind that might have been used
\nduring the original wedding feast. It was enclosed in a glass showcase which
\nleads visitors to believe that it might have been one of the originals that
\nheld the water that was converted to wine. However, there are no signs to
\nindicate this at all. A few steps up, one comes across the ruins of the home in
\nwhich the wedding feast took place\u2014now preserved under a glass floor. We did
\nnot get to hear Mass in this church and we were amazed by the vast numbers of
\npeople that came and went as the morning flew by.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>All along the route to the church,
\nthere are wine vendors selling wine and other souvenirs that commemorate the
\nmiracle. Taking back wine from Cana as gifts is a common occurrence but
\nsurprisingly none of the members of our group bought any.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nOff to Beit Alfa Synagogue and Hefzi
\nBah Kibbutz:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Our next stop was at the Beit Alfa
\nSynagogue which dates back to the 6th<\/sup> century BC and which is
\ndistinctive for an incredibly well-preserved large mosaic floor. This treasure
\nwas unearthed in the 1920s when the members of the Hefzi Bah Kibbutz were
\ndigging an irrigation channel to water their plantations. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>We watched a really wonderful film
\nthat explained the finding of the mosaic and the history of its creation.
\nAttributed to one Marianos and his son Aninas (Hanina), it depicts the bust of a
\ncentral female figure surrounded by the signs of the zodiac\u2014a deeply
\nrevolutionary idea for its time (being pagan in its conception). In other
\npanels, the mosaic depicts the sacrifice of Isaac as well as other aspects of
\nthe Torah that were well-known to the Jews of that era. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>The Beit Alfa antiquities are
\nsmack-bang in the middle of the Hefzi Bah Kibbutz\u2014which is a uniquely Israeli
\ncultural concept of communal living. It was initiated in the late 19th<\/sup>
\ncentury in an attempt to bring members of the Jewish community together in
\nshared labor. Mainly agricultural, kibbutzes still function all over Israel.
\nThey offer permanent or temporary stays for Jews who wish to contribute their
\nlabor in exchange for their keep. I was hoping that we could take a walking
\ntour of the kibbutz, but all we managed was a short drive in and out of the place
\nthat gave us a glimpse of cows in the barn and the milking sheds through which
\nthe kibbutz keeps itself commercially afloat. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nExploring the Ancient City of Bet
\nShean:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>We next drove to Bet Shean National
\nPark for more glimpses of archeological excavations in Israel and the treasures
\nthat they have thrown up. To my enormous surprise, once we passed by the
\nentrance, I found myself in a whole excavated city such as the ones I had seen
\nat Delos in Greece and Pompeii in Italy. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nKnown
\nas Scythopolis and excavated in the 1960\u2019s, the site offers a very good glimpse
\ninto the kind of thriving city that existed before Christ\u2019s birth. Of
\nparticular interest was the main road or Palladius Way flanked by columns\u2014all
\nthat remains of the grand forum which would have had shops doing thriving trade
\non either side of the thoroughfare. We also saw an excavated semi-circular
\namphitheater (similar to the one we saw in Caesarea) that has been retained in
\nits original condition with no attempt made to refurbish it. The remaining
\ncolumns on the stage and at the sides give indications of the lively theatrical
\nperformances that would have been held here. It reminded me very much of the
\none I saw in Taormina in Sicily recently. We then moved on to the Bath House\u2014a
\nvery important part of Roman cultural life when baths were weekly communal
\nactivities. We saw the solarium (ingeniously heated by the presence of upturned
\nterracotta pots which would have been filled with water and left to heat up in
\nthe sun), the frigidarium or cold pool into which bathers would take a brief
\nplunge and then the sauna area in which they would sweat all the toxins from
\ntheir bodies. The classical ruins offered wonderful photo ops\u2014we took several
\nwith fallen Corinthian columns with their elaborate acanthus leaf motifs behind
\nus\u2014a result of the successive earthquakes that downed many of the ancient
\nstructures. Finally, one of the most intriguing parts of the ruined Roman town
\nwere the public latrines\u2014we had been made familiar with the concept of public
\ndefecating in Caesarea and we saw the same concept here too. People sat in rows
\nwith no doors to offer privacy. At Bet Shean, they had running waters and an
\nimpressive sanitation system for we saw water faucets in the shape of lion\u2019s
\nmouths and stone basins into which the water flowed with waste taken directly
\ntowards the sea. Overall, Bet Shean offered a wonderful opportunity to linger
\nin the vast acreage of an excavated city that would have been a prosperous
\nthriving town in ancient times and which offered us a glimpse into the
\nlifestyle and culture of the ancient Romans.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nLunch at Caf\u00e9 Caf\u00e9 <\/i>and Entry into Jerusalem:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>We stopped en route at a small caf\u00e9
\ncalled  <\/span>Caf\u00e9 Cafe<\/i> where we ordered coffee, cool
\ndrinks, salads and sandwiches for lunch before we undertook the long drive to
\nJerusalem.     <\/span>    <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>We had a whole lot of traffic when entering
\nJerusalem after a fairly long drive. It was quite difficult for me to look at
\nthe miles of barbed wire barricades everywhere and the walls snaking their way
\nthroughout the city\u2014aimed, of course, at keeping out Palestinians who are
\nperpetual terror suspects. The scenario was especially ominous for us, in the
\nUS, as we have just elected a President whose platform was the building of a
\nwall between Mexico and the USA. There was not a lot of time to linger in the
\ncity (where we would spend more time in the next three days) as we were dodging
\ntraffic to get to the Palestinian-controlled West Bank where Bethlehem is
\nsituated. This was our next port of call and Moti was keen to get us there
\nbefore it turned dark. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nEntering the Palestinian West Bank
\nto visit Bethlehem:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Being an Israeli, Moti cannot enter
\nthe West Bank (in the same way that Palestinians are not allowed to enter
\nIsrael). Hence, he drove us right up to the border and then handed us over to a
\ngroup of Palestinian guides who would escort us through the main points of
\ninterest in Bethlehem. Our group was divided into two: some of us went in one
\nvan and the rest went into another. Moti stayed behind at the border crossing
\nand would reunite with us later.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nA Visit to an Olive Wood Carving
\nEstablishment:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>It rather annoyed me that having
\njust arrived in Bethlehem and being eager to get to The Church of the Nativity
\nand given the paucity of time, the first place the guide took us was an olive
\nwood carving establishment so that we could buy their wares. The rationale for
\nthis illogical move was that we could buy items from the shop and touch them to
\nthe spot of Christ\u2019s birth which would render them \u2018blessed\u2019. Needless to say,
\nprices in the shop were absurd\u2014as the mark-up is usually 40% that goes directly
\nto the guides who escort groups to these shops. Apart from buying magnets and
\npostcards and other small items, none of us brought anything large. I guess we
\nwere too eager to get to Jesus\u2019 birthplace and felt impatient at the
\nunnecessary detour. Furthermore, the expected olive wood carving demonstration,
\nthat we were to receive as part of this detour, was not offered and did not
\noccur\u2014so, in other words, a sheer waste of time.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>As getting to the site took longer
\nthan expected, we felt rushed through the entire visit to Bethlehem, which was
\nreally one of the highlights of our travels as it was the site of Jesus\u2019s
\nbirth. According to the Bible, Caesar Augustus (the same emperor after whom the
\ncity of Caesarea is named) called for a census requiring every man to get
\nregistered in the town of his birth. Since Joseph came from the house of David,
\nit was towards Bethlehem that he made his way from Nazareth, on a donkey. But
\nMary was close to labor and it was in the midst of a town in which they were
\nstrangers that they looked for a room so that she could deliver her child. As
\nthe census had brought large numbers of strangers flooding into town, there was
\nno room at the local inn\u2014and Joseph found a kindly person who directed him to
\nthe stable where Mary had her baby.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nInside The Church of the Nativity:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>The exact spot of Jesus\u2019 birth is
\nnow to be found in a church known as The Church of the Nativity. As in the case
\nof all ruined places of significance that we had seen, two thousand years of
\nconstruction history places these spots today deep underground (as so much
\nbuilding has occurred on top of them). So, to access Jesus\u2019 birthplace, you
\nneed to enter The Church of the Nativity\u2014which is really three churches: one is
\na very ornate church, decorated in the Greek Orthodox style (as the prelates of
\nthe Greek Orthodox Church are the custodians of Christian sites in the Holy
\nLand), the second is in Russian Orthodox style and the third is the small Roman
\nCatholic Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Egypt. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Our first stop was the manger which
\nis in the current Greek Orthodox Church. The entrance was a very low and narrow
\ndoor which, we were told, was deliberately created to keep rampaging Muslims
\nout of Christian holy places during the Crusades. It was under heavy renovation
\n(which, I have to say, completely took away all charm, solemnity and
\nspirituality from the venue for me). Imagine going into a superbly elaborate
\nchurch that stands over the actual spot at which Christ was born\u2014and imagine it
\ncovered with ugly scaffolding, its walls, murals, statuary, chandeliers,
\neverything enrobed by awful sheeting. I was terribly disheartened by this
\nscene. The female guide (whom I thought was simply the worst guide I have ever
\nhad) spoke a smattering of words, so fast and so hastily and so briefly and
\nwithout the slightest emotional involvement as to leave me feeling even more
\ndissatisfied. She explained that the renovation has been undertaken for the
\nfirst time in a hundred years and is expected to continue until the end of the
\nyear. However, being that the condition of the renovation was far from
\ncomplete, she was almost certain it would stretch way into 2017. At any rate,
\nthe grandeur of the building was completely lost on us as everything was
\nshrouded in cloth or in scaffolding. I felt bitterly disappointed as this was
\nsupposed to be the piece de resistance<\/i>
\nof our travels. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Eventually, we joined vast groups of
\npeople who entered the sanctum sanctorum<\/i>
\nof the church and descended down a few steps\u2014again through what seemed like a
\nconcealed secret door. When the steps ended, we found ourselves in a dark and
\nnarrow room where the focal point was a small white marble niche whose
\nimportance was emphasized by the presence of a multi-pronged silver star
\nsurrounded by silver altar lamps. In order to worship at this spot, we had to
\nbend in the niche, one at the time, to kiss the glass disc in the center of the
\nsilver star\u2014which was the spot on which Christ was born.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>As might be imagined, this setting
\nwas deeply solemn and since there was no indication of any refurbishment in
\nthis area, it evoked all sorts of emotion of deep reverence. Needless to say,
\nmany of us were so deeply moved by the sight and the act of kissing the spot
\nthat we were in tears. As if this were not enough, just a few steps away was
\nanother low altar which, we were told, denoted the spot at which Jesus\u2019s mother
\nMary laid him after he was born. These parts of the building used to be stables
\nand it was here that Mary created a manger for her child after wrapping him in
\nswaddling. In this portion of the church too, Greek Orthodox design is very
\nplainly evident. I must add that our guide did not come down with us into this
\npart of the church but stayed rooted upstairs\u2014so we were very much left to our
\nown devices at some of the most important sites in our travels\u2014another deeply
\ndisappointing aspect for me.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>I would have liked to linger longer
\nin this room, but we were rushed out by the guide who wished to usher us off to
\nthe next-door Church of St. Catherine. On the way out, I managed to get a
\ncouple of pictures of the massive silver chandeliers in the sanctuary, as the
\nguide pointed out a part of the original mosaic floor of the Byzantine church
\nthat was constructed on this site before the current grander one that was built
\nin the middle of the 19th<\/sup> century.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nVisiting the Church of St.
\nCatherine:   <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span><\/span><\/b>St.
\nCatherine\u2019s Church is beautiful. It is built around a cloistered courtyard of
\nsand colored sandstone. In the center, on a high pedestal, is a statue of St.
\nJerome, who dedicated himself to the intellectual life. He translated the Bible
\nand spent 35 years in a cave which now forms part of the crypt of the church.
\nThere is an altar dedicated to him in a small shrine in the crypt. There is
\nalso a stained glass window that depicts God inspiring him from above as he
\nproduces the long scroll which formed his manuscript. Once again, it
\ndisappointed me that we did not get the services of our guide in this church.
\nShe sat with her friends and waited outside for us. I found that all the other
\ngroups entering the crypts were accompanied by their guides. I do believe that
\nwe missed out on noticing a lot of significant details because our guide did
\nnot go along with us to these important venues.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nExploring the West Bank:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n <\/span>           <\/span>By
\nthis time, it was getting dark outside and our guide was keen to move us along.
\nVasanti protested and said that she wanted to walk around the town of Bethlehem
\na little bit and get a feel for the place as she did not believe that she was
\nreceiving much of an impression from merely seeing the churches. The rest of
\nthe group agreed with her, but the guide was concerned because Moti was waiting
\nfor us at the border. She called him to find out if we could linger and,
\neventually, we came to the conclusion that we should have about 20 minutes on
\nour own to wander about a bit and then return to our vehicle. Llew and I used
\nthe opportunity to go out and buy some small souvenirs from the local shops.
\nThe others made their way to the main street outside the church and also did
\nsome shopping. At this point, Llew handed over the sun of $100 to be shared by
\nthe three guides. Needless to say, some of us found this amount (recommended by
\nMoti) to be far in excess of what was deserved by them. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>This was the only time we would
\nspend at the West Bank and it would have been nice to have a while longer here.
\nThe atmosphere was remarkably different from anything we had noticed in Israel.
\nAs far as my observation went, it was decidedly Islamic in its ethos. Crowds
\n(mostly men) were dressed quite differently\u2014in far more traditional Middle
\nEastern garb than we had seen in the rest of Israel. While I did not feel
\nunsafe, I did feel a bit uneasy\u2014simply because we had no escort with us. The
\ncenter square had just seen a Christmas performance of some sort and the
\nentertainers were leaving. A huge Christmas tree filled the square but it had
\nnot yet been decorated.  <\/span> <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>We met Moti as planned at the border
\nand got out of our temporary vehicles and into Moti\u2019s van. He then drove us to
\nour new hotel in Jerusalem\u2014a rather long drive filled with traffic snarls.
\nHowever, we did reach our hotel called Hotel
\nArthur<\/i> which we found to be right in the midst of a most \u2018happening\u2019
\narea\u2014surrounded by shops, gelato parlors and loads of restaurants, it was easy
\nfor us to find a place to eat. We chose a Middle Eastern restaurant where we
\nate grilled chicken and kebabs for dinner. Just a short while later, we walked
\nback to our hotel and called it a night.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nov 23, Wed: Cana-Bet Alfa Synagogue, Beit Shean Roman Town, Bethlehem, Jerusalem.             We had our last buffet breakfast in Hotel Galei Kinneret in Tiberius as we piled our baggage back into Moti\u2019s van. We would be leaving the area to make our way towards Jerusalem where we would spend the next three nights in… <\/p>\n

Read<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1905],"tags":[657,658,659,660,663],"class_list":["post-640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-musings","category-israel","tag-bet-alfa-synagogue","tag-bet-shean-roman-town","tag-bethlehem","tag-cana","tag-jerusalem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4851,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions\/4851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}