Shalom chaverim (friends)!

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD! A few days ago, we returned from our first major expedition in Eretz Yisrael, to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea area. So this time I have lots of pictures!

We left from Kiryat Bialik, driving over Mount Carmel in Haifa to get to the coastal road to Tel Aviv. You can see the Mediterranean coast in the distance. From there we drove past Tel Aviv (no small feat, since there's usually a lot of traffic on the highways near Tel Aviv . . . but then, there seems to be a lot of traffic in lots of places in Israel these days . . .) and up to Jerusalem, and I do mean "up to", it's a very dramatic climb through stark Judean mountains. The highway was flanked by Israeli flags, going up in anticipation of Israeli Independence Day, which is next week, as well as Jerusalem Day next month.

Along the way, we stopped at the Museum of the Armored Corps in Latrun, the site of a Turkish fortress strategically overlooking the highway to Jerusalem. The Israelis tried but could not capture it during the war of independence, so they quickly built another road further from the fortress so they could get supplies through. We saw a map of the Jewish partition originally proposed by the United Nations. The circles show that Jerusalem was to be an international city and the other two major cities, Tel Aviv and Haifa, were to be divided between Jewish and Arab jurisdictions. As for the land, the Jewish part was mostly Galilee (which Jews had labored to reclaim from marshes) and the Negev (mostly unusable, though Israel is gradually reclaiming it for use by planting trees and transporting water from the north). Still, Arabs were not satisfied with the partition, and sought to fight instead. The issue was (and remains, alas) the very existence of a Jewish state. The Armored Corps got its first tanks by capturing and converting tanks from their enemies or from America (Adam is riding on a reconditioned Sherman tank). Of course, Israel has been fighting for this land for millennia - this museum exhibit shows warriors of Judah firing from a chariot, circa 800 BCE.

When we got to Jerusalem, we drove up the Mount of Olives to give Adam their first view of the city and a ride on a camel: this time Adam is riding on a real camel, with the Dome of the Rock in the background. Then, Adam and Abby got to ride a bit together!

The following day we went into the Old City via the Damascus Gate, then climbed up on the ramparts of the Ottoman wall that now surrounds the Old City. From up on a wall we got a great view looking into the city towards the Dome of the Rock - below is the main "road" (relatively wide by Old City standards) heading in from the Damascus Gate. Abigail liked climbing into turrets in the wall.

For another perspective of the city, we went to see a model, circa 66CE. Here is the ancient city from the west, toward the Jaffa Gate. The outer wall in the foreground was completed after the time of Yeshua (and destroyed by the Romans a few years after it was completed)! So Golgotha was outside the walls at the time of Yeshua's death, roughly in the middle of picture, if you can make out a gray rock, with the Temple in the background. From the south, we looked up at the City of David from the south, below the Temple. From the east, we viewed the Temple itself, with its courts for gentiles, women, Israel, priests, and the Holy of Holies within. It must have been a glorious sight! No wonder Yeshua's disciples were so impressed. As beautiful as the Dome of the Rock is, it pales compared to the ancient Temple, which was several times higher and more extravagant. Yet within four years after its completion (in 66CE), the Temple was destroyed!

Well, maybe you think that's enough pictures for one email message, so I'll save the rest for another letter.

This morning, we went to the Ministry of Interior to apply for aliyah (the word for "going up" which means to immigrate to Israel). Though we arrived at the front of the Information line by 10:30, well before closing time, we were told that we would have to return another time, earlier, to get a number to get into the visas line! I hear there are a LOT of Russians coming this year - at least a million. Pray that HaShem open doors for us, if He wants us to get it done this time!

May the Lord bless richly bless you all from Zion!

From: Glenn David Blank