Day 15-16 the Dead Sea - Ancient Synagogues – and back to Bethlehem

 Day 15-16 the Dead Sea - Ancient Susya – back to Bethlehem 
March 10-11, 2026 - Tuesday & Wednesday

 

Total miles traveled to date: 9,319

Steps taken past two days: 20,413

Steps taken to date: 128,591

Details: JTowers Jerusalem to Dead Sea to Susya to Jerusalem

Total Miles Driven past two days: 207 

Shalom from Jerusalem!

I am combining these two days again due to the fact that we have spent so much time in motion, it’s hard to make time to write!!

This Wednesday we had an appointment to visit Ancient Susya – a town where Israelites lived in the south of the country, near Arad.  This was arranged by Anita for us, we were meant to be there at 9, so we were up early to leave at 7.  For the record, Shawna and I arrived downstairs at the cars and precisely 6:59.  If you want to learn more about ancient Susya - take a look at it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susya

A decision was made in our car that we would like to drive by the Dead Sea.  I want to apologize to our group, because I know this made us late.  I am a punctual person, but with everything closed as it is, I knew that I was not going to be able to have another chance to see the Dead Sea on this trip, so I went along with the plan. 

There is so much strange, stark beauty in this land!  The Dead Sea moves and flows like a regular sea, but there’s nothing alive in there, of course.  We made our way back down past Jericho, then around to the sea.  The views are amazing!  We passed by Masada, which is closed for the wars, and around past many other amazing things that we didn’t get out and look at.  We traveled past ancient Sodom and Gomorrah, which are now just heaps of ashes.  We marveled that you can see the square shapes of buildings, and even something that could be a sphinx.  We did not get to go out and find any sulfur balls, more’s the pity.  This was on my bucket list, but since we were already inconveniencing our friends, we decided to snap car pictures and move on.  

 We saw many camels loping about in their awkward way, and the desert is already turning brown.  After a passport check, we arrived at Ancient Susya.  What is this place?  This is a place where, during the revolt, many of the Cohens and other Jewish people fled Jerusalem and settled here.  They had underground rooms and dwellings, tunnels and cisterns, and eventually they built above ground.  The location is very stunning.  There are birds everywhere – and so many different kinds of flowers.  This is one of the things that has surprised me about spring in Israel.  There are so many flowers!!  

At this location is also the site of an ancient synagogue and has been excavated.  This is a beautiful thing.  There are several mosaics mostly intact, and one of them has the name “Yeshua” (Jesus) right there in the mosaic. Were these Messianic Jews?!  The archeologists at this location seem to think so.  There are several wonderful presentations here – a place for music, a place for drums, and a place for water.  The cistern was impressive.  It was deep, full, and the water was cold.  

 We eventually went to another location where Robert and Marcelyn, Anita’s friends, joined us for lunch at their friend’s house.  She has converted a barn into a restaurant called Ronel Cafe, and we had a lovely lunch of Shatsuka and salad and many sides, including a little tuna salad.  This was one of the most wonderful meals I have had!  I have not been able to have many eggs while I have been here, and eggs are my staple back home, so this was so enjoyable to me. 

We also listened to the wonderful stories she told about moving to this place.  My favorite was about her lemon tree.  I’ll try to tell it here, but I’m not great at telling other people’s stories.  When they moved in, her and her husband planted a lemon tree because she believes every home should have a lemon tree.  They did everything right for this lemon tree, and even after the required three years passed, there was no fruit.  She spoke with the rabbi and he told her to say to the tree that it’s purpose was to give fruit, and if it wasn’t giving fruit then she was going to uproot it.  That spring, the tree bloomed and continues to bloom year round!  This tree always has at least one lemon on it at all times no matter the season. 

I am a person who talks to my plants and animals all the time.  When I first came here, my friends poked a little fun at me about telling the flies to vacate the car and advising the beetles to watch for the humans and ordering the birds to be silent.  I murmur to the trees and praise the flowers.  To have this lovely, grounded lady admit that she, too, talks to her trees is so gratifying.  I don’t think anyone has picked on me since!!

We made our way back to the apartment, and Shawna and I were able to get a little bit of groceries before our final day of unleavened bread, which is a Shabbat.  We joined our friends for the leftovers from our dinner with the Glicks, and we were able to watch an interception over eastern Jerusalem.

Understand, just because the missile or drone was intercepted, there is still debris that falls, landing on houses and cars.  Some of these are “cluster” bombs, that when broken open, they fall to the ground individually, and explode on impact.  Understand, this is happening over a large, highly populated city – not military or strategic targets.  Please pray for the people of Israel and pray for the Hand of Yah that protects them all. 

The next day we returned to ancient Bethlehem Ephraita, the site of the Migdol Eder.  This time we knew what we were looking at. The Star of Bethlehem was there, along with many more of them this time.  In all of Israel, this was the only place any of us saw this flower.

We each took a turn down in the birthplace, and then we sat and read the story of the birth and the rest of the Exodus story out loud.  Then we made our way back to our cars.  

 On the way back to the cars, we saw this wonderful statue!  The statue is of barley, which of course is why we came to Israel to begin with!  This little "square" is in a roundabout very near the Migdol Eder site.  

That evening almost all of us took a nap and laid around the apartments. We ate leavened bread for the first time in a week, and had some pizza. It was lovely!

Tomorrow we head up to HaYovel to take a short tour, and then we will prepare to leave Israel. 

As always, thank you so much for reading!