Shabbat

In Israel Shabbat (the Sabbath) starts Friday evening at sundown and lasts until Saturday evening after 3 stars appear. We went to church on Saturday in the Galilee Branch in Tiberius. It was in a house that had both church and an apartment.

The front of the Chapel was all glass and you could look out onto the Sea of Galilee.

After church we drove just about to the northern border of Israel and through the Golan. We saw an old bunker from pre 1967 when Syria controlled the Golan. We then drove to Banias which is one of the sources of the Jordan river. It is an abandoned village and now a nature preserve at the base of Mount Hermon. During the Greek period the city which is named after the Greek god, Pan was at this place. During the Roman period Herod's son Philipus erected Kesari Dephilipi which is mentioned in the New Testament. There is a big cave where the water used to come from, but an earthquake changed that and water gushes from many different areas. In the Bible it tells about a slit in the rock where people threw in animals and a persons fate rested on whether or not blood came out at the bottom in the water. This slit was called the Gates of Hell. At one time there was a chapel across the entrance to the cave.

From Banias we returned to the Sea of Galilee and rode in a boat across the lake. It grew dark while we were on the lake. Luckily it stopped raining while we were on the lake.

They hoisted the Canadian flag and we sang O Canada. Since there were a couple of Americans they also hoisted the US flag and sang the American anthem and then the Jewish national athem.

We finished off the evening with a supper of St. Peter's fish, but I opted for pasta. We went back to Ein Gev in the rain.