Tobia Ziklik

After leaving Massada, we headed north to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a cliffside cave by a young Bedouin shepherd in 1947. You have to go to a museum in Jerusalem to see the scrolls, but you can still visit the famous cave.

Qumran is also the site where a Jewish sect called the Essenes built a community from the second-century BCE to the first-century CE. They were obsessed with ritual cleansing, as evidenced by the number of ritual baths. It must have been difficult to fill their baths considering their location in one of the driest spots on earth.

After Qumran, we drove north along a long stretch of road flanked by the West Bank to our left and Jordan to our right. There was very little to see besides a few security checkpoints and long-abandoned buildings.

Eventually, we curved northeast to get to Mount Tabor, the site of Jesus’ transfiguration. Upon entering the site, you see the Basilica of the Transfiguration, built by Catholics in the 1920’s. Once inside, you notice that the church is actually built on top of a sixth-century CE Byzantine church which marks the spot where Jesus was transfigured. Perhaps if I win the lottery, I could build a church as big as the ones in Texas to enshrine the Basilica which enshrines the church which marks the spot of the transfiguration.

After leaving Mount Tabor, we headed east to the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee to visit Tabghe. Tabghe consists of two important sites. The first is the spot where Jesus is believed to have fed 5000 people with two small fish and five loaves of bread. The Church of the Bread and the Fish is built around the rock upon which Jesus placed the bread. The second has to do with Jesus and Peter and the story of the fish jumping into the net. The Church of the Primacy of St. Peter is built around the rock used as a table in the ensuing feast held by Jesus, Peter, and the Apostles.

Next to Tabghe is Capernaum, a settlement where Peter’s house was located. The house is now enshrined in a modern church. Capernaum is also the site of a first-century synagogue, where it’s believed Jesus preached, as well as a fourth-century synagogue built on top of the former, famous for its Corinthian columns.

You know, it’s believed that Jesus walked on the waters of the Sea of Galilee, an activity which, in my humble opinion, is best suited for the graceful. I also think that when you’re walking around the Galilee and taking in sites, you need to take on a graceful demeanor. After all, you’re tracing the footsteps of Jesus.

Well, I seriously lacked grace that day. I had a list of Jesus-y things I wanted to see, but they proved difficult to find because there are so many churches around the Galilee, as you can imagine, and the caretakers of the churches were seriously unhelpful. This may sound like a gross exaggeration, but none of the caretakers I came across spoke Hebrew or English (I later learned that the churches are staffed with Christians from Italy, Spain and Greece), and seemed totally uninterested in helping someone who was obviously not Christian.

Hmmm, perhaps they simply didn’t want to be around someone as sweaty and agitated as I was. Or maybe they disapproved of my obviously Jewish escort. How rude! For all they knew, Arnon could have been one of those Jews for Jesus.

Our final destination for the day was Tiberias, located along the western coast of the Galilee, where we consumed a lot of ice-cream and iced-coffee in our failed attempt to stay cool.