Trip to the Dead Sea

Day 8: June 25, 2009

Today's class session was special. We took a large van and all went to the Dead Sea. The Hebrew (and biblical) name for the sea is Yam haMelakh, "the Sea of Salt." Our driver was Muslim, and very friendly, and a good driver.

He took us through Jerusalem, which is built on the top of the watershed of the mountain range. That means that on the eastern the air is much hotter and the rain much less. Here is a picture that illustrates why they referred to the area as wilderness.

Jerusalem is 2,500 feet above sea level. There is a large sign in the mountains when you reach sea level and another at 300 feet below. Then you drive still further to get to the Yam haMelakh.

We stopped at one point to see Wadi Qelt. A wadi is a ravine that only has water in it during certain times of the year. "Wadi" is Arabic; Hebrew is nakhal. This wadi was very deep; it's difficult to have a true perspective without being there. In a nearby area, almost visible to us, was a monastery. Travelers do visit, but there had been "incidents" recently, so it was not open for visitors. Our course is built around a study of Ruth, who was a Moabitess. At this sight we read the printed text of the Mesha inscription from our course materials. Mesha was a king of Moab who boasted of defeating the Israelites in revenge and completely wiping them out. The amusing thing for the modern reader is that it is Moab that is no more.

At this sight there were several beduins. They wanted to sell us things. It is interesting that camels are common in this area. Here is a beduin in traditional clothing. I don't know if that was just for the tourists, or if he really preferred it. Most of the beduins dressed in more modern clothes. I suppose he would have let us ride the camel for a fee, but it was about 10:30 a.m., and very hot already (90+?). They also had a donkey. A young beduin boy, about 10 years old, kept asking me to "help a poor beduin boy" by buying a bag made by hand by his mother. He spoke in English. Others wanted to sell jewelry. Most didn't buy anything.

The next stop was a nice gas station for drinks and rest in shade. There was very little air conditioning. We all brought water. I did buy some dates and ate a couple; they were delicious. (Unfortunately I left them on the bus when we got back to Tzuba.)

After a little while we continued on to Yam haMelekh at a location called Kalia on the northern shore of the Sea. This is very near Qumran, but we did not go there, because we are focuing in on locations connected to our text. It had to be over 100 and there was very little breeze, so we were all sweating.

First we found some shade to study Gen 19, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the saving of Lot. The location of Sodom and Gomorrah is debated. Most think it was in the south, because when Lot is fleeing he asks to go to a small village rather than the mountains. He names the village Zoar. There is a small village named Zoar at the southern end of Yam haMelakh. However, in 19:17 the men tell Lot "Do not stop in the region (I don't have an English Bible with me, so I don't know what the translations have)." The word there refers to a circular shaped region. This better describes the place at the norhtern end of the Dead Sea. Therefore a few think that this was the area of hte destruction. We just don't know. The connection with Ruth is that after the destruction, when the daughters of Lot have children, their sons are named Moab and Ben-Ammon. They are the fathers of the Moabites and Ammonites, and Ruth was a Moabitess.

Parts were assigned so that when quoted material occurred in the text there was a different reader. I happened to be the narrator today. We read and asked and answered questions for nearly an hour until about 1:00. Then we were free to experience Yam haMelakh.

Most of us brought suits to wear into the water. There was a changing and showering area. You will notice that they spelled the English "ladies" as they pronounce it, "ledies."



There is a beach here. The sand is pretty hard. On this day it was very hot. I wore suit, shoes, and sunblock. We congregated under a beach umbrella and got into the water. There was a nice pier to go out on, and I did, but it was so hot that it hurt my feet. I stood on the bottem step, which was submerged just under the suface, in order to take a few pictures. In the background you can see the western shore. This would be ancient Moab. To the left beyond the picture, some of the land slopes towards the Sea and actually has some greenness. This is the "Plains/Fields of Moab."

Here is part of our group in the water. The fellow with the young boy is Brian, one of our teachers. His son's name is Boaz. He speaks fluent Modern Hebrew as well as English.







Then of course, I wanted you to see me in the water. Notice the brand new swim trunks and the especially pasty white skin tone - blinding. The water was very warm near the shore and, as is well known, is so salty that you float very much on top. Also, it feels almost oily. Where we were the bottom was mostly sandy and rather uneven. Sometimes you step in mud holes. People often smear this mineral mud on themselves for its healthful benefits. I did not. In fact, the mud is sold commercially, and in other locations on the shore people sell treatments very expensively. When I got out of the water, I walked directly onto the beach to avoid the hot pier and ran to the shaded sand under the umbrella, then on to the shower. I wasn't out long; job #1 was no sunburn!

Lunch was on our own, so I ate a falafel. This was pita bread with fried chickpeas, lettuce, tomatoes, a little onion, and ... a few french fries. It was quite tasty. A little after 2:00 we boarded our bus to return. The air conditioning decided to stop working, so it was a hot ride back. We learned and sang three Hebrew songs and made it back to Tzuba about 3:30. That's when I realized I had left my trunks in the shower!

The afternoon and evening were spent blogging and studying, and now I'm late getting my 8-hour sleep assignment. In the morning, we will run.

Brakhot!