The Grateful Dead (Sea)

On Saturday morning, we said our goodbyes to Ian, Mark, Mary and Bryant, loaded the car and made our way east toward the Dead Sea.  It was good to be getting out of the city.  We live in the heart of a large city and we’d spent the first week or so of our trip in two large cities, so it was time for something different.  We needed a break.  

It was a challenge to escape Jerusalem.  The roads are good but not particularly well marked.  We headed north, as we were supposed to, following our road map but somehow we went too far and, when all of the commercial signs along the road began appearing exclusively in Arabic, Jennifer and I quickly determined that we should turn around because we’d likely missed our exit to Road 1. Indeed, we had and ten minutes later, we were heading east on Road 1, Dead Sea bound. 

Sea level entering the Judean Desert.

The land quickly became sparse. Dunes, Bedouin encampments complete with donkeys, and the occasional gas station.  We passed through a couple of checkpoints, some tourist-trap-roadside-photo-with-camel places and, before we knew it, we were below sea level at the northernmost point of the sea.  It was a hot, hazy day so the view was obscured,  but the sea was certainly visible as was the opposite shore of Jordan.  And a change from 1984, the last time I’d been down this road: A sign for the King Hussein Bridge and Border Crossing (Allenby Bridge).  A sign of peace and of progress.

We passed Jericho on our left (for another trip, perhaps) turned right on Road 90 and drove south into the Judean Desert.  Barren, mountainous, and arid. Our first stop would be the 2,000 year old ruins of Qumran. There, we watched a short film that described the sect of Jewish ascetics who resided there for many years, the Essenes. Above the ruins are caves and, in 1947, a shepherd found in one of the caves pots containing ancient scrolls which would become known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Among many other things, the scrolls include most of the books of the Jewish bible, except for the Book of Esther.  So, for Jews at least, Qumran is not only an archaeologically important place that tells us something about our ancestors; it is a sacred and holy place.

We were at Qumran on Shabbat.  Instead of reading Torah from a scroll kept in an ark in our synagogue sanctuary, the four of us were experiencing Torah in a place where it was actually written.  In the middle of the ruin, our little unit quietly sang the Shema and the Viyahavta.  (Shema Yisrael! Listen Israel! (Do the right thing!))

Eliana and Shmuel with the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran

Now, before I get too carried away, it’s important to remember that the Essenes, like many highly religious sects, were a little nutty.  Legend has it that they were so observant and dedicated to purity that they refused to defecate on Shabbat.  I’m not kidding. From now on, whenever we read from the Torah on Shabbat I’ll be both proud and humbled.  Proud that my People’s history is so deep and so rich, and humbled by the fact that they were a little crazy which, in turn, probably influenced their writing of the law.  After all, holding one’s bowels can result in physical, intellectual, and spiritual constipation. 

That's a real live cave with some Bible in it! (at Qumran)

It was, in Sam’s words, a “scorching hot” day, so we soon found ourselves inside the nice restaurant at the site, having some lunch and relaxing a bit.  A large number of tour groups came through as we munched: Spanish groups, African groups, Philipino groups, Russian groups.  Their tour guides were very efficient: Watch movie (7 minutes); walk on ruins (15 minutes); eat lunch and buy items at gift shop (30 minutes); return to bus.  Too bad for those folks.  We were able to spend as much time as we wanted and were even treated to live entertainment: Ella’s teen characters Ashley the It Girl, Veronica the Goth Girl, Chad the Football Player Boyfriend, and Shabalabadingdong, Ashley’s Indian boy alter ego.  Suffice it to say, we were in stitches.

"Scorching hot" day Exhibit A: Sweatball on end of nose.

Eventually, we returned to the car, got back on 90 and continued south. It was a wonderful drive, with the brown desert mountains to our right and the great salt sea and Jordan to our left. We’d been advised by our hotel to check in at 6pm, but we decided to try to check in early so that we could spend the afternoon chilling at the hotel pool.  About 30 minutes after departing Qumran, we rolled into the lush, green Kibbutz Ein Gedi.

The kibbutz – a commune – operates a full-service hotel – capitalism -- on its property. We were all very excited about the prospect of going swimming and, in fact, we were able to check in early. Our room wasn’t ready but we were able to grab our bathing suits from the trunk of the car and change at the pool.  We found lounge chairs and a shady spot and jumped in the drink.  The kids were ecstatic.  The water was quite warm but it still felt great to be wet and, at least, cooler than we’d been. Jen and I hung out in the deep end.  The kids stuck to the shallows. Precious space.

Kibbutz Ein Gedi rocks!

It was a great day, topped off by a fabulous buffet dinner in the dining room.  We needed to make it an early night, however, because tomorrow we’d be waking up at 3:45am to climb Masada . Lights out. 

But wait, there's more!  Prof. Sherman provides a mini-lecture at the Caves of Qumran....