NeotQedumim, which means something like "Beauties of Ancient Times" or perhaps "Beauties of the Ages," is a "biblical park and nature reserve" located midway between Jerusalem and Modi'in, the home town of the Maccabees. We take our students there so that they can see the different kinds of plants and animals that are mentioned in the Bible to get a better feel for both the text we are studying and the land where we are living. As the highlights video shows, whether it is herding goats and sheep, grinding our own hyssop, or making our own pita and roasted grain for lunch, the park gives real hands-on contact with what we read about so often in the Bible.
See the brief Wikipedia article, the park's own website, and the pictures I posted when we took the students there last September. Comparing the pictures then with those posted below will illustrate what a difference the rainy winter season makes in this part of the world.
Gathering to hear from our guide about biblical flora and fauna
This green field was completely brown and barren when we were here in September
A red anemone, one of the countless blossoms in the fields
Almond trees are the first to blossom each year in Israel and Palestine
Sheep and goat mixed in a field
Our students trying to herd them!
Sometimes with more success than others
Drawing water from a cistern
The mosaic from the floor of a small Byzantine pilgrimage chapel
Grinding hyssop
Once again, it is amazing how different the landscape looks in February than in October
Making our own pita dough
frying qeli or parched grain
And cooking the pita
Red anemone and yellow wild flowers adorn the green field
Abe playing the role of Zachaeus in a sycamore tree
A small millstone
A flowering almond tree
Taking a break with an obstacle course
A Torah scribe demonstrating how kosher ink is made and used
Both classes in the area at Neot Qedummim
Jared, Steve, and I pressed into service during the Torah reading
Here are some pictures of today's visit to these sites:
Along the walk to the City of David, we stopped at the corner of the Temple Mount that may well be "the pinnacle of the temple" from which Satan tempted Jesus to throw himself down. Here my class stands below that point.
After seeing a funky 3-D movies describing the history of the City of David, we went up to an overlook point where we could see the geography that defines Jerusalem.
Our group with the Al Aqsa Mosque (at the south end of the Haram / Temple Mount) in the background
City of David cat . . . this is another one of those ubiquitous cats for you Catie Legro
This time with the southern end of the Mount of Olives and the Arab village of Silwan in the background
Silwan, the Kidron Valley, and the Hinnom Valley beyond
The Kidron Valley with the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives
Next we walked through "Area G," the portion of the archaeological site where the possible palace of David and later noble and administrative buildings were located.
"The stone structure" or stepped retaining wall that may have supported the Davidic palace
Jared teaching
Remains of a tower
We stopped briefly at some tombs, that at one point were identified as possibly being those of David and Solomon, though that identification is uncertain.
In front of the possible Davidic Tombs
The highlight for most of the students, of course, was going through the famous tunnel that Hezekiah built to bring the water of the Gihon Spring safely within the walls of Jerusalem.
Letty demonstrates how deep the water in the tunnel was going to be
Vladi and I brought up the rear of the line of students that snaked through the tunnel
Hezekiah's Tunnel currently opens into a Byzantine reservoir identified as "the Pool of Siloam." The actual, Second Temple period Pool of Siloam, where the man born blind was healed in John 9, was discovered fairly recently.
The group in the Byzantine Pool of Siloam after exiting Hezekiah's Tunnel
A Herodian Street where Jesus and the disciples would well have walked
