Ashdod, Israel
Ashdod, Israel
Palm
Sunday, April 10, 2022
Happy Palm Sunday!
Because today is a tour day, we
celebrated Palm Sunday yesterday during a sea day. Helen (Episcopal Priest who is also a guest)
and I helped plan the half hour service using a brief service and three hymns:
“All Glory, Laud, and Honor,” “Ride on in Majesty,” and “What Wondrous Love Is
This?” Our cruise director sought
permission to use lower branches from onboard palm plants, and was able to
arrive about 8 minutes prior to worship with a handful of trimmed dry fronds
and an entire sagging branch half-dead, that resembled Charlie Brown’s
Christmas tree. So instead of using what
was dead, we used our hands as palm fronds to wave, delighted at the symbolism
for the deaf.
Having the worship service yesterday
allowed today to be focused on our first day of three in Israel. Anticipation for this arrival carried some
trepidation because our ship is so vulnerable to Covid and any other travel or
wind or landing or security restrictions which any country wishes to
impose. Surprisingly, we had to undergo
not one, but TWO expensive PCR tests for Israel—the first on Saturday morning
for passengers and crew. I’m thinking
that if there was even One positive result, our ship would be unable to
dock. We all tested negative and enjoyed
ship-wide whoops. Then the 2nd
PCR was to happen this morning after docking but before anyone could get on or
off. The testing began at 6 am and final
results appeared by about 2:00. A. Long.
Time. For everyone. All of us had tours. We all weighed when to eat or not. When to hit the bathrooms for the final
time…when to hope for good PCR results.
Because the NEXT step before tours could leave (what a nightmare for
administration!) was to get our passports back to each of us and then to get
each of us through customs and immigration, then onto our assigned buses. Our tour which was to leave at 1, left at
about 3:30.
Thankfully, we had been to Israel for
an intensive two-week learning tour in 2017, so we were less anxious about
utilizing time. In fact, we chose tours
that would NOT take us into the Holy Week crowds, rather to outlying areas to
supplement what we started in 2017. Today,
we traveled only about an hour from the southern port of Ashdod (Hebrew
speakers accent the second syllable) to tour Tel Aviv and its suburb of
Jaffa. Our tour guide wasn’t nearly as
full of info as our guides from ’17, so I’ll supplement from then to bring you
up to speed.
A short history of Israel is dependent
on who you ask. Jewish people
will tell you that the history started people over 4000 years ago with a
covenant between God and Abraham: land, blessing. Arabic people will tell you that Israel
is and will always be Bedouin. In early
1900s, a Zionist movement began to help Jewish refugees from other nations
return to the area, creating conflict with those Palestinian Arabs already
there. The Holocaust provided urgency and need and the population increased
dramatically. After WWII, British soldiers occupied the land to keep peace.
Working with the UN, the Brits established a plan to create two states:
one for Jews and one for Arabs--who promptly rejected the plan. In 1948,
Israel became the first ever Hebrew state. Israel’s first prime minister was
Ben Gurion. On May 14, 1948, British
troops withdrew and the conflict turned to war.
It was called “War of Independence” from Israel’s point of view and “The
Catastrophe” from the Arab states’ point of view. Either the good guys
won and gave over some land to Palestinians and Syria, or the Palestinian
society was destroyed, thousands were driven of Arabs were driven from their
homes. Ben Gurion--at his death said, “Give them back the land.”
You decide.
NOW ABOUT TEL AVIV AND JAFFA: we continue the ironies. Ashdod, in
Bible times, was one of only 5 southern cities. Further north on the coast of Israel is Tel
Aviv, a huge seaport, built in 1909. What’s interesting about Tel Aviv is that
it was purchased from the Arabs in the early 1900’s as a useless set of sand
dunes and eventually became the FIRST Israeli city. “Tel” means an old site;
“aviv” means spring (new). So the title
means Old and New! Just two years ago,
Tel Aviv was declared the most expensive city to live in the world.
The adjacent town of Jappa is 5000 years old. Actually, the two cities have grown together
and now share a municipality. Because it
is so old, it has experienced many cultures and thus is known as Japho, Joppe,
el-Qal'a, Tel Aviv, 'Yafa, Yafa el-'Atiqa, and Yafo. It also has numerous
biblical references according to Bible references: http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/Jaffa.html
The port of
Jaffa (Joppa) was used by King Solomon for importing wood in order to build the
first temple in Jerusalem : "And Solomon determined to build an house for
the name of the LORD, and an house for his kingdom... And Solomon sent to Huram
the king of Tyre, saying,... Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum
trees, out of Lebanon... And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou
shalt need: and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to
Jerusalem".(2 Chronicles 2: 16, 18)
The port of
Jaffa is also mentioned in the story of Jonah, the son of Amittai, who was
commanded to carry the words of the Lord in the city of Nineveh, but refused
and tried to escape to Tarshish: "But Jonah rose up to flee unto
Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare
thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence
of the LORD". (Jonah 1:3) A photo of a whale statue in Old Jaffa is a
reminder of this association.
If you’re
interested, see also 2 Chronicles 32:1
and Ezra 3:7.
The Apostle Peter
resided in Jaffa/Joppa for some time in the house of the tanner, by the sea:
"And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is
Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea
side". (Acts 10 5). See the photo of what is believed to be
Peter’s house in Jaffa.
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