On our first full day in Israel we went hiking in the Judean foothills in between Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv. The highlight of the hike was going caving in a system of man-made caves that date back to around 130 C.E. They were used as hideouts during one of the Jewish revolts against the Romans. The Jews would hide in the caves until Romans approached, emerge and engage in guerilla warfare, and then return to the caves to hide. The caves are made up of little rooms connected by a system of tunnels that are between 16 and 25 inches high. We had to crawl through on our stomachs and it was completely pitch black. Every 6 or 7 people had a flashlight. It was intense, especially for the folks with even a tiny bit claustrophobia. Our armed guard came the whole way with his rifle! Later that day we planted trees at a nature reserve in Jerusalem. It is a real mitzvah to plant a tree in Israel. Tradition says that when you plant a tree, it gives you ownership rights to that particular piece of land.
Pictures:
1st: My friend Ezra crawling through a tunnel.
2nd: View of foothills from outside the cave
3rd: Gaby, our groups armed guard. Finished his military service a year ago and now makes a living doing this.
4th: Ezra and me tree planting.
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