Volumne 13 Number 5
May/June 1997
Nisan/Iyyar/Sivan 5757

Odyssey To Israel.

By David Kasdan

Webmeister's Note: The following are exerpts from 12 year old David Kasdan's journal recounting his thoughts over his recent trip to Israel, March 10-22, 1997 with the KA group.

Waiting, waiting, waiting. First from San Diego to St.Louis, then St.Louis to Detroit, Detroit to New York, and then finally New York to Tel Aviv! I woke up early at 5:45am. My Dad and I said goodbye to our family, and we joined up with the other 17 people in the group that he was leading. The only exercise I had (other than moving around airport terminals) was changing my watch. I couldn't get much sleep. Sometime that night the plane crossed a time zone sending us into Tuesday. After arriving in Israel, we met our Messianic Jewish tour guide, Tzvi, and we spent our first night in Netanya on the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. We saw so many interesting sites those first few days; Megiddo, Caesarea, Mt. Carmel and the Golan Heights to name a few. Our overnight base was Kibbutz Ma'agan on the Sea of Galilee on this first part of the trip. It was quite amazing to see firsthand the places where Yeshua ministered in his time. If I had to pick the three top places for me, they would be Masada, Jerusalem and Petra in Jordan.

Masada is one of the largest top-to-bottom mountains in Israel, and one of the most steep. Yet because it originates near the Dead Sea (1200 feet below sea level), its' top only reaches to sea level! A fortress was built there by Herod the Great as a possible refuge. He equipped the place with a year's worth of food and water and 10,000 soldiers. About 1,000 Jewish Zealots, in the first Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire, took over the fortress in 70 CE because they wanted to keep their Jewish identity instead of being slaves to Rome. They held off the Roman soldiers for three years until the soldiers carved a path up the mountain. Then these Jews committed the largest mass-suicide the world has ever known. Actually, it wasn't a suicide; everyone agreed to kill everyone else, and the last one committed suicide. The historian Josephus recorded this event. We took a cable car up to Masada. It gave an exciting view. There was a huge cistern for water and storage places for grain. We saw Herod's southern palace. There was a small synagogue built by the Zealots. There was also what Tzvi called the original "rolling stones." The Zealots had carved several boulders to drop down the mountain on unsuspecting Roman soldiers. We climbed down several steps to see the northern palace as well. There was an awesome view of the surrounding land. After climbing back up the stairs I heard some really bad news; the cable car had broken down and we would have to hike 3.5 miles. I began the long hike down in light rain with 30 MPH gusts of cold wind. I was very tired when I arrived at the bottom of the mountain. Wouldn't you know that right when I arrived, the cable cars started working again....

Yerushalayim is spectacular! We drove up to the holy city just before Shabbat. We stopped to see the model of Jerusalem as it looked in the time of the Second Temple. One quarter inch in the model equals one foot. Everything was made out of the same material as the original, except for the gold in the Temple! This gave a very good impression of what the Temple looked like in the days of Yeshua. The city today still has a shining effect. Our last stop that day was at the Western Wall. It is commonly known as the Wailing Wall because of all the loud prayers. It was an impressive sight as Shabbat was approaching. One thing that amazed me were the amount of prayers written on paper stuffed into the Wall. My Dad and I prayed at the Wall and walked around where many rabbis were praying. We would spend several days exploring the many points of interest in Jerusalem. A walk around the city walls, the newly opened Rabbi's Tunnel, the Jewish Quarter and Yad Vashem were a part of this. I got used to a daily lunch of the ever popular Falafel and soda. My Dad and I also got to visit some of the local family friends who live there like the Walker family and the Sadan family, where I got to play computer games with 11 year old Natanel. Jerusalem in certainly a unique place on the earth!

The last two days of our trip, the group traveled to Petra in Jordan. Our group woke up early to start our hike into this unusual city last inhabited about 200 CE. The walking trail is four miles total. There were several amazing caverns and cliffs. About halfway, we saw the Treasury. This massive building must have taken years to carve out of the cliff. As we progressed along, we saw houses, buildings and other structures. Though Petra is mostly made out of red rock, in one particular area there is a whole rainbow of colors! It is amazing how people labored for years to build these massive creations. The Bible seems to say that this will be a key hiding place for some of the Israelis at the last war of Megiddo (cf. Isaiah 63:1-6). My Dad and I rode camels for a mile on the trip back. It was a really bumpy ride. We walked the rest of the way with the exception of a short horse ride which an Arab boy offered me without charge. Maybe I looked as tired as I felt! We finally started a long trip back to California, which we made after several delays.

As I recall the events of those two weeks, I am extremely thankful to have had this experience. I have never been so far from home before. I think that you really need to see Israel in person to truly understand what a significant place it is. This will truly be one of the great memories of my life.

Psalm 122 I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the L-rd. Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem that is built as a city that is compact together; to which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the L-rd; and ordinance for Israel; to give thanks to the name of the L-rd. For there thrones were set for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, May peace be within you. For the sake of the house of the L-rd our G-d I will seek your good.

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Last Modified May 10, 1999