Giants in the land

We checked out of Kibbutz HaGoshrin hotel and hit the road southbound. Our travels today followed the Jordan River from its source in the North to Jericho, which sits on the north shore of the Dead Sea. From there we turned off the highway to make the ascent to Jerusalem. We encountered giants everyone we went. The Torah actually says that a race of giants lived in the land before Joshua brought the Israelites here. The spies who had been sent to scout the land identified these giants and believed they could not be defeated. These giants were called "Anak" or "Anakites." And it turns out that giants are still here today. Ordering lunch at a foodcourt McDonald's this afternoon, I ordered the "supersize" fries. I followed the menu and accompanying pictures: katan (small), ragil (regular), gadol, (large), and.... could it be?!.... yes, supersize is called "anak" in modern Hebrew. The spies feared these Anakites would devour them. I assure you that the opposite took place today.

From lunch we went to Bet Shean, a giant Roman era archaeological site. Huge Corinthian columns proudly stand along the ancient thoroughfare. It is not hard to envision a great city in its heyday of 50,000 occupants. But Nature was the true superpower here. A massive earthquake brought this city to the ground. Half the city’s columns lie where they fell – still exactly parallel – from the day a huge shock wave literally pulled the ground from under them.

Next stop Tiberias. Here we encountered some of the Jewish people’s greatest giants. The grave of the Rambam, the site of the Talmudic era Sanhedrin (those who read “As a Driven Leaf” may remember this as an important setting in the story). We were most moved by the Kinneret Cemetery. The great halutzim – pioneers – built the first kibbutz, Degania, here. They are buried here and Israelis come to honor their recent history here. This cemetery is the Israeli equivalent of the old cemeteries on the Freedom Trail in Boston, burial site of Paul Revere, Sam Adams, and their generation.

Finally, Shlomo the driver pressed his bus up the new road from Jericho to the heights of Mt. Scopus. We passed through the ¼ mile tunnel through and into the golden light of Jerusalem’s skyline. We discovered that powerful, living giants had been with us all along, right on the coach. Emotion unexpectedly overwhelmed many on the bus. You could hear the collective gasp and see the giant emotion in tear filled eyes. We stopped to take it all in. We embraced Jerusalem, its heritage, and its ability to link us with every soul who ever connected with the Jewish people. We read Psalm 122, “We were pilgrims standing inside your gates… I became happy when they said to me, ‘Let us go up to the house of Adonai’.” We blessed and ate a giant, sweet challah and wine then thanked God with Shehechiyanu. The tears were real and unexpected. The land still holds giants.