Not Far Away - Page 6

Historical note:

"It was at nearby Mt. Gilboa that King Saul was wounded in an epic battle with the Philistines in the 10th century BCE. Rather than allow himself to be captured by the victorious Philistines, Saul chose to fall on his sword, after which, his body was impaled on the walls (I Samuel 31:9) of the city. They nailed Saul to the wall and as it is written, How far the mighty have fallen and the weapons of war perished! (II Samuel 1:27). Today, Beit She'an's main street is named after the King."²

In the 4 hectares that the city of Beit She'an covers, I&I strolled by the amphitheater, bathhouse, agora (marketplace), churches, mosaic-tiled artwork, statues and Roman colonnades. Adjacent to the ruins, we climbed an unexcavated tel – the wanderers and I&I – a mound of history preserved intact for future discovery. In fact, we are told that hundreds of archaeological sites in the country remain untouched. This mound at Beit She'an reminds I&I that much history of the region, the country and my/our own inner space remains to be revealed. Wailing Wall - Not Far Away by Tim Weil - Stories and Songs

Let Your Conscience Be Your Guides

Truth be told, I&I took a trip this year and got stoned. The trip was to Jerusalem and the country of Israel. The stone was the marrow of antiquity in the living, breathing bedrock of ancient walls, the sanctity of hallowed halls and the shopping suqs of Arab malls. The buzz was a natural high and I&I' is still making sense of it all. Like the archaeologists of these ancient lands, whose spades unearth the histories of millennial time, I&I, your narrator, still lives for the dig of the tel.

Notes

see Tel Beth-Shean: An Account of the Hebrew University Excavations and World Jewish Heritage websites

see Jewish Virtual Library website