Israel day 6 - Bet She'an, Bet Alpha & 1500-year-old synagogue

Israel day 6
July 3, 2007, Tuesday
Bet She’an National Park; then Bet Alpha National Park and the site of a Synagogue dating back to 517 C.E.

Today we leave Jerusalem and head east to the Jordan River Valley and then north to stay a few days on a Kibbutz. Our first stop was Bet She’an National Park, a settlement that can be traced back 6,000 years and went through various populations and rulers including Philistine, Egyptian, Assyrian, Roman, Jewish, Christian and Ottoman.

This was a major stop for travelers going or coming from Babylon, Damascus, Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem, and Jericho so it was quite the place. The park of Bet She’an extends over more than 400 acres and excavations started here in the 1920s. During the Byzantine period (around 300 C.E.) the city was largely Christian and had a population of 30,000-40,000. The remains of a 7000 seat theatre built around 100 C.E. still exists as well as a public bathroom that could “seat” more than 24 people at one time. It was interesting to sit on a 1900-year-old toilet.

Our next stop was the Bet-Alpha Synagogue that had a mosaic floor from 1500 years ago. The synagogue was discovered in 1928 by the settlers of the Bet-Alpha kibbutz and excavated in 1929 by Professor Sukenik of the Hebrew University. As a reminder, many of the kibbutzim were created on property PURCHASED by Jews. This floor is one of the most beautiful and complete discovered in Israel. One of the transcriptions near the main entrance describes the artist who created the floor, the date, and the price of one hundred measures of grain that was paid.

We continued toward our destination in northern Israel and stopped at the Peace Garden. This was named for the seven high school girls that died on this site. A Jordanian soldier decided from his guard outpost across the border that he would gun down a group of school children standing in Israel because he could. Israeli soldiers returned fire and killed the guard. As a gesture of reconciliation, King Hussein visited each family of a slain child during Shiva, knelt and kissed the hand of a parent. The symbolism of the King of Jordan kneeling at the foot of a Jew went a long way toward created a measure of peace at the time.

As we continued north we could see the highest peak in Israel, Mt. Hermon at 6600 feet and we arrived at Hagroshrim kibbutz and resort hotel about 5:30 pm.