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Baptismal Site to Open on Israeli Side

In the winter of 2003, Saar Kfir, director of the Qasr al-Yahud site, stood not far from the swelling Jordan River. It was indeed beautiful, but the rising waters caused considerable damage to the comprehensive plan for upgrading and expanding the site, located east of the town of Jericho, where John the Baptist is said to have baptized Jesus. The project, which was originally approved in advance of the millennium celebrations – and was delayed because of the intifada and, later, by the 2003 floods – is now in its final phases.
When it is completed, hopefully before Passover, it will be possible for pilgrims to visit the third-most-important Christian site in Israel at their convenience: any day of the week, without advance coordination and without a military escort, as were necessary in the past.
Qasr al-Yahud, or “the Jews’ fortress” (a corruption of the Arabic meaning, “the Jews’ break”), is traditionally the place where the Israelites crossed over (that is, “broke”) the Jordan River and where Elijah the Prophet ascended to heaven, as well as where Jesus was baptized.
On January 18 and 19, the Orthodox Churches will celebrate Epiphany at the site, marking the “revelation” of Jesus to the three kings from the East. “This is one of the only authentic celebrations that remain in this country,” says Udi Izak, director of the school system in the Megillot regional council, in the Dead Sea region.

Read the whole article for a history of celebrations since 1967.

Jordan River, Ceremony of Epiphany, mat06788

Epiphany celebration at Jordan River, early 1900s

This photo is taken from the Southern Palestine volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-06788).

Tagged American Colony Photos, Tourism

Christians Leaving Traditional Cana

From the AP:

KUFR KANA, Israel – In this small Galilee town where tradition says Jesus turned water to wine, an ambitious priest hopes to perform his own miracle — revive a shrinking flock. Father Masoud Abu Hatoum, nicknamed "the bulldozer" for his enthusiasm, has come up with a few ideas, like re-enacting the New Testament story of Jesus transforming the water for guests at a wedding in the Galilee hamlet of Cana, now this northern Israeli town of Kufr Kana. "We have to attract people," said Abu Hatoum, who looks as much rock star as priest with his trim beard and large wrap-around sunglasses. But he will have a tough time slowing the hemorrhage of Christians from this bleak, economically depressed town, as the young move away to cities like nearby Nazareth, which offer bigger Christian communities, more jobs and better marriage prospects. "Our youths leave the village, they tell us: ‘We don’t want to die here.’ We get old, and they leave," said 65-year-old Said Saffouri, a parishioner whose two sons have moved out of town. Migration and low birth rates have diminished Christian populations across the Middle East. Israel’s community of 123,000 Arab Christians is one of the few in the region whose numbers have held steady — it grew slightly by 2,000 in 2009. But it does face a problem of rural flight to big cities, which leaves traditional small Christian towns like Kufr Kana to waste away. Kufr Kana was entirely Christian at the beginning of the 20th century, but Muslims began settling in the village first as traders, and then as refugees fleeing fighting during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, locals said. Now the village is home to 16,000 Muslims and 4,000 Christians.

The story continues here. The Cana where Jesus changed water into wine is more likely at Khirbet Kana. For an analysis of the options, see this chapter from the dissertation of J. Carl Laney.

Tagged Galilee

Women with Water Jars

Women with water jars, early 1900s

“Water is generally brought from the fountain, or cistern, in skin bottles, which the women carry on their backs, and a rope holding this in position passes round the forehead. If, however, they have no skin bottles, known as ‘kirby,’ they have big earthenware jars, which they carry on their heads.” –Philip Baldensperger, “Women in the East,” Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement (1900): 173.

“A great part of their lives seems to be spent in going to and fro between the tent and the spring.” –C. R. Conder, Tent Work in Palestine (1878) 2: 284.

The photo and quotations are taken from the Traditional Life and Customs volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-00063).

Tagged American Colony Photos

Flash Floods in the Negev

From the Jerusalem Post:

Many roads in the South were closed down following floods and a storm which has been raging since Sunday night.
Four tourists became trapped in their car in Arava Monday due to intense flooding.
Rescue units, including a helicopter, were working to evacuate them from the vehicle.
Route 90, leading from the Dead Sea hotels to the Center, Route 40 and Route 211 in the Negev were closed for traffic. The Nitzana Bridge collapsed due to heavy rainfalls.
The Nitzana, Tzin, Revivim Besor Haroe’h and Beersheba streams were overflowing.
A vehicle drifted away near the Revivim quarry and was still being sought on Monday morning. Two trucks with three travelers were swept into the Paran stream near Eilat and the travelers needed assistance from the local rescue unit and IDF helicopters.
All schools in the Ramat Hanegev Local Council were closed because of the floods. Schools in Kadesh Barne’a, Ezuz, Kmehin, Nitzana, Revivim, Mashabe Sadeh, Telalim and Retamim were closed.
Significant downpours swept the land, especially in the Negev and northern Negev, where 49 millimeters were registered during the night.

This reminds one of Psalm 126:4: “Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev.”

UPDATE: Arutz-7 reports:

One tourist was killed in the Arava area north of Eilat Monday morning when he and two friends tried to drive their jeep through a raging river bed, powered by rare heavy rainfall. The roaring stream crushed the vehicle against rocks, and army helicopters manage to rescue two accompanying tourists. It was not known if they are from Israel or from outside the country.
Earlier on Monday, IDF helicopter rescue crews saved three people trapped in two trucks in flash floods in the central Negev and others near Eilat as the torrential but badly needed winter rains head north.
More than one inch of rain fell in Eilat, more than the normal rainfall for several years, and schools were closed throughout the region. Eilat also suffered electricity blackouts….
Nearly two inches of rain flooded Be’er Sheva, where a raging river bed was filled with water for the first time in years.

Tagged Negev, Weather

Camel Caravan

Camel caravan on Mount of Olives, 1925-46

“The camels of loaded caravans are usually fastened one behind another in single file, and thus make one deep track or footpath; but in the Haj and in a small party like ours, they are left to choose their own way, and seldom follow each other in line; so that many parallel tracks are thus formed” –Edward Robinson and Eli Smith, Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petrea (1841): 1:60.

“The first time I came up this road from Jaffa, many years ago, midway between Upper Beth-horon and el Jîb, in the narrowest and most difficult part of the pass I encountered a long and straggling drove of camels—more than five hundred—which Ibrahim Pasha had bought from the Arabs east of the Jordan, in order to transport provisions and war material for his army. Though I have since seen many thousand camels in one caravan of the Wuld ‘Aly—some said fifty thousand—that sight did not affect my imagination to an equal degree. Those five hundred loose camels, with their Bedawin drivers shouting to them at the top of their voices, came lunging and plunging down the rocky path in wild confusion; and my terrified horse becoming quite unmanageable, rushed away amongst the rocks, to the no slight danger of breaking his own neck and that of his rider” –William M. Thomson, The Land and the Book (1882): 2:73.

The photo and quotations are taken from the Traditional Life and Customs volume of The American
Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-04570).

Tagged American Colony Photos

Doing the Laundry

My home is decorated with photos from the Middle East, arranged by geographical region or theme.

One of the photos my wife chose to put in the laundry area is this one.

Women washing clothes at fountain, mat05312

Date of Photograph: Early 1900s

“Dirty clothes are generally carried to the nearest running water; sometimes this is far from the village, and where there are only wells, water must be drawn; but seldom are things washed with warm water” –Philip Baldensperger, “Women in the East,” Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement (1901): 75.

The photo and quotation are taken from the Traditional Life and Customs volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-05312).

Tagged American Colony Photos