The “Jesus Trail” is the subject of an article in last month’s issue of Christianity Today.  The author and his photographer son (the pictures in the print magazine are great) walked the trail and talked politics and religion with the people they encountered.  The “Jesus Trail” runs from Nazareth to Capernaum.

Photographs of Jerusalem in the early 1900s from the collection of Hannah and Efaim Degani are described and displayed in this YnetNews article.

The wife of the founder of the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem is profiled in this Jerusalem Post article.  Batya Borowski reflects on the museum, her husband, and her early years in Mandatory Palestine.

Israel is minting gold 20 NIS coins depicting the symbol of Jerusalem.  The one-ounce coins are for sale for approximately $1,467.

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From the Jerusalem Post:

Jerusalem has been named one of the world’s top 10 travel destinations for culture and sightseeing.Old City western walls, tb051908285 The TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice award for Jerusalem, the only city in the Middle East and Africa to receive the honor, was announced Wednesday. TripAdvisor lists several sites in Jerusalem as must-see for travelers, including the Western Wall, Temple Mount, Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and the City of David. […] Other destinations on the top 10 list include London, New York City, Paris, Rome and Washington, D.C. Also, Florence and Venice, in Italy; Istanbul, Turkey; and Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The full story is here.

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Tom Powers has written and posted photos on a new excavation in the Hinnom Valley, just north of “Artists’ Lane.”  The salvage dig is being carried out in advance of the construction of a park to honor former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek.  The hole is deep and there appears to be a lot of architecture, but the workers were less than happy to be the subject of the paparazzi and quickly chased Tom away. 

It’ll be interesting to learn what they find.  Historically this area has always been outside the walls of Jerusalem.  Somewhere in the Hinnom Valley lies ancient Topheth, where the kings of Judah made sacrifices to foreign gods (2 Kgs 23:10; Isa 30:33; Jer 7:31-32; Jer 19:6-14).  I’ve always pictured that being further to the south.  When more becomes available, I’ll note it here.

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Most of what is in this Arutz-7 interview with Dr. Gabriel Barkay is not new, but some things are worth hearing again.

Of the discoveries that have been made in the Temple Mount Sifting Project (unfortunately translated in the article as “Screening the Waste”!):

Barkai explained that despite the conditions, “We have made thousands of amazing finds that have changed the way we understand that period.”
Asked later to elaborate, he told Israel National News, “For instance, we have found many small floor tiles, of different colors, which confirm the Talmud’s description of the floor of the Second Temple as being reminiscent of the ocean.”
Other finds have included fragments of stone decorated with ornaments known to be from the Second Temple Period, arrowheads from Nebuchadnezzar’s army and also from the Romans, as well as coins and decorations from many periods. Among the most exciting finds were bullae (seal rings), ostracons written in ancient Hebrew script, seals, and more.

Of the agenda to rewrite history in order to eliminate a Jewish connection to the Temple Mount:

Barkai explained that in addition to building mosques on the site, the Moslems clearly have the goal of detaching Israel from its past and Holy Temple connections: “They wish to undermine Jewish ownership and bonds to the Temple Mount. They’ve built a giant mosque there in Solomon’s Stables [under the Temple Mount] and another one nearby – but aside from that, they have an ideological goal which is even making inroads to naïve circles in the west, and it is called ‘Holy Temple denial.’ They act as if there never was a Holy Temple. This is very very grave; regarding the Holocaust, there are living people who still remember it, but the same cannot be said regarding the Temple…”
“We must demand that Israeli law and sovereignty be enforced on the Temple Mount,” Barkai concluded.

The full article is here.

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Haaretz reports on the excavation of a prehistoric site in Jerusalem’s Germany Colony.

The aqueduct bridge in the Hinnom Valley is reported in a press release by the Israel Antiquities Authority and includes several high-resolution photos (direct link).

A team has discovered thirteen Middle Bronze and five Roman period cemeteries in southern Syria this year.

The Hong Kong team has responded to Randall Price’s dismissal of their claim to have discovered Noah’s Ark.  Meanwhile Randall Price has issued several clarifications about his previous response, motivated in part by his desire to continue searching for the ark this summer.

A massive piece of the rock on the edge of Machtesh Ramon was in danger of falling on the road
below, so Israeli experts blew it up.

ICEJ News is reporting on the level of the Sea of Galilee:

Israel’s Water Authority said Monday that the level of the Sea of Galilee is currently stabilized at only 13.39 inches above the lowest “red line,” defined as a point where serious damage can occur to the vital and historic freshwater lake. At 697.7 feet below sea level, Lake Kinneret is in danger of plunging very close to the “black line” – drawn at the point at which irreparable damage begins to occur at a rapid pace during the hot and dry summer months. The Water Authority warned that vigilance and conservation are extremely important to prevent the water level from dropping further than the 16 meters it has declined since 2004.

A gray whale has been sighted off the coast of Herzliya, Israel.

HT: Joe Lauer

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