Congregation Ohav Sholom |
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The Israel Experience - A Bike Ride |
By MICHAEL ROSENBLOOM |
The Israel Experience - A Bike Ride by Michael Rosenbloom (spidermr@aol.com) During the Pesach school break in 1979, I decided to take a bicycle trip from Beit Shemesh, where I lived. I had assembled a new bicycle, which arrived in a shipment of belongings, sent from America, packed prior to making aliyah. Beit Shemesh is an ideal starting point for a bike trip, with numerous beautiful and interesting sites within a radius of twenty miles in any direction. I chose the Beit Gubrin caves, about fifteen miles away, as my ultimate destination. I loaded up with water and fresh fruit and journeyed forth along a two-lane road. Spring was an ideal time for such a trip. The stifling summer heat was still a month or two away. During the spring, the way from Beit Shemesh to Beit Gubrin is strikingly beautiful. Red flowers called Kalaniot (anemones) grow wild in the hilly countryside, adding bright color to the usually parched hills. Several kilometers south of Beit Shemesh, a mile marker dating back to Roman times, Latin inscription and all, stands along the side of the road, indicating that despite the modern-day asphalt pavement, the road I was riding on, served similar travelers two thousand years before and probably earlier. After riding several miles, I came to Moshav Zechariah, perched on a ridge, overlooking the Elah valley (Emek HaElah). The Elah valley is the valley where the Israelites and Phillistines went to war, as is chronicled in the Book of Samuel. Several streams, which originate in the Judean hills near Bethlehem and Hebron filter into the Elah valley. The view from Moshav Zechariah, overlooking the Elah valley was gorgeous, with cultivated or recently plowed moshav and kibbutz fields arranged like a patchwork quilt in various shades of green and brown. Along the entire route but especially in the Elah valley, scores of storks gathered. It is their habit to stop in Israel, twice a year (in the spring and in the fall) for several weeks at a time, during their semi-annual migratory journey from Africa to Europe and back again. Storks are the most unusual bird I've ever seen, transforming themselves as in an M.C. Escher drawing from one form to another, from awkwardness to grace, within a matter of seconds. A stork begins flight, flapping its wings in desperation, awkwardly attempting to lift its bulky frame and fly. But once in flight, there is no more graceful bird, wide wingspread and long, straight, majestic neck. Needless to say, the sights along the way were a treat unto themselves. My destination though was Beit Gubrin, or more precisely the Beit Gubrin caves. The area surrounding the caves is filled with the shade of a natural forest which provided welcome relief after a fifteen-mile bike ride over hilly terrain, in the sun, even if it wasn't summer yet. I lunched in the shade of those trees and rested. Then I toured the caves. The first mention of Beit Gubrin is found in Josephus Flavius' "The Jewish Wars," written 2000 years ago. The caves though are of much more recent origin. There are about 1500 bell-shaped caves in the Beit Gubrin area. The caves are identical, with elliptical cross sections spanning 40 meters and heights of 17 meters. It was always undisputed that the caves were excavated by humans and not naturally formed. But their origin was unclear, until recently. In the last ten years, researchers at the Technion University in Haifa, using rock testing, numerical analysis and Block Theory have concluded that the caves were excavated about 1000 years ago for the extraction of building materials. In 1979, one could wander freely among the caves. Now the site is a national park, meaning an entrance fee is required and access is limited, which probably is for the better, since the fee discourages entry by possible vandals. The Beit Shemesh-Beit Gubrin road is actually parallel to, but twenty miles due west of the Jerusalem-Hebron road, meaning there are several roads heading east from Emek HaElah, toward the Judean Hills. These roads eventually lead to Arab villages and also to Gush Etzion. Instead of conserving my energy for the way home, which would require climbing some moderately steep hills, especially at Moshav Zechariah, I foolishly decided to take a small detour on one of these roads and headed east, toward the more hilly and potentially hostile terrain. I had been pedaling only five minutes when a "tender" (a small commercial vehicle with a two-seat front cabin and a six-sideseat open-ended rear cabin) with Arab license plates passed me. From the rear cabin I was pelted with oranges. If it was today instead of 1979, I shudder to think what might have been thrown my way. Quick to take a hint, I turned back to the main road and continued back to Beit Shemesh, eventually returning exhausted but satisfied. July, 2001 Next article: The House on Rechov Nisan Bek |
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