Beer Sheva to Jerusalem
Last week on October 31st, Beer Sheva celebrated 100 years since the capture of the city by the British and ANZAC forces in 1917. And…
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Jonah and the Whale
Yom Kippur is one of the central holidays of the Jewish people and during that day the book of Jonah is read in its entirety. …
Ideal Family
One of my favorite families in the history of the land of Israel in the early 1900s is the Bentwich family. Herbert and Susanna, their…
Hole in the Wall
The gates of Jerusalem's Old City are not only ways to get inside the city. Each one is a site with a history of its…
Which Way to St. Stephen’s Gate?
Getting directions in Jerusalem can be confusing. So many place names are similar, and the same place can be known by many names. This is…
Dreams of our Fathers
Our ideals lead to dreams and actions, but not always to actualization. Israel Beck was born in Bardichev, Ukraine in 1797. He moved to Israel…
Not Whether You Win or Lose
When learning about a place, one can focus on the physical - stone upon stone - what we see. And while it is true that…
Running Away, But Not Too Far Away
The Dead Sea as a center of refuge was the topic of my oral licensing exam to become a tour guide and continues to fascinate…
Holey Walls
One of the most beautiful attributes of Jerusalem is the use of stones in building. Because stones are natural, the variance in the facings leads…
el-Muqaddasi’s Jerusalem
In Israel, although peoples come and go, place names often remain. In the push to connect the present to the past, written and oral names…
Israel by Leiah 