Tell Gezer Tiyul

View of Carme Yoseff

This morning we got to wake up at 6:30am and be on our buses and ready to go by 7:25am. We were headed off  on a 45 minute bus trip for our Jewish History field trip to an ancient city called Tell Gezer. When we arrived at Tell Gezer, there was a village to our left and it just so happens that is the village where my madrichim Adi grew up. When we arrived we broke up into our Jewish history groups and went over the homework we had and talked about the geography of Israel based off of what we could see. From the top of the Tell (an artificially made hill that is flat on the top) we could see Tel Aviv in the distance, mountains, the only cement factory in Israel, and the village Adi is from called Carme Yoseff. It was a really beautiful site. 


Here are some quick facts about Tell Gezer--

Replication of the stone the ancient Hebrews
in the time of King Solomon wrote
on.

We spent a lot of time discussing how we actually know this place is Gezer. First of all, the Tanakh mentions Gezer quite a lot. Some other hints were ancient pottery chards, ruins, and the fact that it is located along a trade route. At the site, we walked down a large amount of steps to see a dug out tunnel that goes 40 meters below the ground and the goal was to reach ground water. A lot of the tunnel is gone due to cave ins, however it allows us and archeologists to know that this society was technologically advanced. We then saw the ruins of the Gate of Gezer. We learned that the gate is the weakest line of defense and was located at the lowest point. We also saw the remains of the guard tower and the wall and learned why they were in place. Only the rich could afford to live within the walls, so many people, such as Abraham, lived just outside the walls in Bedouin tents. 

Walking down the water source

We also learned about an interesting man named McAlister. McAlister did the original dig at Gezer because his goal was to prove that the bible existed. What he discovered was that he saw the same kind of stone with the same writing on it from everyone the Hazmonian (Maccabees/famous for war with Greeks) had been. What archeologists later learned was that this writing was actually from the time of King Solomon in 1000 BCE. What this means is that the Jews were actually in Gezer 1000 years before McAlister had estimated. 


We also learned about the replication stone we saw when we first walked into Gezer. The stone had writing in old Hebrew on it, and it was a sign the the Jewish people were teaching everybody to write, not just elites and priests. We also learned all about sacrifices and what to sacrifice to the gods. It was a very interesting field trip. Pictures to come...


We got back to the Kibbutz just in time for general studies courses. I have English today, which I only have twice a week, and SAT prep which I also only have twice a week plus all of my other classes. After SAT prep I will be going to Noa for math tutoring. Tonight we have our regular agenda. We meet somewhere for announcements from the Madrichim and group time. 

Close up of water source

Remains of the Gezer Wall

*I just got back in my room for the night. The evening was good. At dinner I talked to my madricha Nicole because I've never really talked to her before. She's really cool and she came to room today. I also had SAT prep and it turns out Noa is my teacher! So after prep she helped me with math again. I also got to skype with Sandra tonight :)

And family....Judy from EIE says hi! and she says I look a lot like Sandra and when I said I was Sandra's cousin, she goes "Oh from California!" so she definitely knew who I was. I talked to Judy for a while before we went back to the Kibbutz. Just so you all know, she really loves Sandra :) 
I am off to English class! But pictures are to come soon!