DEAD SEA

Dead Sea view from Ein Bokek, courtesy, NSF.gov

The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth at over 1,400 feet below sea level and, even though it is fed by the Jordan River from the north, its present size has shrunk to 234 square miles – at approximately 46 miles long – from 410 square miles in 1930, and shrinking fast. Since this site has such a high salinity rate, it is called “Yam haMelakh” (Sea of Salt) in Hebrew. No plants or animals can flourish in it, and because of this, the Europeans call this place the “Dead Sea” by Europeans. On the other hand, it is rich in natural resources especially potash.

It lies squarely in between Israel on the west and Arab-occupied Jordan on the east. Historically though, it was bounded on the west and northeast by the Land of Israel, specifically, the tribe of Judah on the west and the tribe of Reuven on the northeast. Along the southeastern quarter lie the Kingdom of Moab. The Biblical Arnon River, today referred to as Wadi Mujib, which flows into the Sea, has historically separated Reuven from Moab. On the southern extremity of the Sea, lie the Kingdom of Edom. Between Moab and Edom is the Zered brook, today, Wadi al Hasa, which also flows into the Sea, and which has historically separated those two kingdoms. Along the southwestern side of the lake is the 700 foot tall "Mount Sodom" of Sodom and Gamorrah fame. At Mount Sodom is a stony outcrop called by the local Bedouin “Lot’s Wife” due to its shape that, some say, resembles Lot’s wife who looked back after Sodom’s destruction and turned into a pillar of salt, according to the Biblical account. Many animal species live in the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea - ibex, hares, hyraxes, jackals, foxes, and even leopards. Hundreds of bird species inhabit the zone as well and nature reserves were established by both Jordan and Israel.

In the Talmud the Dead Sea was called Yammah shel Sedom, "the Sea of Sodom" and was considered within the juridical boundary of Ereẓ Israel (tj, Shev. 6:1, 36c). According to R. Dimmi, "no one ever drowns in the Sea of Sodom" (Shab. 108b). Throwing an object into the sea was suggested as a means of disposing of a religiously or morally undesirable advantage which a person had received unintentionally (Av. Zar. 3:9; Av. Zar. 49b; Tosef., Dem. 6:13, etc.). The Talmud (Shab. 108b) mentions the density of the water, and says that a bath in the Dead Sea is considered good for certain ills, especially diseases of the eye, although the salt extracted from the sea was considered noxious to the eyes (Ḥul. 105b). Because of the poisonous air about the sea no ship sailed on it.

In Joshua 15:62, Ein Gedi, located midway on the western side of the Sea, was enumerated among the wilderness cities of the Tribe of Judah in the desert of Betharaba, and in Ezekiel 47:10, it was prophesied that one day, its coastal location will make it into a fishing village, after the water of the Dead Sea has been made sweet: Fishing nets will be spread from En-gedi to En-eglaim. Fleeing from King Saul, David hid in Ein Gedi (1 Samuel 23:29 and 24:1-2) and Saul sought him "even upon the most craggy rocks, which are accessible only to wild goats" (1 Samuel 24:2). Psalm 63, subtitled a Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah, has been associated with David's sojourn in the desert of En-gedi. The Song of Songs (Song of Solomon 1:14) speaks of the "vineyards of En Gedi". The town was mentioned many times in the Mishna, as a producer of persimmon for the temple's fragrance and for export, using a secret recipe. "Sodomite salt" was an essential mineral for the temple's holy incense, but was said to be dangerous for home use and could cause blindness. 2 Chronicles 20:2 noted that Ein Gedi was surrounded with an abundance of palm groves. It was here that the Moabites and Ammonites gathered in order to fight King Josaphat of Judah. Ein Gedi was destroyed or abandoned after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 587/86 BCE. In the 2^nd century BCE, it received a fortress and became a royal Hasmonean estate.

The Jewish historian Josephus writes that Masada was first fortified by Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannaeus in the first century BCE. It survived the siege of the last Hasmonean king Antigonus II Mattathias, who ruled with Parthian support. Josephus further writes that Herod the Great captured it in the power struggle that followed the death of his father Antipater and between 37 and 31 BCE, built a large fortress on the plateau as a refuge for himself in the event of a revolt. He also erected there two palaces.

During the Roman occupation, John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas at the fortress of Machaerus, on the eastern bank, and died there. At the same time, groups of Essenes settled on western bank including the fortress of Qumran which was constructed during the reign of John Hyrcanus (134–104 BCE) or somewhat later. When the Jewish Revolt against Rome broke out in 66, Vespasian's ships would often pursue Jewish refugees fleeing by way of the Dead Sea. At the same time, the extremist Jewish rebel group, the Sicarii, antagonists to the Zealots, overcame the Roman garrison of Masada with the aid of a ruse. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70, additional members of the Sicarii fled Jerusalem and settled in Masada after slaughtering the Roman garrison. Josephus writes that the Sicarii would raid nearby Jewish villages including Ein Gedi, where they massacred 700 women and children. The siege of Masada by Roman troops from 73 to 74, at the end of the First Jewish–Roman War, ended in the mass suicide of 960 Sicarii rebels who were hiding there. Qumran was also destroyed. Documents from the time of the Bar Kokhba War (132–135) found in the surrounding caves indicate that En-Gedi was the main supply port for the Jewish army during the final phase of this war. Later, Ein Gedi became an important source of balsam for the Greco-Roman world until its destruction by Byzantine emperor Justinian as part of his persecution of the Jews in his realm.

From that time until the modern era, the Dead Sea area was totally desolate save for a few Bedouin. After the find of the "Moabite Stone" in 1868 on a plateau east of the Dead Sea, Moses Wilhelm Shapira, a Polish-Jewish antiquities dealer, and his partner Salim al-Khouri, forged and sold a whole range of presumed "Moabite" antiquities, and in 1883 Shapira presented what is now known as the "Shapira Strips", a supposedly ancient scroll written on leather strips which he claimed had been found near the Dead Sea. The strips were declared to be forgeries and Shapira took his own life in disgrace.

In 1929, Moshe Novomeysky, a Jewish engineer from Siberia who first visited the Dead Sea area in 1911, won the British government tender for potash mining on its northern shore after working for the charter for over ten years. The site’s marshland was drained and housing was built to accommodate employees of the newly-founded Palestine Potash Company (today, the Dead Sea Works) and its first plant was established on the site. Kibbutz Kalia was born. The plant produced potash, or potassium chloride, by solar evaporation of the brine. It employed both Arabs (mainly from Jericho) and Jews. The next year, on the initiative of Novomeysky and Palestine Potash, the first potash and bromine works were built at Rabbat Ashlag near Kalia in 1930 and it grew into the largest industrial site in the Middle East. In 1934, the company built a second plant on the southwestern shore, in the Mount Sedom area. A supplementary plant in the same location was opened in 1937. Among the pioneers working at both places was a group composed of members of Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me'uḥad which called itself "Pelugat Yam ha-Melaḥ."

During the late 30s, Kalia opened a resort hotel. It was spared the violence of the Arab riots due to good relations with the Arabs and during World War II, Palestine Potash Company supplied half of Britain's potash. In 1939, kibbutz Bet ha-Aravah was established northeast of Rabbat Ashlag. Beginning in 1947, hundreds of religious documents dated between 150 BCE and 70 CE were found by a local Bedouin in caves near the ancient settlement of Qumran, about one mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. They became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

During the War of Independence, the Dead Sea area suffered major damage. The potash plants on both ends of the Sea were destroyed by the Jordanians. Despite negotiations between the Kalia leadership and Jordan's Arab Legion to preserve the kibbutz under Jordanian occupation, the imprisonment of Jews in the Jordanian-occupied Naharayim complex and the Kfar Etzion massacre, not to mention their total isolation, led David Ben-Gurion to call for the residents' evacuation and their consolidation in the southern Dead Sea. Residents of Kalia and nearby Beit HaArava ultimately fled by boat on May 20 and the two kibbutzim were destroyed by the Jordanians. The area remained unpopulated save a Jordanian military camp. In "Operation Lot" (October 1948) overland contact with Sedom was reestablished, and in March 1949 units of the Israeli Army moved along the Dead Sea shore north to the site of En-Gedi which had been allocated to the Jewish state in the 1947 UN partition plan.

After the War, all points north of the Ein Gedi, which included places like Qumran, was off-limits to Israelis, and Jews in general, with rare exceptions. In 1966, Jewish journalist and archaeologist Solomon Steckoll received rights from the Jordanian government to excavate in the Qumran area.

After the War, the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Moshe Dayan, initiated the practice of holding the swearing-in ceremony of Israeli Armoured Corps soldiers who had completed their tironut (IDF basic training) on top of Masada. The ceremony ended with the declaration: "Masada shall not fall again."

By 1952, the Palestine Potash Company was revived as the Dead Sea Works, a state-owned enterprise. In 1953, the ancient town of Ein Gedi was revived as a kibbutz. And in 1955, the new Sedom potash plant of the Dead Sea Works began operating after the Beersheba-Sedom highway was completed. This highway was followed the next year with the building of the Sedom-Ein Gedi motor road. The Arad-Sedom and Sedom-Eilat highways were constructed in 1964 and 1967 respectively. These not only aided production and marketing of the Dead Sea Works but also created conditions for the development of the tourism and recreation in the region.

Archaeological activity has always been intense in this area, especially in and around Masada, Ein Gedi, and Qumran, and especially since independence. After visiting Masada several times in the 1930s and 1940s, Shmarya Guttman conducted an initial probe excavation in 1959. Ten years later, Yigael Yadin discovered a few skeletal remains at the site. After concluding that they were the Jewish defenders against Rome, they were reburied in a state ceremony by Israel’s rabbinate. Other famed Israeli archaeologists who conducted excavations in the area include: Yohanan Aharoni, Amir Drori, Yitzhak Magen, Magen Broshi, Hanan Eshel, Yuval Peleg, Oren Gutfield, and Yizhar Hirschfeld. A 2,000-year-old Judean date palm seed discovered during excavations in the early 1960s was successfully germinated into a date plant, popularly known as "Methuselah" after the longest-living figure in the Hebrew Bible. At the time, it was the oldest known germination, remaining so until a new record was set in 2012. As of September 2016, it remains the oldest germination from a seed.

Since the early 60s, major hotels were built along the Dead Sea. Neve Zohar, in ancient times, a major transport junction, was re-established in 1964 as a work camp for Dead Sea factory workers. It was named after the Zohar Stream, a wadi that flows into the Dead Sea. The liberation of the Judean Desert from Arab occupation, and the entire west coast of the Dead Sea by Israel in the Six-Day War made the region again easily accessible from Jerusalem. Kalia was re-established, as a paramilitary Nahal settlement in 1968, the first in the area. It was turned over to civilian use in 1972. In the late 1960s a restaurant, hotel, picnic camps, and a museum of the Dead Sea Works were opened at Shefekh Zohar, as well as the Ein Bokek resort complex making use of medicinal springs and thermal mud, youth hostels, etc. In 1970, the town of Mitzpe Shalem was founded in 1970 as a Nahal settlement and became a kibbutz in 1976. It was named after Natan Shalem who investigated the area of the Judean Desert where the kibbutz is located. In 1971, the Ein Gedi nature reserve was founded. The settlement Ein Tamar was established in August 1982 by 24 families on the site of the Biblical town of the same name near the Hatzeva Fortress near Ir Ovot. Ein Tamar and the neighboring village of Neot HaKikar are among the country's most remote places, forty minutes away from the nearest city, Dimona. Ovnat was founded in mid-2004 where a Nahal settlement previously existed. The religious high school "Yiftach" is located there, and some of the residents work there. The Ein Gedi race, also known as the Shalom Marathon – Dead Sea Half Marathon is a popular road running event over several distances that has been held by the Tamar Regional Council since 1983. In 1988, Ahava Skin Care products was established in Mitzpe Shalem. In 1995, the Dead Sea Works was privatized and it is now owned by Israel Chemicals. In 2007, the Masada Museum in Memory of Yigael Yadin opened at the site, in which archeological findings are displayed in a theatrical setting. The world's lowest installed ATM is at Ein Bokek; it was installed independently by a grocery store at 1,381 feet below sea level.

The Dead Sea temporarily comes to life in the wake of rainy winters. In 1980, after one such rainy winter, the normally dark blue Dead Sea turned red. Researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem found the Dead Sea to be teeming with a type of algae called Dunaliella. Dunaliella in turn nourished carotenoid-containing (red-pigmented) halobacteria, whose presence caused the color change. Since 1980, the Dead Sea basin has been dry and the algae and the bacteria have not returned in measurable numbers. In 2011 a group of scientists from Israel and Germany discovered fissures in the floor of the Dead Sea by scuba diving and observing the surface. These fissures allow fresh and brackish water to enter the Dead Sea. They sampled biofilms surrounding the fissures and discovered numerous species of bacteria and archaea.

In December 2013, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement for laying a water pipeline to link the Red Sea with the Dead Sea. The pipeline will be 110 miles long and is estimated to take up to five years to complete. 

Neve Midbar Beach at the northern end of the Dead Sea is a small private resort with a section of the shore set aside as a nude beach. Metsoke Dragot Beach by the Dead Sea, is an oasis where a couple of sweet water springs pour into the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea area has become a location for health research and potential treatment for several reasons. The mineral content of the water, the low content of pollens and other allergens in the atmosphere, the reduced ultraviolet component of solar radiation, and the higher atmospheric pressure at this great depth each may have specific health effects. For example, persons experiencing reduced respiratory function from diseases such as cystic fibrosis seem to benefit from the increased atmospheric pressure. Rhinosinusitis patients receiving Dead Sea saline nasal irrigation exhibited improved symptom relief compared to standard hypertonic saline spray in one study. Dead Sea mud pack therapy has been suggested to temporarily relieve pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knees. The Zohar Hot Springs are located three kilometers south of Ein Bokek. Rich in sulphur, the water is believed to be particularly beneficial in the treatment of muscular ailments, diseases of the joints and allergies.

KIBBUTZ DALIA

Kibbutz Dalia, courtesy, Marc's Words

Dalia is a very small kibbutz in northern Israel. Located approximately 18 ½ miles southeast of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Megiddo Regional Council. Dalia is one of those few places in Israel that does not seem to be mentioned in the Bible as a place (will someone correct me if I’m wrong). It is, however, mentioned four times as a given name, and as “Delaiah”. These are:

1. A son of Elioenai in the Davidic genealogy (I Chron. iii. 24). The sons of Delaiah are mentioned in the long post-exilic list of those who returned from captivity under Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 60; Neh. vii. 62). They were, however, unable to trace their descent.

·         2. Son of Mehetabeel and father of Shemaiah, who tried to persuade Nehemiah to seek refuge at night in the Temple, which caused Nehemiah to suspect him of spreading false alarms at the instigation of Sanballat (Neh. vi. 10).

·         3. Son of Shemaiah, a prince during the régime of Jehoiakim; one of those to whom Micaiah related the reading of the prophecy of Jeremiah by the prophet's scribe Baruch (Jer. xxxvi. 12).

·         4. A priest who headed the twenty-third of the twenty-four priestly divisions in the reign of David (I Chron. xxiv. 18).

The modern Kibbutz Dalia was founded by members of two Jewish groups affiliated with the socialist Hashomer Hatzair movement who moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1933. The first group was called "Ba-Ma'ale" and was composed of Romanian Jews. The other group was called "Ba-Mifneh" and was composed of German Jews. The Kibbutz Artzi network of Hashomer Hatzair decided to unite the groups and the two were symbolically united on May 1^st – May Day. That same day 50 members, 25 from each group, arrived at a parcel of land owned by the Jewish National Fund, next to the Arab village of Daliat-El-Ruha (from where Dalia took its name) and established a kibbutz and Tower and Stockade settlement for the protection of the Jewish inhabitants on that site and in the surrounding area. The first permanent building was a nursery day care center and the first industry was a small soap factory.

The 1940s saw major developments in the kibbutz. Between 1940 and 1943 a stable, cowshed, pen, cheese factory, textile factory, chicken coop and beehive were built. The kibbutz also showed its cruel side by establishing a rabbit farm, which was the main source of meat during the austerity period of World War II. A road was paved by the members from nearby kibbutz Ein HaShofet, connecting it to the rest of the country's transportation system.

Cultural and communal activities flourished in the kibbutz. A folk-dancing festival organized by Gurit Kadman in 1944 was held at the "Khan" on the kibbutz during the festival of Shavuot. The Book of Ruth was the theme of the festival, and residents of the various settlements in this region took part. Among the participants was Sara Levi-Tanai, who founded the Inbal Dance Theater company in 1949. The festival lasted for two days, with 200 dancers and 3,000 viewers. Three years later, in 1947, a second dance festival was held in the natural amphitheater beside the kibbutz. At this festival, several hundred dancers participated, watched by some ten thousand people from all over the country. Kibbutz theatre director Shulamit Bat-Dori directed the last two dance festivals held at Kibbutz Dalia, in 1958 and 1968. The 1958 production spotlighted 1,500 dancers, while the 1968 festival featured 3,000 dancers and attracted 60,000 audience members.

In 1944, youth from Dalia organized a group, which later joined the Palmach militia. In 1947, the kibbutz housed a nationwide squad leader course for the Palmach. During the War of Independence, Dalia helped the war effort by donating its only truck, and also put at the disposal, the local facilities, to help Israel's military industries. In a separate incident, an Egyptian plane was shot down nearby, its pilot caught and put in the kibbutz cowshed, which drew children's attention.

Other kibbutz sites include: the Community Garden in the heart of the kibbutz. The kibbutz terraces. The Chess Club.

DAMASCUS

Cathedral of St.George, Damascus, courtesy, Wikipedia

Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world with a history going back thousands of years. Today, it serves as the capital of the Arab-occupied country of Syria with an estimated population of 1.7 million – 15-20% of whom are Christian, and many of them, Syriac Christians, the indigenous inhabitants. Geographically, the city sits on either side of the Barada River and is embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range 50 miles inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau over 2,200 feet above sea level. Mount Qasioun overlooks the city from the north.

There is archaeological evidence that the Damascus area was settled as early as 9000 BCE around the Barada River. According to ancient Jewish tradition, it was founded by Uz, son of Aram, grandson of Noah. It was a major settlement in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, located in the country of Aram from where the Aramaic language was formulated. Eliezer, the trusted steward of Abraham, was referred to in the Biblical texts as “Eliezer of Damascus”. The name of the city was referred to, by the Aramaic-speaking people, as “Darmsuq” meaning “a well-watered land”. (The name was later Grecized/Latinized to “Damascus”.)

Years later, the city would gain pre-eminence when Ezron, the claimant to the royal throne of Aram Zobah, centered on the Beqaa Valley, was denied the kingship, fled Beqaa and captured Damascus by force in 965 BCE, overthrowing its king Rezin. In so doing, he founded the independent kingdom of Aram Damascus. Under his rule, a water distribution system was established which maximized the efficiency of the Barada. This system was later improved by the Romans and the Arab Umayyads, and still forms the basis of the water system of the old part of the city today.

As Aram Damascus expanded south, it prevented the Kingdom of Israel from spreading north and the two kingdoms soon clashed as they both sought to dominate trading hegemony in the east. Under Ezron's grandson, Ben-Hadad I (880–841 BCE), Damascus annexed Bashan (the modern-day Hauran region), and went on the offensive with Israel. This conflict continued until the early 8th century BCE when Ben-Hadad II was captured by Israel after unsuccessfully besieging Samaria. As a result, he granted Israel trading rights in Damascus. Shortly thereafter, however, the Assyrian Empire began to encroach on the territory of Aram Damascus. Aramean forces were ordered to retreat to the walled part of the city while the Assyrians plundered the remainder of the kingdom. Soon, the city was ruled in its entirety by Assyria which ushered in a Dark Age.

In 332 BCE, Damascus was conquered by Alexander the Great. After the death of Alexander in 323 BCE, Damascus became the site of a struggle between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. In 64 BCE, the Romans occupied Damascus and subsequently incorporated it into the league of ten cities known as the Decapolis which themselves were incorporated into the province of Syria and granted autonomy.

Damascus was one of the first sites to receive Christianity during the ministry of St. Peter. As a result there were more Christians in the city than anywhere else and the inhabitants would soon form their own unique form of Syriac Christianity. But other forms of Christianity also sprang up around them. As the spread of the new religion progressed locally, by the end of the Roman/Byzantine era, the local Eastern Orthodox Christians developed the neighborhood of Bab Tuma. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Paul and Saint Thomas both lived there. Roman Catholic historians also consider Bab Tuma to be the birthplace of several Popes such as John V and Gregory III.

In 125, the Roman emperor Hadrian promoted the city to "Metropolis of Coele-Syria". In 222, it was upgraded to a colonia by the Emperor Septimius Severus. During this period, Damascus and the Roman province of Syria in general began to prosper. Its importance as a caravan city was evident with the trade routes from southern Arabia, Palmyra, Petra, and the silk routes from China all converging on it.  

In 636, the same year the Arabs conquered Israel, they also conquered Syria, and like Israel, Syria was thereafter made an Arab country at the expense of the indigenous Syriac Christian inhabitants, in which state it remains to this day, unlike Israel. From 661 to 750, Damascus was made the capital of the Arab Umayyad Caliphate. While the Muslims administered the city, its population remained mostly Christian with a growing community of Muslims from Mecca, Medina, and the Syrian Desert. Aramaic was superseded by Arabic which was established as the official language, giving the local Muslim minority an advantage over the Aramaic-speaking Christians in administrative affairs. In 706, the Caliph al-Walid initiated construction of the Grand Mosque of Damascus (known as the Umayyad Mosque). The site originally had been the Christian Cathedral of St. John, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. The Muslims maintained the building's dedication. By 715, the mosque was complete.

After centuries of living somewhat peacefully with their neighbors, by the 19^th century, things took a turn for the worst. The massacre of Christians in 1860 occurred when fighting between Druze and Maronites in Mount Lebanon spilled over into Damascus. Several thousand Christians were killed with many more being saved through the intervention of the Algerian Arab exile Abd al-Qadir and his soldiers (three days after the massacre started), who brought them to safety in Abd al-Qadir's residence and the citadel. The Christian quarter of the old city (mostly inhabited by Catholics), including a number of churches, was burnt down. The Christian inhabitants of the notoriously poor and refractory Midan district outside the walls (mostly Syriac Orthodox) were, however, protected by their Muslim neighbors.

In 1924, the patriarchate of the Syriac Church was transferred to Homs after Kemal Atatürk expelled the Patriarch, who took the library of Deir el-Zaferan and settled in Damascus. The current headquarters of the Church has been located in the Cathedral of Saint George in Bab Tuma since 1959.

Today, Bab Tuma remains the main Christian center in the city. Bab Sharqi Street, filled with small shops, leads to Bab Tuma. At the end of this street, one reaches the House of Ananias, an underground chapel that was the cellar of Ananias's house. Other Christian districts in the city are Qassaa and Ghassani. They are home to many churches most notably the ancient Chapel of Saint Paul near the Bab Kisan where, according to tradition, is the spot Saint Paul made an escape. Between 1982 and 2004 in the suburb of Soufanieh, a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary have reportedly been observed. The Damascus Straight Street (referred to in the account of the conversion of St. Paul in Acts 9:11), also known as the Via Recta, was the decumanus (East-West main street) of Roman Damascus, and extended for almost a mile. The Cardo (north-south), of the Decumanus is about twice as long. The Romans built a monumental gate which still survives at the eastern end of Decumanus Maximus. The gate originally had three arches: the central arch was for chariots while the side arches were for pedestrians. 

A small Druze minority also inhabits the city, notably in the mixed Christian-Druze suburbs of Tadamon, Jaramana, and Sahnaya.

Other indigenous sites include:

Mariamite Cathedral of Damascus;
Cathedral of the Dormition of Our Lady;
Saint John the Damascene Church;
Saint Paul's Laura;
Ruins of the Jupiter Temple at the entrance of Al-Hamidiyah Souq;
The Happy Child House project started in 2019 which provides childcare services in Damascus.

KIBBUTZ DEGANIA

Degania, Israel, courtesy, Pinterest

On the southern shores of the Sea of Galilee in Israel is the community of Degania. Actually, there are two Deganias – A and B (Aleph and Bet in Hebrew). During the days of the Second Temple when the Land of Israel was ruled by the Roman Empire, these places possibly made up the village of Homonoea as described by Josephus. In the Talmudic period (4^th century), it was referred to as Kfar Gun. Modern Degania however, had its beginning at the start of the 20^th century. The land on which Degania is located was acquired by the Jewish National Fund as one of its first landholdings. The initiative to settle there came from a group of farmers – ten men and two women belonging to the second wave of Jewish pioneers who settled and developed the Land of Israel, known as the Second Aliyah – who were working as wage earners at the neighboring farm of Kinneret. They were Russian Jews, inspired by the socialist uprisings in Russia as well as the teachings of labor leader Aaron David Gordon (himself a Russian Jew) who advocated working the land communally in a socialist type utopia. Motivated by their ideology, they applied to Arthur Ruppin, chairman of the Palestine Office in Jaffa, which represented the World Zionist Organization based in Europe, to farm a plot of land on their own responsibility. Ruppin decided to accord them a trial period on part of the land east of the Jordan named Umm Jūnī. Surprisingly, the experiment succeeded economically and as a collective. Thus was born Degania, the first kibbutz. It was followed in 1911 by the "Haderah Commune" whose members worked out the principles of collective settlement and made Degania the "Mother of the Kevutzot." 

In June 1912, the group moved from the mud huts and wooden shack of Umm Juni to the new stone-built compound at its permanent location where the Jordan River meets the Sea of Galilee.

The poetess Rachel Bluwstein and paramilitary commander Joseph Trumpeldor were among those who worked in Degania. Zionist pioneer and future Israeli politician Yosef Baratz, among the founders of Degania, married and started the kibbutz’s first family. His first child, Gideon Baratz (1913-1988), was born there, becoming the first child born in a kibbutz. The second native-born child was the future general and politician Moshe Dayan. Dayan was named after Moshe Barsky, a member of Degania who, in 1913, was the first kibbutz member killed in an Arab attack.

After World War I, Degania's intensified farming created a need for more hands and the third wave of Jewish pioneers arriving in the country, the Third Aliyah, was a major source. But preferring to maintain the frame of the small "family" kevutzah, in 1920, the settlers ceded part of the land for a new kibbutz but as an extension of the existing one. It was founded mainly by veterans of the Second Aliyah led by kibbutz pioneer and leader Levi Brevda, later known as Levi ben Amitai, and Levi Eshkol, future prime minister of Israel. It was called “Degania Bet”, the original kibbutz being renamed “Degania Aleph”. It was the first planned kibbutz and was designed and built by the German Jewish architect Fritz Kornberg. Degania Gimel was established soon after, later becoming Kibbutz Bet Zera.

During the Arab riots of 1920, the Deganias were attacked and Degania Bet was abandoned for several months. Reconstruction was swift however and the settlements further intensified their farming techniques. In time, they recognized the need, both economic and social, to absorb more members, but even so, in 1932, they were able to give part of their land for a third settlement, Afikim. During the Arab riots of 1936–39, Degania Bet served as a base for establishing “tower and stockade” settlements as a means of protecting Jewish lives throughout the country. During the War of Independence in 1948, the kibbutz served as a training center for soldiers of the Yiftach Brigade from the Upper Galileean village of Kfar Blum. In the meantime, in a bid to conquer the Jordan Valley, the nearby villages of Shaar haGolan and Masada were attacked by the Arab army of Arab-occupied Syria and the village of Zemah, fell. On May 20, 1948, during the Battles of the Kinarot Valley, in one of the first battles of the war, the residents of Degania Alef and Bet, assisted by a small number of military personnel, repelled a Syrian Arab attack and succeeded in halting the advance of the Syrian Arabs into the Jordan Valley. After the battle, one of the Syrian tanks remained stuck in the settlement's perimeter; it remained there as a memorial and Defenders’ Park, Gan haMeginim, was established in memory of Degania’s fallen members.   

In addition to its 350 cow dairy herd, crop fields, almond orchards, banana, date and avocado plantations, Degania Bet industrialized in the 1960s with Degania Sprayers, now a green industry; in 1984 it opened the Degania Silicone factory. An additional source of income is its kibbutz cottage tourist accommodation, and it specializes in organized bicycle tours. Deganyah Alef has operated the Toolgal industrial diamond plant since the early 1970s.

In 1981, Degania Alef was awarded the Israel Prize, for its special contribution to society and the State in social pioneering.

In 2007, in a sign of the times, Degania Alef moved to undergo privatization. The local economy was now more capitalistic but still offers a form of a social "safety net" supplement for members whose livelihood is inadequate to meet their expenses.

The Bet Gordon Museum and Study Center for natural sciences and agriculture is located at Degania Alef. Arthur Ruppin, botanist Otto Warburg, journalist Leopold Greenberg, and other personalities are buried at Degania Alef, alongside Aaron David Gordon, Joseph Busel, and other founders of the labor settlement movement.  

CYRENAICA

Jebel Akhdar, Benghazi region, Cyrenaica; courtesy, Trip Advisor

Cyrenaica is an ancient region covering the eastern half of, what is today, Arab-occupied Libya, and named after the ancient Berber (Amazigh) city of Cyrene (modern day Shahat) located on the coast. The Berbers were, of course, the original inhabitants of Cyrenaica founding a number of cities and settlements, both on the coast, and especially in the inland oases such as Kharga, Siwa (today in westernmost Egypt), Jerabub, and Awjila where remnants of their languages are still found. The area was somewhat known to the ancient Egyptians who knew it as a place of pastoral tribes and olive trees. In later antiquity, Cyrenaica came under the control of the Greeks, thus becoming home to many Greek immigrants. Later, it passed to the Romans. Under Roman rule, Cyrenaica became known as Pentapolis or the "Five Cities", for the five major cities of the area – Cyrene, Apollonia (today Mersa Susa), Arsinoe (today Tocra), Berenice (today Benghazi), Balagrae (al Bayda), and Barce (Marj). It formed part of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica, later divided into Libya Pentapolis and Libya Sicca. In modern times, Cyrenaica came under the rule of Italy and later Britain. In 1951, the Europeans left and the area became incorporated into the Arab Kingdom of Libya. The indigenous Berbers were left as second class citizens at which point, they remain to this day.

After the Arabs completed the conquest of Egypt in 642, they started to raid the indigenous Amazigh territory of Cyrenaica as a starting point for the rest of North Africa which they called Bilād al-Maghrib (“Lands of the West”) or simply the Maghrib. In 705 this region became a province of the Muslim empire then ruled from Damascus by the Arab Umayyad caliphs (661–750) but it managed to retain its indigenous Berber character. But slowly but surely, they became Islamized and in part also Arabized. They were neither forcibly converted to Islam nor systematically missionized by their conquerors. Largely because its teachings became an ideology through which they justified both their rebellions against the caliphs and their support of rulers who rejected caliphal authority, Islam gained wide appeal and spread rapidly.

One of the major cities in Cyrenaica, Benghazi, has historically been indigenous and was one of the centers of Berber civilization. However, in the 11th century, the Arab Sa'ada tribe from the Bani Salim invaded and occupied Cyrenaica, including Benghazi, resulting in its control by various branches of the tribe. Benghazi and its surrounding areas were controlled by the Barghathi tribe.

In the 12^th century, the area around the town of Ajdabiya was described by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi as a place where “tribes of the Berber wander about in great numbers”.

A short-lived Berber state existed in Cyrenaica between 1911 and 1912. During the 1980s, substantial Berber minorities continued to play important economic and political roles, their second class status notwithstanding. After the revolution that overthrew Qaddafi, the political structure was reorganized – with great difficulty but with the occupying Arabs still in charge. In the Cyrenaican parliament, the Amazigh were supposed to get two seats as were the Tibu and Tuareg minorities, which registered candidates. Six seats were reserved for women. The Amazigh demanded from the Arabs equal rights. The General National Congress (GNC) assembly, Libya's new parliament, debated Amazigh demands but reached no agreement.

Today, the people of the area are mainly of mixed Berber and Arab descent. So much so, that many, if not a majority, of the indigenous Cyrenaicans, would often scorn their Berber identities. However, no one can change their ancestry and the people of Cyrenaica are still Berber even if in name only.

Indigenous sites in the area, aside from those mentioned above, include:

The Slontha Temple, a small, ancient, temple dating to the period before the Greek occupation; it was partially damaged during flooding due to heavy rain, but was restored in 1993. Located in the village of Aslanta Lasamisis, approximately 15 miles south of al-Bayda, the temple is hidden high in the Green Mountain's groves. It was first mentioned by G. Haimann in 1886. J. W. Gregory, Professor of Geology at the University of Glasgow, came across the site when he was studying the area in 1911. The temple is rich in carvings of human faces, unusual human figures and animals, disembodied heads, and slender bodies engraved directly onto the rocks, in a style totally unique to the temple. Some of these figures, unlike other ancient representations of the surrounding cultures, are in a seated position, in what appears to be a deeply religious gathering, probably in association with the worship of the dead. Burials and statues in seating position, are characteristic of several Berber cemeteries of the time.

The Jebel Akhdar mountain range extends parallel to the coast from the Gulf of Sidra to the Gulf of Bomba and reaches an elevation of 2860 feet. The southward slopes of the Jebel Akhdar are occupied by the Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppes, a transitional ecoregion lying between the Mediterranean climate regions of North Africa and the hyper-arid Sahara Desert. The lower Jebel el-Akabah lies to the south and east of the Jebel Akhdar. The two highlands are separated by a depression. This eastern region, known in ancient times as Marmarica, is much drier than the Jebel Akhdar and here the Sahara extends to the coast. Historically, salt-collecting and sponge fishing in the Jebel were more important than agriculture. 

The Libyan Desert, located south of the coastal highlands of Cyrenaica is a large east-west running depression, extending eastward from the Gulf of Sidra into Egypt. This region includes the Great Sand Sea and the Calanshio Sand Sea.

The Marj Plain is a level plateau that is separated from the coastal plain by a steep escarpment.   

The Garrigue shrublands occupy the non-agricultural portions of the coastal plain.

The deltaic patches at Susa and Derna.

Ras al Hillal Bay. 

FEZ

Fez, courtesy, Berber Dream Tours

Fez is the second largest city in Morocco after Casablanca with a population of 1.4 million (2014). It is located in the northern part of the country (northeast of the Atlas Mountains) and serves as the capital of the Fez-Meknes administrative region. It is also centrally located among most Moroccan population centers. Even though Fez is often described as an “Arab” city, it is, in fact, approximately 33% indigenous Berber, of various tribes. In addition, there are the so-called “Arabized Berbers” who make up approximately 54% of the population. They are either of mixed Arab and Berber ancestry, or Berbers who have taken on Arab culture and identity. Either way, the Arabized Berbers despise their own indigenous Berber identity and identify more with the occupying Arabs. Just as there are self-hating Jews in the world, so there are self-hating Berbers.

The foundation of the city of Fez is said to have been established by the Arab Idrisid dynasty in 789 but named after the Berber banu Fazaz tribe who inhabited the site. Berber emigration to the city occurred from Muslim Spain, a.k.a. Andalusia, in 817–818 after they were expelled after a rebellion against the ruling Arab Umayyad dynasty of Córdoba. They established the Adwat Al Andalus quarter of the city. However, they were followed by 2000 Arab families of colonists from Kairouan (modern Tunisia) after another rebellion in 824 and who established the Adwat Al Qarawiyyin quarter.

In the 10th century, Fez, which at that time, was ruled by the Berber Zenatas, was contested by the Arab Ummayads of Spanish Cordoba and the Idrisids on the one hand, and the Arab Fatimid Caliphate of Tunisia on the other. The Fatimids proved victorious and took the city in 927, expelled the Idrisids, and installed the Berber Miknasa, a branch of the Zenata, over the city. The Miknasa were, in turn, driven out in 980 by the Berber Maghrawa, another branch of the Zenata and ally of Córdoba. It was in this period that the Andalusian ruler Almanzor commissioned the Maghrawa, under their emir Dunas al Maghrawi, to rebuild and refurnish the Al-Kairouan mosque, giving it much of its current appearance.

In 1070, the Berber Almoravid dynasty under ibn Tashfin conquered the city and great Islamic works were initiated throughout the city and their domain. Under Almoravid patronage the largest expansion and renovation of the al-Kairouan Mosque took place (1134-1143) and Fez also acquired a reputation for Maliki legal scholarship; the works of Abu Imran al Fassi were well known. The city also became an important centre of trade. Almoravid impact on the city's structure was such that the second Almoravid ruler, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, is often considered to be the second founder of Fez.

Like many Moroccan cities, Fez was greatly enlarged during the Berber Almohad Caliphate and saw its previously dominating rural aspect lessen. At the start of the 13th century they broke down the Idrisid city walls and constructed new ones, which covered a much wider space. These Almohad walls exist to this day as the outline of Fes el Bali quarter. Under Almohad rule the city grew to become one of the largest in the world with an estimated population of 200,000.

In 1250, Fez became capital of the Berber Marinid Sultanate. In 1276, the Marinid Sultan Abu Yusuf Yacub, who was known as a tolerant ruler who personally intervened to prevent the attempted annihilation of the local Jewish community after a massacre that took place there, established the neighborhood of Fes Jdid which he made the dynasty’s administrative and military center. Fez reached its golden age during this time attracting Berber villagers from the surrounding area. The ruling dynasty initiated numerous building projects in the city, such as the madrasas: the Saffarin (the first), Al Attarine, Mesbahiyya, Sahrij, and the Bou Inania; and mosques: the Great Mosque of Fes Jdid built in 1279, the Abu al Hassan, the Chrabliyine beginning in 1342, the al-Hamra from 1350, the Lala Ghariba in Fes Jdid, and the Bab Guissa from the reign of Abu al-Hassan (1331-1351) (modified in later centuries). Other projects included^, the Dar al Magana water clock. The city also became a major travel destination and throughout this period, was often visited by great Islamic Berber scholars such as Ibn Batuta in the 14^th century. The Marinids also spread the teachings of the former Arab ruler Idris I and encouraged sharifism, financing sharifian families as a way to legitimize their (in essence secular) rule. Soon, hundreds of families throughout Morocco claimed descent from Idris I, especially in Fez and the nearby Rif mountains.

The Moroccan Revolt in 1465 eventually resulted in the overthrow of the last Marinid sultan nine years later. The dynasty was then replaced by their relatives, the Wattasids, who faithfully (but for a large part unsuccessfully) continued Marinid policies. By 1549, the Arab Saadi dynasty overthrew the Wattasids. In 1576, Fez was briefly conquered by the Ottoman Turks with the help of their Arab allies. Fez remained however under Saadi rule til the present day. During this time period, the indigenous Berbers were often relegated to second class citizenship, their practice of Islam notwithstanding. In fact, as relatively recent as 1912, when Morocco had just come under French rule, the student body at the University of Al Qaraouiyyin, founded by Arabs in the 9^th century, were strictly segregated between Arab and Berber students. During the French and Spanish occupation of Morocco in the early 20^th centuries, the Berbers of Fez, as with the rest of Morocco, were at the forefront of the fight for independence. Their contributions to Moroccan independence and society still did not improve their situation and only recently, was the Berber language even recognized.

Indigenous sites in Fez (aside from those mentioned above) include:

The Bab el Amer Gate leading to the Fes Jdid quarter;

The Bab Bou Jeloud Gate built in the 12^th century, gives access to the main street leading to the Al Qarawiyyin;

Nearby is the former Almoravid citadel;

The Chouara Tannery;

The tombs of the Marinids built in the 14^th century;

Coin Berber rug shop in the Medina;

And the Al Batha Museum founded by the Berber writer Ahmed Sefrioui.