Israel, a Very Different Mission... A Different Perspective. A Historic Mission From Las Vegas!: DAY 2

Today, once again we continued to see Israel from a completely different perspective. We began our day by heading to The Mount of Beatitudes which is a sight of tremendous holiness and significance for Christians. Again, I found myself in a place in Israel where I had never been before. Believe it or not The Mount of Beatitudes is one of those places that helps us understand one of the most significant theological differences between Judaism and Christianity. It was at this modestly high hill, overlooking the Kineret (Sea of Galilee) that Christians believe Jesus preached "The Sermon On The Mount..." This speech serves well as a tool for understanding the difference between observing the Mitzvot and preventing our instincts to take control of us and the Christian belief that one should never let any impure thoughts enter our mind and heart.b In other words, In Judaism a Hero is a person that controls his impulses. In Christianity a Hero is a person that refrains from having impulses. The incredible thing about this experience is despite our differences in understanding God, the trip remained very much about Israel and what we can do to make sure that she remains secure and vibrant. Not for one second does it ceases to amaze me how much this Pastors love The state of Israel, yes, The STATE of Israel and not only The Land of Israel. I would give anything to make some of my congregants understand what to my Christian colleagues seems to be a given... We should never take Israel for granted.

Today we also drove up to the border with Lebanon where we were able to see the proximity of the Hizballah positions and how at any given moment they could unleash thousands of rockets over Israel. It never fails, every time someone who has never seen this before sees it for the first time, asks the same question; How can people leave so close to the border? The answer, very simple; "This is Israel, everyone lives close to the border." We were able to meet some soldiers who patrol our northern border and keep it quiet. The Pastors brought gifts from them from Las Vegas and they were able to ask them any questions they wanted. I think they were absolutely caught by surprise by two things; First, how amazingly young our soldiers are and second, how honest open and candid they are to people's questions. For me it is always an inspiration to experience moments like these, however, being how people who are not Jewish react to such an encounter was an incredible privilege that I will never forget.

We then headed for Capernaum or as it is known in Israel Kfar Nahum which is another series of archeological finds that are extremely relevant to Christians. We headed for Kibutz Ein Gev where we had fish for lunch. Believe it or not I am very familiar with this kibutz which at some point in time served as an absorption point for immigrants from Mexico who came from the same youth movement where I grew up. There are hardly any Mexicans left in the kibutz but I was amazed at how much it has grown and has made an industry out of feeding fish to Christian Groups. I don't have to tell you how important Christian Tourism is for Israel. When we arrived at The Jordan River and witnessed people immersing themselves in "baptism" by the hundreds it was impossible not to understand what the number of Christians who visit Israel every year means to Israel's economy.

I almost felt like an outsider! Me, a veteran visitor of Israel. Me, a firm believer in coming here as often as we possibly can, found myself at a loss of words in trying to explain what I was witnessing. This led me to a very obvious conclusion and a very difficult feeling. I was both elated and jealous! I keep asking myself, how can it be that so many people in our congregation make a conscious choice not to visit Israel when they have the opportunity. We can certainly learn a lot from The Christian groups I saw around me the entire day.

We also visited an incredible place at Hof Ginozar... If that name sounds familiar, well it is because there is a beautiful song that we sing at the beginning of Shabbat to welcome Shabbat where we talk about the Shabbat falling over the Valley of Ginozar. There we saw a 2000 year old fishing boat. It was preserved by The Israeli Antiquities Authority in a most remarkable way. It kind of makes you think what would be of all of these if it was a different people that had sovereignty over The Land of Israel.

We concluded the day with a meat dinner at Decks which is a wonderful steak house in the city of Tiberias. We came back to the hotel and collapsed looking forward to another amazing day of discovery and bonding. Tomorrow we are leaving for Jerusalem where we will spend Shabbat.