Dead Sea - Day 1

With ten years (yes, 10!) of marriage under our belts, Nicki and I decided to head to the Dead Sea for a couple of days to celebrate. Having been there, we can now officially say that we’ve “got friends in low places”. At an elevation of 1388 ft below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth. It is also one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water—with over 10x the amount of salt as the ocean. Oh, and the water contains lots of minerals, too.

Given the Dead Sea’s unique properties, and the fact that the area gets on average 330 days of sunshine (sunshine, mind you, that is less likely to cause sunburn given the elevation) per year—it attracts a lot of tourists. Many of them are Russian. These Russians, and the others, don’t just come for the Sea—they also enjoy taking pictures with camels, hiking in dry river beds called “wadis”, and visiting the cliff top ruins of Masada (see Dead Sea Day 2 – coming soon).

After gearing up (which included putting Sammy in his moose outfit), we left our apartment in Tel Aviv bound for the Dead Sea. On the way, we climbed the hills towards Jerusalem (elevation 2500’). From there, it was all downhill…a drop of almost 4000’ to the Dead Sea. The landscape changed drastically from forested hills to barren desert inhabited solely by shepherds.  

Our first stop was at Qumran National Park, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. After being hidden for over 2000 years, a Bedouin shepherd inadvertently stumbled upon a set of scrolls in 1947—and the rest were found over the next 8 or 9 years. Much of the scrolls turned out to be copies of the Hebrew Bible (aka “Old Testament”) which, incredibly, showed that the books had not been altered over the years. Read more about the scrolls here.  

Qumran is the first stop for many Dead Sea bus tours from Jerusalem. Given this, there is a large gift shop complete with “Ahava” brand beauty products (made with Dead Sea salt & minerals). Nicki wanted to check it out, so we did. After Sammy garnered attention from a sales lady, and the woman found out that we are living in Tel-Aviv and were not part of a tour group, she leaned in and whispered to us that we should NOT buy Ahava products at her store. They are, in fact, much cheaper at the Factory Store twenty minutes down the road. We appreciated her honesty, and figured take her up on the recommendation. After ten years of marriage, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s not to turn down a good deal on beauty products.

Here’s little Sammy in an outfit from Grandma B. They both like moose! 

This is our first camel spotting. This camel was located at the “sea level” turn-off about halfway between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, luring tourists like us in for a 10-shekel photo op. We decided to take a rain check.

In addition to the Dead Sea scroll caves, the Qumran National Park also includes some ruins. Apparently the inhabitants liked dates.

Here’s one of the Qumran caves in which the scrolls were found.

And here’s a view of the Qumran ruins. Can you see some caves in the background?

Do you know these two? Nicki and Sam posing at the Ahava Factory Store. Those are Dead Sea salt sculptures in the background.

Finally, a literal “Factory Store”—complete with a factory! While I analyzed the manufacturing process, Nicki was busy shopping and Sammy wooed one of the sales ladies. Some of the manufacturing technicians also smiled at Sammy through the window.

Outside of the Ahava factory, we came across this plant. It had some soft and squishy bark, and an apple-like fruit. A man walked by while Nicki and I were studying it—and, in case he spoke English and couldn’t tell, I remarked “we’re not from around here”. He passed without a word. As he pulled away in his car, however, he paused, and out the window warned: “don’t eat it, it’s poisonous!”. We hadn’t planned on tasting this forbidden fruit, but got a kick out of his advice nonetheless. Later we found out that the plant is called a Sodom Apple.

We drove along the Dead Sea shore, but didn’t yet get out of the car to explore. Partly because the weather was gray and windy…and partly to avoid the sink-holes. The Dead Sea is a bit selfish, you see. It takes in water from various sources (see Jordan River), but doesn’t have any outflow. Thus, its size is determined by inflow minus evaporation. And, with much of the Jordan being diverted for irrigation, combined with many 100+ degree days, the evaporation is winning as of late. Given all of this, the Dead Sea is now just a fraction of its original size—which creates the potential for sink holes in the muddy areas which water once covered. You can read more about sink holes and the dire future of the Dead Sea here.

Camels certainly aren’t something we’re used to watching out for while driving. Just for the record, we only saw a few of them, and they were used as props by roadside shops to draw in business. None were crossing the road.

Here’s a salty rock formation they call “Lot’s wife” near Mt. Sodom. Based on some Google search results, this isn’t the only formation with the same name.

Can you guess what this is? Scroll down to find out…

Yes, it is a gigantic pile of salt having been harvested from the Dead Sea.

We spent two nights in Ein Bokek—a seaside tourist town on the Southern part of the Sea. Given our hotel room’s carpeted floors, Sammy was in heaven! He squirmed and rolled his way all over the room, making us realize that our tiled apartment floors need some carpet. Does he appear proud of himself for sneaking under this table, or what?

Have I mentioned that Sammy can sit by himself now? Here’s proof.

Hanukkah and Gas Masks

Until recently, all I’d known about the Hanukkah holiday had been learned from Adam Sandler. Just having celebrated Hanukkah (aka Chanukah among various Romanized spellings) here in Israel, I am now slightly more informed.


First off, I learned that “menorah” is a general Hebrew term for any manmade light (i.e. a lamp). And, I’ve learned, a Hanukkah menorah has its own special name—a “Hanukiah”.


Here is the Hanukiah that Nicki purchased at the AM/PM down the street. And in front of it is a Hanukkah donut. “Sufganiyot” are jelly-filled donuts typically enjoyed ruing the 8-day holiday.

And here is a Hanukiah in our neighborhood.

We lit one candle per evening, starting on the evening of December 20th (Hanukkah started on December 21st this year, but don’t forget that Jewish days start in the evening based on the account in Genesis 1:5). Traditionally, I’m told, the center Hanukiah candle (which stands a bit elevated as compared to the others) is lit--and then the far left candle is lit (always using the center candle to light the remaining candles) on the first evening of Hanukkah. On subsequent evenings, and extra candle is lit each night, until all eight glow to close out the holiday. That being said, there are apparently alternate candle lighting procedures also practiced by Jews celebrating Hanukkah--such as starting with all eight candles lit, then removing one each night.


Why are there eight days of Hanukkah, you ask? So did I. As the story goes, when the Jews (led by the Macabbees) reclaimed the temple from the Greeks back in the 2nd century, they apparently only found enough oil to light the temple menorah for a single day—but miraculously, the candle burned for eight days.


While Sammy was interested in learning about Hannukah, he was even more excited about Christmas. After spending Christmas Eve in Bethlehem (where Jesus was born), I took Christmas Day (Sunday) off of work so we could celebrate as a family. Here is Sammy opening a present...


In getting presents shipped from generous family members back in the US, we learned a bit about Israeli import tax. Let’s say, hypothetically, that a generous present-giver in the States were to ship $100 worth of Christmas presents to Israel, and paid (even more generously) $50 in shipping costs to do so. The receiver on the Israeli side would then pay up to 46% tax on the value of the goods plus the amount spent on shipping. So in this hypothetical case, the recipient would pay up to $70 to “receive” the gifts. That being the case, the tax seems to be only intermittently enforced by postal workers—as we were asked to pay to receive one high-value shipment, but not another.


After polling co-workers about this tax, it seems that alternative options to paying the tax include but are not limited to: lying about the value (but in doing so risking paying double if caught) since shipments under $50 are not taxed, or contesting the tax (we were given two phone numbers to call, if desired). All in all, it was an interesting (and funny) lesson for all parties involved.


In other news, my company is participating in the nation-wide “ABC kit” (gas mask) refresh program. As part of the Israeli Home Front Command readiness plan, all Israeli families should have a kit at home, even during peaceful times. My talkative cubemate had a (boxed) gas mask sitting on his desk this week. To be sure, he already had masks for himself, his wife, and his older child—but the new mask was for his baby. When I told him that we had been told that “our” gas masks would be distributed upon need, he recommended that I escalate the issue and demand to have them now…just in case.


Upon talking to another co-worker, it sunk in even more how real the threat can be here. She said that during the Gulf War in the 1990’s, schools were closed for ~6 weeks and each home was required to have a sealed room in which to retreat when the sirens sounded. That being said, she didn’t seem too concerned and commented that she wouldn’t know where to look for her family’s masks if indeed there was an “event”.


On a lighter note, my cube-mate was also keenly eyeing the Iowa Caucus this week—asking me what I thought of Rick Santorum and knowing the details regarding Romney’s slim margin of victory. Truly eye-opening to see how important US politics are to our ally Israel. That being said, most of my co-workers were seemingly uninterested in the caucus.


Here are some pictures of Sammy, in case you are interested (and I know that some of you are!)… Oh, and Nicki and I are in a couple of them too :) 

Many pictures were taken due to Sammy's first Christmas...

Sammy got a new hat (temps can dip down into the 50's on cold winter nights here in Tel Aviv, you know)...

He can sit up by himself (kind of...)!

Sammy's hands-in-pockets were NOT staged...

We tried taking some Christmas pictures at the beach just as sun was setting, but it proved difficult to get Sammy to look at the camera and smile (we needed a helper)...

This one turned out to be the winner for the Christmas cards...at least Sammy was looking at the camera.