Author Archives: Shmuel Browns

Unknown's avatar

About Shmuel Browns

I am a tour guide, licensed by the Israel Ministry of Tourism. I do tours throughout Israel, personalized to your interests, time and budget.

Wine tour

2 Replies

If you are interested in seeing Israel and nature, wine making and tasting, I would be happy to arrange a wine tour. Today we toured the Carmel area and Lower Galilee with some great views of mountains and valleys visiting 4 wineries: Tishbi, Amphorae, Tulip and Yiftah’el.
DSC_0054

DSC_0055

A wineries tour is a special way to experience a piece of Israel today and learn about Israel in the 1880s and the impact of the Baron de Rothschild on its development.

The Tishbi Estate winery is a family run business established in 1984 offering 4 series of wines: Special Reserve, Estate, Vineyard and Series. The business is based on a tradition going back to 1882 when Michael Chamiletzki arrived in Zichron, settled in the nearby town of Shefeya and started growing grapes commissioned by Rothschild. The winery also makes a fine brandy. There is a kosher dairy restaurant and visitor’s center that besides wine sells a line of fine foods by Oshra Tishbi: wine jellies, fruit preserves, honey, olive oil and tehina (also organic).

DSC_0026

The Amphorae winery is situated by the Maharal River where it crosses the Shirr valley, part of Makura ranch that grows organic Merlot grapes, olives and lichee. The winery buildings of native limestone fieldstone were designed by well-known architect Diego Grasso who has designed wineries in northern Italy.

The Itzhaki family founded the Tulip winery in 2003 on Kfar Tikva, a residential community for adults with disabilities and special needs thereby making it part of a unique project to help enable these adults to reach their full potential. Tulip helps to support and contribute to the community. Tulip sponsored a contest for artwork from people with disabilities and the winning entry graces the label of one of their premier wines. Tulip is located next to Bet Shearim and the Sheikh Abrek ridge where the sculpture of Alexander Zaid, one of the founders of HaShomer (the Watchman organization), overlooks the Jezreel valley.

DSC_0066

Yiftah’el grows its own grapes, more unusual varieties, Petite Sira, Shiraz and Sangovese and makes it wine on Alon HaGalil. The visitor’s centre, which also sells honey from wildflowers, citrus, plum, clover and carob, is housed in a small cabin that was imported from Appalachia by an American who shipped it to Israel when he made aliyah.

It is worth including a visit to Zichron Yaakov, the HaMizgaga museum where no less than Meir Dizengoff (later mayor of Tel Aviv) was in charge of the glass factory making wine bottles and the park at Ramat HaNadiv where the Baron and his wife are buried.

Jerusalem Restaurant Recommendations

2 Replies

As a guide, I’m often asked for restaurant recommendations so here are some suggestions for restaurants to try in Jerusalem. There are many websites with lists of restaurants, reviews, etc. – my idea is to recommend a few (I’ve listed about 30) that I feel are special in some way (ethnicity, atmosphere, cuisine, location, view, food) and that are likely to be close to where you are. Those marked [NK] are not kosher, usually means that they are also open on Shabbat.

If you’re at the Mabada theater check out the restaurants in the mitkham rakevet, the old train yards: HaSadna (NK), Hahatzer (meat/fish), Guta (French) actually close by on Derekh Bet Lehem. Try Terasa at the Begin Heritage Center or Lavan [NK] (same owners as Adom) a stylish bistro at Cinemateque that have a lovely view of the walls of the Old City.

Nearby on Emeq Refaim Street are all the restaurants and cafes of the German Colony: Luciana (Italian), Joy (meat/fish), Olive (meat/fish), Taiku (Asian), Ryu (Asian), Caffit (dairy), Masaryk (dairy), Coffee Mill and the list goes on and on and changes often – it’s hard to go wrong.

In town, off Jaffa Road at number 31 enter Feingold Court through an arched passageway and find a bunch of restaurants: Dagim B’Hatzer (fish), Eldad V’zehu, Sakura (Japanese) [NK], Barood [NK], Adom [NK].

In the Nahalat Shiva neighborhood there is Tmol Shilshom (dairy/fish) in the courtyard and others along the street; at the bottom on Hillel Street there is Spaghettim [NK] with more than 50 sauces.

Farther up Jaffa Road on the right take HaRav Kook Street and you can find Anna Ticho House, Darna (Morroccan); Moshe Basson’s restaurant Eucalyptus (Israeli fusion) has moved to Hutzot HaYozer below Jaffa Gate.

In the Mahane Yehuda area and along Agrippas Street down to Gan Sacher there are a wide selection of restaurants Topolino (Italian), Ichikidana (Indian vegetarian), Mizrachi, Azura, Rachmo, MahaneYuda (NK), Ima (Kurdish). To help you find your way around Mahane Yehuda check out my map.

B’tayavon!

Jerusalem Underground

3 Replies

Jerusalem and the Old City are great places to walk around but there’s also a Jerusalem underground (not to be confused with the light rail :-) ). Remember that in archaeological sites as you go to lower layers you go back in history, for example, under Damascus Gate from the Ottoman period is the Roman gate to the city from the time of Hadrian. Not far is Zedekiah’s Cave, also known as Solomon’s Quarries, a 5-acre (20,000 m2) underground meleke limestone quarry that runs under the Muslim Quarter as far as the Sisters of Zion. According to legend, King Zedekiah escaped from the Chaldeans who had surrounded Jerusalem by fleeing through the cave all the way to the plains of Jericho.

If you like caves, there is also a very fine stalactite cave not far from Jerusalem, Soreq cave in the Avshalom Reserve that you can visit about 2 km from Beit Shemesh. Since you will be nearby this would be a good opportunity to visit Tel Maresha and explore underground, the caves, columbarium and tombs from the Hellenistic period.

Herodium has a series of tunnels dug in the mountain during the Great Revolt and then extended during the Bar Kochba Revolt. Near Herodium in Nahal Tekoa the Haritoun Cave is great for spelunking.

In the Jewish Quarter go underground to the Wohl Archaeological museum to see the remains of mansions from the Second Temple period. You can also take a guided tour of the Western Wall tunnel (you must reserve places in advance) that uncovers the part of the western support wall of the Temple Mount built by Herod that runs under the Muslim Quarter. Afterwards walk down the Via Dolorosa and enter the Sisters of Zion to see the Lithostratus and Struthion pool, from the time of Hadrian.

If you like tunnels, exit Dung gate and walk over to the City of David. There you can walk underground in the passageway from the Canaanite period – then you have 2 options: 1) walk the Canaanite tunnel (dry) and exit in Area E park 2) wade through Hezekiah’s tunnel (wet) and exit at the Byzantine Siloam pool. This site contains a lot of history and archaeology and is worth doing with a knowledgeable guide.

Theses are some ideas for exploring underground Jerusalem. Contact me if you would like me to take you exploring.

City of David: Inscription & bulla

5 Replies

I just received the latest newsletter from Ir David (in Hebrew) and they have a riddle which I’ve modified slightly and include here.

This inscription, carved in stone in proto-Hebrew was discovered in 1880 by chance at the southern end of Hezekiah’s tunnel in the City of David by a young boy named Jacob Eliahu who was playing hooky from school. Because Israel was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, the Turkish authorities took the stone (which broke when it was pried off the wall) to the Istanbul Archaeological museum, Turkey.

siloam-inscription

Photo: from the Internet

Subtract the sum of the numbers mentioned in the text of this inscription from the year that it was discovered and then add the units digit of the year that Parker began his excavations in the City of David and you’ll get a year that is important in Jewish history and in relation to the bulla (a seal impression in clay affixed to legal documents) of Gedalya ben Pashur that Eilat Mazar found in her recent excavations below the stepped support wall in Area G. Explain the relationship. Email me your answer. Have fun. 8-)

bulla

Photo: Gabri Laron/Hebrew University/Dr. Eilat Mazar

Hints: Who was Gedalya ben Pashur and where in the Bible is he mentioned?

Herod’s Mausoleum and Sarcophagus at Herodium

7 Replies
So they went eight furlongs to Herodium; for there by his own command he was to be buried. And thus did Herod end his life.

Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews

In 1972 Professor Ehud Netzer began his excavations at Lower Herodium. In May 2007 after 35 years of looking for King Herod’s tomb at Herodium, Netzer announced at a press conference that he had uncovered the base of Herod’s mausoleum halfway up the manmade mountain, on the northeast side. Netzer, both an architect and archaeologist and an expert in the Herodian period, has drawn up his reconstruction of the mausoleum, a monument 25 meters high, with a cube-shaped first floor, a cylindrical second floor and a soaring, peaked roof. Note that the photo below is of Yad Avshalom in the Kidron valley – it is an impressive nefesh from the same period so it’s likely that Herod’s monument could have looked similar.

Yad Avshaom, tomb from Second Temple period in the Kidron valley, Jerusalem

Yad Avshalom, tomb from Second Temple period in the Kidron valley, Jerusalem

herodium

National Geographic, December 2008

I’d be delighted to guide you at the site, including the palace complex at the foot of the hill excavated by Netzer in the 1970s and the palace-fortress at the top (in the archaeological park) built by Herod. Although the tomb area is not yet open to the public, they’ve made a temporary path that takes you close, to a lookout of the remains of the mausoleum. Excavations are continuing.

Discovered was an ornate, pink limestone sarcophagus that had been smashed to pieces in antiquity that Netzer claims was King Herod’s.

herods-sarcophagus

Photo: AP (from the Internet)

Later two other sarcophagi were discovered that Netzer claims belong to other members of Herod’s family.

herodium-sarcophagus

Photo: Gabi Laron (from Internet)

Herodium is unique among the sites like Masada, Caesarea, Cypros associated with Herod – it was an entire palace complex originally built by Herod in the desert, the only site to bear his name and where he decided to be buried. Herodium gives us a key to understanding Herod and Jewish life during the Second Temple period.

For additional information about Herodium check my blog post at https://israeltours.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/tour-herodium-herod-tomb/

For a sample tour that I do of Herodium check https://israeltours.wordpress.com/tours/herodium/

Siloam Pool

5 Replies

In summer 2004 Ronnie Reich and Eli Shukron uncovered the stone steps to a large (50m x 60m, 3 dunam) pool at the southern end of Ir David, the City of David, dated to the end of the Second Temple period and built by King Herod. Further excavations unearthed the north-east corner and northern edge of the pool and a promenade that ascends via steps to a square overlooking the pool and the beginning of a stepped street that runs 800 meters from the bottom of the City of David to the Temple Mount, connecting with the Herodian street below Robinson’s Arch. The stone surface covers an earlier pool from the Hasmonean period.
shiloach-pool21
For Jews, this is the Shiloach Pool, where the ‘living waters’ were used for ritual cleansing in the Temple and the Festival of the Water Libation during Sukkot. For Christians, the Siloam Pool is one of the two places in Jerusalem where Jesus performed miracles (the other is the Bethesda Pool in the Old City), see John 9: “The man called Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and was able to see.” Until this discovery, the Siloam Pool was thought to be the small pool at the end of Hezekiah’s tunnel, part of the Church of Siloam built by the Empress Eudocia between 400 and 450. The round parts of stone columns visible in the pool apparently came from the columns that adorned the promenade of the Herodian pool.

The site of yet another Pool of Siloam which would predate these two is still unknown. That first pool (Shelah Pool, mentioned in Nehemiah 3:15) was constructed in the 8th century BC by Judean King Hezekiah, in anticipation that the Assyrians would lay siege to Jerusalem to hold the waters of the Gihon Spring, brought to it by Hezekiah’s tunnel.

“Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?”                 (2 Kings 20:20)

Even earlier, in the 18th C BCE (MB II), the inhabitants of Canaanite Jerusalem collected both rainwater and runoff from the City of David hill and the Western hill in a pool at the mouth of the central valley. They also channeled the water of the Gihon Spring to the pool through a conduit (open to the sky), known as the Canaanite Tunnel which runs along the eastern slope of the city.

shiloach_pool

Illustrations are from the INPA-City of David brochure on the Shiloach Pool