Entering the Promised Land: A visit to the Jordan River

Did you ever think about the Israelites coming into the Promised Land after 40 years?

Prior to Passover before the corona pandemic, I went on a special field trip organized by the Government Press Office to the Jordan River and Jericho, and we could hardly wait to sign up!

The bus with 40 journalists left the GPO office parking lot in Jerusalem at 8:30 a.m. with Kudi, a knowledgeable Israeli guide, and traveled on Road #1 to the southern part of the Jordan Valley.

We pass Ma’aleh Adumim, now a city with 40,000 residents, and head through the desert area. We begin the ascent to Jericho, passing the Inn of the Good Samaritan, the Sea Level sign, and the barren hills. We see a strip of restaurants and souvenir places out of nowhere; hear the history of Kibbutz Beit Arevo, situated in this area from 1939 to 1948; pass palm trees looking like a forest and by 9:20 we are at Qasr el-Yahud. Past the security fence, the bus parks in the lot allotted for parking, and we walk across an area and down steps to the Jordan River.

Until 1967, this site was under Jordanian control; then in 1968 access was prohibited. In recent years, the Tourism and Regional Development ministries carried out development, including the clearing of mines, and the site was opened to visitors in 2011. The site and facilities are administered by the Israeli Civil Administration and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism as part of a national park.

The baptismal site

Down the middle of the muddy Jordan River is a metal divider. On the other side is Jordan; people stand by that side of the river and behind them, there are churches. On the Israeli side, down more steps, people are wearing white cover-ups and going into the river, presumably to be baptized. What is the significance of this site? There is one Christian and two Jewish events that took place at this spot. For Christians, this is traditionally where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.

The crossing of the Israelites into the Promised Land

In the Book of Joshua we read how the Israelites, after 40 years of wandering in the desert, were led by Joshua to cross the Jordan River as the river became a stream. Supposedly this happened on the 10th of Nissan. Our guide says this could have taken place here 3,300 years ago:

“When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, even the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand in one heap.” (Joshua 3:13)

According to Maj.-Gen. (res.) Uzi Dayan, former national security adviser and IDF deputy chief of staff who joined our trip at this point, this was “the first aliyah to Israel.”

Elijah is said to have struck the Jordan River water with his cloak. The water parted so that he and Elisha could cross. After Elijah ascended, Elisha again parted the waters with Elijah’s cloak so he could return to Israel. This occurred before Elijah ascended to Heaven in a fiery chariot.

Dayan tells us there will be 17 busloads of people coming here to attend a ceremony at the site later in the afternoon.

Touring Jericho

At 11:10, we board the bus and become part of a convoy of IDF soldiers and jeeps leading us, with several soldiers inside each bus. On one side are minefields undergoing a clearing.

Our first stop is the seventh-century Shalom Al Yisrael synagogue. We walk down some steps and around the large mosaic floor with a menorah in the center. The synagogue was probably used for hundreds of years during the sixth and seventh centuries, and then the Jericho Jewish community disappeared, and the synagogue was forgotten.

Dating from the Byzantine period, the synagogue was revealed in excavations conducted in 1936 by Dimitri Baramki of the Antiquities Department under the British Mandate.

The 10-by-13 meter mosaic floor (32 feet nine inches x 42 feet seven inches) was identified as a synagogue from its image of the Holy Ark, a menorah, a shofar and lulav. The name stemmed from a beautiful mosaic inscription with the Hebrew words, Shalom Al Yisrael.

After the 1967 Six Day War, the site came under Israeli military control and remained under the administrative responsibility of the Arab owners (the Shahwan family that had built a house over the mosaic floor and charged admission to visit it). Tourists and Jews began visiting the site regularly for prayers. In 1987, the Israeli authorities confiscated the mosaic, the house and a small part of the farm around it and offered compensation to the Shahwan family, but that was rejected.

After the 1995 Oslo Accords, control of the site was given to the Palestinian Authority. It was agreed that free access to the site would continue, and it would be adequately protected.

On the night of October 12, 2000, the synagogue was vandalized by Palestinians who torched and destroyed most of the building, burned holy books and relics, and damaged the mosaic. For over eight years no Jew was permitted to set foot in the Shalom al Yisrael synagogue, but sometime during that time it was restored by the Jericho Municipality. Since 2007, prayer services have been allowed once a week.

By 12:15 we have arrived in Jericho, where some of the journalists climbed the Tel. Opposite is a building with restaurants, snacks and a kind of enclosed mall. Israeli soldiers patrol the entire area. Outside, a man gives rides to people atop a camel, and soldiers sit and talk.

The Tel

The Tel (mound) archaeological site is 1½ miles north of modern-day Jericho, on the site of the ancient city, 846 feet below sea level. It was inhabited from the 10th century BCE. Excavations began in 1868, and settlements were found dating from 10,000 BCE.

The story in the Book of Joshua, with which we are all familiar, relates that when the Hebrews were encamped in the Jordan Valley opposite Jericho ready to cross the river, Joshua, as a final preparation, sent out two spies to investigate the military strength of Jericho. The spies stayed in Rahab’s house, which was built into the city wall. The soldiers sent to capture the spies asked Rahab to bring out the spies; instead, she hid them.

After escaping, the spies promised to spare Rahab and her family after taking the city, even if there should be a massacre, if she would mark her house by hanging a red cord out the window. Some have claimed that the symbol of the red cord is related to the practice of the “red-light district.”

When the city of Jericho fell, Rahab and her whole family were preserved according to the promise of the spies, and were incorporated among the Jewish people.

The biblical Battle of Jericho, with which we are all familiar, was the first battle fought by the Israelites. According to Joshua 6:1-27, the walls of Jericho fell after Joshua’s Israelite army marched around the city and blew their trumpets. Modern-day Jericho seems filled with garbage and trash landfills, gray stone buildings and very little activity.

Moshav Na’ama

By 2 o’clock we are at Moshav Na’ama where Inon, one of the farmers, grows herbs in greenhouses. In the warehouse, sweet basil and tarragon are packaged for shipping all over the world to supermarkets. They grow, then pick, and then ship by air. Of the 50 families living there, they grow grapes, Medjoul dates and organic vegetables. He says 95% of the dates grown there are Medjoul and 5% are other kinds.

Originating in the Middle East and North Africa, Medjoul is one of the most famous varieties and well-known for its unusually large size and delicious flavor.

The moshav is 45 minutes from the center of Jerusalem and 1½ hours from Tel Aviv. Dates from their plantation will be harvested in September-October.

Above the baptismal site, by the Jordan River, where we began our tour, chairs are set up for the approximately 900 people due to sit through speeches in Hebrew commemorating this 10th of Nissan and the arrival of the Israelites in the Promised Land. Since most of the foreign journalists do not understand the Hebrew, we set off on our return to Jerusalem and return to the GPO office at 6:30. I hope you enjoyed my tour! ■

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist, lecturer, book reviewer, food writer and author (Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Journalist in Israel) and nine cookbooks.