It is Shabach in Israel. We know it as "The Sabbath" or Saturday. In Israel it is Shabach. That's fine but there are a couple of interesting things we encounter. All Jewish owned businesses are closed until 6 pm. For a Saturday, the city is strangely quiet. Looking out our balcony we see a few signs of life, but there are very few cars and scooters buzzing about and not nearly as many street vendors out hawking their wares.
The other more unknown issue with Shabach is there is a Shabach Elevator. Yes. Every place in Israel that has elevators designates one of the as a Shabach Elevator. That means that an orthodox Jew (and they are everywhere) does not have to violate Shabach by "working" by pushing the button for which floor they are staying on. This elevator stops automatically on every floor. Us Gentiles are not supposed to ride the Shabach elevator as to defile the orthodox observer of Shabach (I guess it's OK that we defile them the other six days of the week). You would think that they might tell you or put a sign out on the Shabach elevator. No, you have to guess. Once JoLynn was about to step into one of the elevators that an orthodox man was already in when the door opened. JoLynn must have looked obviously like defilement material as he quite sternly repeated; "Shabach! Shabach! Shabach!" Maybe that's how you are supposed to find out which elevator is the Shabach elevator.
We go down to breakfast. It is in a different place than dinner. We reach the lobby floor and then have to go down a winding staircase to a lower floor. Yes, more stairs. We arrive for breakfast and find a surprise. Breakfast looks a lot like dinner. Really. The same long and heaping salad buffet, some interesting dinner-like hot choices and upon request Nescafe. I am a little confused. I was kind of hoping for oatmeal, but no such thing is offered. I tentatively select some salad choices that I think might make OK breakfast options. Way over in the corner I see a lot of our group bunched around something. I check it out. That is where the bread and toast and cereal options are, even some kind of fruit juice. I also take what looks like yogurt in the little plastic containers like they have at home.
What I really want to do is dump the salad I have chosen and get some cereal. I try to eat the salad but it just doesn't fit the bill. I disturb it on my plate like I have eaten a lot of it. I open the yogurt. I put my spoon in and taste it. Either I have chosen a little cup of buttermilk or Israel yogurt is a lot different than what Wal-Mart sells. I am in a fix. I decide I need to abandon my plate and start over. We don't eat lunch until 1 or 2 in the afternoon so I want to get something I can eat. I happen to find a large bowl on the salad buffet that looks like granola. I think it is meant to sprinkle over some of the salad offerings they have there. I get a bowl and fill it with the salad sprinkle material. I fill that with milk and viola! I have breakfast.
We have to go quickly to our rooms get out gear and get aboard the buses. After donning our special hats, spf 47 sunscreen, our Red Bus identification badges, a little blue receiver on a red lanyard with a headphone that is issued to us so we can hear the guides over the noise of the crowds or wind or over distance, and our satchels, we look suspiciously like tourists.
Let me assure you this is not the case. We are serious students of biblical history. To the untrained eye we might look like ridiculous American tourists with our cameras and special gear, but to those in the know, we are there for learning and taking pictures of our favorite thing: rocks. There are a LOT of rocks in Israel and we took pictures of most of them.
We scurry down to our buses refreshed, rested and ready for a new adventure. Our first destination is Dan. Dan is in the northern part of Israel, up by Mt. Hermon. Mt. Hermon in this case refers to a range of mountains AND a specific mountain at the same time. Talk about confusing. We are in for another amazing day.
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