Day 10 - Friday 31st October
 Sitting here sipping an Israeli Gin and Tonic. Funny gin but more than you are given in a British hotel!! Another amazing day studying our Jewish roots. We began in Capernaum setting off at 8 to miss the rush! Capernaum is the seaside town Jesus escaped to when the people of Nazareth didn't recognise him as anything special. It is the home of Simon Peter and probably other disciples. We visited the synagogue and Peter's house. We said the Sh'ma in the Synagogue which Jesus would have done three times every day:
"Hear o Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."
I remembered that the Jews in the German concentration camps had said the same words and of course Jews have done just that throughout history.
 We have been high up in the Golan Heights for most of the day. We have tasted the wine made here and visited both ancient and modern settlements. We have looked out over Syria, Jordan and Israel and wondered about the terrible situation that Jews, Arabs, Moslems, Christians find themselves in in this so beautiful part of the world. There is too much barbed wire, too many high fences protecting different communities and our amazing Messianic Jewish Guide evades the questions about Palestinian Christians too often. And yet we feel the presence of the Lord, we feel the peace of Galilee, we feel the great need of the Chosen People to have a home of their own. You cannot deny they are an efficient people. The roads are good, the fields are full of well ordered plantations of oranges, mangoes, guaves, bananas. Irrigation is well organised even though the Sea of Galilee is so low after years of drought. I for one will come home with more questions unanswered than answered and will look forward to reading the book I ordered from Ashtead library about the modern history of Palestine!
Blessings and love Trish x
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