Beware Scandinavians invades Qumran, En-gedi and the Dead Sea

Shalom!

My Boss Knut had invited me and a gathering of other scandinavians to take part in a visit to: Qumran, En gedi and the dead sea. We were five norwegians and three from Denmark in the gathering. Therefore I was very grateful that the car of Knut is a car with many seats - Especially since we were to drive for awhile, in an overwhelming heat in order to get there ( I am most grateful to Knut, for chosing to go to the dessert after the very warm summer, and not during). The ride to the destinations where an experience in itself and we had a lot of fun making fun of each others languages. At this trip, I was having trouble deciding if I wanted to speak (Danish-Norwegian) or if I should use my "all danish" accent. Sometimes I had difficulties in figuring out how to speak fluent Danish, especially due to the fact that all my roommates are norwegian, therefore my native tongue is becoming worse.

The first place we visited, was Qumran - this is where the Dead Sea Scrolls have been found, it had also housed a Jewish sect called  the Essenes - the sons of light, we could call them. It had been a group of Jews, living in the desert waiting for the great Apocalyptic war between the sons of darkness and the sons of light. They had ritual bathing, wrote scrolls and studied them, they shared everything, lived together. Some are claiming that John the baptist should have been a part of the group. There are even those that claims that Jesus was an Essene, or that he had a lot of the same teachings as the Essenes had. Whatever the case? This was the first place we visited. It was interesting to see, although I most say I found it defficult to imagine that the remaining ruin's had once beeen walls around a pottery, a dininghall etc. Here are some pictures!

its a great place to play hide and seek - Dette er et fedt sted at lege gemmeleg

here you can read the story of the dead sea scrolls + Her kan du læse historien om dødehavsrullerne

do you see the difference between the rooms? - ser du forskellen mellem rummene?

Den grotte du ser, er en af de huler hvor i man fandt rullerne - The cave, is one of the crave's in which they found the scrolls.

it is not easy being a kid in this place - det er ikke net at være barn her.

When we had seen everything we could get out of Qumran, and heard all the extra facts from Knut- who knew alot about the place. Then we traveled on to reach En-gedi. En-gedi is a green oases in the middle of the desert. We drove for a long time, and everything around us was dead, we didn't even see any animals, Suddenly in the middle of nowhere this green view started to emerge. En-gedi was where David had hidden himself with his men, because he was afraid of King Saul. The oases is filled with various falls, and the biggest of these was named after my younger brother - it was called David's fall - I am sure he wasn't aware that he had a Fall, but he does -in the middle of the dessert, nonetheless. The water was cold, but it felt really good because of the overwhelming heat, and ofcause the place had to be located in a mountain area, thus we had to walk uphill to get to the bigger fall.

In the end of our destination we came to the dead sea, the smell is not what I would describe as being pleasant, it smells like death. Luckily, in the area we chose to bathe, the smell was less apparent. Here I found the lowest located bar in the world. It was also a place where the grown ups played with mud, while the kids where swimming around. If you are tired of life and wants to drown yourself - this is not the place to go - drowning is impossible or so it felt while the salty water held you floating. It was alittle like having a gigantic water madrase. I am telling you, Dont get water in your eyes- it is like pouring acid into your eyes - or so I think, I have never actually had acid in my eye.

All together it was a great trip, we had lots of fun and I can highly recommand the trip to others!

Shalom!




Min Boss Knut havde inviteret mig og en gruppe af Skandinavere til at deltage i en tur til: Qumran, En Gedi og Det Døde Hav. Vi var fem nordmænd og tre fra Danmark. Derfor var jeg meget taknemmelig for, at Knut's bil er en bil med mange siddepladser - Især da vi skulle køre i lang tid, i en overvældende varme. (Jeg er meget taknemmelig overfor Knut, for at have valgt at tage til ørkenen efter den meget varme sommer, og ikke under). Turen til destinationerne, var en oplevelse i sig selv og vi lavede sjov med hinandens sprog. Det skal lige siges at jeg her havde problemer med at beslutte, om jeg ønskede at tale (dansk-norsk), eller hvis jeg skulle bruge min "naturlige" danske accent. Nogle gange havde jeg endda svært ved at finde ud af, hvordan man talte flydende dansk, især på grund af det faktum, at alle dem jeg bor med er fra norge, derfor er mit modersmål blevet slemt forværret.

Det første sted vi besøgte, var Qumran - det er her Døde havs rullerne er fundet, dette var også bosted for en jødisk sekt kaldet Essenerne - sønner af lyset, kunne vi kalde dem. Det havde været en gruppe af jøder, der boede i ørkenen mens de venter på den store apokalyptiske krig mellem mørket og lysets børn. De havde rituelle bade, skrev skriftruller og studerede dem, de delte alt, levede sammen, og nogle påstår, at Johannes Døberen skulle have været en del af gruppen. Der er endda dem, der hævder, at Jesus var en Essener, eller at han havde en del af de samme lærdomme som Essenerne havde. hvordan det end måtte hænge sammen, så er dette det første sted, vi besøgte. Det var interessant at se, selv om jeg må sige, at jeg fandt det svært at forestille mig, at de resterende ruiner har engang været værelser for et keramisk værksted, en spisesal osv. 

Da vi havde set alt, hvad vi kunne få ud af Qumran, og havde hørt alle de ekstra oplysninger fra Knut- Der vidste en masse om stedet. Så rejste vi videre for at nå frem til en-Gedi. En-Gedi er en grøn oase midt i ørkenen. Vi kørte i lang tid, og alt omkring os var dødt, vi  så ikke engang dyr, så pludselig i midten af ingenting anede vi denne grønne plet forude. En-Gedi var der hvor David havde gemt sig med sine mænd, fordi han var bange for kong Saul. Oasen var fyldt med forskellige vandfald, og den største af disse var opkaldt efter min lillebror - det blev kaldt Davids vandfald - Jeg er sikker på, at han ikke var klar over, at han havde et vandfald, men det har han -midt i ørkenen. Vandet var koldt, men det føltes rigtig godt på grund af den overvældende varme, og selfølgelig  skulle stedet være beliggende i et bjergområde, så vi måtte gå op ad bakke for at komme til det større vandfald.

this is how a true israeli/norwegian family travel to En-gedi - det er således en ægte israelsk/norsk familie tager til En-gedi.

An oasis in the middle of the dessert - en oase i midten af ørkenen

up it went - op det gik

the Fall of my brother - min brors vandfald.

Its good to be a kid here - Det er herligt at være barn på dette sted

I slutningen af vores tur kom vi til Det Døde Hav, lugten er ikke, hvad jeg vil betegne som værende behagelig, det lugter af død. Heldigvis, var det område hvor vi valgte at bade, et sted hvor lugten var mindre mærkbar. Her fandt jeg den laveste liggende bar i verden. Det var også et sted, hvor de voksne legede med mudder, mens børnene svømmede rundt. Hvis du er træt af livet og ønsker at drukne dig selv -  er dette ikke stedet at tage hen - drukning er umulig eller sådan føltes det, da det salte vand holdte dig flydende. Det var lidt som at have en gigantisk vandseng. Jeg siger dig, få ikke vand i øjnene-det er som at hælde syre i øjnene - eller sådan jeg tror det føles, jeg har aldrig haft syre i mine øjne.

Alt i alt var det en god tur, og jeg kan varmt anbefale dig at foretage samme rejse!

den lavest liggende bar 418 meter under havets overflade - the lowest bar  - it is located 418 meter under the surface of the water

the dead sea - det døde hav

the view from the car - udsigten fra bilen

the grown ups played with mud - de voksne legede med mudder

the most peculiar mountains i have seen, looked like someone had slized of the tip of the mountains - de mest underlige bjerge jeg har set - det så ud til at nogen havde skåret toppen af bjergene.