I made it back last night after a gruelingly rushed trip home. I was scheduled to fly back overnight Monday, as I wanted a full day in the Old City, so I would have arrived Tuesday in the afternoon. After the slaughter of the Druze children on Sunday, several of my trusted Israeli friends advised me to leave immediately, not so much for safety–but because Israel’s coming retaliation against Hezbollah could well close Ben Gurion airport. Since no one knows when it will happen I decided at 11pm Sunday night to head for the airport and get any flight out to Madrid-my non-stop connection to Charlotte on American–that I could fine. I found an El Al flight scheduled for 5am and grabbed it. I thank those of you who donated to this trip, as I was able to pay for the new flight on top of my scheduled one Tel Aviv to Charlotte–as well as a limo to the airport at that late hour when cabs can be risky just off the street.
I arrived in Madrid about 11am local time and rushed to get the Monday Madrid-CLT flight, rather than my scheduled Tuesday flight back. I got on the phone with American and was able to reserve the ONE seat left–and had 20 minutes to get to the Gate–but I made it. It was probably seriously comical to see me run to the gate–which of course was the last one in the main terminal. It was a bit risky as I had to give up my reservation on the Tuesday flight–that was full, to book one on Monday. But here I am Tuesday morning, back, in Charlotte, happily home. All in all it was a 24 hour trip (4pm EST Sunday to 4pm EST Monday)–with no real sleep, as I was in economy and those seats are killers for rest.
Despite the last day cut short it was a fabulous trip! I will be telling you all about it over the next week or so. It seemed like every day was magical–with new insights and discoveries. I got to spend seven days with Simcha Jacobovici, on the pilot first episode of a rebooted “Naked Archaeologist.” Our topic is built around my work on “The Quest for the Historical Paul.” We were filming with cameras and a drone, at Caesarea, Qumran, Tiberius, and outside Tsfat–the ancient 1st century tombs near Ein Zeitim.–big news on that to come later. I mention that area in my book The Jesus Dynasty, as some of you know. And we sorted through all sorts of things related to the Talpiot tombs. I spent an afternoon with Oded Golan, as I reported earlier, and reaffirmed my warm relationship with him, discussing the latest on the James ossuary. I spent time with Shimon Gibson and was able to explore a list of special things in the Old City. Saw lots of other friends and celebrated my 75th Trip to the Holy Land with a nice little cookout in my honor that Shimon arranged. It could not have been a better trip. I measure my walks with my Apple watch and I logged 5.3 miles on Saturday–guess I violated the Sabbath Days journey–except all of Jerusalem is considered ones “Dwelling” by the Rabbis! And then 9.1 miles on Sunday–with no idea I would be rushing to the airport at 11pm.
I will be sharing details with my research group. If you are interested II invite you to join my “Tabor Research Community” for lots more, discussions, my responses to messages, a monthly Zoom meetings, and a fantastic and diverse group of historically oriented students of the Bible: See details here:
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