The Calling

After about an hour's drive through the countryside they came to the edge of the high plateau. Below them tucked between the plateau and the sea was the city of Tiberius. As they drove through the city, Peter thought it resembled several cities on the Jersey shore. There were many retail shops with living space above them; banks, drug stores, and even some fast food establishments. Along the water's edge there were several large hi-rise hotels and many smaller ones.

Parking the car in front of one of the hi-rise hotels David said, "I'll help you get checked in."

As it turned out Peter didn't need David's help; the staff spoke English and were very helpful.

"Dinner starts at six," David told him. "You go up to your room, unpack and get some rest. I'll meet you here in the lobby at six; we'll have dinner."

Peter's room was on the tenth floor; a typical hotel room with two beds and a bathroom. What he liked best was the balcony, with its two chairs, a small table, and best of all, its panoramic view of the Sea of Galilee and the barren hills beyond. Peter unpacked his bag and took a nap.

At six o'clock he found David, carrying a small paper bag, waiting for him in the lobby. The entire dining room was lined with various buffet stations serving many various and delicious types of food.

"Hi, David; what did you do this afternoon?"

"I drove home, checked on my daughter, answered several e-mails and came back here for dinner."

"You live close by?"

"Yes; it's about a twenty minute drive from here. Whenever I'm in Tiberius, I go home when I can."

"David, why didn't you stay home with your daughter? I could have eaten alone."

"I always have my meals with the group or in this case with the person I am touring with. You are my responsibility while you are here in Israel. Besides, I enjoy your company; you remind me of me when I was your age."

After dinner they walked the promenade along the sea front. David showed him a small church built in the year 1100, an abandoned mosque, and the remnants of an ancient wall, which at one time had been a defensive wall around the city.

At about nine o'clock David and Peter walked back to the hotel. "Here Peter, put this in your room for tomorrow night. It's a bottle of wine; we can relax on your balcony after dinner. I'll meet you tomorrow at seven-thirty for breakfast. Good night."

Chapter 3

The next morning after breakfast, David and Peter traveled about a half hour to a museum. There they sat through a short movie, which described the discovery of an ancient boat dating back to the time of Christ. It had been discovered buried in the mud along the edge of the Sea of Galilee during a period of an extended drought. After the movie, they entered the exhibit that held the boat, which was remarkably well preserved considering it was submerged for nearly 2,000 years.

"Come on, let's go, said David, "We have to catch a boat."

With that, they walked out the side door of the museum and along a short pier, joining up with a tour group waiting to board a large wooden fishing boat.

"I have a friend, another tour guide. We're joining his group on a boat ride up to the town of Capernaum. You can't come to Tiberius and not take a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee."

After a short wait, they boarded the boat and found seats along the rail. During the ride, as they reached the middle of the sea, the Capitan cut the engine and in the quiet of the moment, a priest, the apparent leader of the group, stood and in a soothing voice, read from the bible. It was a passage relating how Jesus had appeared to the disciples during the middle of a storm walking towards their boat, calling for Peter to join him.

The scene depicted in the story was in sharp contrast to the glorious morning that they were experiencing, thought Peter. The air was still, the water calm and the sun shone brightly as it rose higher in the bright, blue, cloudless sky.

The captain started the motor and, after another twenty minutes, they pulled up to a dock. Everyone began to depart from boat. When Peter stood waiting for his turn, David grasped his arm saying, "We're not getting off here. They have a bus waiting for them here; we have to go back to the museum to get my car. Don't worry; we'll be driving out this way later in the day."

When they got back to the museum they retrieved their car and David drove them along the coastline, stopping at several churches, each dedicated to events described in the New Testament. They ate lunch at a small cafe along the route.

It was mid-afternoon when they reached the church dedicated to The Sermon on the Mount and specifically the eight Beatitudes. David parked the car and went into tour guide mode as they headed towards the entrance of the church.

"This is the general location where, according to the New Testament, Christ had his followers recline on the ground and delivered one of his most dramatic sermons featuring The Eight Beatitudes. It wasn't nearly as lush and green then as it is now. It's believed the church is built over one of the seven underground springs that feed into the Sea of Galilee, which, by the way, is a fresh-water sea and the main source of drinking water for the northern half of Israel. The gardens you see are the result of a rather extensive irrigation system."

David guided Peter to the entrance of the church and, after a brief history of the church, said:

"Peter, if you don't mind, I'm going to leave you here for about a half an hour. I want to go home and see how my daughter is doing. After touring the inside of the church, you can take a walk in the gardens. I won't be long."

It didn't take Peter long to walk the perimeter of the inside of the church. Carved high up on the face of each of the eight walls of the octagon shaped church were The Beatitudes. As he was leaving he turned and looked up one last time. On the wall directly opposite the doorway was written: "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs shall be the kingdom of God."

'I certainly hope so,' he thought turning and leaving the building.

He strolled through the gardens for about twenty minutes until he came to what appeared to be the gardeners' work area. It was in a small cove, with large piles of soil and mulch and several large potted plants. Peter was just about to head back to the church, when his gaze caught some movement from behind the cove. Someone was kicking and punching, with great ferocity, a large leather bag hanging from a tree limb. Peter couldn't help but stare at this spectacle. He had never seen anything like it before. The person striking the bag seemed to be rather tall, with long dark hair tied into a pony tail, and was obviously in great physical condition with broad shoulders and a narrow waist.

Suddenly a second figure approached wearing a red sports cap.

'That looks like David' he thought to himself. 'And if that's David, then that must be his daughter.'

His suspicions were confirmed when she stopped striking the bag long enough to say something to David while bending slightly offering her cheek which he kissed before turning and retreating from sight.

They each made it back to the church at about the same time and returned to the car. David said their final stop before returning to the hotel would be Mount Tabor the suggested sight of The Transfiguration. The ride lasted about a half an hour, with David doing most of the talking. It was a harrowing ride up to the top of Mt Tabor; the road wound back and forth across the face of the mountain with only a short guard rail between the pavement and the valley below. When they arrived at the top, David walked with Peter up to the front of the church.

"You go in; I'll wait out here. When you come out we'll walk around the building and I'll point out some of the sights."

Peter walked through the church, noting the elaborate scenes painted on the ceilings of the various rooms inside. It was nice and he took some pictures, but this just wasn't satisfying for him. He didn't know what he was looking for, but he knew for sure that all of these modern-day churches were not it.

David took him around one side of the church.

"If you look out there, pointing to the east across the valley, behind those mountains is the city of Tiberius. When we go around to the other side, you can see the Jezreel Valley and the city of Nazareth. You can imagine what it must have been like in Biblical times to climb this mountain on foot, and how the people at that time must have thought they were standing on the top of the world."

They spent about ten minutes admiring the view, then returned to the car and drove back to the hotel. After a long day it felt good to sit in the lounge with a glass of wine and just relax and unwind.

"David, how many tours like this do you do in a year?"

"I probably do about 40 bus tours a year. I also do several smaller tours each year when I can fit them in."

"You must be away from home an awful lot."

"Way too much my wife used to say; but what can I do, it's how I make a living. You get used to it after a while."

"David, I don't want to keep you from your family; I'll be fine by myself tonight."

"Don't be silly, I already told my daughter that I'd be home late this evening; she's fine with that."

After several moments of silence, David stood saying, "I'm hungry, let's go to dinner."

Dinner was an elaborate buffet; with serving areas in different places, offering various choices of sea food, meats, grilled vegetables and salads, pasta, rice and potatoes, and desserts. They each made several trips around the room, turning dinner into a four-course banquet.

"I'm stuffed; let's go outside for a walk along the promenade."

They took a leisurely stroll along a wide concrete path overlooking the Galilee until they reached a large monument that had an electronic sign with numbers illuminated in red lights. The sign read (-213.4).

"David, what is that," Peter asked?

"That's the level of the lake. Remember I told you that the Galilee supplies Israel with much of its fresh water. It's obviously important to us, so we closely monitor the water level. What that number signifies is that the current water level is a little over 213 meters, or around 700 feet below sea level."

"Below sea level?"

"That's right; it's the lowest fresh-water lake in the world, and only the Dead Sea, which is a salt-water lake, is lower. We have to watch that the lake doesn't drop too low because it's the weight of the water that keeps the salt-water springs on the bottom of the lake from contaminating the fresh water. We have to regulate how much water we draw from the lake."

"Wow; that must be a very fine line to walk."

"You can say that again. Not only does Israel depend on the lake for water, we also pump water into Jordan as well. In fact, it was one of the causes of the Six Day War with Syria and Egypt. Syria tried to divert much of the Jordan River, which is the major source of the lake water. Of course Israel opposed such a plan and thwarted it, leading to unrest, which resulted in the war in 1967. As a result of the war Israel captured the Golan Heights, which contains some of the sources of water for the Galilee."

As they walked back to the hotel David said, "The sun will set in about a half an hour, let's go up to your room and open that bottle of wine. I want to show you something."

After opening the bottle, they walked out onto the balcony and, sitting in a couple of comfortable chairs, they enjoyed a glass of wine waiting for night to fall.

"Those mountains over there across the lake, that's the Golan Heights. As you can imagine that land is very important to us. Not only is it a major source of water for the lake, it is also very strategic in a military sense. Can you imagine our enemies building gun emplacements overlooking this area?"

Peter commented, "From here it looks deserted up there."

"Wait until it starts getting dark."

Sure enough, as the sun set and darkness began to engulf the area; suddenly lights began to appear all along the ridge overlooking the Galilee.

"All of those are Israeli settlements; we will never give up that land for peace."

David poured each of them another glass of wine as they sat back enjoying the cool evening breeze that came off the lake.

"I saw you this afternoon when you went home. I was walking through the gardens and came upon what appeared to be the work area for the gardeners. My gaze was drawn past that area towards movement beyond the trees. I watched as a lone figure attacked with a vengeance a large bag hanging from a tree. I was fascinated and stood transfixed watching even after I spotted a second figure, you, walking into the scene. I assume that was your daughter? I'm sorry I didn't mean to spy on the two of you."

"Please don't worry about it. You couldn't have known it was me or my daughter. The house was originally part of the church complex, but when the Order realized that they didn't need to staff the church with full-time priests, they put the house up for sale. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy it and move my family out of the congested city of Tel Aviv. Now, unfortunately, it's only me and my daughter living there. After my wife died, my son Eli moved back to Tel Aviv to work for the Government, and my older daughter Rimona got married and lives with her family there as well."

"It sounds like you have a wonderful family, you were truly blessed."

After several minutes of silence, David decided to continue.

"Yes, I was blessed with a wonderful family, but spent far too little time enjoying them. I was leading a tour of Jerusalem when my wife died; it took me four hours to get a replacement so I could come join my family. I was always away for the kids' important events; birthdays, school plays, and soccer games were all missed. I regret that now, but back then, earning a living seemed more important. And my youngest, Dina, my baby, I feel I let her down most of all. She's had such a hard life already, I try as much as I can to be there for her, I just hope I can make up for all the time lost and that she doesn't hate me."

"David, I'm sure she doesn't hate you and that she understands why you had to be away."

David took another sip of wine,

"I hope so, but she's been through so much. She was always daddy's little girl, the baby of the family. Even at the age of twelve, I thought of her as a little girl. "Everything changed one summer day a dozen years ago.

"She had her best friend sleep over at our house. I could hear the conversations that they had about the upcoming school year, the boys, planning for their bat mitzvahs; they were typical pre-teenage girls full of life and wonder.

"The next afternoon, after I had left on another tour, Dina walked her girlfriend down the street to the bus stop. Dina waited at the stop as she boarded the bus and took a seat. They waved to each other, Dina turned to return home and she heard the bus begin to pull away. Then suddenly, there was a deafening explosion. Dina was thrown against a building. Stunned and bleeding from cuts from flying glass, she turned and saw the burning shell of what was left of the bus.

"Later we learned that everyone on the bus had been killed, including the suicide bomber who must have already been on the bus. The doctors said that Dina was lucky; the bus stop had an inclement weather enclosure that absorbed much of the energy from the explosion.

"Dina was in therapy for several months. In time her injuries healed, but her personality was changed; the carefree child that I knew and loved was gone forever. In her place was a moody, quiet, and driven young woman. We had planned on her furthering her education, but she informed us soon after entering high school that she wanted a career in the military instead. We tried to change her mind, but the more we tried the more determined she seemed to become. Her grades slipped from excellent to barely average as she spent more and more time conditioning her body."

"That explains what I saw this afternoon," Peter interjected.

After a long pause, David continued.

"If only that were the reason. After high school, Dina enlisted as is required of all young people in Israel. Her size, conditioning and determination caught the attention of her instructors. She was assigned to Special Forces training where she excelled in hand-to-hand combat and small arms. By the time her standard enlistment period was up, she was a corporal. As an incentive for her to reenlist, they promoted her to the rank of sergeant. The truth be told, she would have re-enlisted anyway; all she wanted was a chance to make Israel a safer place to live; to end the threat of suicide bombers."

"I can understand her hatred of terrorists." Peter said sympathetically.

"Back then I don't think it was hatred that drove her. She was looking at it from the point of view of a survivor. She felt that every person in Israel had the right to live their lives free from fear. The hatred came later. A little over two years ago, she was leading her squad on a routine patrol of the Gaza border when, as best she can recall, they ran into an ambush. Her vehicle was hit by an RPG..."

"RPG?" Peter questioned.

"A rocket-propelled grenade. Luckily, Dina was thrown clear of the vehicle. Her comrades were not so lucky. They all died in the blast, as did the others in the second personnel carrier.

"When Dina came to she found herself naked, strapped to a bed, her arms and legs immobilized and her head covered by a hood. It was later determined that she had sustained a broken leg and wrist, and several shrapnel wounds. Her captors proved not to be Hamas, as she first feared, but rather an "independent group of freedom fighters." Actually, they were nothing more than a crew of unemployed teenagers. They never tried to get any information from her. They were all thinking with their dicks rather than their heads. They took turns raping her, while the others stood around and cheered. At some point, one of them pulled the hood off her head, so that he could cum on her face. They didn't dare try to stick it in her mouth out of fear that she would bite it off, which she swore to them she would do. Dina was certain that they were going to kill her since she had seen their faces.

"The building she was being held in appeared to be an old bombed-out shop of some sort. Her captors beat her between rape sessions. At night they gagged her, dragged her off the bed to the far side of the room, and demanded that she relieve herself. Then, they would give her a piece of stale bread and some water. When she was done they would march her back to the bed at gunpoint and secure her hands and feet to the frame. She would be left alone all night. At sunrise, her captors would return, two or three at a time, and when they all had returned, the beatings and the rape would resume. By the third day, they must have grown weary of beating her. Instead they began to use their knives to cut her; not to kill her, but as another form of torture. By the morning of the fourth day, her body was covered in tiny cuts, dried blood and numerous cigarette burns and deep bruises.

"Sometime late in the afternoon, two older men barged into the room. There was much shouting as the older men stood between her and her captors, who now seemed to act more like the boys they were. Dina wasn't fluid in Arabic, but she understood enough to realize that the older men were village elders, who understood the problem that they had created for the village. The boys were sent home, while the men pondered their predicament. They talked quietly among themselves for several minutes. When they came to an agreement, one left the shop, while the other crossed slowly to the bed, drawing his knife as he approached. Fearing the worst, Dina tried her hardest to free herself, her eyes wide with fear."