Page 20 - Holyland Magazine - 2021 Edition

By Aryeh Green
Photos: Aryeh Green
Continuing Holyland Magazine’s series on
the Israel National Trail, I’m delighted to
share a few reflections of the beginning
of my trek, starting out from the city of
Eilat, Israel’s southernmost port at the tip
of the Red Sea on the border with Egypt.
Already, just that sentence conjures up biblical
images: The Red (or Reed) Sea! Where the
emerging nation of Israel, whose identity was
forged in hundreds of years of slavery and
suffering in Egypt as it turned from a family into
a clan and a tribe, and in the crucible of the
Exodus into a people, crossed into freedom!
Hiking on the Israel National Trail is an
experience like no other. Not merely due to
the incredible beauty of the Land – deserts
in the South, forests in the North, sea to the
West, the hills of Jerusalem and the expanse
of the coastal plain in the middle – nor just the
physical challenge, nor the many delightful
and unique, only-in-Israel aspects. But due to
the historical, spiritual links with the people of
Israel who wandered these and similar paths,
in ancient and in more recent times. Psalm
95 offers a framework for understanding the
depth and meaning of hiking in the Land of
Israel, for all believers:
In the Desert
with the Children of Israel
Reflections of trekking the length and breadth of the Land of Milk & Honey
210
. ‫ ְלצּור ִיְׁש ֵענּו‬,‫ ְנ ַרְּנ ָנה ַליה ָוה; ָנ ִרי ָעה‬,‫א ְלכּו‬ and honey over the course of two months, all
1 Come, let us sing joyously to the Lord; let us alone, with a 50-pound pack on my back.
shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
It is not only a thrilling and beautiful challenge to
. ‫ ָנ ִרי ַע לֹו‬,‫ב ְנ ַקְּד ָמה ָפ ָניו ְּבתֹו ָדה; ִּב ְז ִמרֹות‬ walk the 800-mile Israel Trail (“Shvil Yisrael” in
2 Let us come before His presence with Hebrew); but for a religious/spiritual Jew, it is a
thanksgiving, let us shout for joy to Him in transcendental experience, joining us with our
melody and song. tradition, our land, our people and history; with
the ‘song’ of our heritage. And it can be so,
. ‫ ֱאֹל ִהים‬-‫ָּכל‬-‫ ַעל‬,‫ג ִּכי ֵאל ָּגדֹול ְיהָוה; ּ ֶמ ֶלְך ָּגדֹול‬ as well, for Christians (recognizing that Jesus
3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King was a Jew who walked these paths) or anyone
above all gods; who appreciate the connection of the people
of Israel to the Land of Israel, and who treasure
. ‫ ָא ֶרץ; ְותֹו ֲעפֹת ָה ִרים לֹו‬-‫ ֶמ ְח ְק ֵרי‬,‫ד ֲאֶׁשר ְּבָידֹו‬ the wisdom and poignancy of the Bible.
4 In whose hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are His also. My book – My Israel Trail: Finding Peace in
the Promised Land – describes not only the
.‫ ָי ָדיו ָי ָצרּו‬,‫ ְוהּוא ָעָׂשהּו; ְו ַיֶּבֶׁשת‬,‫לֹו ַהָּים‬-‫ה ֲאֶׁשר‬ physical hike and geography, the people I met
5 The sea is His, and He made it; and His and challenges I faced; it explores the lessons
hands formed the dry land. I learned along the way, and how in applying
those lessons I was able to move on from my
One can’t find a better description of the joy divorce.
and ‘song’ of my hike through the Holy Land,
in the mountains of the Galilee, on the coast of Here’s just a taste of the sort of events and
the Mediterranean Sea, up the heights of the feelings I experienced.
Jerusalem hills and into the depths and across
the dry land of the Negev desert. At age 51, I headed into the desert with nothing but a
recently divorced, and in search of healing, I backpack and walking sticks to accompany
found it while walking through the land of milk
Shekhoret Canyon