Touring Israel with a tour guide

#SimonOsterTourGuideIsrael #ImagineIsraelTours 🍊 The Jaffa Orange Did you know? The Jaffa orange is named after the ancient port city of Jaffa (Yafo in Hebrew), one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited port cities. It appears in the Hebrew Bible as the port from which Jonah set sail, & where cedar wood from Lebanon was landed to build King Solomon's Temple. A fruit born from a happy accident 🌱 The Jaffa orange was originally known as the Shamouti orange. It was a natural mutation that appeared on a native 'Baladi' orange tree in the 1840s near Jaffa, producing a fruit with qualities perfectly suited for trade. But the industry truly flourished early 20th century when Jewish agriculturalists introduced advanced, scientific cultivation methods that dramatically improved orchard productivity & quality. What makes it so special? ✨ 🍊 Oval-shaped with a thick, deep orange, almost leathery rind 🍊 Very easy to peel, & the tough skin protects it during ...

#Imagineisraeltours #simonostertourguide The Egyptian Spiny-Tailed Lizard (Uromastyx aegyptia) Also known as the Dabb Lizard or Egyptian Mastigure, this is one of the largest members of its genus. Native to Egypt (east of the Nile) & the southern half of Israel, they can be found in the eastern Judean Desert, the Arava Valley & the central & southern Negev Desert. Primarily herbivorous, they love leaves, buds, fruits, seeds & flowers - they'll eat insects when no other food is available. During summer droughts, they rely on Acacia trees as their main food source. These lizards dig deep burrows (up to 10 metres long & 1.8 metres deep!) that provide shelter from predators & desert extremes. They also hibernate in these burrows during December & January. Listed as Vulnerable in Israel due to habitat loss & poaching, they're fully protected under Israeli law - it's illegal to disturb, capture or harm them. Spiny-tailed lizards were traditionally ...

The dove #SimonOsterTourGuideIsrael #imagineisraeltours Simon says: "Let's find out about doves in the Land of Israel" The dove appears over 50 times in the Bible; the Hebrew word for dove, "yonah," is thought to come from a word meaning "to mourn" - & it's actually an imitation of the dove's mournful cooing sound. In Jewish tradition, the Talmud teaches: "Just as a dove is saved only by her wings, so Israel is saved only by the mitzvot" (Talmud Brachot 35b) The Song of Songs (Shir HaShirim Rabbah) captures the enduring loyalty between the Jewish people & G-d: "Just as the dove never changes its mate, so Israel has never exchanged G-d for another" Noah's Ark: the dove brought back an olive leaf, signaling hope & new beginnings after the flood Doves are often used in Israeli art & symbolism, often paired with the Magen David to represent how Israel's strength is guided by its desire for peace. Several...

#imagineisraeltours #simonostertourguideisrael The burial caves in Jish ('Gush Halav') Here archaeologists have documented something extraordinary: one of the largest & best-preserved Jewish family burial caves from the Second Temple period - 516 BCE > 70 CE The tomb contains 20 kokhim - long, narrow burial niches carved into the rock. With four niches in the rear wall & eight on each side, this complex stands out as exceptionally large, suggesting it belonged to a wealthy or prominent extended Jewish family. What makes this discovery so significant? During the Second Temple period, Jewish families practiced a two-stage burial custom: The deceased was first placed in a kokh (niche). About a year later, after decomposition, the bones were gathered & placed in an ossuary (a stone bone box) or elsewhere within the family tomb. This practice allowed the niche to be reused for future generations; we see the same Jewish burial practices in the incredibly deep, ancient ...

#imagineisraeltours #simonostertourguideisrael The Umm Khalid Sycamore, in Netanya On Mintz Street is one of Israel’s most remarkable natural treasures: an ancient sycamore tree that has witnessed over a thousand years of history Its trunk is about 8 meters in circumference, making it one of the oldest trees in the country Legend says it marks the burial place of Umm Khalid, mother of a 7th-century Muslim army commander, which is how the surrounding village got its name The tree appears in illustrations alongside a Crusader fortress built here by Roger the Lombard between the 11th-13th centuries, and it was already massive back then! Napoleon’s troops allegedly camped in its 25 meters of shade during their 1799 campaign Moses Montefiore’s wife Judith even mentioned it in her diary in 1839 Today, the tree stands in a lovely public park, bearing fruit that attracts thousands of bats at night. It’s a living link to the layers of history that make Israel so extraordinary - from the ancient...

Tilapia/ Amnon/  (אמנון), St. Peter's Fish #ImagineIsraeltours #SimonOsterTourGuideIsrael In 1941, the first fish ponds were dug at Kibbutz Dan in the Upper Galilee, to raise carp & tilapia. In 1946, 2 more ponds were added, fed by the waters of the river Dan. What began as a modest food-growing initiative for a pioneering community, later evolved into something extraordinary. Founded in 1939, Kibbutz Dan was named after the ancient Israelite city of Dan mentioned in Genesis 14:14 & 1 Kings 12:29, as it sits in the territory of the ancient Tribe of Dan, at the foot of Mount Hermon in the Hula Valley. The tilapia raised in those early ponds carry a remarkable story of their own. In Israel it is known as amnon (אמנון), & to Christians around the world "St. Peter's Fish". The name comes from the Gospel of Matthew (17:24–27), where Jesus tells Peter to go fishing in the Sea of Galilee, promising that the first fish he catches would have a shekel coin in its mo...