Oi, where to begin . . . ?
Have you heard of Bovis units?
How about geobiology?
Demons in pigs?
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Have you read Luke 8:26-39 or Matthew 8:23-34 lately?
It tells the "miracle of the swine" and the photo above shows where it likely took place.
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As you enter Kursi National Park, up north in the Galilee, you find a welcome bench in the shade.
Sit and listen:
The Gospels call this place Gergessa. Jesus exorcised devils from the body of a man.
The demons possessed a herd of swine grazing nearby.
The pigs then raced into the Sea of Galilee and drowned.
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Modern archaeologists identify the site as Kursi, mentioned in the Talmud as a center of idol worship.
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When road construction began in 1970, antiquities were accidentally exposed.
Archaeologists went to work and uncovered the largest known Byzantine (5th to 6th centuries CE) monastery in the Holy Land.
Monastery, church, mosaics, a chapel on a nearby hill.
PLUS a bathhouse!
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In the chapel, the skeletons of thirty men, probably local priests, were discovered.
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Reconstruction was done and the site was opened to the public in 1982.
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My two visiting American friends and I were the only ones there in the hot sun.
We had only little Kursi National Park brochure to guide us.
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I read the sign and could hardly believe my eyes!
An ENERGY BENCH?? Safsal ha-energiot?!
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I had read a book in German while living in Switzerland about measuring energy in the earth and giving values in Boviseinheiten, Bovis units.
But here?? Would the Israeli government's Israel Nature and Parks Authority really write "energy bench" on the official signage??
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The arrow pointed to here.
Which bench to choose?
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But alas, the friends were calling me away; it was closing time and the gates were about to be locked. Oi . . .
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But what you really will enjoy is this page by geobiologist Richard Benishai which I found when we got back to Jerusalem after our two days in Galilee.
Here is part of his explanation:
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"I first visited this location in February 2005 with my brother. A few months later, there was interest from the National Parks Authority to publicize this site, based on an article I wrote. Thereafter, the media made a short movie on this site for TV showing.
"I first visited this location in February 2005 with my brother. A few months later, there was interest from the National Parks Authority to publicize this site, based on an article I wrote. Thereafter, the media made a short movie on this site for TV showing.
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Looking at Figure 3, there is a tree, with two wooden benches located under it. We were told that this area was special. We had no idea how special, until I measured it.
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Now to give you an idea about energy levels: when working in the Cathedral of Strasbourg or Notre Dame of Paris, the highest levels I measured there, were around 2.3 to 2.5 million Bovis units. A healthy and energetic house may have something around 30-40 thousands Bovis units, typically.
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As we stood in front of the benches, I tried to measure the level there. I had to increase the scale, up and up until I reached a scale in the millions. That location gave me an 8 million Bovis reading !!!!
Standing there, I had a feeling that I was going up, floating. "
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Dear blog readers, read the rest of his webpage. It gets even more bizarre!
You might decide that my Kursi world for today's That's My World Tuesday is otherworldly.
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UPDATE Dec. 16, 2015: UPDATE Dec. 16, 2015: A marble stone with a long Hebrew inscription was just found at Kursi, so Kursi may have been a Jewish town with a synagogue -- a surprise!
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You might decide that my Kursi world for today's That's My World Tuesday is otherworldly.
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UPDATE Dec. 16, 2015: UPDATE Dec. 16, 2015: A marble stone with a long Hebrew inscription was just found at Kursi, so Kursi may have been a Jewish town with a synagogue -- a surprise!
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This was a fascinating post and well illustrated with your photography.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting post. It must be fascinating to live in this area and visit the history from the Bible.
ReplyDelete"When road construction began in 1970, antiquities were accidentally exposed". Isn't the accidental nature great - scholars would go green with envy to find something like this, and then a dozer driver accidentally kicks up the evidence :)
ReplyDeleteI would love to do a tour of your C5th-6th Byzantine monastery. I want to see everything you mentioned - the monastery, church, chapel and bathhouse.
That is incredible! I want to go to Israel some day! :) I love the picture of the bench under the tree.
ReplyDeleteOi va voi,
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with the texts you're referring to, but I would certainly appreciate sightseeing an ancient site with a park like museum, even if all that Bovis sounds a bit too bogus for me.
Wow....otherworldy is an apt description....I read Benishai's site too.
ReplyDeleteBut my editorial self really wants to get its hands on that blue sign abotu Kursi and correct some grammar and punctuation!
What a fascinating post, Dina.
ReplyDelete(hee hee... everyone seems to be using the word 'fascinating' in the comments...)
les arbres sont magnifiques
ReplyDeleteVery interesting benches, but geomancy is obviously not a science, even in our new-ageish days...
ReplyDeleteWhat a strange and amazing story..each one has to choose to believe it or not , but anyway, the fact that the story is bound to the benches make them very special. That's quite unusual to read something like that.I always thought that benches give some serene energy, but never had the opportunity to measure it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for calling my attention!
One of those many inexplicable mysteries. At the risk of repeating others, fascinating indeed!
ReplyDeleteDina - WOW. Not sure what to say except that the healing of the Gerasene demonic will NEVER be the same again. Did you hair stand on end?
ReplyDeleteInteresting fascinating story, wonderful pictures
ReplyDeleteRegards, Bram
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Wow! That was fascinating! I read the page of Richard Benishai and I am really amazed that this energy level is so high that people can perform miracles. I understand from his article that both benches had this high amount of energy.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of geobiology but it sounds interesting.
Those ruins, are they maintained so they don't decay further.
ReplyDeleteA lot of Christians visit Israel.
I'm sure someone we know loved this great bench post! :-) The second photo is awesome!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic and fascinating post, along with wonderful photographs. History infused in your blog...always intrigues me.
ReplyDeleteBig fan of the benches. Well done.
ReplyDeleteGoing to Strasbourg Cathedral tomorrow, seeing it with new eyes!
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