On Mount Tabor

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 From the top of Mount Tabor you can see in all four directions.
The fertile Jezreel Valley lies below. 

In Christian tradition Tabor is identified as the Mount of Transfiguration, on top of which Jesus was transfigured.
In Israel the Feast of the Transfiguration is celebrated in the summer, in August I think.
But for some (so I hear from Christian friends in the USA), today is the day.
So happy Transfiguration Sunday to those denominations which  mark it today. 
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(More about the holiday and Mt. Tabor in my earlier posts.)
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Feast at the Church of the Transfiguration

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The festive Mass for the Feast of the Transfiguration was broadcast live as streaming video.

Hundreds ascended to the top of Mount Tabor, believed to be the place of Jesus' transfiguration, and packed the beautiful Franciscan basilica.

Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custodian of the Holy Land, and many other priests conducted Mass in the upper part of the church.
Enlarge the first photo to appreciate the splendid golden mosaic.


Cameras of the Franciscan Media Center were grinding away (including one on a huge long boom).

The view of the Jezreel Valley from the top of Mt. Tabor, the lone rounded mountain in the region, was splendid.
Someone really picked a good place for the transfiguration.
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UPDATE: Archbishop Pizzaballa is no longer the Custos of the Holy Land.  He is now the Apostolic Administrator of Jerusalem.

For more about Mt. Tabor and the Transfiguration please see my posts here.

(Linking to inSPIRED Sunday.)
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Mount Tabor

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For That's My World I wanted to show you Mount Tabor, as seen from the bus that goes between Jerusalem and Tiberias.

When the bus turns toward the flat, fertile Jezreel Valley, you suddenly see a mountain looming in the distance. It is only 460 meters above the valley floor, but still it "looms."

The hill is strategically located on the main north-south ancient road and was an important fortress during the First and Second Temple, Greek, Roman and Crusader times--the scene of many battles. This Via Maris (Derech Hayam) went from Egypt to Damascus and was one of the most important trade routes in the ancient Middle East.

If you click the photos you can see agriculture on the slopes.

Around the base of Mt. Tabor are Arab villages such as Deburiah and Iksal and the Bedouin Shibli-Umm al-Ghanam.

About half of the population of Galilee (Israel's northern region) are Arab citizens.

In Christian tradition Tabor is identified as the Mount of Transfiguration, on top of which Jesus was transfigured.

Today both the Franciscans and the Greek Orthodox have monasteries on the mountaintop.

You can see the outline here of the Church of the Transfiguration.

The site is accessible by car only from the north side, by a winding narrow road.

Or, you can always climb the 4,300 stairs that were built in the 4th century for the Christian pilgrims.

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Psalms 89:12 names two mountains:

"The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name."

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For wonderful aerial photos of Mt. Tabor see http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/Tabor.html.
and a Franciscan video about the mountain and the church on top. 

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Transfiguration, paragliding, and the Pope

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A faint buzz in the sky over the valley alerted me to something I had never seen around our village. Two brave souls were paramotoring!
It's paragliding with a motor strapped on your back.

The Israeli paragliders' website is called Ruach Hakodesh, which is Hebrew for both holy wind and holy spirit!
I learned that, thanks to Pope Benedict's decision to celebrate Mass on Mt. Precipice (Har Kedumim) last May, the new road that was paved for him opened up a new paragliding launch site, previously inaccessible. Don't you love how things like that work out?!
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Look how we can combine SkyWatch, paragliding, and the Feast of the Transfiguration (which is today). --
Remember the story in Luke 4:16-30? Jesus was preaching in his native Nazareth and (yet again) made the people angry. ". . . All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But passing through the midst of them he went away."
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Well, an early tradition names Mt. Precipice as that hill near Nazareth.
And now, on a hill just north of Mount Precipice is the Church of Our Lady of the Fright, which tradition says stands on the spot from which Mary watched in horror as her son was led to the edge of the cliff.
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OK, here's the funny part. An article about paragliding in the Jerusalem Post saw fit to include this:
"Tradition says Jesus soared the eight kilometers and landed on the top of Mount Tabor where he went through the process of transfiguration. Depending on how you interpret the New Testament, one could say that thermal conditions must have been pretty good and Jesus may have made one of the first 'cross-country' flights in the Holy Land."

You can see a beautiful photo of Mt. Tabor, aka Mount of Transfiguration, here.
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The JP article continues: "For the experienced, Mount Tabor is the mecca, drawing enthusiasts from around the world. A virtual thermal machine, from here paragliders can lift off, soar over the monastery and head east. Sometimes the currents will take you toward Lake Kinneret, just over where the Jordan River picks up again. Or if the winds are right you can continue to the eastern shores of the lake."
I'm just not sure the Franciscan and the Greek Orthodox monks who live on top of Mt. Tabor appreciate this overhead invasion of privacy . . . .
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P.S. As a reward for reading this long post, I offer you the chance to see this picture of my daughter hang-gliding in tandem over the coast of Australia. Woohoo!
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