Hiking Gilboa

On Tuesday, September 3rd 2019, we traveled to Har Gilboa, to descend its rocky face and discuss the history of the Judges and Saul and their respective periods. The picture above is from near the top of Mount Gilboa, or as I think about it, approximately 45 minutes before it gets difficult. We climbed Gilboa because it so clearly represented a link between Saul, David, and less clearly, but through rocks and a good story, the Judges period. Gilboa is the mountain where according to the Tanakh, Saul died, and one of its faces is completely barren, due to David’s curse. This tiyul was life-changing, for a few reasons, for one it’s the first mountain I had ever climbed, but it also taught me a lot about a period I didn’t know about, the period of Judges. I enjoyed the end of the climb the most though to be honest, the last hour was a grueling, scary, dangerous, and hot, and I was just exhausted. - Shlomie