Ancient history at Tel Gezer

Yesterday, myself along with the rest of the fellows and the rest of my group here at Alexander Muss went on our first Tiyul, or trip, to Tel Gezer– a Jewish site known as the place where Abraham was set to sacrifice his son Isaac to display his devotion to God. When we arrived, what we could initially see from our seats on our bus was just a few hills, however we could see how high we were because off in the distance we could see the cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv off in the distance, along with the western mountains next to where we were in the Shfela. Next, we split into our respective classes, and my class started out on a hike around Tel Gezer.

First, we came across a bridge that overlooked a baulk, a wall of dirt left standing to study a strata, or a layer of a past civilization. From the bridge, my class could see the destruction layer of the artificial hill made up of layers from past civilizations. Next, my class climbed down a steep part of the hill to stand in a trench were three entrances to the ancient city was once guarded. Afterwards, we came across what was once a commonly used water source for the citizens who lived in Gezer, providing drinking water and water for irrigation which was necessary to survive.

Immediately following, my class walked farther up the hill to what initially looked like a bunch of vertical stones and a square pot. However, once we sat down, our teacher Yossi told us that the “vertical stones” were actually representative of the fertility gods in biblical times, and the “square pot” was solemnly used as the place where children were sacrificed to please the gods. Lastly, my teacher Yossi brought my class to the remains of a town next to Gezer where we could see four entrances to the city, along with the rest of the various ruins that were left behind.

Then, Yossi showed us a picture of what seemed to be a tablet with strange writing on it, but then Yossi told us that the tablet was actually an instruction sheet for children to learn the ways of farming for when they grew up. As if that weren’t cool enough, we were then brought to the top of another hill where a life-sized replica of the same tablet stood, bestowing the name “Avi” at the handle part, written in an ancient version of Hebrew. Overall, the trip that my session took to Tel Gezer was a very cool experience, and for me, this being my first time in Israel, made it real that I’m actually here, in the Holy Land.