Ynet Israel - Now tourists can follow ‘Jesus Trail’
Posted on September 7, 2008
Read the article in English at http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3593402,00.html
Read the article in Hebrew at http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3591038,00.html
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Associated Press: Trail through Israel traces footsteps of Jesus
Posted on June 16, 2008
June 10-12, 2008 - CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo News, USA Today, AOL Travel, ABC News, The Christian Post, ajc.com, knoxnews.com, The Times and Democrat, TC Palm, Tennessean, San Diego Union-Tribune, The News & Observer, Canoe ………
MOUNT OF BEATITUDES, Israel (AP) — A dirt path begins across the road from a bus-congested holy site on Israel’s Sea of Galilee, winding up a hill covered with wild oat and thistle.
Thousands of pilgrims each year visit the stone church at Tabgha and other sanctuaries marking Jesus’ miracles. But few venture beyond the crowds to the landscape Jesus walked in the Galilee. Those who do find silence and solace on the rocky hills and in the shade of the olive trees that cover the plains.
Now a private Israeli project has set down a 40-mile hiking path through the region where Jesus ministered. The Jesus Trail hopes to bring thousands of tourists to follow in his footsteps to hear the songbirds, smell the wild dill and reflect along the way.
Since the trail is not yet marked, travelers can hire a tour guide, download GPS coordinates from Jesustrail.com or pick up trail maps at tourist sites. The path is meant to be hiked in four days. Pilgrims can sleep near the start of the trail in Nazareth, the town Jesus lived in as a boy, and travel each day to the start of a section. Or they can stay at the occasional guest house offered by kibbutzim and Arab communities or carry tents with them.
The path is an alternative to bus tours that stop only at the known holy sites.
“I think the trail more than anything brings out the human nature of Jesus when the Bible talks about him becoming flesh and living among the people,” said David Landis, an American who has helped lay out the trail. “I meet the people and I travel the land and I see the flowers and the wildlife, the real things … that really come alive for me in the story.”
My hike in April with Landis and the Israeli brain behind the endeavor, entrepreneur Maoz Inon, began before sunup in Nazareth at the Fauzi Azar Inn, a hostel in a 200-year-old Arab mansion that Inon manages in Nazareth’s Old City.
I awoke to the sound of the call to prayer from several mosques combined with the lively screeching of swifts as they darted over the brightening sky. Bells soon began to ring at the Church of the Annunciation, calling believers to Sunday worship at the sanctuary where tradition says God told Mary she would give birth to his son.
We alternated between foot and Inon’s car since we had to fit the entire trip into one day.
Starting by car, our first stop was the Arab village of Kana, about nine miles into the trail. At the 19th-century Wedding Church commemorating Jesus’ miracle here of changing water into wine at a wedding, we met a swarm of tourists from Georgia, Alabama and Ohio.
Standing in the church’s cobblestone yard, group leader David Hughes, a pastor, pointed out that the stone structure, like any trail purporting to follow ancient travels, cannot be proven as a place that Jesus actually visited. But even without definitive historic sites, Hughes said he could see why pilgrims would find it meaningful to hike in an area like the Galilee, and soak up the landscape.
“You get the more reflective, meditative, you know, looking-in type aspect of your relationship with Jesus by taking that walk,” said Hughes, of Rutledge, Georgia. “The more intimate you become with the land, the more the land becomes intimate to you, the smells, the feel, the hills.”
Israeli tour guide Yuval Sharon has led Christian groups along a route that differs slightly from the Jesus Trail. But Sharon says that for visitors to the Galilee “it’s most important that they walk like Jesus did and don’t travel in a car, even if it’s not exactly the same path that Jesus followed.”
Inon says the eventual goal is to mark the trail, in coordination with Israeli authorities. Israel’s Tourism Ministry says it is developing its own trail but has not yet set it down. The ministry did not rule out cooperation with Inon, saying it promotes various Christian trails. Another effort by Harvard University’s Global Negotiation Project, the Abraham Path, aims to mark trails following in the prophet’s footsteps, a total of 750 miles from Turkey to his tomb in the West Bank city of Hebron.
From Kana we drove to the base of the Horns of Hittin, twin hills where it is believed the Muslim armies under Saladin conquered the Crusaders in a battle in 1187. Under an already-scorching sun at midmorning (bring lots of sunscreen and water!) we climbed a rocky path to the top where we sat on lichen-covered boulders under olive trees.
The natural beauty of the place is breathtaking, irrespective of your religious background. A delicate breeze cooled us off as we gazed at the quilt of square plots of peach orchards and vineyards surrounding the Sea of Galilee about 900 feet below.
From here we walked down through fields of wheat bobbing in the wind to a limestone mosque, a holy site for the Druse, an offshoot of Islam. We traveled by car to a thicket of Queen Anne’s Lace flowers and thistles near the Arbel cliffs.
Here a path leads to the ruins of the 4th-century Arbel synagogue. A family vacationing nearby had stopped to see the place; their poodle paid no mind to the lizards skittering over the ancient stones.
“We are not religious people, but we feel something, something historical at this site,” said Olga Dashevsky.
“I feel that the view is the same as it was 1,000 years ago,” said her daughter, Victoria Dashevsky.
The trail leads down to the edge of the Arbel cliffs overlooking the Sea of Galilee and offers a view of many sites in Jesus’ story, including Capernaum, the site of the fishing village that was center of Jesus’ life and ministry.
Soon Landis, a 25-year-old graduate of Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, was scaling the face of the cliffs, leading the way through caves and down the trail. Ladders and ropes make this most treacherous — albeit beautiful — part of the route passable for novice hikers.
We drove along the edge of the Sea of Galilee and then up to the Mount of Beatitudes where Christians believe Jesus made his Sermon on the Mount to followers on the shores below. A couple of travelers sat in the shade of eucalyptus trees outside the church that marks the site. Nearby a trail leads down to the lake, which provides almost half of Israel’s drinking water.
Turning down the mount, we passed near banana and pear trees and soon met three Austrians hiking up from the Tabgha holy site where it is believed Jesus performed the miracle of fish and bread to feed the multitudes.
Out of breath and red-faced, Frank Pfeferle, one of the Austrians, said he believed that Jesus could have traveled the same path he was walking.
“I think not too much has changed in the 2,000 years here,” said Pfeferle, “and that’s why it’s so interesting here.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
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Wandern auf den Spuren Jesu
Posted on June 1, 2008
Photo used with permission from Alexander Fröhlich
Von Gabi Fröhlich (KNA)
Nazareth. Die beiden Wanderer erreichen die “Hörner von Hattim” nach etwa 20 Minuten Aufstieg - vor ihnen breitet sich das Blau des Sees Genezareth aus, hinter ihnen liegen im Dunst der Berg Tabor und Nazareth. “Jesus hat hier bestimmt oft gestanden, denn zu seiner Zeit führte eine wichtige Handelsstraße hier vorbei”, sagt David Landis (25). Der US-amerikanische Mennonit hat zusammen mit seinem israelischen Freund Maoz Inon (32) den “Jesus-Pfad” in Galiläa entworfen - einen Wanderweg auf den Spuren Jesu.
“Jesus ist nicht im Bus gereist, sondern zu Fuß”, betont David, der von sich selbst sagt, dass er die Bibel “jetzt mit ganz anderen Augen” lese als früher. Natürlich habe sich in den vergangenen 2.000 Jahren viel verändert, aber vieles sei auch gleich geblieben: Hügel, Täler, der See, Hirten mit Schafen, die Vögel und Blumen aus den Gleichnissen Jesu. Gemeinsam haben die beiden Hike-Fans eine 65 Kilometer lange Viertagesroute von Nazareth über Kanaa und Tabgha bis Kafarnaum entworfen, und eine ähnlich lange Fünftagesroute über den Berg Tabor für den Rückweg.
Heiligtümer und Aussichtspunkte
Im Internet unter www.jesustrail.com sind die Wege beschrieben. Dort gibt es auch Kurzinfos über die wichtigsten Heiligtümer und Aussichtspunkte mit passenden Bibelzitaten, Tipps für Unterkünfte und weitere praktische Hinweise. Wer ein GPS-Gerät hat, kann sich das entsprechende Programm dafür aus dem Internet herunterladen und sich dann vom Computer Schritt für Schritt auf den Spuren Jesu leiten lassen. Wer kein eigenes Gerät hat, kann sich eines in der von Maoz betriebenen Jugendherberge in Nazareth mieten.
Der israelische Jungunternehmer hat mit seiner Frau schon spektakuläre Landschaften in der ganzen Welt durchwandert: Kalifornien, die Anden und vieles mehr. Aber das Heilige Land habe etwas zu bieten, was es nirgendwo sonst gebe: “Wenn ich als Jude an der Stelle stehe, wo David Goliath gegenüberstand, bekomme ich eine Gänsehaut”. Maoz fand, dass aus dem Land der Bibel für Wanderer noch sehr viel mehr zu machen sei - vor allem für die zahllosen christlichen Pilger. In David fand er einen begeisterten Mitstreiter für sein Projekt.
Dialog zwischen den unterschiedlichen Kulturen
Auch der amerikanische Webdesigner ist schon viel umhergewandert: nach Santiago di Compostela, auf den Spuren des Heiligen Paulus und quer durchs Himalaya. Die Heimat Jesu jedoch bezeichnet er als besonders interessant, “weil man auf kurzer Strecke durch die unterschiedlichsten Landschaften kommt”. Zudem sei die Route des Jesus-Pfades so gelegt, dass der Wanderer mal in einem arabischen Dorf, mal in einem jüdischen Kibbutz, mal in einem drusischen Kloster raste. David und Maoz hoffen, dadurch dem Tourismus in der Region neuen Schwung zu geben und den Dialog zwischen den unterschiedlichen Kulturen zu fördern.
Für den Jesus-Pfad haben sie bestehende israelische Wanderwege mit Feldwegen und einzelnen Straßenabschnitten so miteinander verbunden, dass ein durchschnittlicher Wanderer sich die Stationen des Evangeliums auf möglichst kurzer und dabei reizvoller Strecke erlaufen kann. Wegeschilder gibt es bislang nicht, aber eine Karte ist in Arbeit und soll im Sommer erscheinen. Die beiden rechnen zudem damit, dass der Jesus-Pfad bald populär und dann auch mit besserer Infrastruktur versorgt wird.
Pläne des Tourismusministeriums
Im israelischen Tourismusministerium brütet man zwar schon seit Jahren über den Plänen für einen “Evangeliums-Pfad” in Galiläa, aber Maoz fürchtet, dass der Verwirklichung noch ein langer bürokratischer Weg bevorsteht: “Wir müssen selbst anfangen und nicht darauf warten, dass die Welt von oben verbessert wird.” Die beiden hoffen jedoch, dass “andere sich uns bald anschließen und den Weg ausweiten werden” - vielleicht sogar durch das Westjordanland bis nach Bethlehem und Jerusalem.
Text: KNA Katholische Nachrichtenagentur GmbH,
13.05.2008 / Foto: Michael Bönte
(translated into English)
Download the mp3 file from KNA/Vatican Radio - used with permission from Gabi Fröhlich - part 1 - part 2 - part 3
Jesus Trail on Prime Time America Radio
Posted on April 11, 2008
Jesus Trail cofounders Maoz Inon and David Landis were interviewed for an eight minute spot on the Prime Time America radio show.
Click here to listen to the audio clip (8 minutes), from Prime Time America: March 25, 2008
New Holy Land Tour Lets You Walk in Jesus’s Footsteps
Posted on April 2, 2008
Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus: Capernaum, Israel Travel Blog
Posted on April 1, 2008
Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus by L. Raleigh
Available at http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lraleigh/youarehere./1207062000.html
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Jesus Trail in Catholic News Service
Posted on March 20, 2008
In northern Israel, walking from village to village, like Jesus
Available originally on catholicnews.com March 19, 2008 at http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0801555.htm
and picked up by the following publications:
Catholic Courier, http://catholiccourier.com/tmp1.cfm?nid=76&articleid=100417
The Catholic Review, http://www.catholicreview.org/subpages/selectedstory.aspx?action=3140
Catholic Chronicle, http://www.catholicchronicle.org/content/view/5404686/2/
The Boston Pilot, http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=6084
The Mirror, http://www.the-mirror.org/NewFiles/Story03-032808.html
The Catholic Spirit, http://thecatholicspirit.com/main.asp?SectionID=33&SubSectionID=37&ArticleID=1687
American Catholic: Catholic News, http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/DailyNews/todays.asp?date=3/19/2008
Franconia Mennonite Conference,
http://franconiaconference.org/blog/news/tmoyer/jesus-trail
iobserve.org, http://www.iobserve.org/wn0320b.html
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Jesus Trail in Eastern Mediterranean Tourism/Travel
Posted on March 5, 2008
Eastern Mediterranean Tourism Travel
February/March 2008, No. 294
Available on page 74 at http://hosting.richpaper.com/FullServiceHtml/ITN/0802
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Jesus Trail in Ha’aretz
Posted on February 22, 2008
Five Stops in the Galilee
By Ronit Vered / Photos by Eyal Toueg
Posted from Ha’aretz, February 22, 2008
Read in English here
Read in Hebrew here
When Maoz Inon first opened his guest house in Nazareth in the summer of 2005, it caused a bit of a stir in the old Muslim quarter. Rumor had it that there were rooms to be rented out bordello-style, and residents were wary of the young Jew who had opened a hostel in one of the large but neglected houses built during Nazareth’s golden age in the 19th century. Today, merchants in the market show backpackers traversing the Israel Trail the way to Inon’s hostel, called the Fauzi Azar Inn. Some of the loveliest houses of the period have become popular restaurants and bars, and a group of local investors is planning, together with Inon, to purchase more of the derelict properties and convert them into boutique hotels and guest houses. Despite constant worry about potential political upheavals in the region, a small renaissance is happening in Nazareth, and the city where Jesus spent his early years is aiming to be a top attraction for millions of visitors to Israel.
David Landis looks like he could have stepped out of a Renaissance painting filled with golden angels and cheerful cherubs. He grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia in a Mennonite family, and after earning a bachelor’s degree in biology and spending a semester in Israel, he set off on a three-year trek along some of the world’s most famous walking trails - in the United States, South America and Asia.Inon and Landis crossed paths on the Internet, when Landis was searching for information about the Israel Trail and came across a blog Maoz Inon and his wife Shlomit had started after hiking the trail. Their shared love for this way of getting to know places, peoples and cultures led to a first meeting in Israel when Landis hiked the Israel Trail, and to many more meetings later on. Landis became a regular visitor at the guest house, whose lobby hosts an almost-nightly gathering of travelers from all over the world. Thus was born the non-profit project of creating a walking trail that would follow the footsteps of Jesus through the Galilee.
Between them, Inon and Landis have covered thousands of kilometers of walking trails throughout the world, and both insist that the trails in Israel, even without the added sentimental bonus of the connection to biblical stories, can compare with the best trails anywhere - thanks to the varied landscape and experiences that can be had along the way.
In 2004, a 500-kilometer hiking trail was inaugurated in Turkey, following in the footsteps of the journeys of Saint Paul (Saul of Tarsus), Jesus’ emissary in Asia Minor, and increasing numbers of people have been hitting the trail each year. Since the ninth century, pilgrims have been trekking to the shrine of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. But in the early 1980s, the number of pilgrims following the traditional route dropped to just a few hundred of the most tenacious believers. For in 1983, the Spanish government opened a well-marked and well-mapped trail, now used by over 100,000 hikers a year. Israel is full of sites related to the life of Christianity’s founder. Some were selected with a wave of the royal hand by the mother of the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century; others are actually places where Jesus may have once trod - and all these sites ignite the imagination of millions of Christians worldwide. But up to now, there had never been an official walking trail in Israel dedicated to them.
Economic pundits have been saying that a steady stream of tourists can be expected, if only enough is invested in developing Christian tourism. And when organized government activity is nowhere to be seen, private entrepreneurs fill the void, eager to see the region filled with guesthouses, restaurants and inns like those that served pilgrims in the early centuries of the first millennium and could be found along the network of public roads.
The route mapped out by Inon and Landis begins in Nazareth, passes sites like Zippori, Kafr Kana, Mount Arbel and Tabgha, and ends 65 kilometers later in Kfar Nahum. The return route takes the hikers through Nazareth, Tiberias, the Jordan River and Mount Tabor.
The entire trail involves three or four days of leisurely walking in each direction, and can also be divided into day-long segments. In any case, the trail offers encounters with sites sanctified not only by Christians, but also by their Jewish, Muslim and Druze relatives. For what are sacred writings if not stories of long journeys, material or spiritual, in search of the divine? And most of these journeys were made on foot, in day after day of arduous trekking from one point to another. Even donkeys were an unattainable luxury for most ordinary folks in the ancient world.
Jesus Trail, www.jesustrail.com
If only the developers of the concrete high-rise hotels in Tiberias had heeded the rules of those who built the 19th century guesthouse in Tabgha and the modern refurbishers of the hotel that reopened there in 2000. This is a structure built of the dark local basalt rock; it does not hide the waterline and blends in with the area’s original structures. The landscaping suits the untamed vegetation of the shores of Lake Kinneret, offers stone benches and hidden seating corners amid a jungle of bamboo, orange trees and spice plants on the lake shore.
The original building, dating from 1889, now houses a chapel on one side and a lovely cafe on the other. In between are a maze of rooms with arched ceilings and seating areas furnished with large, colorful cushions. The cafe’s wide, tiled veranda overlooking the lake, with a small fountain at the center, is a truly marvelous place to sip a cocktail at sunset. Both the cafe and the veranda are open to all.
Most of the guests of the hotel are German pilgrims, and most of the pretty, modest rooms are reserved long in advance. Still, it’s worth trying your luck. Prices are relatively low for the area and it’s one of those quiet places that make you feel like you, too, could spend 40 days and nights here pondering the fate of the human race, or at least writing the next great Israeli novel.
Pilgerhaus, Tabgha, 04-6700100
Fourth-century pilgrims believed that the Church of Loaves and Fishes was the site of the stone upon which Jesus placed five loaves of bread and two scrawny fish and managed to feed 5,000 hungry people with them. Fish thereupon assumed a special status in Christianity. A good number of Christianity’s leading early adherents were fisherman or lived in the area around Lake Kinneret. Since Jesus’ followers were ambivalent about meat, fish became a major part of the menu, particularly on the many fast days in the Christian calendar. During Lent, the 40-day period leading up to Easter, believers purify their bodies with a light diet consisting largely of fish, and completely abstain from meat. This custom is supported by the natural agricultural cycle of the seasons - the new lambs are eaten when spring arrives, and the fish menu is most suited for winter.
Church of Loaves and Fishes, Tabgha, 04-6678100
Jesus performed wonders with loaves and fishes, and every week, during mass, millions of Christians consume the wafer and wine, symbols of Jesus’ flesh and blood. In Nazareth Village, they have tried to reconstruct the daily life and practices of Jesus’ time in farming, food production and customs. The village is built on the ruins of an ancient farming settlement. On these hills, once part of the rural area around the city, but long ago swallowed up by urban sprawl, the typical landscape of Jesus’ day has been recreated: agricultural terraces where, in accordance with the season, barley, lentil, fava beans or onions are planted; grape vines and olive trees guarded by watchtowers; and groves of pomegranate, carob and fig trees. Every season they recreate the agricultural activity of the ancient cycle dictated by nature, and the meals offered to visitors are largely based on local produce.
Nazareth Village, next to the YMCA hotel, 04-6456042; www.nazarethvillage.com
Press Release: Jesus Trail Launched: New Pilgrimage Hiking Trail Connects Sites from the Life of Jesus
Posted on February 8, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jesus Trail Launched:
New Pilgrimage Hiking Trail Connects Sites from the Life of Jesus
February 8, 2008— For two millennia Christians have strived to follow Jesus. This struggle just got a little easier with the launch of the Jesus Trail, a 65 kilometer hiking trail in the Galilee region of Israel that allows pilgrims to literally walk where Jesus walked by connecting important sites from his life and ministry. Developed by local hostel owner and tourism developer Maoz Inon and outdoor adventure specialist David Landis, the Jesus Trail offers tourists the unique opportunity to not only see the sites where Jesus lived and ministered, but to travel in the manner of Jesus—by foot.
“Jesus didn’t see this land from atop a tour bus,” said David Landis “he walked this land, got its dust on his feet, felt its breezes and sunshine, saw its views and met its people. By sharing in those experiences that shaped Jesus’ life, we can better understand and experience the message of Jesus.”
The Jesus Trail was designed in the tradition of pilgrimage hiking trails around the world, such as the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain and the Saint Paul Trail in Turkey. The medieval practice of religious pilgrimage has seen a resurgence in recent years, with almost 200,000 hikers on the Camino de Santiago trail in 2004. Increasingly travelers are seeking not just a vacation, but a spiritually transformative journey. “If people are flocking to walk the paths of Jesus’ followers,” said Maoz Inon “imagine the appeal of walking in the footsteps of Jesus himself.”
The trail begins in Nazareth in the Galilee region of northern Israel, the biggest Arab city in Israel today as well as the childhood home of Jesus. From Nazareth the trail leads to the Sea of Galilee by way of Zippori, Cana, the Horns of Hattin, and Arbel Cliffs. Around the Sea of Galilee, the trail connects Tabgha, the church of the Primacy of St. Peter, Capernaum, the Mount of Beatitudes, and Tiberias, returning to Nazareth by way of the Jordan River, Mount Tabor, and Mount Precipice.
The trail can be hiked by way of an organized tour, or hiked independently by downloading GPS coordinates from the Jesus Trail Web site—www.jesustrail.com—which also provides links to tour operators and features information on the religious and geographic sites, accommodations and food, and a variety of other resources on hiking the region.
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Download this press release in Hebrew in Rich Text Format (RTF)
Download English version in Rich Text Format (RTF)
For further details contact:
Maoz Inon
972-54-4322352
maoz@jesustrail.com
David Landis
972-52-6284582
david@jesustrail.com
Maoz Inon owns the Fauzi Azar Inn in Nazareth and co-founded ILH—Israel Hostels, the only network of independent hostels in Israel. He and his wife Shlomit are experienced hiker and travelers who have hiked extensively in South America, on the Pacific Crest Trail in California, and on the Israel National Trail. His travel experiences and sense of national pride have inspired him to work with tourism development in Israel so that fellow travelers can enjoy and appreciate his native land.www.fauziazarinn.com
www.hostel-israel.comDavid Landis is an experienced outdoor adventure specialist whose hiking repertoire includes trails as varied as Everest base camp and other trails in the Himalayas, Camino de Santiago in Spain, the Saint Paul Trail in Turkey, the Inca Trail in Peru, Torres del Paine in Patagonia, the Israel National Trail, and parts of the Appalachian Trail in the Eastern USA. In 2004 he embarked on a round-the-world trip that took him to over 40 countries on four continents. He has also led a group of young adults on a bicycle trip across the continental USA. When he is not traveling or bicycling he works as a web designer and communications expert.
The Jesus Trail logo and high resolution photos for this press release are available at http://jesustrail.com/downloads/press%20release/. Please note that these photos and logo are only intended for use in conjunction with this press release and must be attributed.
Photo 1: Dusk at Arbel Cliffs - Photo by David Landis
Photo 2: Mount Tabor Entrance - Photo by David Landis
Photo 3: Trail to the Mount of Beatitudes - Photo by David Landis
