A Return to the Roots of Our Faith

Ross K. Nichols
with
Dr. DeWayne Coxon

Israel :
Nov. 1 – Nov. 11, 2012

Petra-Jordan:
Nov. 11-14, 2012

Tour Highlights

This tour is especially designed by your hosts to give you an incredibly full Holy Land experience. We will explore significant Biblical and historical sites covering the land from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south. This is significant because the phrase, “from Dan to Beersheba” became a way to specify the entire land of Israel by writers of Scripture (Judges 20:1; I Samuel 3:20; II Samuel 3:10, 17:11, 24:2, 15; & I Kings 5:5) The focus of the tours and teachings will be on Torah faith through the ages.

Visit Ross’s personal photo album from his recent visit!

Participants will visit sites associated with Patriarchal narratives as well as sites associated with the formative years of Authentic Jewish Christianity with a special emphasis on the role of “Israel” – past, present and future. It is about uniting people with the land and thereby with their roots, and this is highlighted by the fact that you will be in Jerusalem on the very day that the Balfour Declaration was signed (November 2, 1917).

On this tour, the Bible will be our guide. The Scriptures will take on new meaning as your hosts take you on an exploration of the land that God calls His own (Leviticus 25:23) – a land that the eyes of YHVH our God are on always (Deuteronomy 11:12). As we walk the time worn streets and surrounding hills and valleys from Dan to Beersheba, the Bible will come to life before your very eyes. You will walk where prophets, kings and messiahs walked and you will forever be changed as a result.

This unique tour will highlight three main areas: (1) Jerusalem, the place that God chose to place his name, (2) the Galilee – the region from which the light would begin to shine (Isaiah 9) and (3) the Arava or Judean Desert where the Patriarchal faith took root.

The tour will transform the way you read and understand the Bible. Throughout the tour, your hosts will share the stories that you know well from the texts, in the very places where the events actually took place. We have kept the tour to only one busload of 45 participants, allowing more time and opportunity to interact with your hosts.

Jews, Christians and Biblically oriented God Fearers will find this tour refreshing and educational from beginning to end. In other words, anyone that believes in the one God of Israel and seeks to live according to the principles of the Hebrew Bible will find benefit from this tour. All that is required to go on this tour is a strong orientation toward learning more about the Bible and its history, and particularly where Jews and Christians cross paths in the Holy Land, both past and present.

This is a unique tour of the Holy Land featuring some of the principle sites that gave birth to Judaism and Christianity. Ross Nichols and Dr. DeWayne Coxon will be your hosts for this unforgettable journey to the Land of Promise – “from Dan to Beersheba.”

Tour Host:  Ross K. Nichols

Ross Nichols is a Bible teacher ordained through United Israel World Union. He is the congregational leader of Roots of Faith, an independent religious educational ministry headquartered in Saint Francisville, Louisiana and the founder of the Synagogue Without Walls – an Internet based assembly described as a place of meeting for anyone that believes in the one God of Israel and seeks to live according to the principles of the Hebrew Bible. Each Sabbath, people from all over the world join in for his Torah teachings, which seek to inspire people to live a more biblically authentic lifestyle. Ross is a student of biblical Hebrew, the historical Jesus and has spent many years seeking to understand and interpret earliest Christianity from its original and thoroughly Hebraic perspective.

Tour Host and Guide: Dr. DeWayne Coxon

DeWayne A. Coxon is the founder and President of Blossoming Rose.  He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University and was in college teaching and administration for many years before becoming curator of Biblical Tamar Park in Israel.  He has visited Israel well over 150 times in the last 47 years.  His knowledge of Jewish, Christian and Muslim history gives him a unique perspective on contemporary events taking place in the Middle East.  He is the author of the book, “Living Prophecies: A Crumbling Wall between Christians and Jews” as a well as three books on renewable energy systems.

Itinerary

Day One

Thursday – November 1^st – USA to Israel (El Al from NYC)

We will depart NYC on El Al on Thursday night. (We must be at the airport three hours prior to the flight.) We will fly through the night on Thursday.  Meals will be served during our flight.

Day Two

Friday – November 2^nd – Jerusalem, Israel

We will land in Tel Aviv, Israel early Friday afternoon and take the bus to Jerusalem arriving at the Dan Hotel before Shabbat begins. As a special welcome to the Holy City, we will drive to the top of the Mount of Olives for a breathtaking view of the Temple Mount at sunset. For some, this arrival day will be the first time to lay eyes on the place that God claims His eyes and heart are on all the days! (I Kings 9:3). We will then drive to the Dan Jerusalem Hotel where we will settle into our rooms to welcome Shabbat in Jerusalem.

Day Three

Saturday – November 3^rd

We have tentatively scheduled Shabbat as follows. I will be teaching on Saturday morning at the hotel, followed by the Reading of the Torah and Prophets and then our regular Dialogue session. After service, we will walk to the Western Wall for prayers and then take in the beauty of Jerusalem on Shabbat before going back to our rooms.

Day Four

Sunday – November 4th – Mount of Olives, Western Wall, Temple Mount, Western Wall Tunnels, Mount Zion, King David’s Tomb, Old City

We begin this day with a panoramic view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. This will orient us to the Holy City. We will walk down to the Garden of Gethsemane along the same path where King David walked, “weeping as he walked” (II Sam. 15:30). We will cross the Kidron Valley, walk through the Dung Gate into the Temple Mount area to visit the Western Wall. We will then tour the Western Wall Tunnels. The exposed portion of the Western Wall is approximately 200 feet long; the tunnel provides access to an additional 1,591 ft. of ancient wall. Almost 150 ft. into the tunnel we will see a sealed off entrance to a small synagogue known as “The Cave”. This is believed to be the closest point one can get to the Ancient Holy of Holies. Next we will walk through the Jewish quarter of the old city and to Mt. Zion and the Tomb of David. We will spend the night at the Dan Jerusalem Hotel.

Day Five

Monday – November 5^th – Israel Museum, Shrine of the Book and Model of Jerusalem, City of David

On this day we will begin with a visit of the Israel Museum. You will also visit the Shrine of the Book, where the famed Dead Sea Scrolls are kept. Next, we will visit a model of the city of Jerusalem, as it would have looked during the Second Temple period. We will then tour the City of David (1 Kings 8:1; 2 Chron. 5:2) and the ongoing excavations of David’s Palace. There will be some time for shopping this day on Ben Yehuda Street, and many of us will visit the world renowned Shorashim Shop to pick up some souvenirs. We will spend the night again in the Dan Hotel in Jerusalem.

Day Six

Tuesday – November 6^th – Samuel’s Tomb, Caesarea Maritima, Mt Carmel, Drive through Nazareth and Cana and Tiberias

Before we leave Jerusalem we will take the time to visit the traditional burial site of the prophet Samuel. It is located atop a steep hill (908 meters above sea level). It is situated to the north of Jerusalem. We will travel next to Caesarea Maritima, the city built by Herod the great (25 – 13 BCE). Named to flatter Caesar, this site is situated on the Mediterranean Coast between Tel Aviv and Haifa. From here we will drive past Megiddo of Armageddon fame to Mount Carmel where, according to the Bible (I Kings 18), Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Baal. From atop our restaurant we will be able to view the Jezreel Valley. After lunch we will begin our journey towards Tiberias driving past Nazareth and Cana. Tiberias was founded sometime around 20 CE by Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, who made it the capital of his realm in Galilee. We will stay here for the Galilean portion of our tour. There will be time for shopping and plenty of opportunity to get a taste of authentic Jewish dining here in the Galilee as we stay in the Leonardo Hotel..

Day Seven

Wednesday – November 7^th – Galilee, Caesarea Phillipi, Dan, Capernaum, Magdala and the Sea of Galilee

We begin our tour of the Galilee with a stop at Caesarea Phillipi, mentioned in the synoptic gospels as the place where Jesus ask his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” From here we can see the foot of Mount Hermon (Psalm 133). Next we will visit the site of Tel Dan, where according to II Kings 10:29 and II Chronicles 13:8, Jereboam led the northern kingdom of Israel away from the true faith. We then travel to Capernaum to see a Third Century Synagogue Without Walls. As we travel around the Sea of Galilee you will see sites whose names are associated with the Christian New Testament. We will go to Gennesaret and see a first Century boat found on the shores of Galilee in 1986 and then finish the day with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee where we will watch the sun set. We will spend the night in Tiberias.

Day Eight

Thursday – November 8^th – Qumran, En Gedi, Masada, Tamar

From our tour of the Galilee we will begin our journey to the south, traveling along the Jordan River. We will visit Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Here we will see cisterns, a cemetery, ruins of a dining facility and of course the famous caves where nearly 900 ancient scrolls were discovered. From Qumran we will travel to En Gedi (Spring of Goats) where King David hid in the desert from King Saul who sought him “even upon the most craggy rocks, which are accessible only to wild goats” (1 Samuel 24:1-3). Next we will go to Masada, the fortress, fortified by Herod the Great between 37-31 BCE as a refuge for himself in the event of a revolt, but was later used by a group of Jewish rebels during the first Jewish – Roman war. From the top of Masada you will be able to look down upon the ruins of Roman encampments. It is quite a moving experience. We will continue on to the southern Biblical border of Israel, to Tamar (Ez. 47-48) and move into our rooms at Biblical Tamar Park.

Day Nine

Friday – November 9^th – Beersheba, Hebron, Arad, Tamar

We begin this day with a tour of tel Beersheba, a significant site associated with the Patriarchs. Beersheba was the southernmost city of the territories actually settled by Israelites, hence the expression “from Dan to Beersheba” to describe the whole kingdom. Beersheba is mentioned in the Book of Genesis in connection with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and so it is an important part of the Patriarchal portion of our tour. Next we will travel to Hebron where we will visit the Tomb of the Patriarchs. This will be more meaningful since the Torah reading the following day records the death of Abraham and Sarah who are both buried in Hebron. We will also see Arad as part of our desert experience, the mountain of Aaron,  & Scorpion’s Pass. We will finish the day back at Biblical Tamar Park.

Day Ten

Saturday – November 10^th – Tamar, the Desert experience, Israel to USA or Jordan

We awaken to a peaceful Sabbath, feeling the stillness of the desert as the sun rises over the Jordanian mountains. We will have a Shabbat morning service, read the parsha and engage in a dialogue session about the reading. After the morning service, you will be free to walk around the Tamar area and soak up the historic biblical atmosphere. Our plans are to webcast live via the Internet to the Roots of Faith Congregation Saturday evening, telling everyone how the trip went and then we will board our buses and travel to the airport. Those who are not staying for the Jordan Tour will fly all night Saturday arriving in the United States Sunday morning. Those joining us for the Jordan Tour will cross the Allenby Bridge into Jordan and settle into the beautiful Intercontinental Hotel in Amman.

Day Eleven (Israel Only)

Sunday – November 11^th – Israel to USA

We arrive in the United States where we will board connecting flights home.

Jordan Add-On

Day Eleven (Jordan)

Sunday – November 11^th – Amman, Jerash, Mt. Nebo, Petra

After breakfast we will board our bus and go to the historic and famous Greek-Roman city of Jerash, the best preserved ancient city in the middle-East. Our guide will lead us through these city streets where hundreds of columns still stand among the stone buildings. We will continue on to Mt. Nebo. This is the mountain that Moses was allowed to look into the “Promise Land” but not to enter. Next we will see the ancient Christian ruins at Mt. Nebo and then drive south to our hotel at Petra. It will be a long but good day.

Day Twelve

Monday – November 12^th – Petra

Today we will visit Petra and walk down the ancient city carved in rock by the Nabataean in the times before and during the life of Jesus. We will enter the city through a deep winding dry river bed. The Treasury building that will loom ahead of us was carved in rock and is over 50 feet high. The day will be spent going through this huge city before our guide takes us to our rooms at the Holiday Crown Plaza. We will have time to visit the shops around the hotel after dinner.

Day Thirteen

Tuesday – November 13^th – Dead Sea shops and Israelite archaeology, airport

We have another bountiful breakfast with our friends at the hotel and then board our bus for the trip to the Jordan Dead Sea resorts and shops area and the archaeology remains there. We will take time to shop in the luxury hotels similar to the Jewish hotels on the west side of the Sea. When we finish, our bus will take us to the Allenby Bridge crossing into Israel, for the transfer to Jerusalem and the airport. Some of us are returning to Tamar to do a little work and re-visit several sites in the south of Israel.

Day Fourteen

Wednesday – November 14^th – Israel to USA

We arrive in the United States where we will board connecting flights home.

Pricing and Information

Tours Include:

• -International flight
• -Hotels – breakfast/dinner
• -National Park Passes
• -All tips (except housekeeping)
• -All meals at Tamar
• -All entrance fees

Not Included:

• -Flight insurance
• -Lunches (except at Tamar)
• -Room service at Hotels
• -Hotel housekeeping tips ($2 a day)

COST: $3195 from New York City (air and land included)

LAND ONLY: $2095

Single Supplement $595 (Israel if available)

Jordan add-on $895

Single Supplement $395 (Jordan)

- Contact Information -

For additional information contact Ross Nichols or Dr. Coxon.

You may reserve a place immediately on this special tour by paying your deposit on-line at:

http://www.blossomingrose.org/tours/Online_Deposits.html (coming soon!)

dcoxon@blossomingrose.org
Office: 1-800-317-7673

Contact Ross Directly using our contact form.