"This is the Yardenit of the River Jordan, the Place of Baptism, where John is baptizing Jesus. The true place of the baptism may be farther south, but because farther south is in Jordan and the river is dried up there, the place I show you could be the right one."
Rory grimaces with disappointment.
The river at this bend is narrow, shallow enough to wade across to Jordan in less than fifteen minutes.
"Much of Christianity is found in the teachings of the Essenes. So people think John the Baptist is maybe the Essene and is telling Jesus the ethical teachings of the Essenes."
We don't stop at the Jordan, and Sol says, "Now I show you the Golan Heights. It is not on your tour, but it is something you should see. Look down there. That is Israel. When the Syrians control the mountain, five million Jews is surrounded by a hundred million Arabs, and Syria can fire the shells into Israel any time. The Arabs want back the Golan Heights fifty years later now that we grow here apples, grapes and the fmest cherries in the world. We plant the fruit, and now the Arab is wanting something for nothing."
"You've been arguing with the Arabs over this land for fifty years?"Elizabeth asks.
He sends her a withering glance in the mirror. "Not for fifty years. For centuries."
Again I don't mention the clay projectile flired from sling-shots, but I think of Yeats' line, "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart."
As we spiral up the mountain, Sol adds, "Here I watch the road. On each side is the land mines left over from the 1967 war." But he nonetheless says casually over his shoulder, "Before that war, this mountain is called Mount Galilee. This is the Sea of Galilee down there. It is of course not a sea but a lake. Just as the Dead Sea is not a sea but a lake."
He gestures while he keeps only one hand on the steeringwheel. "Here hot sulfur springs break through the surface around the shore of the Galilee. See the system used to siphon the sulfur water off so it don't harm the fresh lake water."
Channels have been dug across the land, and wooden and metal sluices bend in awkward angles to supplement the canals that wind through grape arbors and apple groves.
"What do they do with the sulfur water?"
"These ducts carry it below the Sea of Galilee to the Jordan River.
The Jordanian farmers use the dirty water for their crops."
"Do the Jordanian farms have any choice except dirty water?" I ask.
He glances at me in the mirror and holds our reflected look for a moment. "No."
