Beit Lehi / Beit Loya: An Introduction

In 1992, while living in Pennsylvania, USA, I read a copy of an article, which outlined the remarkable discovery of a cave in Israel by military bulldozers.  The article described how two bulldozers were working in tandem to cut a road on a military base.  One driver was struck ill and had to be evacuated for care.  The other driver decided to carry on and ended up clipping the edge of a small cave. Inside the cave, were inscriptions, which reportedly were written in monumental Hebrew, a script reportedly utilized around 600 B.C. (BCE).  I don't recall much more of the article, and it has been lost to the annals of time.

The article caught my young imagination, and I thought how wonderful it would be to someday go to this place.  Not being a person of "means," I remembered the article, but never actually believed I would go. 

Enter my wife. It "just so happens" that I married the woman, whose Aunt "just so happens" to be the sister of the man who helps direct and fund the Beit Lehi dig.  I didn't realize this, until approximately 2011, when I tried telling Elaine (the Aunt) about this really cool place I'd read about some 19 years earlier.  I was beyond floored, when Elaine announced her brother's involvement in the dig.  Though Elaine assured me we would go someday, the doubt inside remained.  

Then in 2012, the 20 year dream came to pass.  I kept a journal and documented this adventure in, "A Holy Land Travel Journal."  To say this trip was life-changing would be a deep understatement. 

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In 2017, the opportunity came again to take my oldest son Dallin and spend a weeks time digging at Beit Lehi / Beit Loya.  Whereas before, I had the time to tour Israel in a grand tour bus, this time, we were crammed in a set of small vans, which was inconvenient to say the least for journaling.  So I abandoned my journal, and resorted to a camera to document this trip.  

My first trip to Israel left me concerned about the personal safety of my wife and I, until I actually met the people of Jordan, Israel, and Palestine. People are people.  We ALL want the basic same things, despite what the news media preaches.

This trip, would bring the concerns of a father, wanting to protect my son from potential dangers. Again, it was spending time with the people which calmed my fears.  Traveling...actually meeting people...expands the soul and educates the mind.  It's easy to fear someone you don't know, but when you toil with someone at a common goal, you get to know their heart.  And I've come to care for the hearts of those we spent time with at Beit Lehi / Beit Loya.  


Father...
...and Son.

A sunrise in Turkey.

Eating a turkey sandwich in Turkey.  Seemed the right thing to do.



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