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| Here are the twelve most ogled and googled articles
on my site this
month. Scroll down for 2025 UPDATES. |
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| 1.
Gates of the
Old City. A handy orientation to
Jerusalem’s Old City includes the history,
geography, archeology and legends about its nine
gates. A chart of the gate names in English,
Hebrew and Arabic will help you navigate its ancient
alleyways. |
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2.
Biblical
poisonous snakes are mentioned in
scripture numerous times. Isaiah used images
of three different kinds of snakes when he
prophesized against the Philistines. |
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Courtesy of
Guy Haimowitz at Wikipedia Commons |
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Isaiah referred to the
Palestinian viper in his prophecy against
the Philistines |
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3. Walk Jerusalem's Old City ramparts with
Gila and hear stories like about the most unlikely
bomb shelter in Jerusalem used during the Israel US
Iran war. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Ramparts walk above the Damascus
Gate in Jerusalem |
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4. Let's empathize with
Paul at Caesarea with a
new look at chariot racing and a 2025 update |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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The
hippodrome at Caesarea may
have been the venue of Acts 26 |
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5. Let's
tiptoe through the Valley of Gehenna
explains why one particular valley in Jerusalem
became designated as the valley leading to hell.
With a 2024 update on the new Suspension
Bridge over the valley to hell. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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The Valley of Gehenna in relation
to Mount Moriah and the Mount of Olives |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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New Hanging Bridge over Gehenna,
the Valley leading to Hell |
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6. What's
the story with the ladder above the entrance to the
Holy Sepulcher church? Gila answers
and adds in a postscript a joke circulating during
the US Israel Iran War in the spring of 2026 |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin in 2020 |
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The ladder (center) on the facade
of the Holy Sepulcher Church in Jerusalem |
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7. Gila relates a chance encounter with one of
Israel's leading archeologists which gives her an
opportunity to ask whether the inscription on the
controversial ivory pomegranate was genuine or a
fraud. Read
Was this pomegranate ever in
Solomon's Temple? |
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The "ivory" pomegranate with an
8th c BC inscription which may or may not be forged |
Hippo skull with its incisor teeth
seen on safari in Africa |
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| 8.
Herodion Updated. During the
pandemic in March 2021, when there were no tourists in the
land, I returned to Herodion just after the
loggia, the "royal box" was opened to
the public. The theater had been
restored and the steps mentioned by Josephus
Flavius which once led up to the Upper
Palace have been reconstructed. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Podium of Herod's Mausoleum with a
model of the tomb based upon Absalom's tomb |
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9. For FUN:
Ask Gila about camel riding in Jerusalem -- or
at the lowest place on earth. Scroll down for
Gila's interview with the camel....Just kidding,
with Ali, the camel keeper. |
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Photo: Gila's
iphone |
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Gila sitting on Pistachio (fistuk
halabi) at the lowest place on earth
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| 10.
Azekah
in the Valley of Elah is a former
Philistine stronghold with a perfect panorama over
the David versus Goliath battleground. Come
with Gila as she revisits the site in 2026.
It's a fairly easy climb, even when one is
recovering from a complex, traumatic ankle injury. |
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Photo:
Hana Kessler |
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On the summit of Tel Azeka,
January 2026 surrounded by a burst of anemones |
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| 11.
The
Great Isaiah scroll dating from about 125
BC and read for 100 years at least went on exhibit
in Jerusalem in early 2026 -- until the US/Israel
Iran War. Read about the connection between
Isaiah and Luke 4 in 'Let's inspect the ancient
scroll of Isaiah. And see images taken by Gila
of the authentic scroll. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin February 24 2026 |
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Isaiah 40:3 [Kol Koray]
"A voice is calling in the wilderness"
appears in the middle column, second line from the
top |
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12. Let's shout AMEN at
Joshua's Altar on Mount Ebal.
Astonishing headlines about the retrieval of
a “curse tablet” from a pile of earth turned
over by excavators at Mount Ebal, the “mount
of curses,” sent Gila scurrying back 22
years down memory lane to a day spent with
the chief archeologist of the site, Adam
Zertal. |
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Photo
courtesy of Wikipedia Commons |
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The walls of Joshua's
altar were intact up to six feet (2 meters)
in height |
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Most popular
UPDATED 2026 posts |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Did
David ever see a leopard in the
Wilderness of Judea while tending the sheep?
About the most notorious leopards in the
wilderness of Judea in the late 20th
century. |
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A postscript to "Let's saunter through
'Solomon's' Stables at
Megiddo" gives a modern day
example of the "cash cow" benefit of
training horses. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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The
Valley of Armageddon lying
below Tel Megiddo is where the horses trained |
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Which was the most popular chariot team in
the Holy Land during the Roman and Byzantine
periods? Hint: it wasn't the "Greens".
The answer is in a mosaic found in front of
a shop in Beth Shean. Check out my
article "Paul
at Caesarea." |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin |
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Victory to the........!
mosaic discovered at the entrance to a shop
in Beth Shean |
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The authentic Great Isaiah scroll goes on
exhibition for three days at the Israel
Museum and Gila is there -- twice!-- before
the scroll is hidden away once again for
safe-keeping. The entire manuscript,
discovered by Beduin in 1947 has not been
displayed publicly for sixty years.
Read the story in "Let's
inspect the ancient scroll of Isaiah"
and see the images. |
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin February 24, 2026 |
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All 66 chapters of the
Great Isaiah scroll from about 125 BC |
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