"I didn't know there was so much close to Beit Shemesh." That's what one tourist said when I guided him this group around the area.  Beit Shemesh is known as a prime spot for American immigration, but not so much for American tourism. That's a shame, because so much happened there - Shimshon (Samson), the "Indiana Jones" moment when the Ark of the Covenant returned there from Philistine captivity; David and Goliath; and the Tel Aviv of its day, Lachish, the second most important city in the Kingdom of Judah. All within an hour. Great tour with a great group.

It is so rewarding to hear from tourists what touches them and what sticks with them. I took our neighbor and friend, Mimi, and her family, visiting from Baltimore, on a tour of the Southern Wall Excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem.

In the background of the photo you see Robinson's Arch - the remains of one entrance to the Temple Mount from the time of Herod (1st century CE). Below it is the original broken street with a pile of giant stones which were thrown by the Roman soldiers off the Temple Mount as they destroyed the Temple.

I think I was asked three times, "Are those stones really lying where they fell 2000 years ago?" "Yes", I said, "They were covered with dirt and built on top of, but the archeologists just uncovered them, they didn't move them." Seeing the same thing our ancestors saw in 70 CE makes our history seem somehow shorter and a lot closer.

A fun day touring. Where the Jewish people crossed into the land; where the oldest copies of our Bible were found and the remnants of a synagogue in Gaza from more than 100 years before Islam existed! So much history in my little "backyard"!