After being completely unaware of what our plans were for the day, we had a late departure from Tel Aviv and nobody knew exactly what was going on. Even Carol Ann was unaware of the day's plans. All we knew is we had a concert in the Bell Caves, wherever those were...
After about an hour's drive from Tel Aviv, we wound up in a remarkably Utah-like desert landscape and stopped seemingly in the middle of nowhere to meet our hosts. Here a man and a woman greeted us and we exited the bus, being told only to bring a hat and water. At this point I was positive we were making a trek to our deaths across the Negev desert, but we came upon a small set of ruins at the top of the hill, with a stairwell descending into the earth. The guide explained that underneath us there was a gigantic network of cisterns used by the Israelites in the second century BCE to defend themselves against Roman invasion. We were going to explore some of these ancient cisterns. After a tight, slow, and very claustrophobic descent down narrow stairwells, we finally reached the first cistern. I can't even tell you how blown away I was by this experience. Here we were, in perfectly preserved remains of civilizations over 2000 years old!
The cisterns were round and about as large as rooms in a house, and we could see remains of ancient stairwells leading to different rooms and different levels. Each room seemed to have a purpose: the majority of the larger cisterns were used to collect drinking water during the rainy season and store it for the rest of the year. Others were more specifically dwellings for the people attempting to escape Roman slavery. Others still featured series of small holes in the walls, where the people would raise pigeons for meat and eggs to eat. A longer series of rooms which we entered was described by our guide as "the marketplace" and we saw more pigeon holes and stairwells in a seemingly endless labyrinth of cisterns. Later we would come across an ACTUAL olive press (no joke) that dates from the second century BCE and is still 100% in tact. It is a wheel that is attached to a central pole in a bowl, and pushing the wheel around the pole crushes the olives and creates the oil. Also in this room were numerous other instruments for preparing food and grain, all in tact and all as old as the olive press. Insanely cool.
We exited the cisterns, walked to a nice picnic lunch and then proceeded to the Bell Caves. After a very short walk we came to the first of the caves and the guide described them for us. He told us that the people in the 6th-11th Centuries CE created these as chalk quarries. The caves are bell-shaped because of the nature of the quarries. A 1-meter hole would be cut in the top rock of the earth, and then they would quarry outward, creating the distinct "bell" shape of the caves. Today many of the caves have collapsed, but there is still a significant network of these quarries in the area. One of these networks features about 8 or 9 caves together, connected to each other. As the quarrying would continue, they would run into previous caves and create networks of them, supported only by pillars of chalk that were not quarried. One of these networks of caves would be the place we would be singing.
The setting was incredible: giant bell-shaped caves with pillars of chalk and limestone between them, and holes in the ceiling letting in natural light. Uplights on the chalk walls did the work the natural light couldn't. And of course, the acoustic was magical: reverb lasting 10-20 seconds or more. We sang the Rachmaninoff as well as a good portion of our A'Cappella repertoire that is suited to such an acoustic. We performed the very beginning of "Sing a New Song," which is a series of "alleluias" in a chant-like melody. Dr. Allred had us spread out throughout the caves and create echoes by singing at slightly different tempi. It truly brought tears to my eyes hearing the sound. Luckily, I got Carol Ann to record it for me, and so I will try to post a video!
After a stunning concert in the caves in collaboration with a local choir (recorded professionally, too!), we met up with our host families and headed home for the night. My family is a woman from New York City who has lived in Israel for 28 years, her Moroccan husband, and her 4 children. They are lovely and prepared a wonderful dinner for us all. They live in a town that my host mother says is the geographic center of the country called Qiryat Gat, which, incidentally, is the information technology capitol of the Middle East.
We leave for Jerusalem in the morning, and will be there for two days. An exciting announcement: We have recieved such wonderful acclaim across the country that we have been asked by the Israel Music Festival to "open" for the King's Singers tomorrow night in Jerusalem! In return, we are all going to be able to see the King's Singers concert for free! An amazing opportunity. I have a feeling tomorrow will be my favorite day so far, and must make sure my camera is well charged!!
I will see how the internet looks for pictures tonight, but I am very tired, and I know we will have internet in our hotel in Jerusalem. I will also try to post a video of us singing in the caves if I get a chance.
WEIRD THINGS ABOUT ISRAEL, for Tashia:
1) Light switches for bathrooms do not exist in bathrooms, they are always outside the bathroom. I cannot for the life of me figure out why this is true, but it is very annoying.
2) They eat raw fish at breakfast.
3) Orthodox Jews don't work - they live off of welfare and study the Torah all day. It's bizarre.
4) The drivers here are nuts. Like seriously nuts. I would never want to drive here.
5) There is a lot of talking at concerts during numbers. It takes Dr. Allred a while to quiet crowds down.
6) When we got off the plane in Tel Aviv, there was a Mezuzah at the end of the jetway. Hotel rooms also all have a Mezuzah on the door frame.
7) Everywhere you look there are soldiers. And they all carry large automatic weapons everywhere. And they are all young and usually very attractive.
8) Israeli teens are required to enter the Army at 18 for at least three years.
9) Everyone here under the age of 21 has a piercing.
10) Roundabouts are everywhere.
11) Everyone thinks we are all Mormons, and some even think we are all polygamists.
12) Nobody on the streets, when we tell them we are from Utah, knows where "Utah" is.
13) Hummus is served at every meal.
Hopefully I will learn more about it as I go along... the touristy portion is finally beginning. :)
