With heavy heart, I must announce that the Israel Photographically tour, scheduled for later this month, is cancelled. We just had too few interested parties to fulfill our minimum tour requirements.
I blame news reports of instability in the region that can be frightening to travelers. In reality, there is much more likelihood of being killed in a car accident in any US city that being impacted by terrorist activity in Israel. But we are emotional beings and, it seems, the only news we hear of Israel is when something goes wrong.
Perhaps we can try again at some future date, but not for now.
Dana Sohm, Sohm Photografx
Yes, I have a bucket list, a rather long one
As a photographer, my bucket list is full of places I must see and photograph before I die. Angkor wat, the misty spires of the River Li, Victoria Falls, Iguazu Falls, Bora Bora, rice terraces of Bali, terracotta warriors of Xian, fiords seaside villages of Norway, Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Fuji, Stonehenge, Macu Pichu . . . . The list goes on and on. I fear I have too little life left to make much of a dent in the list.
But one bucket list destination will reach fruition next Spring. On April 29, 2013, I will mount a horse and ride it through narrow slot canyons to the elaborately carved Khaznat al-Faron of ancient Petra.
Ah, Petra, with Parthenon-like Greek-style temples meticulously carved millennia ago from sheer sandstone cliffs by the lost culture of Nabatea that gained untold wealth by controlling important trade routes until conquered by the Rome.
Today Petra is a world heritage site and a favorite movie setting. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Jones found within the Khaznat al-Faron nothing less than the Holy Grail itself.
Is Petra on your bucket list? Of course it is. But take care to cross it off your list before it is too late. Petra’s days are numbered, you know. Sandstone is soft and is easily eroded by water and wind. Unfortunately, every passing year there is a little less to see.
I invite me to join me on the Israel Photographically tour. The two days in Petra will be some of the most amazing days of your life.
Dana Sohm, 7-30-12, 801-450-1947
When Captain James T. Kirk, Captain of the Starship Enterprise, urged us to explore new worlds, new life, and new civilizations, he was not talking about science fiction, he was talking about humanity, for it is in extending beyond ourselves that we find ourselves.
The advise was sound in 1966, in 3017, and is still sound today.
But we do not need to travel light years to find strange new worlds, new life, and new civilizations. A half-day flight will take you to another planet.
The Middle East is not an alien planet; it is two planets, one modern and one ancient. You will see both extremes throughout Israel.
A young orthodox Jew in traditional garb consults his iPhone.
Israel’s history extends back 2,000 years to the life and miracles of Jesus Christ, but does not end there. We will visit ruins and tunnels of the original Jerusalem built by King David (called “the City of David”), 1,000 years before Christ. Why did David build his city on this particular site? Because it is on the slopes of Mt. Moriah where Abraham nearly sacrificed his only son, 1,000 years before that.
In Israel, there is ancient; very ancient; and incredibly, unbelievably, ancient. To an American whose entire nation is less than 250 years old, seeing walls, palaces, and advanced irrigation systems 3,000 years old can take one’s breath away.
Got the urge to explore strange new worlds? Seek out new life, and new civilizations? Try an old world, old life, and old civilization. It is closer than you think.
Dana Sohm, 6-2-12, 801-450-1947
Excavations of the “City of David,” the site of King David’s original city of Jerusalem.
The cliffs of Masada on the banks of the dead sea contain well preserved ruins of a palace and fortifications built by Herod the Great.
- The Church of the Tomb of Mary is buried deep within a grotto beneath the Garden of Gethsemani. This is one of two supposed burial places of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
When I visited Israel last spring, I was delighted at how much time I spent underground in caves, tunnels, and grottos.
Tunnels in Akko served as war bunkers, providing protection to crusaders from enemy forces. Tunnels in Armageddon and Jerusalem were built to provide access for municipal water sources. Other tunnels were archeological digs providing access to ancient cultural artifacts. I am quite certain that I spent more time underground during my 12 days in Israel than the rest of my life combined.
Ancient water cistern discovered while excavating the Western Wall.
If you participate in the Israel Photographically Tour, you will be invited to join the mysterious Jerusalem Underground. You will experience Hezekiah’s Tunnel built by King David to provide water to the Jerusalem of his day. You will wander through western wall excavations and see the huge stone blocks set in place by Herod the Great as a retaining wall to support the Temple Mount. You will
descend deep into a grotto beneath the Garden of Gethsemane that today serves as a Coptic church and burial site.
Crusader in the Port City of Akko built thick rampart walls and vast tunnels as protection from enemy forces.
The Jerusalem Underground is, perhaps, my favorite part of Jerusalem. Unlike Paris, the Jerusalem Underground thankfully does not involve a sewer.
How often do you get to experience an event guaranteed to change your life? For most of us, it happens once a lifetime. I would love to have you join us.
For detailed tour information and a full itinerary see: http://tourisraelnow.com/group-tours/
Dana Sohm, June 2, 2012, 801-450-1947
Hezekiah’s Tunnel proper is an aqueduct built by King David providing municipal water from a spring to an open pool. Adventuresome visitors can walk the entire length of the unlighted, water-filled, tunnel, with only the light of their own flashlights. Somewhat less adventuresome visitors can instead walk this dry and lighted access tunnel roughly following the same course.
The Israel Photographically Tour is taking shape. An itinerary has been established, hotel contracts have been negotiated, and pricing has been set. I am starting to get excited.
The main tour will last 10 days. An optional trip to Petra will extend the tour by two days. Pricing will be $2299 per person, double-occupancy. The Petra extension will be an additional $795 per person, double-occupancy. These prices include lodging in very nice hotels, breakfast and dinner each full day, transportation, and entrance into national parks, museums, and other historic venues. Airfare, souvenirs, and optional tour guide tips are not included. Fond memories, cultural understandings, religious epiphanies, and life-long friendships, priceless.
Mediterranean Coast
We will begin in Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean coast and ancient port of Jaffa, now encompassed by Tel Aviv. We will travel North to Cesarea, built by Herod the Great as a Roman naval port. We will continue to the Crusader fortress of Akko and on to the immaculate gardens and golden Shrine of the Bah’I headquarters in Haifa.
Galilee
We then turn East to Galilee, surprisingly green and lush in the springtime. We will visit a wildlife sanctuary at the headwaters of the Jordan River, a cultural center of Kabala (Jewish mystical tradition), tombs with round stone covers, and 16th century synagogues. We will lodge on the banks of the Sea of Galilee, one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen, in a Kubbutz guest house.
We will visit Capernaum where Jesus lived during most of his ministry and hometown of Peter, who fished the Sea of Galilee. We will visit the remarkably well-preserved “Jesus Boat,” dating back 2,000 years, and of the type that Jesus and his fisherman friends may have used. We will sail the Sea of Galilee in a wooden boat. We will visit the mount of Beatitudes and a baptismal site on the Jordan River.
South to Jerusalem
From there we travel South visiting Beit She’an, one of the middle east’s largest and best-preserved Roman Cities before arriving at the hilltop city of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is so rich with history and cultural sites, it will take us 4 days to experience them all. We will see the Temple Mount, the Western Wall excavations, City of David, Dome of the Rock, Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb, a model of ancient Jerusalem, and the Yad Vashem memorials honoring Holocaust victims.
Dead Sea
Our travels will take us to the arid desert surrounding the Dead Sea where we will bath in its healing waters. We will visit the nearby fortress of Masada, such an enduring Zionist symbol, then move on to Mt. Nebo, where Moses view the promised land that he would never enter.
Petra
This remarkable world-heritage site includes entire building carved out of solid rock. We will enter the main canyon on horseback and see tombs, obelisks, and carved monuments unlike anything else on earth.
These and many other site are just waiting for you. Please join us.
More detailed information is found on the website of our tour company at: http://tourisraelnow.com/group-tours/
Dana Sohm, May 12, 2012
801-450-1947
On April 19, 2012, in the United States and Israel, Jews and non-Jews paused to remember the murder by Germany’s Nazi party of millions of people it considered politically, racially, or socially unfit, including an estimated 6 million Jews. The vow never to forget is a founding principal of the Israeli people.
In the United States, Holocaust Remembrance day warranted a short audio story on NPR that included appropriate and touching remarks made by President Obama at a photo opportunity organized for that purpose. After hearing Obama’s excepted speech, most American went about their daily lives without much addition thought on the subject.
In Israel, Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance day, is remembered in a more profound way. At 10 am, loud sirens suddenly blare throughout the country. These are not police car sirens, but the kind of sirens that announced in-coming bombers during World War II.
Throughout the 1 minute-long siren blast, the nation stops and remembers the horror that so deeply scarred its people. Shopping in busy markets ceases. Workers set aside their tools. Cars on freeways stop to allow drivers and passengers to stand and remember. The effect is dramatic and profound. Although carefully timed, the unsettling siren seems much longer than 1 minute. To all Israel, it is a very long minute of remembrance.
Several remarkable YouTube videos have recorded the event. Here is one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGPbA9wowRk&feature=related
Take a minute to watch it and image what Yom Hashoah means to a nation that lost 6 million sons, daughters, parents, and friends.
Dana Sohm, Easter, April 8, 2012
801-450-1947
In the Christian world, today is Easter.
In the Jewish world, yesterday was the first day of Passover.
The two are intimately connected.
Passover remembers when Israel was held in slavery in Egypt. With Moses as his spokesman, God brought plagues upon Egypt to convince Pharaoh to set his people free. The final, most devastating, plague brought death to all first-born throughout Egypt. However, because Moses marked Hebrew doorways with lamb’s blood, the Angel of Death passed them over sparing their children. Hence, “Passover.”
Pharoh finally relented and agreed to free Israel. The people left in such a rush, they baked and ate unleavened bread for there was not time for bread dough to rise. In commemoration, Jews today eat matzah (unleavened bread) during the Seder (ceremony including the Passover meal).
Every Friday afternoon throughout Israel, shoppers throng open-air markets buying food in preparation for the Shabbat (Sabbath) that begins Friday at sundown. Last Friday afternoon was special. In additional to their usual supplies, shoppers bought matzah and bitter herbs for the Passover meal that followed. Shabbat extended from Friday at sundown to Saturday at sundown. It represented the first day of a 7-day Passover celebration throughout Israel.
The Jews have celebrated Passover for centuries, including throughout Jesus’s life. At the end of his life, Jesus traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover with his disciples. Jesus’s “last supper” was likely a Passover meal. It was at this meal that Jesus perceived Judas’s betrayal. Jesus dismissed Judas with the words “that thou doest, do quickly.” Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ following his betrayal and cruxifiction.
For this reason, Easter is generally celebrated during Passover although the Jewish and Christian holidays are calculated differently and do not always coincide.
In Jerusalem and throughout modern-day Israel, Passover is perhaps the busiest time of year with Jews celebrating Passover and Christians flocking to Jerusalem to commemorate Jesus’s last days.
Last year, as I made my pilgrimage to the Holy Land, my flight arrived on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, the day following the end of Passover. Banners hanging in airport concourses still proclaimed “Happy Passover.” Christian visitors that followed Jesus’s last steps, his cruxifictions, and ressurection on Easter Sunday April, 24, had finally dissipated. The airport was once again relatively quiet.
While in Jerusalem, we visited an upper room on Mt. Zion, claimed, with dubious historicity, to be the venue for the last supper. The claim was made simply because the room existed on a second floor and was spacious enough to accommodate 13 people.
We also visited the magnificent Church of the Holy Sepulcher, designated by someone, with equally dubious historicity, to be the site where Jesus was crucified and buried. As with most holy places in Israel, the spot was revered by erecting a church by the religion making the claim.
We also visited the much more modest “Garden Tomb” which to my mind seems a more probably site of Jesus’s burial. Here, instead of an ostentatious church, lay a simple tomb carved out of a vertical stone face. The Christian ground-keepers maintained a beautiful garden surrounding the tomb. Although heavily visited, the place exuded calmness rare among religious sites in Israel.
Easter and Passover take on new and deeper meanings to those fortunate to visit Jerusalem.
Dana Sohm, Easter, April 8, 2012
801-450-1947
God looks down upon the Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee.
The very words evoke reverence.
Peter was fishing on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus invited him to become a fisher of men. Jesus boarded a boat and pushed off into the Sea to seek refuge from pressing multitudes. Jesus walked upon its water and rebuked its winds and waves. With the words “peace be still” he brought calm to a raging tempest. It was with two fishes from the Sea and five loaves of bread that Jesus fed thousands of followers.
Dawn, Sea of Galilee
On the Israel Photographically tour, we will ride a boat onto the Sea of Galilee whose waters are as pure and fish-filled today as they were 2,000 years ago.
We will visit the “Jesus Boat,” a remarkably well-preserved shell of a fishing boat dating back to Jesus’s time.
"Jesus Boat," was found in mud upon the banks of the Sea of Galilee. It dates back to Jesus day.
We will lodge and dine at Nof Ginosar on the banks of the Sea of Galilee in a Hotel located within and managed by a working Kibbutz.
Wild mustard is abundant in Galilee's springtime.
We will arrive at Galilee at the peak of springtime when hills are blanketed in green and exploding with the vivid yellow of wild mustard blossoms. Migrating birds drift overhead and nest on the Sea’s banks. Frogs serenade the wetlands along the shore.
It is not hard to see why Jesus loved Galilee and chose to live and preach there for most of his ministry.
But there is more to see than just the lake. We will visit the ruins of Capernaum, locally called Jesus’s town. We will visit nearby hillsides where Jesus may have delivered his “Sermon on the Mount.” We will visit a site on the Jordan River where modern-day Christians still conduct immersive baptisms.
The Jordan River in April
Galilee is my favorite part of Israel and Spring is its most beautiful time.
You will be captivated.
Dana Sohm, March 3, 2012
801-450-1947
The Old World
These are evocative, romantic words.
The Old World is our mother, our birthplace, the cradle of Western civilization, the source of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Old World formed our thoughts, our values, our wants, our needs, our commonalities, our conflicts.
The Old World is calling you home.
In Jaffa, a Jewish man contemplate a mysterious side-door to a ancient Christian church
Our adventure will take us from Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean; to Caesarea, an elaborate Roman port constructed by Herod the Great with a full-size hippodrome for chariot races; to Acco with its crusader-built ramparts, churches, and perfectly-preserved cavernous tunnels; to the Sea of Galilee where Jesus preached to throngs of thousands and sought refuge by casting off in a fishing boat into its crystal clean water; to a place of baptism on the Jordan river, still in use today; to Old Jerusalem, spiritual heart of three religions; to Masada, beside the dead sea, a place sacred to all modern Jews, to holocaust remembrances that will melt your heart. The especially adventurous will take an additional 2 days visiting Petra, the legendary city carved from sandstone that one enters only on horseback.
But this will be more than a tour of places. It will be a time finding spiritual roots, a time of cultural discovery, a time of understanding conflicting world views, a time of personal growth.
Israel changes people. You will return a different person than you were when you arrived. That I guaranty.
Dana Sohm
Every year I produce a calendar for clients, family, and friends. It is truly an “Artist’s Calendar” photographed, designed, printed, and assembled by the artist, me. This year’s calendar features pictures from my trip to Israel last Spring, the trip that inspired our tour next year. The calendar is designed to sit on a desktop with a built-in stand. The face of the calendar is 5 in x 8.5 in (12.7 cm x 21.6 cm). Its takes about 3.5 in x 8.5 in (9 cm x 21.6 cm) of desktop space.
The calendar, simply named “Israel” features a cover photo of the Sea of Galilee resplendent in the hours just after dawn taken from the shoreline at Nof Ginnosar. Beams of heavenly light pour through light clouds as though God himself were smiling on this amazing land. The Hebrew word “Israel” in bold lettters competes the cover. The Hebrew letters are comprised of the gold hues and texture of another sacred spot to all Israelis, the desert fortress of Masada taken during my visit there last Spring. I wanted the Hebrew word “Israel” to appear as though it was carved from the Masada mountainside. I would love your feedback as to whether I achieved the desired effect.
Here is a preview of the Calendar:
Dana sohm
Israel Photographically 