♪ (music) ♪ We got a way to go. - Oh, yeah. It is quite steep.
- Yeah, it is. - I imagined it to be.
- Yeah. I wonder if there's a better way, - like something not as steep.
- Maybe. ♪ (music) ♪ (gasping) Let's get higher up on the hill. Today, Yossi and I go
on our annual adventure. This time we head to the Tabor Stream, which was believed
to be the Biblical river Kishon. I can feel we're getting
really close, right? This is the same river where Sisera
encamped with his Canaanite army, and where Deborah prophesied their defeat. Wow! Look at this!
I finally got to the river. It's awesome. ♪ (music) ♪ What intrigued us even more
about this place is the fact that this stream
starts all the way in Nazareth and flows down to the Jordan River, making this a possible route
for Jesus to take when he ministered in this area. Can you imagine Jesus
walking here 2,000 years ago from Nazareth? - I appreciate this trail so much more.
- So cool. <i>So today, Yossi and I go to an adventure</i> <i>in search of the Biblical river Kishon.</i> Yeah, I can hear the stream,
it's growing louder and louder. Here it is. It is-- Wow! This is it. I'm a little nervous. ♪ (music) ♪ Just in case. - Alright. Are you ready?
- Yep, let's do it. ♪ (music) ♪ <i>(Sergio) To escape
the scorching heat of the summer,</i> <i>we decided to get out very early</i> <i>and make it to the river
before the break of dawn.</i> <i>The location where we're going to
is called Tabor Stream</i> <i>and it is very close
to the mountain of Tabor,</i> <i>the traditional site
of Jesus' transfiguration.</i> <i>But to get to this site,
we must first pass through a kibbutz,</i> <i>and because we got out so early,
the kibbutz could be closed,</i> <i>making it impossible to reach the stream.</i> There's a guy there. Oh, there we go. OK, that's awesome, we made it in. We were afraid that this place
was going to be closed, but this [Moshabv] kibbutz is open and we can now park our car here safely and then make our way down to the stream, so it's a great starting point. <i>Making it safely through the kibbutz gate,</i> <i>we are now able to get
to the starting point of our hike.</i> We're going to go
just a bit more down here, and it's going to get pretty scary,
so... oh, my goodness, oh! Whoa, alright,
I think we're going to make it. <i>Due to the heavy winter rains,</i> <i>the road is getting
too difficult to drive,</i> <i>so we're going to park the car at the top</i> <i>and walk by foot from now on.</i> It's so quiet, see? - Remember Mount Hermon?
- Yeah. I mean, this is not as quiet as Hermon,
but still, this is... Alright, I think we're ready. Ready to go? - Yeah, we're ready, let's do it.
- Let's do it. (song by Jay Denton: Mold Breakers) Wow! Look at the beauty of this. - Isn't this gorgeous?
- Amazing. Wow, look at the sun rise,
it's so beautiful. (Sergio) <i>As we go down to the river,</i> <i>we realize that
the ancient village of Nain,</i> <i>where Jesus raised
the widow's son from the dead,</i> <i>is just a few kilometers away.</i> It's a unique opportunity
to be out here today and hike the trail and remember
where Jesus could have walked. (song continues) (Yossi) Wow! Look at this. (Sergio) Well, I finally got to the river. Wow, it's awesome. You can see
a little river flow right there. So I think the walk
continues over there, right? - Yeah. There's a trail marking.
- Alright. Let's go. Let's cross this. Oh, it's cold! (laughing) Can you imagine
swimming in this right now? Oh, no! That was way too cold
for my blood. (Sergio) <i>Now that we have crossed
the water,</i> <i>there should be ancient ruins
in the vicinity,</i> <i>an excavation site that goes
by the name Tel Rekhesh.</i> (Sergio) We're getting closer
to something ancient and I wonder if this hill is a [tel]
and there is an ancient place up there. (Sergio) Hey, this area could be
of historical significance, and potentially, Biblical significance,
so let's go and explore. Yeah, let's do it. (Sergio) <i>The narrow opening
between the thorns</i> <i>makes us believe that this trail
will lead us to the ancient site</i> <i>However, climbing it will not be easy.</i> (gasping) OK. Oh, wow! Look! This is definitely ancient, look at that. They've excavated here.
How did this-- This is ancient. - Are you seeing this?
- Yeah. Wow. (Sergio) <i>Tel Rekhesh is located
in the east part of the Lower Galilee</i> <i>near Kibbutz Gazit,
which is southeast of Mount Tabor.</i> <i>It's a magnificent mount
that is 45 dunam of land</i> <i>and rises 34 meters high.</i> <i>This site remains
an active excavation since 2006.</i> This is incredible. Wow! <i>And while there are still many mysteries
that lie hidden beneath the surface</i> <i>waiting to be unearthed,</i> <i>we do know a few things
from the past archaeological digs.</i> <i>It appears to be
a first-century Jewish farm,</i> <i>where livestock was grown,
olives were harvested,</i> <i>and it was located on a main route</i> <i>which made it the perfect location
for trade of local goods.</i> <i>Some of the findings,
such as the olive press,</i> <i>date all the way back to the bronze age,</i> <i>and it is believed that this place
is the Biblical village of Anaharath,</i> <i>or in Hebrew, Anacharath,</i> <i>mentioned in Joshua 19,</i> <i>it was a village that belonged
to the tribe of Issachar.</i> Can you just imagine
the ancient Israelites living here? It's just mind blowing. I can just now imagine how blast
Issachar was with such a beautiful land. Wow. <i>The most fascinating discovery
in this place</i> <i>is the remains of an ancient synagogue.</i> <i>And if this place had a synagogue,</i> <i>then, could have
Jesus of Nazareth been here,</i> <i>as he preached in the synagogues
in the Galilee region?</i> I really wonder if Jesus was ever here. <i>This place is only
ten minutes from Nazareth</i> <i>and only five miles from Nain,</i> <i>where Jesus raised from the dead
a son of a widow.</i> <i>So it is very possible
that Jesus himself stopped here</i> <i>in this very synagogue
as he was traveling the Galilee,</i> <i>preaching the gospel, healing people,</i> <i>and fulfilling the ancient prophecies.</i> <i>But no matter how interesting
this excavation site is,</i> <i>Yossi and I seem to have lost our track</i> <i>and now must find
our way back to the river.</i> I don't see the next sign,
I have no idea where we go, left or right. <i>Due to the heavy rain season
in the past winter,</i> <i>this area has overgrown
with bushes and thorns.</i> <i>The bushes grew so tall
that they hid the trail markings.</i> <i>So to find our way, we turned to the GPS</i> <i>and the satellite maps
on our phone for help.</i> I really try to avoid
using digital map or GPS, but we're kind of lost. Can't find the trail anymore
and can't see it from the hill. I think we're going to go back onto
the mark trail we have on the map and not rely on this signage. This is insane. So now looks like a path,
but we can't find the next marking. Where do we go? Yossi, there is the mark! - Where?
- There. Whoo! I would never find that. - Wow.
- How on earth would you see that from anywhere? Wow, we found it, finally. The vegetation is so high, the marking is so small, little, faded, in between big bushes, you can't see it from afar. Well, we found it, let's keep going. ♪ (background music) ♪ - Wow! Look at that!
- Wow. And I can hear the water down there. - Wow.
- Look at that. - Wow.
- There's a crab. - Yo!
- There's a crab, we're by the water. Wow! - Look at that.
- That's awesome. - Isn't it so nice to find the trail?
- Yeah. (Sergio) <i>We have finally made it
to the trail of the ancient river,</i> <i>but is it really the one?</i> <i>Interestingly enough,
if you look up the modern maps,</i> <i>you'll find that this river appears
under the name Tabor Stream.</i> <i>And if you look for the river Kishon,
you'll find it lied to the west.</i> <i>However, we found out that Tabor Stream
was actually called Kishon</i> <i>up until the 19th century,</i> <i>and there's plenty of historical writings
to show for that.</i> <i>For example,</i> <i>a third-century historian,
Eusebius of Caesarea,</i> <i>mentions that the river by Mount Tabor
is actually the Biblical river Kishon.</i> <i>Then, a geographer of the 14th century</i> <i>says that the Kishon River
empties into the Jordan River,</i> <i>just like the modern day Tabor Stream
that we're walking today.</i> <i>And to top off the evidence,</i> <i>maps produced before the 19th century
also identified this river as Kishon.</i> <i>So, if this is the true River Kishon,</i> <i>then it creates a problem,</i> <i>because the Bible mentions that Kishon</i> <i>is also where Elijah slaughtered
the Baal prophets.</i> <i>But Elijah was at Mount Carmel,</i> <i>so it is more likely that he went down
to this modern day River Kishon.</i> <i>Does this mean that
the modern identification is correct?</i> <i>Which river is it?</i> <i>Is it the river by Mount Tabor
or the one by Mount Carmel?</i> <i>Some believe that this can be explained</i> <i>by assuming that there used to be
two rivers named Kishon.</i> <i>Another possible explanation is that
these two rivers used to be connected.</i> <i>So it is very likely that
the Kishon River that Elijah went to</i> <i>is today's Kishon,</i> <i>while the one Deborah went to
is today's Tabor Stream,</i> <i>the one we're exploring today,</i> <i>the stream that starts in Nazareth
and ends in the Jordan River.</i> (Yossi) It just makes so much sense that we have Mount Tabor out there. Old battles [inaudible] the rock
and the border happened so close here. And it makes sense that this be this river that have been renamed into Nahal Tavor, but must have been that this river
would have been the Kishon river. <i>Even though we have found the river,</i> <i>we have not seen enough water in it
to match the biblical events.</i> <i>But we heard that there is a waterfall
just down the trail</i> <i>that has heavy torrents
during the winter rains.</i> <i>As seen it could help us understand</i> <i>how Sisera's army could
have been swept away in the water,</i> <i>we decided to go and check it out.</i> Be careful [inaudible] <i>But to get to the waterfall,
we must first cross the river.</i> Can we cross here? Yeah. It's kind of deep in there, so just to avoid dangers
of falling in and hurting ourselves I'm going around... <i>Due to the murky water,
crossing the river could be dangerous,</i> <i>as the bottom of the river
might hold sharp and unstable rocks </i> <i>that recently fell from the cliffs.</i> But I can't even see
a crossing here either. I don't know
if I can find another crossing. <i>But since there's no other option,</i> <i>we are forced to cross the murky stream.</i> Go, go, go! Whoops! Whoa! Wow, I think we're really close, I think we're getting very,
very close to the waterfall. (Yossi) Yeah, I can hear the stream louder and louder. - Wow!
- Wow! - It's cool.
- Oh, it's beautiful! Man! Oh, that is incredible. <i>(Sergio) We have finally
made it to the falls</i> <i>which in the winter time
are significantly more abundant in water</i> <i>and during heavy rains
may even cause flooding.</i> <i>Another visual picture
of how Sisera's military</i> <i>could have been swept away
in the torrent of the river</i> <i>as recorded in Judges, Chapter 5.</i> <i>But before we leave, Yossi suggests
we jump in the water to cool off.</i> <i>And even though the water is murky
and it's hard to see if it's safe,</i> <i>Yossi has done it before</i> <i>and knows that the pool is clear of rocks
and is deep enough for a jump.</i> ♪ (music) ♪ Have you jumped from this rock? [inaudible] How far should I jump? As far as you can. I'm a little nervous. - Yeah. Three, two, one!
- Wohoo! (laughing) The water's so cold! Oh, that's wonderful. Let's do this again! Dude, let's do it. ♪ (music) ♪ [inaudible] (Yossi) That was super funny. Wow. It's time for coffee. Time for coffee. - Let's go.
- Let's go. ♪ (music) ♪ (Yossi) One and a half for you. <i>(Sergio) Today, despite the obstacles,
we were able to see the river</i> <i>and imagine the Biblical events
that took at this very place.</i> <i>There was just so much
of exciting history,</i> <i>archaeological finds,
and beautiful nature.</i> <i>Yet, the most memorable of all</i> <i>was doing this journey together,
as brothers.</i> The marking is so small,
it's little, faded, in between big bushes,
you can't see it from afar. Well, we found it, let's keep going. Oh, let's do a high five. (silly noises) ♪ (music) ♪ So, Rhoda packed us
some snacks for the road, and this is a [faus], it's like a cucumber
but it's not a cucumber, it's more juicy, more watery,
it's really, really nice. [Faus]. Hey, I've got some homemade olives,
you want to try some? I can see what you were trying to do here,
trying to make you pack lighter. It's good. Wow, look at these! They're giant! These are like just giant thorns. Look at these giant thorns. They're huge! (Yossi) Gazit? Gazit? What is this? All roads lead to Rome kind of thing? No wonder we're lost. (laughing) (Sergio) Yes, yes, we're back. (gasping)
