Hiking Kesalon Valley and Mountains (May 17, 2008).

Walking through a forest in full moon light…Sounds crazy? That’s what I managed to do this time in the Midrasha hike. The venue was again Jerusalem Mountains but in a different direction from the earlier trip. The trailed area included Kesalon valley, Bnei Berit caves, surroundings of Beit Meir Moshav and Mt Arnah. Some of these regions were dedicated to the 6 million Jews wiped out in holocaust. For instance, Yaar HaKedoshim (Martyr's Forest) is the Jewish National Fund (JNF) forest of 6 million trees was planted in 1951 in memory of victims of the Holocaust. At an altitude of 600 meters, the forest offers a cool respite from summer heat. The remaining areas had been part of the fierce struggles that led to the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. We started our hike from the Bnei Berit caves at 4.30 pm and climbed through the Kesalon valley. From the top, the trail passed through some army installations (I don’t remember the names as they are known by numbers) and reached the junction where Rabin Park begins. The next stop was a nature reserve called Masreq. For details see footnotes above the snaps taken from Masreq.

We descended the Masreq and took our dinner at the base of the mount. It was almost 8 pm and we continued the night hike through the Burma Road junction. We reached the high point Mashlat 21 and saw the road to Jerusalem called Shaar Haaggai (Heb)/Bab-el Wad (Arab)/Route 1. This road used to be so crucial that some of the bloodiest battles for Jerusalem occurred here. It is said that whoever controls Shaar Haggai controls Jerusalem. During the first independence war (1948) Jews had to pay a heavy price for capturing this route. At those times, the convoy of trucks filled with food, water and other essential commodities reached Jerusalem through this route. The survival of the Jews in Jerusalem depended on the smooth passage of this caravan. When Arabs ambushed the Jewish convoy frequently from these hilltops, the city of Jerusalem was literally besieged. And Jews had to think of an alternative to maintain Jerusalem as Jewish. The result was the construction of a path called the Burma Road to Jerusalem. Although we didn’t walk through Burma Road, glimpses of this long serpentine road down the valleys in moonlight were worth an experience to feel Jewish struggle for existence.

We finished the hike by 10 pm and took our bus back to the campus and reached by midnight. I was told that this was the last Midrasha hike of the season. Since, the coming few months (June-Sep) will be extremely hot summer period in Israel and tough to travel, the monthly hike will be resumed probably in October.