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Why travel to Israel: a small country, half the size of Lake Michigan, surrounded by enemies who occasionally shoot missiles at us ?  What makes this country such a unique and intriguing traveling destination ? How come, that at every given moment, there are more media crews in Jerusalem than any other place on this planet ?
Israel doesn’t have stunning water falls or lush green forests. Nor does it have a wide variety of wildlife or magnificent castles from the Middle Ages. Israel is the Land of the Bible, something that cannot be said of any other country. When I refer to the Bible, I mean both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Book. The best seller of all times. Each of you have come across the Bible somehow in your life. The name of places in the Bible are around me where I walk. Israeli children learn the stories of the Bible from a young age. They celebrate the Jewish holidays based on biblical stories and walk in the footsteps of kings, judges and prophets. 

The Hebrew language is the only dead national language to be revived and become the native language of more than nine million people today.
Apart from the Bible, Israel draws travelers who try to understand the outstanding events which happened here in the last 100 years. A ‘Start up Nation’ is a phrase which is often used to describe the special spirit of the Israelis. As  Zionist ideas echoed in the hearts of young Jewish people in the end of the 19th century in Europe, Israel became a magnet for them as the old homeland.  Returning to the Land of the Bible, the Promised Land, became a pioneering venture changing the face of this small country for ever.

Thinking out of the box, innovation and daring became part of the characteristics which Israelis are famous. Driven by the need to survive, to excel, to study and improvise, placed this desert country in the forefront of development in almost every aspect of life.

It is a young country which sanctifies the value of the family. You see children everywhere. The average number of children in the secular population is 3 and the ultra-orthodox community counts an average of 9 children to a family. 

They are vital and noisy but certainly fulfill the Biblical prophecy of Zechariah, 8:
“So said the Lord of Hosts: Old men and women shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of old age.         
And the streets of the city shall be filled, with boys and girls playing in its streets.”        
In our journey together we will encounter the many faces of Israel.

3000 year-old history will become alive as we will sift through relics recently found in the ground near Temple Mount in Jerusalem. We will walk in the footsteps of Jesus and realize that the stories so many of us never understood, make so much sense when you learn about the daily life people lived then.
We will meet Israeli soldiers and discover what makes them so proud and loyal to their country. We will admire the archaeological remains of empires and cultures which existed in this little piece of land. Looking at the world map one realizes that the geographical location of Israel made it a bridge between continents, a gateway to the east in ancient times.
Join me in my personal voyage to the story of Israel, the Land of the Bible, where past and future combine to form a dazzling mosaic of people.