Yad HaShmonah

Just recently I got to visit Yad HaShmonah, a Christian complex/kibbutz where my friend works. Not until I got there did I realize that it is the same location as the Ibex campus for the Master's College. I didn't see the dorms or the classroom part of the complex, but I did see a Master's student on her way to class. Maybe next semester Rod will be walking the same path to his classes or maybe even Mark and Ellen.

We had stopped by Yad HaShmonah on our way up to Jerusalem. Ruth, a daughter of close family friends of the Dukes, was visiting for the weekend, and we wanted to show her around. Unfortunately, the damp fog clung to the hillsides and filled the valleys, obscuring the breathtaking view that you could tell was beyond the steep drop-offs. Even though we didn't get to see the view, Shlomit took us around and showed us all the attractions, from the Bedouin tent to the old synogague site to the wine and olive presses. These pictures show a part of the olive presses where they began the process with the first press. The olives would fill the baskets which were stacked under the press. Once the baskets of olives were in place, huge stone weights were attached to the far end of the press. By pressing down on the lever, the stones were lifted off the ground bringing their crushing weight down on the baskets of olives. The oil then ran into the trough at it's base to be collected. Other presses and vats stood close by to produce and store the oil during every stage of the process. It was fun to press the levers and spin the corkscrew press to see how the old machinery worked.