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Israel Archaeology Update: Temple Mount Mystery & A New Church

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Nov 2, 2020
4 min

Israel Archaeology Update: Temple Mount Mystery & A New Church

Over the past month, a number of incredible archaeological discoveries have been found in Israel. Unknown gates on the Temple Mount, a Byzantine church near Caesarea Phillippi, ancient boundary stones and weights, a signet ring with the seal of Apollo, perhaps the world's first furnace and more. As your resident tour guide of Israel, it is my pleasure to recap all of them for you here... It's amazing that this had never been noticed before: Two blocked-up arches which were s

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Free Online Series on the Dead Sea Scrolls Starts Sunday

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Oct 30, 2020
2 min

Free Online Series on the Dead Sea Scrolls Starts Sunday

Beginning on Sunday, there will be a 3-part weekly series on the Dead Sea Scrolls co-sponsored by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Beit Avi Chai in Jerusalem. The Dead Sea Scrolls are universally recognized as one of the top 10 archaeological discoveries in history - it's not just "Israel tour guide speak." The topics and times can be found below... From the Israel Antiquities Authority: "The discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls in a remote Judean Desert cave in 194

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Jerusalem's Tower of David Museum is Undergoing a $40 Million Renovation

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Oct 27, 2020
2 min

Jerusalem's Tower of David Museum is Undergoing a $40 Million Renovation

Jerusalem's famed Tower of David Museum - which somehow has nothing at all to do with King David - is undergoing a huge renovation at this time, including putting in an elevator to allow everyone to get to the top and experience the most incredible view of the Old City of Jerusalem. The museum is situated just inside Jaffa Gate and is located in what served as the fortress of the city for 2000 years. The museum includes both the archaeology and history of the fortress, palac

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Online New Discoveries in Israel Archaeology Conference Starts Today

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Oct 25, 2020
2 min

Online New Discoveries in Israel Archaeology Conference Starts Today

An amazing opportunity has become available to the general public. The Israeli Antiquities Authority along with the New York University have put together a free 4-day online conference called "The Land That I Will Show You: Recent Archaeological & Historical Studies of Ancient Israel." It will cover all the incredible recent finds from Israel. It's the perfect opportunity for people who "dig Israel." As a tour guide of Israel, I am incredibly excited to attend this program

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Israel Archaeology Update: Dating Ruins by Poop & Much More

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Oct 5, 2020
3 min

Israel Archaeology Update: Dating Ruins by Poop & Much More

So many incredible archaeological discoveries were announced in the past month here in Israel. As a tour guide of Israel I cannot wait to see some of these in person - and for you to join me on this adventure! A New Dating Process A new way of dating - in addition to known ones like carbon-dating and using pottery and coins - has been developed by Israeli archaeologists. It might be yucky, but it gets the job done. Basically it uses human and animal waste found in mud-bri

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A Glowing Report on Tourism to Israel... Pre-Covid

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Oct 1, 2020
2 min

A Glowing Report on Tourism to Israel... Pre-Covid

Israel set a record last year with 4.55 million tourists. That was an 11% increase over 2018 which itself was a 42% increase over 2016. Even more amazing is that 94.4% of visitors to Israel reported a good to excellent experience in the country. That's an incredible success rate and I take pride in that, as a tour guide of Israel, I have a small part to play in that. If you are unaware, becoming an Israel tour guide is like getting a master's degree. It is a 2-year course

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Everything You Need to Know About Sukkot This Year in Israel!!

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Oct 1, 2020
6 min

Everything You Need to Know About Sukkot This Year in Israel!!

On Friday night we begin Sukkot, the Festival of Booths. In ancient times this was the most popular Jewish holiday and I have to say, that it weren't for my mother's insanely delicious matzah ball soup and chopped liver on Passover, Sukkot would absolutely be my favorite one as well. On Sukkot we building temporary dwellings outside of our homes called sukkot in which we are supposed to eat and even sleep in for 7 days in Israel (8 days abroad). We also gather together four

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A 2000-Year Old Date Palm Finally Becomes a Father & More...

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Sep 10, 2020
2 min

A 2000-Year Old Date Palm Finally Becomes a Father & More...

As a tour guide of Israel, one of my favorite stories here revolves around a Jewish rebels healthy snack almost 2000 years ago when battling the Romans. A date pit was found in the storehouses of the famous Judean Desert fortress - Masada - which was besieged by - and ultimately captured by - the Romans in the year 73 CE/AD. The date pit was brought to the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and a modern miracle occurred. Like something out of Jurassic Park, they ma

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What Happens When You Find Antiquities Under Your Home?

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Sep 9, 2020
2 min

What Happens When You Find Antiquities Under Your Home?

One of the major issues in doing archaeology in Israel is that often times villages and towns in the last one hundred years have been built over major archaeological ruins. Often times people did not realize how large ancient cities were or that the current city walls were not were walls were in ancient times. So what happens when you realize it? The modern town of Bet Shean was built on top of the ruins of Bet Shean. Bet Shean was the largest city in the Decapolis - ten Ro

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Tour Guide on Tour: Hiking, National Parks, Wine & Cheese

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Sep 8, 2020
5 min

Tour Guide on Tour: Hiking, National Parks, Wine & Cheese

This past week your trusty Israel tour guide took a 3-day trip to the coast and north of Israel: Wineries, dairies, national parks an incredible heritage museum and the grave of maybe the most famous person who never lived. Check it out (photos at the bottom): Day 1: The Grave of Harry Potter - I actually wrote an entire separate blog post about this here, but Israel is the final resting place of Harry Potter - just not the one you are thinking of. This one was a British sol

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Incredible Biblical Royal Structure Found at Jerusalem's Lookout

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Sep 4, 2020
1 min

Incredible Biblical Royal Structure Found at Jerusalem's Lookout

Just down the street from my apartment (this is becoming a common refrain) an incredible find was unearthed in a archaeological dig, dating back to the dynastic line of King David 2700-years ago. Three immaculately preserved column heads - often referred to Solomonic capitals - were discovered by the Haas Promenade, a common Jerusalem lookout point at which many first-time visitors to Jerusalem begin their tour. This royal design appears on the the modern Israeli 5-shekel c

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Israel Archaeology Update: 7 New Incredible Finds in August

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Aug 25, 2020
3 min

Israel Archaeology Update: 7 New Incredible Finds in August

As a tour guide of Israel, I often have to caution clients that one week, two weeks or even ten weeks in Israel is just not enough time to completely experience everything that Israel has to offer. It's always just a taste - and you need to come back for another course. We have more museums per capita and hiking trails per square mile/km than anywhere in the world. The culinary and tech scenes are bustling, the arts & culture scene is vibrant and the people and land are s

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What is Kabbalah? An Intro to the History, People and Concepts

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Aug 18, 2020
2 min

What is Kabbalah? An Intro to the History, People and Concepts

All around the world there are centers for the study of Kabbalah. A number of years back, it became the trendy thing to do in Hollywood. If you have toured Israel with me as your Israel tour guide, we may have gone to the mystical city of Tzfat (a highlight of any Jewish trip to Israel), which took Kabbalah from the hands of a chosen few and spread it out to the masses. Perhaps we even met with a cool artist who uses Kabbalah in his paintings; Tzfat has an amazing artist co

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The Most Important Archaeological Find Ever From Israel?

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Aug 9, 2020
2 min

The Most Important Archaeological Find Ever From Israel?

What was just found in Israel is incredibly rare. So rare in fact that it is the first time anything like it from the Iron Age has been found in the entire Southern Levant region. What we are talking about are magnetized ancient artifacts that can not only tell us about the Earth’s electromagnetic field at the time, but in this case, can be pinpointed to an exact date. That is because we are talking about the day of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, on the 9th of th

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5 New Major Archaeological Discoveries in Israel - Including at the Tomb of the P/Matriarchs!!

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 29, 2020
2 min

5 New Major Archaeological Discoveries in Israel - Including at the Tomb of the P/Matriarchs!!

For all you archaeology fans: Here is a quick rundown of things recently discovered here in Israel, courtesy of your intrepid tour guide of Israel... The structure at the Tomb of the Patriarchs was built by King Herod 1600 years after the Biblical matriarch Sarah was first buried there. With archaeology being impossible there, how do we know what was going on there prior to Herod? Well now we have some answers... https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/tomb-of-patriarchs-popular-s

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Top 10 Unknown Archaeological Sites in Israel

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 19, 2020
1 min

Top 10 Unknown Archaeological Sites in Israel

Think you've seen everything there is to see in Israel? Think again. Did you know that there are 30,000 archaeological sites in Israel? 30,000!! On a regular tour to Israel maybe you end up at a handful or two. So here are 10 often unknown and un-visited sites; I myself, your tour guide of Israel, have only visited half of them (though I've driven past the others numerous times - and a number of them are still active digs as opposed to national parks). I did dig at one of

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Found in Israel: A New String Theory - World's 1st Necklace

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 16, 2020
1 min

Found in Israel: A New String Theory - World's 1st Necklace

Up until a few years ago, everyone believed that beer was first invented some 7000-9000 years ago whether in Mesopotamia (7000) or China (9000). Then archaeologists digging around in caves in Haifa discovered beer production dating back 13,000 years. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/traces-13000-year-old-beer-found-israel-180970282/ Now we have another shocking discovery which is turning things on its head. It appears that people living in what is today Israel, inv

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Carvings Found on Israel's Ancient Mini-Stonehenges

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 10, 2020
1 min

Carvings Found on Israel's Ancient Mini-Stonehenges

All over the north of Israel - but especially on the Golan Heights, one can find dolmens [though it can help to have a trusty tour guide of Israel to point them out to you]. Dolmens are ancient burial sites by a nomadic people who wandered the area some 4200 years ago - think even pre-Abrahamic times. They would set up a marker - or megalith - which was generally made of 3 large slabs of stone which look like the Greek letter Pi - or "mini-Stonehenges" if you will [they act

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Did King David - And His Kingdom - Actually Exist?

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 6, 2020
3 min

Did King David - And His Kingdom - Actually Exist?

Over the last number of years, major international news outlets have featured articles which question the existence of King David and/or his kingdom. Last week the New Yorker added itself to the list. It was an exceptionally written piece - as anything in the famous magazine generally is - and yet it was also a hack job. First of all - something as a tour guide of Israel I will almost undoubtedly mention - just because evidence does not exist for an ancient story or persona

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Incredibly Rare Find From Persian-Era Jerusalem

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 3, 2020
1 min

Incredibly Rare Find From Persian-Era Jerusalem

In the year 536 BCE King Cyrus the Great of Persia gave a royal edict allowing Jews (and others) to go home (from their captivity in Babylon) and build their temple. This decree is preserved on a cylinder kept in the British Museum in London. Jews had been taken to captivity/exile in Babylon 50 years prior when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple of Solomon. The return of Jews to Zion (Jerusalem) is remembered in the Psalms, notably in 137 (By the Rivers of Babylon) and 12

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