From the Age of Rocks to the Rock of Ages
Updated: Sep 10
At the end of July my wife and I were in the Golan. We visited several sites, including the abandoned Syrian headquarters by the 1974 demarcation line at Quneitra and places associated with Eli Cohen, the legendary Israeli spy. Then we went up to stand near the summit of Mount Hermon, the highest point in Israel. The air was thin and cool, the northern views wide.
By deliberate contrast, the following week we spent a few days at Ein Bokek on the shores of the Dead Sea — the lowest point on the surface of the Earth. Between those two places lies a vertical difference of more than 8,000 feet. One week. Two extremes. One small land.
We sat on our hotel balcony looking east across the still water. The mountains of מואב (Moav) rose on the far side. Behind us the Judean cliffs climbed in pale golden bands of limestone and dolomite. The air was hot and dry, and the landscape felt both ancient and immediate.
Here the תנ״ך (Tanach) comes alive. Across the water is the territory linked to the descendants of לוט (Lot). In this region the Torah records the destruction of סדום (Sdom) and עמורה (Amorah). Generations of Jews have stood in this place and contemplated those passages against the very landscape before them. There is something profound about encountering Torah in the Land itself, face to face.
The cliffs are successive layers of limestone and dolomite. Iron minerals have undergone oxidation, producing the colours that appear when the sun strikes the rock at a particular angle. To look carefully is to see Hashem’s handiwork.
Nearly a thousand years ago, Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Paquda wrote in the חובות הלבבות (Chovos HaLevavos), in שער הבחינה (Shaar HaBechinah), that contemplation of the created world and of history under Divine Providence is a path to coming closer to Hashem. By recognising the greatness, wisdom and purposefulness of Creation, a person is drawn toward his / her Creat-r.
Science and history describe the processes. Torah gives the deeper framework. There is no contradiction between them.
A phrase from ישעיהו (Yeshayahu) came to mind:
בִּטְחוּ בַה׳ עֲדֵי עַד, כִּי בְּיָ-ה׳ צוּר עוֹלָמִים
“Trust in Hashem forever, for Hashem is Tzur Olamim — the Rock of Ages.”
(ישעיהו 26:4)
Rocks appear permanent, yet even mountains change. Hashem alone is truly Eternal. The physical rock points beyond itself to the One who created and sustains it.
As a tour guide I experience this repeatedly throughout ארץ ישראל (Eretz Yisrael). On the basalt mountains of the Golan, the dark volcanic rock tells its own geological story, while the same Heights carry the memory of the miraculous Six Day War of June 1967, the restoration of security to northern Israel, and the return of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ancient Land of Bashan to the Jewish people.
The physical landscape and the Divine Providence that brought us here can be studied together.
From Hermon’s heights to the depths of the Dead Sea, the Land of Israel offers layer upon layer of opportunities to connect with Hashem.
A mountain can teach geology and humility. A rock can be simply a rock — yet still help one recall the words of the Prophet. The physical world is not separate from our tradition and heritage; it is part of what Hashem created for us; to examine, to learn from and — especially in the days leading to Rosh Hashanah — to help us become better people.
Am Yisrael Chai
Yoni
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