Hi Gang!  I’m playing catch-up a bit, but hope to get you up to speed with us!

Remember Jonah? God sent him to Nineveh but he ran the other way, only to get thrown overboard into the sea (Mediterranean), eaten by a big fish, then spit up on land? Well, Joppa was where he caught his ride! Here is the tower in the harbor of Joppa…

Interesting thing about Joppa and Tel Aviv…Tel Aviv is a relatively new city, and began as a suburb of Joppa. It is now Israel’s second largest city, and is to Israel what NYC is to the US (though perhaps culturally more like San Francisco). The city was once only a series of sand dunes, but was cultivated by Jews returning to the land. No one wanted it, yet now the world fights over it!

By the way, Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel. Yet all foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv, so not to incite the Arabs. Interestingly, the U.S. passed legislation several presidents ago to move the embassy to Jerusalem, yet no president has had the chutzpah to do so!

Here’s a view of the coastline from Joppa, looking toward Tel Aviv.