Israel. The Promised Land for the Jews and the Cradle of Christianity in Bethlehem. It is difficult to find a person who has not heard about the shrines and sights of this blessed country. Still, you can try to find some surprising and interesting facts about Israel.
The hoopoe is a small but proud bird
The youngest state of Israel, which is only 66 years old, has an area half the size of Lake Michigan, and a population approximately equal to the number of inhabitants of a large world metropolis, for example, Mexico City. However, this does not prevent the country from actively developing in all spheres of political and social life.
How to get to Israel on your own - read our article.
Interestingly, the country's 100 billion-dollar economy exceeds the combined economies of neighboring, "grown-up" states. Its air force is ranked as the fourth largest in the world after the United States, Russia and China. Israel is a space power, as it is one of the nine countries in the world that launch their own satellites into space.
The national hoopoe bird symbolizes the wisdom of the Jewish people, and without wisdom, of course, it is impossible to become such a successful state as Israel is today.
Letters to God
Every year, about 1000 letters addressed to God come to Jerusalem. Letters with such an address are sorted by the Israel Postal Service's undelivered correspondence department and, every few months, are laid by the rabbi in the cracks of the sacred Western Wall (Wailing Wall), the only one left after the destruction of Solomon's Temple.
Methuselah palm
In 1963, during the excavations of Masada, the fortress of King Herod, the seeds of a date palm were discovered. In 2005, they were germinated under the supervision of specialists, and the tree, whose contemporaries became extinct more than 1800 years ago, gave rise to a sprout. In 2011, when it reached a height of 2.5 m, it was transplanted into the open ground at Kibbutz Ketura, which specializes in the cultivation of dates.
Below the sea
Israel's two seas, the Galilee and the Dead, are located below sea level. The Sea of Galilee is actually a lake (Lake Tiberias is its second name), and is considered the lowest freshwater body of water on Earth. The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water, and its coastline is the lowest land mass on the planet. The fresh and salty seas, as the alpha and omega of the biblical history of Israel, are symbolically located at the beginning and end of the Jordan Valley, a tectonic depression formed millions of years ago.
The city of 2000 monuments and its restless visitors
Jerusalem is a city with over 2000 archaeological sites and artifacts. The streets and walls steeped in history, the religious spirit and exaltation of pilgrims, an attempt to cover all the sights of this place at once leads to the fact that some tourists develop a mental disorder called Jerusalem syndrome.
Fortunately, according to statistics, out of 3 million people who visit the city every year, approximately 100 people are affected by this disorder. Therefore, if you see someone who, wrapped in a hotel sheet, went to preach in the square, then the Holy Land has touched the soul of another person.
Burial on the mountain
The oldest cemetery in the world, used continuously by all generations living here, is located on the Mount of Olives near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is about 2500 years old. There are 150 thousand graves here, some of which belong to the characters described on the pages of the Old Testament. In this cemetery, the outstanding sons and daughters of the people of Israel find their last refuge today.
Both physics and lyrics
For a short period of its existence, the State of Israel has made a significant contribution to the development of science and technology, including computer technology. The first antivirus program was created here back in 1979. Israel has the largest number of scientists, technicians and engineers per capita in the world, and the Weizmann Research Institute in Rehovot has been recognized as the best research institution of its kind. In addition, it is generally recognized that Israel is far ahead of other countries in terms of the number of orchestras per capita.
