21/04/2015
Working in his plant nursery next to where we parked, we happened to meet 62 year old Yakov Sharvit, who was busy with flowers to send to Holland. He daily checks hundreds of flowers every couple of hours to cut them at the right moment for shipping----not too open and not too closed. He told us that he was 1 of the original founders of Shilo when there were only 9 people there, including 3 single women. He arrived there on the same night that Arabs blew up their generator. The first thing the women said when they saw him was ,"Are you married?"
He was a civil engineer, asked by the army to invent coverings for interior tank wires that could withstand intense heat and fire, because many soldiers died in tanks due to the poisons released by the wires resulting from a direct enemy hit to the tank. He invented the wire covering.
When he got leukemia, he delved into medicinal plants and "epitherapy" (bee sting therapy"), and also "mind over matter" therapy----how to heal the mind to heal the body (particularly cancers). He spoke a lot about all this, such as all the labs here and in America that are working on his ideas. One plant is called "Sharviton", and he told how 2 years ago he saw on TV news how an Arab in Jenin (one of the most dangerous towns here) saved one of his sick sheep with Sharviton, so he strode into Jenin to ask the Arab more about it. Anyway, he gives lectures to doctors. I asked if he's willing to speak with groups coming to Shilo. He said yes, for 1000 shekels an hour, including giving bee stings to sick people in the group. I guess he would be great for a group that is rich and super interested in alternative medicine. For 250 shekels an hour for 5 psychotherapy sessions, he promises to change your life.
There are many ways to do this hike, the simplest being to turn onto the country road just across from the entry road to Shilo, make an immediate left, and park in the parking lot, and then hike a couple of km to the "spring" and then return the way you came. The actual spring is the size of a bathroom sink. The 2 round pools there are completely man-made, filled up by the fire brigade. So it's standing water. For months. Although there were a few guys enjoying themselves in the water, the thought of all the p*e after the Pesach crowds prevented me from plunging in. Those Pesach crowds left 20 full garbage bag-loads-worth of garbage behind, strewn all around. The other hevre there handed us garbage bags, and we all took the garbage out from in and around the pools, but that was only a fraction of what was off to the side.
Anyhoo, we wanted to see if there was a way to hike down from overlook of Harel Hill (which has 3 signs about the local nature and history). Well, there wasn't, and we gingerly began bush-waking our way down to the stream-bed trail, around and over continuousf boulders. Suddenly, only several meters to our left, a huge boar BOLTED in a panic to flee from us, galloping FULL SPEED down the hill (very rough terrain), across the steam-bed, and disappeared over the next hill. The awesome pounding sight took 30 seconds.
People often express fear of encountering these animals. In 34 years in Israel, I have never heard of a single account of a boar attack. Rather, each time I've encountered them, it was impossible to get a good look because they disappear so quickly in terror of us.
With 2 cars, you simply leave another car a bit further up route 60 and you can leave it near the road or a one minute drive to the spring. There were LOTS of flowers, and also tadpoles in a seasonal puddle, and this would be perfect to do on a spring day combined with a visit to the Shilo excavation. The Binyamin Tourist Info Center assures that this is a safe hike vis a vis you-know-whos.
