Jerusalem!

ENTERING JERUSALEM IS HUMBLING. Naim drove us here, arriving at sunset, we watched the sun go down from the Mount of Olives, drove in the Lion's Gate (exactly 1-car wide), and found our 160-year-old Guest House in the Muslim Quarter. It is Austrian - a Christian Guest House protected by high walls, gates, and 3 staircases that open into a gorgeous garden in front of the building's entrance.
Wow.
Leaving Galilee at 9 this morning, driving south past Tel Aviv to the current center of scientifc research and high-tech applications in Israel you reach Rehovot, a sparkling new city of homes, buildings, shops, eateries, and one of the top universities in the world for post graduate research, set among orange groves, green fields and the Mediterranean sea. It rivals any modern city I've seen.
On a hilltop in the groves at the edge of town is a small kibbutz - a very special kibbutz.
Great Britain held the country in an iron grip in 1948 - if you were caught with a firearm you were sent to prison for life. Carry ammunition and it could mean a firing squad. Hard rules for a country facing the 7 heavily armed Arab Armies waiting to drive the new country into the sea immediately after the UN gave it independence. The Haganah - meaning "Defense" - smuggled in captured Nazi firearms. Imagine the people who tried to exterminate them, now being responsible for their salvation. They made sten-guns in their basements, but they only had a handful of ammo for each gun. Realizing they had no suppliers, they smuggled in machinery, and in 21 days dug an underground factory, covered it, and established a laundry and children's center on the surface - under the noses of the British. The troops began bringing their laundry for the Israelis to do, which allowed the large noisy washer covering the stairway to work all day to cover the noise of the machinery underground. Move the washer, and it exposed a long staircase down into the factory. Brass for cases was imported as lipstick cases. Sunlamps were set up so workers wouldn't loose their healthy glow. Nobody knew it was there - even the other Kibbutzim living and working above it - for 3 years. When Israeli became a nation, they moved the equipment to Tel Aviv and closed the doors. 45 people gave up 3 years of their lives to produce ammunition that had to be perfect - their nation would perish without it.
Today we were invited to visit the site, which was found a few years ago. Israeli determined to save its history. Everything is still there, including the stories of pioneers still alive to tell it.
Our friends Omri and Naim made reservations for us to see it.
We still have goosebumps.
It is quiet in Jerusalem. Tomorrow is Shabbat - the Sabbath, and everything closes at sundown.
This place is close to God's heart - you can feel it.