03x07 - Gone Fishing

[bunniefuu]

♪ He's a tall tall man ♪

- What does it all mean?

This is where the archeology has been found.

Oh, hi. How are you?

Look at that, I need a planter.

♪ On the mountain top ♪

A shrine or belly button

This is a rock of salt.

♪ He digs for clues ♪

♪ In his dusty blues ♪

Look at that!

No one gets into this for Noah.

- Don't take me too far.

- Now that's naked archeology.

♪ For his archeology ♪

♪ For his archeology ♪

♪ For his archeology ♪

- I'm looking at the sea of Galilee,

the cradle of Christian civilization.

I'm wondering about fish, why?

Because fish was the earliest sign

of Christianity before the cross, there was the fish.

And this makes me wonder if Jesus was a stone mason,

a tekton, some people say carpenter,

but really it's translated from Greek as a stonemason.

If He's a stonemason,

why isn't the earliest sign of Christianity a hammer?

(metal squeaking )

Why a fish?

I'm here to find out

(paper shuffling)

- [Simcha] The Christian Gospels are fuzzy on this,

but we think that five or six of Jesus's disciples

were fishermen who plied their trade on the sea of Galilee.

James, Peter, Andrew, John, and Phillip,

In Luke :-, Peter tells Jesus

that he and his fellow apostles

have fished all night and caught nothing.

- We've done nothing but draining water through our net.

- Jesus points them to a different spot.

When they haul in their nets,

they almost ripped from the weight of the catch.

(water splashing)

Did Jesus have beginner's luck

(slot machine ringing)

or was He so plugged into the culture

of fishing in the Galilee that He had an insider's knowledge

of where to cast the nets.

To answer this I'm off to talk to Yoel Ben Yoseph,

curator of the House Of Anchors museum.

He has archeological evidence, that years ago,

Jews were fishing in the Galilee in a big way.

If you wanna know about fishing in the sea of Galilee,

this is the place to come.

- Yes, of course.

- So what can you tell me about biblical fish?

- It's strange to me, why in the Bible,

we have no names of fish.

- Its true I never thought of it.

- If fish was known

and they remembered it.

Only in Talmud later, we have a lot of names of fish,

but not in the Bible

(instrumental music)

- [Simcha] In Genesis, Adam names every bird

and every beast, but fish aren't even given a mention.

(instrumental music)

In Leviticus there's a list of creatures not to eat

The Eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite,

any kind of black kite and Raven,

the raven the horned owl, the screech owl,

the gull any kind of hawk

the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,

the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey,

the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

The bat, no argument there,

but fish, Just gets a generic mention.

- Some say that the Bible was written in Jerusalem.

It's far from the beach,

and they were not so familiar with different kind of fish

- Like bikinis aren't mentioned in the Bible either.

- Yeah.

- But why did Jesus?

He lived in Nazareth.

Why was he so attracted to fishing and fishermen?

- Catching fish is kind of miraculous work.

- I see, so if you're going out there fishing,

you're more connected to God.

Just like taxi, driving.

You never know what you're going to come home with.

- (whistling) Taxi?

- Okay, what have we got archeology wise?

- This is flintstone.

- The mystery is how did they make an ancient times,

'cause this is ancient a hole in a Flintstone?

And the answer is.

- It's natural

- [Simcha] The hard flintstone forms around

the soft limestone over time, the limestone wears away.

- Do you have any lead stuff?

- Yes, this is lead weights for fishing net,

each one is homemade.

- We're talking about what, year old lead?

- , there

- So St. Peter May have been using this fish net.

- Of course, yes.

- Can I have one?

- No.

(upbeat music)

- [Simcha] I've seen lots of evidence,

that fishing was all over the Galilee at the time of Jesus,

but that still doesn't explain why the fish

and not the hammer is the logo of Christianity.

- [Fish] How did it start?

- So I'm off to Tagbha,to see a fifth century church

with guide Jacob Firsel,

to learn how important fishing was for Jesus

and his early followers.

Now this is an amazingly well-preserved mosaic.

I've seen this it's on stamps.

- It's an icon.

- [Simcha] According to the gospels,

when Jesus heard John the Baptist had been k*lled,

- he was beheaded.

- [Simcha] He needed a break.

So He went with his disciples by boat,

to somewhere in the sticks, thousands followed him.

Problem was they only had five loaves of bread

and two fish to feed everybody.

Jesus said,

no worries looking up to heaven, He gave thanks

broke the loaves and guess what?

- He took just a few loaves, five loaves

and multiplied them and at the end, there was so much

that it was enough to fill baskets.

According to the tradition,

- [Simcha] Can it be the Jesus' fish miracle

had more to do with geography than the miraculous.

Maybe the name of this place Tabgha,

which in Arabic means seven Springs tells us why

- There are seven warm Springs here.

The water is very warm, slightly radioactive,

flows into the Galilee,

and the fishing in this area is the best.

on all of the sea of Galilee,

remember of the are from Galilee.

Most of them fishermen.

So this really, really fits.

- So the geography fits the story.

- Yes, it does.

- Between the Gospels and the history and the archeology

(upbeat music)

- [Simcha] Bread and fish are well and good.

But as a steady diet, they're kind of bland.

So what did the locals do to spice it up?

They made a tasty sauce called garum,

that was loved all over the Roman the world.

So I'm off to ask the local fishing expert

Pnina Galpez-Fellto help me put the garum on the table

for the first time, in years,

- Let's follow the smell.

- [Pnina And Simcha] We're following the smell.

(instrumental Music)

- Did they have a garum in this restaurant?

- No my friend no garum, it's handmade

- Oh look at the fish smell them.

My nose doesn't like.

- [Simcha] Can you smell it?

This is a Kosher market.

So only Kosher fish are sold.

What makes a fish kosher?

to be kosher seafood has to have fins and scales

and to make kosher garum,

people use the whole fish fins and scales and all.

- In ancient times people used to cook fish

and to cook the bones as well.

And they used to cook the bones so many hours,

till the bones became so easy to digest

- Soft

- Soft and easy for digesting.

- Like a stew

- Like a stew exactly.

- And is that how garum was born?

- Exactly.

- The Galilee area, I think was for sure,

a big area for salting fish

- You are absolutely right.

- This is what cowboys did.

They had meat jerky, they dried and salted meat.

And then they can ride on the horse forever.

- Exactly

( hoofs clopping )

- [Simcha] Now that I know the sea of Galilee

was a great fishing hole because of its hot Springs.

I want to make the first kosher garum in years,

maybe in the process, I'll find out

why Jesus was into fish in such a big way.

♪ He's a tall tall man ♪

♪ He's a tall tall man ♪

(upbeat music)

- Hey, you out there, have you ever wondered,

What is it about Jesus and fish?

I mean, think about it, His father's a carpenter

or in Greek Tekton, that's translated as a stonemason,

but there isn't one, not on disciple was either a carpenter

or a stonemason, but there are six fishermen .

And what is it?

You know, he's multiplying fish.

Why isn't He multiplying chickens or sheep.

I'm not kidding.

What is it about the early Jesus movement and fishing?

(car engine roaring)

- [Simcha] Am off to see biblical expert

professor Yair Zakovitch to find out.

I've always wondered about Jesus.

He's a carpenter or a stonemason, more likely.

Why doesn't he have a lot of stonemasons

in his buddy group?

- In the Torah,

where all the great miracles take place in the desert

including the story of the manna.

- [Simcha] Exodus tells us that

after Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt,

it's pretty slim pickings out there.

So God performs a miracle

every morning manna mysteriously appears

and nobody's stomach complained for the rest of the trip.

- In the desert, usually there are no fish

unless you carry some tuna cans with you.

- But the Israelites complained about that, they say,

"Oh, was so good back in Egypt we had herring."

- Yeah, exactly.

If you talk about Jesus, about the Galilee,

you don't talk about having manna,

but you talk about bread and fish.

- [Simcha] Just like Moses before Him,

Jesus had to impress His followers

by performing a food miracle.

That still doesn't tell us

why He had so many fishermen with Him.

- Is it possible that the reason Jesus had so many fishermen

is that they are more probable audience

for his message than stonemasons?

- These were simple people.

- Am just a fisherman.

- And very poor people.

- We're not landowners, we're just fishermen.

- Jesus is a person of the poor people

and that's why fishermen attract Him.

- Yes I like it.

- And attracted to Him more than masons-

- I actually disagree with you in a very respectful way,

here's my theory,

stonemasons are collaborationists by nature.

What happens in Jesus' time just when He's a kid?

Sepphoris gets b*rned,

and then as He's growing up, Sepphoris gets built up

stonemasons are making a fortune.

They have a vested interest in the regime as it is.

So He's not gonna find,

revolutionary followers amongst stonemasons,

but fishermen, that's a different thing.

They're like taxi drivers.

They're independent.

- We're gonna stop for a cup of coffee.

- They have their own boats, they have business,

some of them are very wealthy.

They are more likely to be open to new ideas.

- We don't have to agree with one another

and we are still good friends.

- I'll haul a net or draw an oar with any man.

- [Simcha] Okay, so the expert doesn't agree with me.

He thinks fishermen followed Jesus

because they were poor,

but in the ancient Galilean port of Bethsaida,

Mark Appold has found a fisherman's house

from the time of Jesus.

Will it be the house of some poor fisherman?

or a well-to-do member of Jesus's inner circle?

- We're entering now the fisherman's house,

- This could have been one of the houses

of one of the disciples of Jesus who were fishermen.

- Could very well have been

given all of the artifacts

that we have found in these quarters.

- Anchors?

- Anchors.

- Hooks?

- Hooks.

- Gefilte fish

- Gefilte fish (Chuckling)

- Fishing implements.

- All kinds of fishing implements.

- This is a well-to-do house I can see it right here.

- Where you can see it by size.

- Yeah, these guys had bucks,

they look more like --

- Like almost apartment rooms.

- Yeah look more like barracks.

- So maybe it's not one family,

so I'm beginning to think

that maybe this was a locus of the movement

that would become the Jesus movement,

but they're also got the bucks to take off

and their dad doesn't go bankrupt.

- That's right.

- So we know that five of the disciples come from this town?

- That's what the text tells us.

- And we're in a fishing house.

- In a fishing house for a large family

or an extended family.

- Or a movement.

- Or a movement.

- [Simcha] Mark Appold's not the only one to think so,

Professor Richard Freund,

Co-Director of Bethsaida Excavations Project,

has also been digging around here.

- You have more first century finds here

than anywhere else here along the Galilee.

- Combined.

- Combined, you find this,

it looks like a barracks.

- It's a huge courtyard house,

the largest fisherman's house

with rooms all around the outside.

- It looks like the guy is running a huge enterprise.

- It's a Manor house.

We would call it a Manor house today.

- [Simcha] The fisherman's Manor in Bethsaida proves fishing

wasn't a small family business.

It was big enough to finance the Jesus movement.

But once these wealthy fishermen hauled in their catch,

what did they do with it?

I'm on my way to the Galilean town of Migdal

located smack dab on the ancient road, via Maris

to see if James Charlesworth and Stefano Deluca

can tell me what people did with all that fish.

- What's the significance of the via Maris?

- Via Maris is the way of the sea.

- The main artery?

- Yeah.

- Going from Egypt to Damascus.

This is where they pickled fish

and shipped it in many parts of the world.

- This was a big business here, right?

- Yeah, even before Christ,

according to the classical sources we have

the main industrial activity of Migdal was fishing,

- Fishing and pickling?

- The name itself, what does it mean?

- Migdal?

- Yeah,

- I thought it means tower?

- But the complete name on Jewish source is Migdal Nunia.

- Which means?

- The tower of the fish.

(sirens wailing)

- What's the tower of fish?

- Yeah, like.

(bell tolling)

- So it's the lighthouse of the fishing town?

- Yeah.

- Why would there need to be a Migdal,

a tower on which you would have light at night?

- Because until today, time of fish is in the night.

- [Simcha] In its day fish was to make Migdal,

what cars are to Detroit, big business.

One of the most popular products in their lineup was garum.

And since I haven't found any,

I'm going to have to make my own.

- I've got here, the secret garum recipe.

- Okay, spices.

You need place of spices.

- I think there's spices over there,

ain't this beautiful spices?

look at that.

- Behind you can find the hyssop you need it for our gum.

It will make it tasty.

- I wanna get a really good bottle of wine,

subsidized by the production.

(laughing)

- I would like to smell it please.

(foreign language)

- This is amazing

but it's a waste to stick it into some stinky fish.

- No, my friend,

it will take the stinky smell I'm telling you

- [Simcha] I've got wine and herbs.

All I need for my garum is the main ingredient, fish.

♪ He's a tall tall man ♪

♪ He's a tall tall man ♪

(upbeat music)

- As I was on the shores of the Sea of Galilee,

and I contemplate the fishing industry

here in Ancient times.

And the one thing that's become clear to me is that

the prevailing image of fishing in the Sea of Galilee,

that it was quaint, is wrong.

- [Simcha] So I'm off to De Maria

to whip up a batch of one of their biggest moneymakers.

- Oh, look at this, Mary Restaurant,

a fish restaurant named Maria.

Why was Mary the follower of Jesus?

- You might be seen and recognized.

- Why was she called Magdalene?

- Mary, who came from Magdala.

- Mary from tower town.

It was a place of fishing, but not just fishing.

They processed fish.

They made big bucks.

Why?

Because they brined fish.

What's the big deal of salting fish.

Salt was expensive.

Salt was rare.

But here where you have fish,

you also have just down the road,

you have the Dead Sea,

the Dead Sea has salt.

So you have fish, you have salt

and it's sitting right on the main road.

The via Maris, so it's location, location, location.

(bright upbeat music)

- [Simcha] In fact, in Greek McDowell was known as Taricheae

or Place of salted fish.

Maybe fishermen of the Galilee weren't so poor after all

fresh salted or brined, fish

could have underwritten the early Jesus movement.

But there's one more reason

that a fish worn out as the symbol of early Christianity.

IchThus which is the Greek word

for fish can be read as an acrostic,

a word formed from the first letters of several words.

Iota, is the first letter of Iesous,

Greek for Jesus.

Chi, is the first letter Christos

Greek for Christ or anointed

Theta, is the first letter of Theou, Meaning God's

Upsilon, is the first letter of Huios,

Greek for son.

Sigma, is the first letter of Soter,

Greek for Savior.

So when being a Christian could get you k*lled

fish was the code word for Christian.

(soft music)

But sometimes a fish is just a fish.

And I need one for my garum.

We're better to get it than the sea of Galilee.

- Fishing on the sea of Galilee

has changed the nature of the world.

I'm not kidding.

This is ground zero of a movement that changed the world.

- [Fish] How did it start?

- It started with a fishy story.

- [Simcha] Jesus's disciples fished here

over years ago.

And today Menachem Lev,

the fish whisper of the sea of Galilee

is going to teach me Jesus's fish catching secrets.

- [Simcha] Okay, now lets see if i have Beginner's luck.

- Okay, give me a luck.

- Okay, bring her up, holler up.

Whoooaa

- In the Gospels, It says that Jesus says to those guys...

they couldn't catch any fish.

So he said, "go over there."

They went over there they caught a lot of fish.

- For sure.

- Because you can see how the fish is moving.

We see the fish,

- You can tell me, move a hundred meters over there.

- Yes - And Boom,

- Look the birds, they are running after fish,

you see?

- So you look at the birds?

You smell the plankton, you know what is plankton?

- You smell the plankton!

- How do we know?

Where there is Plankton

there is going to be a lot of fish there

and you see also the line of the plankton sometimes.

its another color on the Lake.

- These are clues into the Jesus miracle.

You look where the birds are.

You look at the line of plankton on the water,

It's a different shade of water.

So an experienced fishermen like Manasseh,

he can say, hey guys, move a hundred meters over there.

Lots of fish.

- Yeah.

- [Simcha] So maybe Jesus's miracles

show a true insider's knowledge.

It could be that what Jesus was up to between childhood.

- I don't see Him anywhere.

- [Simcha] In the beginning of His ministry

was working on His fishing.

- You set quite a task for yourself.

- Look hey, sardine for the garum.

Whoa, that was sardine for the garum.

- Got so much of each ingredient.

- Come over here, I'll tell you what I'm doing.

Let me explain to you what I'm doing.

What's your name?

- Ralph.

- Okay, so you're going to get a treat now

because I'm gonna tell you something.

The caviar of the ancient world

was a concoction called garum.

We're gonna be the first guys in years

to make garum in Israel.

You're a witness to history.

- Oh great.

(bright upbeat music)

(cork pops)

(liquid gluging)

- Hey fishermen, guys.

Close your eyes and open your hand

and reach deep inside here.

What's important to make garum

to stick everything in the guts, the head, everything.

They love the stuff

- lalalah lalalah lalalah

enough, here oregano.

You've got the honor of putting something to heat.

- Okay.

- All right.

Does that have enough hyssop?

Oh, this is so disgusting.

Those Romans were weird.

You see this, yummy or what?

(soft music)

- [Simcha] For me, it's now indisputable.

Fishing in the Galilee

at the time of Jesus was g*ng busters.

Fishermen knew the tricks

had easy access to the super highways.

and we're cooking up a sauce that sold like hotcakes.

So maybe Jesus' miracles

were based on an insider's knowledge of fishing.

But what I want to know

is how will garum taste after years on the shelf.

(He is a total man)

(He is a total man).

(instrumental music)

The fish business,

was big business around the sea of Galilee

at the time of Jesus.

So it's obvious why so many

of Jesus's disciples were in the biz,

but why did a fish sauce called garum

produced in the Galilee

become a delicacy craved by Romans and Jews alike?

- This is only happened once

(liquid sloshing).

Yeah, more.

Oh look at that.

Yeah, more

- [Fishermen] Fire.

- Whoa, whoa.

- Al right, oh my God.

garum can we hear some applause?

(participants applauding)

(participants laughing)

- Good, eh?

- No.

- Maybe, fishermen were poisoning the Romans

with garum and making money off them to boot.

- Let me see what you think of that.

- Not bad, not bad.

- He likes it.

Mix with extra little bit of sauce.

Okay.

- Is not bad.

- Not bad.

So far we have two who loved it and one didn't, not bad.

- (Simcha) My fish sauce is not going to make me rich,

but in the time of Jesus, it might have.

The fishing industry was a gravy train,

So it's easy to see why Ichthys

became the hallmark of Christianity.

Hammers, just don't speak to people

with fish on the brain.

♪ He's a tall tall man ♪

♪ From a tall tall land ♪

♪ He makes no apologies ♪

♪ For his archaeologies ♪

♪ He's a tall tall man ♪

♪ From a tall tall land ♪

♪ He makes no apologies ♪

♪ For his archaeologies ♪