Sea of Salt — 3 years ago
In the middle of an awesome landscape, a poison sea—no kidding. The Dead Sea, or Yam HaMelach (Sea of Salt), has to be experienced.
I’d always assumed it would be something like the Great Salt Lake in Utah, but imagine a desert even more ferocious, and a much, much larger body of water laced not only with salt but with many heavy metals. Floating in it—or ON it—is interesting, but not pleasant, because the water is so noxious.
The air has a distinctive tang from the geology, as well.
There are suggestions in Genesis that this was once a fertile valley with sweet water, but after Sodom and Gomorrah were blasted, this desert and sea were left. Certainly some of the strange salt formations are reminiscent of Lot’s wife, but it’s a truly creepy story.
