Wadi Feiran
{{short description|Large valley in Sinai}}
Wadi Feiran or Wadi Faran is Sinai's largest and widest wadi. It is an intermittent stream and rises from the mountains around Saint Catherine's Monastery, at 2500 m above sea level.
File:WEBSTER(1830) 2.210 WADY FARAN.jpg
It is one of the alleged sites of Rephidim, a station of the Exodus where Moses struck a rock caused it to spring water, allowing his people the Hebrews to drink.{{sfnp|Berrett & al.|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GzWS9al8ZUEC&pg=PA315 315]}}
Wadi Feiran is an {{convert|81|mi|adj=on|sp=us}} wadi on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Its upper reaches, around Jebel Musa, are known as the Wadi el-Sheikh.{{sfnp|Berrett & al.|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GzWS9al8ZUEC&pg=PA315 315–16]}} It empties into the Red Sea's Gulf of Suez {{convert|18|mi|sp=us}} southeast of Abu Zenima.{{cite book|last1=Zahran|first1=M.A.|last2=Willis|first2=A.J.|title=The Vegetation of Egypt|date=March 14, 2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9789401580663|page=285|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5AnoCAAAQBAJ&dq=Wadi+Feiran&pg=PA285|accessdate=7 November 2016}}
Ptolemy identified the area as the site of Paran.{{sfnp|Berrett & al.|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GzWS9al8ZUEC&pg=PA316 316]}} The nearby hill is the Tell Feiran.
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Feiran Oasis
The Feiran Oasis, formerly known as El Hesweh, runs about {{convert|3|mi|sp=us}} of the length of the wadi, {{convert|28|mi|sp=us}} above its mouth.{{sfnp|Berrett & al.|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GzWS9al8ZUEC&pg=PA316 316]}}
Bedouins of Sinai
The Bedouins, nomadic people who lived in goat tents but now live in stone huts, traditionally offer their hospitality to guests at Wadi Feiran and the Feiran Oasis, near Mount Sinai. The Bedouins are generally honored to offer hospitality to travelers. They may offer tea, coffee and, as recently as 2003, may have felt obligated to slaughter an animal for their guest(s). Werner Braun, a journalistic photographer, photographed the Bedouins at Wadi Ferian.{{cite web|title=Photographers / Werner Braun|url=http://www.snunit.k12.il/jerusalem-photo/en/MAINBraun.html|website=Photography in Jerusalem in memory of Tsadok Bassan|accessdate=7 November 2016}}
Travel guides, however, advise visitors not to wear out their welcome, reporting that Bedouin hosts believe a reasonable stay is three days: the first day is for greeting, the second day is for eating, and the third day is for speaking. By the fourth morning, the visitor who is not on his way out is as unwelcome "as the spotted snake".{{cite book|last1=March|first1=Michael|title=Guide to Egypt|date=1996|publisher=Davidson Titles|isbn=1-884756-42-5|page=27}}{{cite book|last1=Richardson|first1=Dan|title=Egypt|date=2003|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=9781843530503|page=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetoegyp00danr/page/n758 735]|url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetoegyp00danr|url-access=registration|quote=as welcome as the spotted snake.|accessdate=6 November 2016}}
Pilgrims and interested tourists come here and to nearby Saint Catherine's Monastery. For a time, a monk from Saint Catherine's also maintained a small church and farmstead at Wadi Feiran.{{sfnp|Berrett & al.|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GzWS9al8ZUEC&pg=PA316 316]}}{{cite web|title=Wadi Feiran|url=http://www.bedawi.com/WadiFeiran_EN.html|website=Bedawi|accessdate=7 November 2016|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170114070600/http://www.bedawi.com/WadiFeiran_EN.html|archivedate=14 January 2017}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{citation |last=Berrett |first=LaMar C. |author2-last=Ogden |author2-first=D. Kelly |display-authors=1 |ref={{harvid|Berrett & al.|1996}} |title=Discovering the World of the Bible|edition=3rd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzWS9al8ZUEC&q=Discovering+the+World+of+the+Bible|year=1996|isbn=0-910523-52-5|publisher=Grandin Book|location=Provo}}
External links
{{commons category|Wadi Feiran}}
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=SMZnDgFxiTUC&dq=Tell+Feiran&pg=PA330 Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition]
- [http://www.bedawi.com/WadiFeiran_EN.html Wadi Feiran: The Pearl of Sinai]
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{{coord|28.7187|N|33.6202|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}