Advertisement
As Nadav our guide likes to say: another beautiful day. Yes, it was beautiful out in the fresh air and lovely sunshine of Israel. Beautiful at Tel Dan as the water bubbled from the springs fed by the aquifer; beautiful on top of the Golan Heights looking down at the green valley of the kibbutz settlements; beautiful far off gazing at Mount Hermon; beautiful as we toured the winery and tasted the lovely wines; beautiful inside the Ari synagogue and looking across at Mount Meron; and beautiful in the early evening back at Kibbutz Hagoshrim. Sadly, not so beautiful for the people down below in the Kuneitra region of Syria as we stood safely above at Har Bental and heard the boom of bombs and saw the puffs of smoke rising from what seemed to be a battle not far from the U.N. outpost over by the Syrian border. This blog is therefore dedicated to all the civilians caught up in the war and death and siege and disaster that is Syria these days. Our hearts are heavy and we are praying for peace.
So, back to taking you through our day. We began with short ride on the bus
at Tel Dan
taken by Michael B.with the amazing Avi (best driver of all my Israel tours) to Tel Dan, the sight of the ancient city of Dan. We walked the easy path past the gushing waters that feed the Jordan river learning about the tributaries, aquifer and water issues in Israel and the area. Stopped by a beautiful pool to dip our feet in the clear water and hear more about the history of the site from Canaanite times to the time of the tribe of Dan, and on into the time of King Ahab who probably built some of the walls we saw. Walked on to reach some of the excavations including an area outside a gate from Israelite times then in a bit further and up to where they believe there was an altar. I am not including the history lecture, but suffice it to say there was not one clear way to worship in the Israelite community before the building of the Temple in Jerusalem.
After our couple of hours in the area we continued up onto the Golan Heights and wound around and up to Har Bental. We spent an hour standing looking out toward Kuneitra region as Nadav described
the situation back when the Golan Heights were part of Syria and how it is now. He went over some of the politics and history of Syria including why the former city of Kuneitra was not rebuilt after 1973 by the Syrians and the new city of Kuneitra built nearby. Today, Kuneitra - like the suburbs of Damascus - is the site of continued fighting between Syrian army and the rebels. We heard and saw about four bombs going off while we were on the mountain above. (No worries, we were not that close and the fighting does not spill across the border into Israel.)
We started walking back to the bus from Har Bental and noticed many teen groups touring the site as well. Some were Israeli children on a school outing. Another group was speaking English and I noticed many were wearing shirts that said NFTY E.I.E. – Eisendrath International Exchange. That was the high school semester program my daughter Melissa was part of in the fall of 2004. Now it’s ten years later and here they were on their last tour of the year as they return home soon. I talked to a few of the
students. Then someone noticed we were from New Jersey (it was on my nametag) and said her father was a rabbi who was active in the Reform movement. She turned out to be the daughter of my friend, Rabbi Elliott Kleinman. Small world!
We drove for a short time and arrived at our next stop, the Golan Heights Winery. We had a wonderful tour with Tzvika one of the winery guides, starting with a taste of a chilled rose that was really lovely. He explained to us about the three names under which their wines are sold in the U.S., took us through to see the production and bottling, and finally into the wine cellar for a lunch with wine tastings. You can see which wines below in the photo section. As we were getting ready to leave, Tzvika heard we were a Reform group and he was curious about all the intermarriage in the United States. This led to talking about those who don’t “look” Jewish and his observation that groups that come over on Birthright often include young adults who are only partly Jewish; which led to talking about how many Jews in the U.S. don’t look
typically “Jewish” in some stereotyped way; which led to my explaining that Jews in the U.S. are also very open to adopting babies from all ethnic backgrounds. Then Tzvika – raised Orthodox and practicing Orthodox Judaism - proceeded to tell me a bit about his own life as an adopted child who found his birth parents at age 25 and was proud of the different religions (Catholic) and backgrounds (including a half-Singaporan sister) that are now part of his extended “birth family” in addition to his deep connection to the Orthodox Judaism in which he was raised. It was a touching story of how happy he was that his parents who could not have children were able to have him as their son.
After the delicious lunch and wine tasting, we were back on the road this time headed across the Jordan River (more like a stream for those who think it is a raging wide river) and headed up to the holy city of Tsefat. We arrived around 3:30 pm and had a wonderful session with David Friedman, an artist who uses kabbalistic images, colors and geometry in his work. I had heard his talk about eight years
ago and it was mesmerizing once more. This time I took notes to explain some of his artistic insights combining color and meaning to others when we return home.
Next we walked toward the Ari Synagogue, stopping on the way to gaze through the “Alley of the Messiah” – the place where the messiah will enter and stop in Tzefat on the way to Jerusalem from Mount Meron according to some beliefs. We stood outside the house across from that alley: where up on the balcony for many, many years a woman known as Ima (mother) Yocheved would come out each afternoon with two cups of tea and sit and wait for the Messiah to come. The second cup was for the Messiah. As the sun set, she would drink one cup and pour the other out. Then come back the next afternoon and wait again. Always ready: as the Messiah could arrive any moment. How beautiful if we all lived that way. Truly, we should try to be ready at any time by keeping an open heart.
At the Ari synagogue we sat outside for awhile as Nadav gave us the history of the Jewish teachers and
rabbis who came to Tzefat. We could not go in immediately as the synagogue is opened and closed according to the caretaker’s desires. He does not like young rowdy school groups or even large groups of adults, and several were in the courtyard outside hoping to get in. After about fifteen minutes he unlocked the door from inside and motioned just our group to come in. We sat on the side and Nadav told the group about Isaac Luria and the kabbalists and the building of the Aron Hakodesh (the Ark) carved from olive wood and painted so beautifully by an Italian craftsman. He explained a bit about the mystics who lived in Tzefat and their creation of the Kabbalat Shabbat poetry, songs, and more which we still use today to begin Shabbat in synagogues – especially the custom of turning toward the west (the sunset) to greet Shabbat at the last verse of L’cha Dodi.
Leaving the synagogue, we divided into those going into the artist shops and those going to see another couple of synagogues. (Thanks to Michael Benedict for photos from the other two synagogues – I had been there before so went shopping instead for
a few Safed candles and a necklace for one of our temple members’ granddaughters.) We all met up at the bus around 6:15 which gave me time to finally eat some “gleedah” – ice cream. More like gelato. The man with the shop had homemade flavors which included his own mango with bits of mango in it. Terrific!
We arrived around 7 back to the kibbutz, had another wonderful dinner with great conversation, and ate too much once again. We also heard about Harvey, Shirley and Nancy’s day back at the kibbutz since they skipped our touring having already been to Israel multiple times and done these sites. Harvey got a real Israeli haircut (sorry, no photo), Shirley raved about her massage, and Nancy rested up and seems to be feeling a bit better.
Tomorrow as Nadav says will be another beautiful day with the option to go on a little walk and talk with him about kibbutz life and the changes over the decades, or to have some time to ourselves in the morning. My current plan is to pack early and be at the indoor pool at 8 am for a half hour swim, so I
can be ready on time when we leave at 9:45 am. My friend Maureen claims it is one of the nicest pools in all Israel! We’ll see if I get it together to swim or decide to just sit on my beautiful balcony and relax.
Laila tov. Good night!
(Note: several of the photos are by Michael Benedict and I’ll try to label them.)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.383s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 9; qc: 51; dbt: 0.071s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
