Temple Beth El's Rabbi's Blog

2011-01-05T18:05:00.001-06:00

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The day started out cloudy and cool, with prevailing breezes from the west (pretty typical for Jerusalem). This short touring day began at 9 AM with a visit to the Davidson Archaeological Center located inside Jerusalem’s Old City walls, at the southwest corner of the Temple Mount complex. The Center focuses on reconstructing the shape, function, and profile of the Temple Mount as it was in the time before the destruction by Rome in 70 CE.

One facet of the Davidson research center was a unique computer program, created by the Center and archaeologists at UCLA, was an interactive computer model of the Old City and the Temple Mount.

A trained operator/tour guide took us on a virtual tour of the Old City and the Southern Wall areas, which were, in actuality, the original entrances and exits of the Temple Mount precinct. In these walls, which today make up the foundation for the Al-aqsa mosque, you can see the original Herodian arches that allowed people access and egress to the Second Temple.

A partial arch, that you can see here, comes out from the far southern part of the Western Wall, and is called Robinson’s Arch, named after the archaeologist who, in the Nineteenth century, discovered it and theorized about its origins. The arch descends from the top level of the Temple to the street below, where there was a market place and possible location of money changers who would, in Second Temple times, exchange sacrificial animals for money of the pilgrims who would come to Jerusalem on pilgrim festivals (Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot) and not have the ability to bring their own animals for sacrificing.

The tour at the Davidson Center lasted until about 11 AM, at which time the group’s official tours stopped and we had the remainder of the day for walking, meeting, shopping, and relaxing. Some returned to the hotel for packing and sleeping. Others walked throughout the Old and New city of Jerusalem for shopping, bargaining in the Arab shuk, and eating the luscious middle eastern treats.

In the evening, we gathered for a farewell dinner in the hotel dining room. It was a time for reflection on the itinerary, on the exceptional people whom we met, gratitude for our guide Miri. . .

and our driver Dudi. . .

and our tour arranger Ari. . .

Most of all, there were kudos for our travelers who decided that coming to Israel at this (or any) time was worth their time, substance, and energies, and that their dedication to learning about the land and Progressive Judaism there was strong and growing.

Our travelers came on this trip with various motivations. Some came to connect with the land on an emotional level. Others came to learn about its history and its contemporary dynamic. Others were interested to learn about the presence and effect of liberal Judaism in Israel. All of these parts came together in the last few days, as we entered Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, felt the influence of its people and its institutions, and were able – as a group – to speak among ourselves and analyze the situation in which Israel finds herself today.

Each traveler had a different “high point” of their trip, and each traveler will relate differently to the various experiences we had and people we meet. As a group, we hope to maintain this blog as a place where people can offer their insights and their views, and we hope that our love for Israel grows through learning and contact with Jews in Israel.

We thank you for reading this blog and for keeping in touch, and we invite you to comment on these pages by clicking on the appropriate links.

We write this blog from Liberty Newark Airport on the way home from Tel Aviv, and we will post this Wednesday evening January 5. But the effects of Israel on our group will be timeless, and will lead to even greater exposure, discussion, debate, agree- and disagreements, and – we hope – a strengthening of the ties between Jews of Israel and the rest of the Jewish world.

2011-01-03T14:24:00.000-06:00

Monday, January 3, 2011

The weather in Jerusalem today started out clear and cool, with no cloud in the sky and a light breeze blowing through. We had a later start today – we were on the bus at 8:30 – and drove to the Israeli High Court of Justice, or the Israeli supreme court. The building was designed by Mosheh Safdi, architect of many an Israeli and American project. Each area or passageway has some biblical verse associated with it that concerns the concept of “justice”, thereby keeping nearby at all times the demand for finding justice in every aspect of the work of the law.

Our morning experience was heightened by our speaker Anat Hoffman, former Jerusalem city councilwoman and, now, the director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), sponsored by the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism. IRAC has been struggling for equal rights for women, Arabs, secular Israelis and others who encounter difficulties with the separation of religion and government, an area in which there is less justice, perhaps, than there should be.

Anat Hoffman spoke especially passionately about the Women of the Wall, a group of women from all religious movements who simply want to pray at the Western Wall in ways equal to the men who also pray there. Each month, at the New Moon, the Women of the Wall gather to worship and to read Torah, but they are denied the ability to do so because of those in the religious parties who promote inequality in Jewish worship in Israel. According to the Rabbi of the Wall, women are not supposed to be heard, wear kippah or tallit, handle the Torah scroll, or read from it, and the Women of the Wall have been fighting for more than 20 years to win the right to do so. For more information about the Women of the Wall, you can go to www.womenofthewall.com.

From the supreme court, we traveled to the Israeli Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem. “Yad Vashem” is a Hebrew expression from the bible that relates to a monument of memory. “Yad” literally means “hand”, and “Vashem” literally means “and a name”. This citation relates, in the bible, to monuments of lasting memory, and this is why this institution bears this name. This monument of Janus Korjak memorializes him as a savior of children.

This is more than a museum: It is an archive, and a spiritual experience to relate the individual and collective histories of Holocaust victims and survivors. There are also monuments to the memory of the Righteous Gentiles, to the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust, and to the communities that disappeared from the map before and during World War II.

art of our experience there was participating in a service of memorial in the “Tent of Memory”, a large covered pavilion that serves as the central ceremonial assembly place for Yad Vashem. Led by Rabbi Biatch, each participant/traveler said memorial prayers – the Eil Malei Rachamim – and the Mourner’s Kaddish. But the prayers did not stop there. We also prayed for a better and brighter future.

Directly next door to Yad Vashem is the Mount Herzl and National Cemetery of Israel’s past leaders. Theodore Herzl’s body was interred here after being taken from Austria, and he is venerated as a founding visionary of the Zionist movement. Also buried here are Itzhak and Leah Rabin, Golda Meir, other past Prime Ministers and cabinet ministers, and soldiers from the seven wars that Israel has suffered through. Although perhaps not buried here, we also found a memorial to Hannah Senesh who, along with six other parachutists, returned to their native lands during World War II to try to infiltrate the Nazi regime and find information that would be helpful to the Allies.

We then traveled back to the hotel via the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, a complex that borders on the Arab town of Beit Jala. About ten years ago, residents of Gilo suffered through armed snipers from Beit Jala, and a wall was erected to protect the town’s residents. Only in the last few weeks have the walls begun to come down, a sign that the tension is eased and the hope for the end of violence was being fulfilled.

We also saw the affects of the separation wall on the landscape of Jerusalem. The wall snakes around Arab towns and protects Jerusalem’s residents. But the affects of the Wall’s presence have been to cut off natural neighborhoods from one another, and Arab land owners from their arable land. The route of the Wall is constantly changing in certain places, to accommodate the changing needs of the Jews and Arabs who naturally live so close to one another.

Our last stop was back at our hotel, where we heard from Rabbi Rich Kirschen, the new director of the Reform movement’s National Federation of Temple Youth’s Israel program division. He spoke about the experiences of a young American Rabbi immigrant to Israel – and his family – while becoming absorbed into Israeli society. He also spoke of the need for building many more bridges between Israeli and North American Jewry, a hope we heard expressed from a number of speakers. Many of us share that hope!

The day ended at 6 PM, and folks had a very relaxed supper.

2011-01-02T14:10:00.000-06:00

Sunday January 2, 2011

This day began very early, with a 7 AM departure. We found out at breakfast that the Badgers had lost a very exciting Rose Bowl game in a 21-19 defeat, but still we knew that our town was proud of the home team.

Our first stop today was the plaza in front of the Western Wall of the ancient Jerusalem Temple, and Miri described the importance of the site and where it is today with the separation of the sexes, and the prohibition of the Orthodox of women’s minyans. We took time to approach the Wall, some placing notes in the wall’s huge Herodian stones, others criticizing the rule of the Orthodox in the place.

Then we entered the tunnels that were excavated along the western face of the Temple Precinct that extend in a northerly direction from the current Western Wall plaza. Each year more and more levels of the complex of staircases and passageways are uncovered by the archaeologists, and in each successive visit, we see that the wall of the Temple now extends to the Maccabean street level.

One facet of the tunnel is that it passes a place in the Wall that is directly west from the supposed site of the Holy of Holies, and now both women and men have found places to pray within the tunnel and along its pathway. The shrines are numerous, and the religious fervor is palpable.

The tunnels extend into the Muslim quarter of the Old City, and from our exit point, we walked through the Muslim, then Jewish, then Christian quarters up to the Jaffa Gate of the Old City.

We caught our bus to the newly refurbished Israel Museum (it was closed for a three-year renovation project, and just recently re-opened). We viewed a model of the city of Jerusalem in Second Temple times, with its Temple, residences of the Priests, and palace. We also viewed as a group the Shrine of the Book, the current location of some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. (Others are kept in the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem.)

We then took a few hours to guide ourselves through the museum, with its emphases on modern art and artists, archaeology of the land of Israel, and its historical and anthropological exhibits.

After lunch and purchasing at the museum shop, we traveled the short distance to the Knesset building. (The government does not permit cameras to be brought into the Knesset today, so we have no photos of it.) The Knesset is the seat of the Israeli government, and as a group we toured its reception hall (with large tapestries by Marc Chagall) and floor and wall mosaics also by Chagall, and also had the chance to sit in the gallery of the Plenum Hall where the Knesset members sit and deliberate the laws and policy.

Our final stop today was at the headquarters of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, and we had a conversation with Gil’ad Kariv, that organization’s executive director. He stressed to us the need for both democracy and religious values in Israel, and in close ties between the Israeli and North American Jewish communities. After a question by a group member, he said that he believed that the word “Diaspora” had outlived its usefulness, and that there needs to be a people-wide re-evaluation of the relationship between these two great Jewish bodies in today’s world Jewish community.

We then walked the few blocks back to the hotel, taking in – on the way – the campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s Jerusalem campus, built in 1964 on no-man’s land on the Israeli-Jordanian border, and today sits on one of the most expensive and desired places in the city.

We ended our day at about 4:30, and there’s more tomorrow. Lailah tov - Hebrew for "good night!"

Day 6 of Touring - the Beginnings of Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, and Masada

2011-01-01T13:42:00.002-06:00

Saturday January 1, 2011

Our Shabbat day activities began after a night of violent rainstorms that buffeted our worship at Kehilat Tzur Hadassah, but the rains ended, and we began with a view of the Old City of Jerusalem from the east (with the sun on our back). Miri provided a historical and archaeological orientation to the city walls and its precincts, but the view was quite spectacular.

Our trip then turned east and south, toward the Dead Sea Valley. Our first encounter was a drive through the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, where we saw ibex and hyraxes, as you see here:

These animals were simply walking near the roadway of the park, and seemed to have no fear of our bus or human contact.

Our next stop was the mountain of Masada, where beginning in the year 70 CE, more than 900 zealots defied the Roman siege for more than three years before the Roman army overtook the fortress. The Romans wanted to take the mountaintop because it was in the way of a prime trade route between Africa and Asia; for the Jews, it became a matter of survival of the religion and the people, to retain a hold on this place.

There are remnants of the three palaces that King Herod built in the century before Masada’s fall, as well as bath houses, food and water storage, worship, and the like.

From Masada, we traveled to Mineral Beach on the Dead Sea (a facility run by Kibbutz Ein Gedi and the Ahavah Company), and we all took a “float” in the Dead Sea. We also slathered mud on ourselves, took a dip in the sulfur mineral bath, and had a very relaxing and fun-filled time.

The day ended with us all returning to the hotel in Jerusalem tired but very satisfied. The weather in Jerusalem was mild – in the 40’s.

Good night, and be well!

Day 5 of Touring – the trip from the North to Jerusalem

2010-12-31T15:31:00.000-06:00

December 31, 2010

The day dawned cloudy, and it eventually rained as we ascended to Jerusalem. But still our spirits were high as we continued our tour, and prepared to drive from Kibbutz Lavi to the Holy City.

Our first stop was to pay homage to the ideologues of the Zionist movement, those who published and debated, inspired people and fed an idea for the establishment of a Jewish state. This happened at a cemetery near Degania, the first kibbutz of the land, just south of the southern tip of Lake Kinneret. Mosheh Hess and Berel Katznelson were just two of the early philosophers of the Zionist movement buried here, as well as the poet Rachel and singer-song writer Naomi Shemer. The cloudy weather combined with our purposes made it a somewhat somber moment for us, and our youngest traveler reminded us that we were to bring stones to place on people’s graves to mark our presence.

There even was an audio system that played continuously the songs of Naomi Shemer.

We then drove south through Beit Shean, one of the ten Roman cities in the early part of the First Millennium, to the Kibbutz of Heftzibah, where the synagogue of Beit Alpha is located. There is a 4th century synagogue here that has a very famous mosaic tile floor depicting biblical scenes, flora and fauna of Israel, a zodiac design including all of the constellations of the annual cycle, and depiction of the sun god Helios riding astride four horses. This floor, uncovered by early settlers in the 1920’s, remains one of the wonders of the land of Israel as it contains so many unusual symbols of various cultures.

It is a fairly long ride from Beit Alpha synagogue to Jerusalem, so we stopped at a wayside/truck stop in Jericho – the site of the ancient and modern city – where some of us rode a camel, for fun and the benefit of the cameras!

After arriving into Jerusalem, we went through the open air market of Machaneh Yehudah, where we pushed through the pre-Shabbat crowds. They were buying Shabbat foods, and we were searching for a great falafel. All found what they were looking for.

We checked in to our hotel, and by 5 PM we were on our way to Kehilat Tzur Hadassah, our sister congregation, where we worshiped with the community and had dinner afterward at congregant member homes. We returned back to the hotel fairly late, and prepared for our day in the Dead Sea and Masada on Saturday.

Shabbat Shalom to everyone!

Day 4 of Touring – the North, the Golan, and the Syrian Border

2010-12-30T13:11:00.001-06:00

Early this morning we left the kibbutz hotel and traveled to the town of Tz’fat. There are a number of ways to reference this town of 12,000, meaning that in Hebrew, Tz’fat is the spelling, where in (British?) English the spelling is Safed (and pronounced SAH-fed). In any event, this is the location where the Kabalah, or the Jewish mystical tradition, began to grow and flourish in the 15th century under the leadership of The Ari, or Rabbi Isaac Luria. (“Ari” is the pronunciation of the Hebrew acronym of Rabbi Isaac’s title, Elo-ki Rabbi Yitzchak,or the “Godly Rabbi Isaac”. According to some, no other Jewish sage ever had this extra letter aleph, an abbreviation prefacing his name. This was a sign of the esteem in which his contemporaries held him.

We began our Tz’fat visit with a lecture on the art of David Friedman, a former Coloradoan who made aliyah in 1972.

His is unique art of the Kabalah, and he explained his art and philosophy, and his connection and inspiration to the mystic tradition. Our travelers obliged our host by purchasing cards, prints, and other items relating to his art.

We then walked a bit to the Ari synagogue made famous by Rabbi Isaac’s presence. One look at this Ashkenazic synagogue will tell you that the influence of the Sefardic culture runs deep in this mystical tradition where all things are really “one”. It had a central bimah that was elevated about eight feet off the floor, all worshipers facing south (the direction of Jerusalem from the town of Tz’fat) and a curtained women’s section that was on the second story of the sanctuary.

Adjacent to the Ari synagogue is the retail outlet of Tz’fat Candles (We sell these in our Sisterhood gift shop!), and our group spent time there buying candles and looking at the specialty candles and one-of-a-kind “art candles” that were on display.

Following our visit to the Ari Synagogue and Tz’fat Candles, we walked to the Abuhav Synagogue, the home of the Sefardic tradition in Kabalah. A Bar Mitzvah was taking place there, and when we entered, we were able to enter and see the beautiful and ornate decorations, including the ceiling of the room, and it’s elevated bimah ornate ceiling paintings.

Then our guide suggested that we walk around to see the various shops and sites in the old city of Tz’fat, including the many artisans who have made their living and their fortunes in the town. One of our travelers found a store selling halva. Aren't these beautiful!

We actually spent almost twice as much time in Tz’fat as we had on our schedule, so we left much later than anticipated. We traversed the north-central portion of the Galillee, crossed the Jordan River at a place north of the Sea of Galilee which was the border between Israel Syria before the 1967 Six-Day War. We stopped for lunch at a nice sandwich shop in the modern town of Katzrin, on the Golan Heights, and then proceeded to the ancient “Talmudic city of Katzrin”. In a park in town, we saw the ruins of a 4th or 5th Jewish century house, which had been restored and set up as an example of talmudic-era life. Below you can see a grindstone, a kitchen, plus views of the settlement's synagogue: its doorway, and an ancient inscription of a 13 (?) branched menorah.

We then boarded the bus for the 40-55 minute ride to the easternmost point in the Golan Heights, which abuts the Syrian border. From our viewpoint, we were able to view the deserted Syrian town of Kuneitra, and the United Nations outpost next door.

Above the viewpoint was Har Ben Tal, an Israeli outpost that helps in the monitoring situation of the Syrians as they live life on a very active border.

This was the end of our day today, and we returned to the hotel tired but happy and satisfied.

Day 3 of Touring - Akko, Tzippori, Nazareth, and Kibbutz Lavi

2010-12-29T14:43:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

We awoke this morning to another brisk and sunny day and, after breakfast Miri introduced us to Esther, who was to give us a guided tour of the Kibbutz.

The guest house of Kibbutz Lavi is a sprawling, several story building. The rooms are spacious and the amenities include a swimming pool. Miri had informed us that while the Kibbutz was run by the Orthodox, it catered to all tourists, of many nationalities and religious persuasions. Esther added to our information by saying that the Kibbutz was socialist in nature which meant that people were paid not by the amount of hours they worked but by the need of themselves or their families. She also said that there were people waiting to join the Kibbutz. Although the Kibbutz Lavi is communal in nature, each family has it’s own home and it’s own small plot to tend or not tend, as they choose. All homes are build with “safe rooms” which will not protect against a direct attack but will keep inhabitants safe from harm from indirect hits. The Kibbutz, of course has a series of bomb shelters but it takes time to run from where you’re located to the nearest shelter, so the safe rooms provide a modicum of protection.

Esther pointed out the children’s area which was composed of several buildings for children of different ages, from infancy to teen years.

As everyone on the Kibbutz works, children are dropped off at their day homes in the early hours of the day, and picked up by their parents at the day’s end.

The Kibbutz owns somewhere around 13,000 acres of land and farming is a large part of its productivity. We continued walking past farm machinery, cows, bulls, and the other accoutrements of real farm life.

Another large part of their industry, in addition to the hotel, includes the manufacture of synagogue chairs, which are sold here, as well as being exported to many different countries. We were lucky to be able to walk through the factory to view the many steps in their production as well as the final products.

Our final stop at the Kibbutz was the Synagogue where we viewed the Sanctuary which holds also memorial plaques of all the persons who have died in Israel’s many wars for self-preservation.

Our next stop was the Sir Charles Clore Jewish-Arab Community Center in the Crusader city of Akko. The Community Center is run by Mohammed Fahili who led us to a conference room and proceeded to tell us his story of how he had come to found the Center.

The Center’s mission is “to provide high quality, low cost activities, in a spirit of co-existence” between Jews and Arabs in Akko. The Center serves over 1600 children and young people, including immigrants, each week. It provides a bomb shelter so parents can feel secure in sending their children there. The Center provides a wide range of activities for young persons of all ages, including ballet, art, drama, sports, etc. They also have a program to prepare kids for college entrance exams.

From the Center we drove to the old, walled city of Akko, just on the ocean, a former Crusader, then Ottoman, then British military compound. It is, essentially, a large fort containing ancient battlements, a moat, and many other defenses that helped to protect the city.

We entered by foot, and first came to a Crusader-era escape tunnel which was recently excavated. There are many such underground tunnels and passageways here, and this was one of the more interesting ones, as it became smaller and smaller as we entered the city through it.

An additional shorter walk through town found us in a busy and crowded neighborhood where we ate lunch. Most of us treated ourselves to Kabob, Schwarma or Falaffel.

Our next stop was the ancient city of Tzippori (Sepphoris) where Rabbi Judah the Prince, one of the many voices of Jewish learning in ancient times, compiled the Mishnah. In Tzippori we were treated to archeological excavations of mosaics embedded in the flooring of several buildings. These mosaics represented biblical scenes which seem to have been based on Greek Mythology.

From Tzippori we moved on to the city of Nazareth and the Church of the Annunciation where Mary was supposed to have been told she would bare the child Jesus.

Nazareth is a city composed in large part of Muslims and Christians, with a small minority of Jews. Before sitting down in a sweet shop to be treated to “kenfafeh”, a luscious Arab dessert, we walked through a market replete with various foods and trinkets, good smells and people in various forms of religious attire.

After a long day, we assembled for dinner in the hotel dining room, and then went to a well-deserved night’s sleep.

Day 2 of Touring - We Travel to the North, to Tiberas

2010-12-28T14:38:00.000-06:00

December 28, 2010

Today began with an eager, optimistic start. After breakfast in Tel-Aviv, we went to the bus loading area to identify our bags (for security purposes, each person identifies to the bell captain what belongs to us so that no unknown packages get on the bus) and prepare for departure.

Rabbi Biatch offered a Psalm (each day there is special inspirational message; today we spoke about encircling the land – Israel), and our guide Miri began our tour by escorting us up the main coastal road right through the heart of Tel-Aviv – along “embassy row” – to the outskirts of the city and onto the main highway connecting Tel-Aviv to the North.

We passed through Herzliya, the town established to honor Theodor Herzl and founded by Baron Edmund Rothschild. In fact Baron Rothschild wanted to build a golf course there, one which would have been the first of eventually two in Israel. He was successful, but only when he volunteered to eliminate caddies from the club, as they were not seen by the provisional government of (Jewish) Palestine as socialist enough.

We were lucky that we were traveling against incoming commuting traffic; Tel-Aviv is just like any US city at rush hour, with gridlock, pollution (especially in our 70 degree weather today; there probably was an inversion layer), and honking. Still, we made it to Caesaria on time, and we toured the ancient city built by the Greeks and then improved by Rome.

First we entered the amphitheatre, which used to house shows for royalty, which now is the home of most seasons’ classical and rock concerts. The bowl of the amphitheatre faces the ocean, and even when nothing else is happening, it is a beautiful place.

Then we walked to the ruins of Herod’s palace and circus (the Roman version of the horse races), which have been uncovered in the last few years. The settlement along the Mediterranean is gigantic, and it was amazing to understand how, through Greek, Roman, Crusader, and British rule these places still had their purpose and function.

In the second picture just above, you can see the newly exposed mosaic floor at the palace of Herod. Some of the area is covered by sand bags so as not to disturb or destroy further the delicate floor. The third picture above shows the circus arena.

We drove a bit to the remains of the aqueduct that, in Roman times, brought water down to Caesaria. There also were ruins of the Greek-era aqueduct, made of different design. But the Roman one seems to have lasted a longer time; it’s made of tougher stuff.

We then boarded the bus for a driving tour of the city of Haifa. We stopped at an overlook on the Carmel Mountains, a vantage point that provided a view of the whole of the port, city, and gardens of the Bahai Shrine that is located in Haifa. The view of the town is magnificent, and you see that the weather remained fairly clear all the way up to the north.

We then drove to Us’fiyah, a Druze village that is in the Carmel, somewhat southwest from the outskirts of Haifa. Along the way, we passed through the burnt remnant of the forests that suffered grave damage from the recent fires. Miri said that one of the main causes of the great destruction came from the fact that the sap from the eucalyptus trees, which had accumulated over the years since they were planted by the early Zionist pioneers, had accelerated the fires, causing more damage than otherwise might have been experienced. It is a grave reminder of the damage that fires can do.

In Us’fiyah we had “home hospitality” for lunch, meeting in the home of Irena and being served a wonderful Druze lunch of hummus, cold kibbeh (meat balls), warm kibbeh, stuffed grape leaves and zucchini, some kind of date punch drink, cabbage and tomato salad, and a few other things that we can’t remember at this moment. Before lunch, Irena gave background on the Druze religion and culture, a fairly secretive religion that is pretty much closed to outsiders and has tried to actively prohibit intermarriage. Hosptiality is very important to the Druze, and they took great pleasure in welcoming 28 strangers (the 26 of us, plus our guide and our driver) into their home.

By the way, below in the photo you will notice the Israeli flag on the wall of their home. The Druze are Arabs who are loyal to the Israeli government, as is this family, and they have no compunction about displaying their loyalty in this very clear manner.

By the way, Dudu is a great driver, and we’ll tell you more about him in the blogs to come.

After lunch we visited the Tulip Winery located in K’far Tikvah. This winery is unique in that their primary employees are developmentally disabled adults, some who live in the village, and others who commute from near-by Haifa or environs. Most of us tasted some of the wines they make, and many made purchases in their gift area. Their special reserve wine, Black Tulip, had a bottle label that was designed by one of the residents, and our sommelier told us the story about the way in which the wine’s bottle was designed: There was a contest among the residents for the best design, and the winner was a very emotional man who cried and cried when he learned that he had won.)

After the winery, we traveled to Tiberias for supper. Before eating, we stopped in for some souvenir buying at a store that seemed to cater to Christian pilgrims to Israel even more than to the Jews. It was somewhat disconcerting to see merchandise that was also “Hebrew Christian” in nature; the “messianic” overtones were odd to see in a town of Tiberias that has such historic ties to the founding of the Talmud, and the vowel vocalization system of today’s modern language of Hebrew.

Then after dinner, we proceeded to our next hotel, Kibbutz Lavi guest house, where we are about to spend the night.

Day 1 of Touring - Tel-Aviv - Up Close, Personal, and Exhausting!

2010-12-27T14:31:00.000-06:00

December 27

This morning dawned bright and clear over the city of Tel-Aviv, that 101-year-old “first modern Jewish city in Israel”. Our tour guide Miri and Rabbi Biatch reminded us last night about the three, now four, main characteristics to strive for in a group tour such as ours: maintaining flexibility, a sense of humor, patience, and punctuality. With these four goals in mind, everyone got onto the bus and we got underway on time.

Many of us are, at the present, jet lagged and tired, but very happy to be here and investigating this “old-new land”, as Israel was once called by the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl.

We began our day with a visit to Beit Rut Daniel, the first Progressive movement (Reform, to us!) institution to come to the city of Jaffa.

Beit Rut Daniel is a liberal Jewish institute that serves as a synagogue, a hotel, a community center for both the Jews and Arabs of Jaffa, and the future site of a pre-school under the auspices of the Progressive Jewish movement in Israel. Because of the economic situation of religious movements here, the Progressive Movement has created a plethora of special programs and services that benefit the Jaffa community, in order that there is income and, perhaps more important, there is buy-in from the locals about the presence of a liberal Jewish institution.

Following our visit to Beit Rut Daniel, we drove a short distance to the old port area of Jaffa, located just south of Tel-Aviv, and we walked along some of the small alleys and pathways of the Jewish section of Jaffa. Some of the architecture is fascinating, and beautiful.

From Jaffa we traveled, some by foot and others by bus, to Independence Hall, the location of the signing of Israel’s declaration of independence. Many may have a familiarity with the iconic photograph of David Ben Gurion standing with about 25 of the 38 signers of the Declaration in front of the two vertically draped flags of the new state. This is where we were this morning.

We watched a video presentation telling us about the early design and construction of Tel Aviv, then heard an impassioned lecture on the history that brought the Jewish people to the fulfillment of its two thousand year old dream on the day of the signing, which was May 14, 1948, or 5 Iyar, 5708. If every Jew had the verve and zeal of this speaker, whose name we knew only as Itzik, there would be no problem with Jewish identity in our times.

After our lecture at Independence Hall, we walked a couple of blocks to have lunch at an Israeli diner, where most of us had shwarma, that blend of lamb and beef that is spit roasted on vertical skewers. It was a crowded and warm Tel-Aviv winter day (the high here today was 76 F degrees, so in the small diner it was also very warm and close.

We then traveled to North Tel-Aviv to the Museum of the Diaspora or, in Hebrew, Beit Hatfutzot. It is a museum dedicated to chronicling the history of Diapora Jewry through dioramas, models, achiving of ancestral data, and the like. By this time in the afternoon, we were even more tired but determined to get over our jet lag.

We made one more stop in Tel-Aviv on the way back to the hotel, the site of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. There is a memorial reminding pedestrians on a busy sidewalk that this was the location of the shooting by Yigal Amir in November of 1995. This was a tragic and devastating event in the life Israel, and his memory is honored each Friday – for the last 15 years – by a memorial service taking place in the morning hours.

On the way back to the hotel, some intrepid travelers braved the foot and noise traffic of the Carmel Market, an old institution in Tel-Aviv, as their return route. Where there used to be primarily fruit, vegetables, and meats, now there is a majority sales in clothes, souvenirs, tchachkes of various kinds, house wares, and candy.

Early evening saw us meeting twice with Rabbi Judith Edelman-Green, former Madisonian who made aliyah – immigrated to Israel – in 1984. She is working on a project to create an institution that serves the needs of developmentally disabled adults, which will be built in the Tel-Aviv suburb of Kfar Saba in a few years. Also, she brought with her her daughter and her daughter’s flat mate who are both former soldiers (just recently released from military service, who described some aspects of army life in Tzahal, the name acronym that is made by the Hebrew letters of the official name of the Israeli army.

Dinner was a vast array of meats, salads, vegetables, a few casseroles, and terrific desserts. We have eaten as a group but the meals are buffet style, at least in the hotels. That way, each person can eat their choices and their fill of what they like.

We’re all tired, ready to say good night, but excited about our day tomorrow when we transfer to the north part of the country for a very different kind of Israeli tourist experience.

We Beat the Snow in Leaving the US, and We Arrive in Tel-Aviv

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Greetings from Tel Aviv!

We all arrived here tonight, and we are overjoyed and privileged to be here, all together. Twenty of us landed at 4:10 PM local time today, two more arrived at 6:30 PM, and four of us arrived last Thursday to take in some special sites. But tonight in the banquet hall of the Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel Aviv, the twenty-six of us travelers, our guide Miri, and our tour arranger Ari met to dine and to orient ourselves to our days of seeing the land of Israel. Here we are after our ten-hour flight in Tel-Aviv:

Our flights to Israel were smooth and easy. The majority of us came through Newark, NJ last night, just before the snow that apparently fell all up and down the eastern seaboard. Those who came through Atlanta late last night were late leaving the airport, but arrived here safe and sound. It was just in the six hours after our departure from the states that a major snowfall hit the East – we got out just in time.

Above here is an image from the Continental flight out of Newark, which contained Jews from all across the spectrum: Orthodox, Reform, and even Black Hebrews (who are not really Jewish, but seem to claim some ancestry that connects them with us). Some travelers to Israel know that as soon as dawn is on the horizon, those who worship each morning rise to "daven" (pray) alone, or in a minyan, even on a plane.

As we said earlier, we arrived here without incident, though getting through passport control took an extraordinarily long time. After meeting Miri Lowenberg, our guide, in the baggage hall, we took our bags to the bus and loaded up for the twenty minute drive to the hotel in Tel-Aviv.

Our dinner in the hotel, after the airline meals we had on board, was a sumptuous feast of vegetables, meats, pastas, and sweets. And after supper, we took a walk across the street to the beach on the Mediterranean, where we posed for this picture:

Then some took a walk for ice cream and sodas on the beach and in nearby Jaffa, others retired to the hotel for a well-deserved night’s rest, before we have to rise for our 8:15 AM call to the bus for Monday’s itinerary of learning about Tel-Aviv as the first modern Jewish city in Israel, as well as about the history of the Jewish Diaspora where we all live.

There will be more photos tomorrow, but for now we say good night and prepare for a great day in the morning.

Temple Beth El Prepares to Depart for Israel

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We are about to embark again on a nine-day trip through the land of Israel, and we are proud and pleased to be able to share this trip with you through the blog of the Rabbi of Temple Beth El. Our departure date is Saturday December 25, and we’ll return to Madison on January 5, a weary but happy group. We hope you can check back with this blog often, so that you can see our progress and, along with us, share the treasure that is Israel.

There is no question that this is an exciting time to travel to Israel. The political landscape changes daily; the cultural expressions are wondrous to experience; and the many landmarks and sights, both ancient and modern, remind us that the land is filled with the remnants of many peoples, and yet potent with the possibilities of new development and new undertakings.

Our group begins our travel in earnest this coming Shabbat evening with a pot-luck dinner at Temple Beth El prior to our Shabbat Midor Lador service, that is, a worship service featuring our all volunteer group of musicians. We will continue to get to know one another, distribute travel information, and have fun while we’re still at home. It’s just the start of something big, and we’re all happy to be part of it.

Again, check back here for updates especially when we arrive in Tel Aviv on the evening of Sunday December 26. We send you all the best, even at this early date prior to our departure.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008 – The Flights Home

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We arrived back into Madison mid-afternoon on Thursday, January 3. Our flights back to Madison seemed long, but were uneventful and mostly easy. Each of us is exhausted, yet thrilled to have been part of this monumental journey and pilgrimage to Israel. We will be reflecting on our journey over the next days and weeks, and we’re only beginning to make sense of what we experienced and learned there. Yet we feel that we are now emissaries who can relate more of the substance of Israel to our friends and family members, and try to relate to them the constant struggle she feels as she searches for the right pathway to peace.

Joanna Berke and Rabbi Jonathan Biatch, your bloggers and travelers

Wednesday, January 2, 2008 – Preparations for the Journey Home

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We returned to the hotel for some packing or, for those who had gotten a jump on their packing the night before, for a final shopping trip to the Old City or Ben Yehudah street in West Jerusalem.

We boarded the bus and drove to the Haas Promenade, an outlook directly south of the Old City of Jerusalem from which, in the growing twilight of the day, we could see all of the city as it has grown and as it inspires today the fervor of three world religions. From there, we went to a delicious dinner at the Olive and Fish Restaurant, and then on to the airport for our 11:25 PM departure.

If, by the way, you wish to have an account of the security inspections and interrogations that we underwent before we departed Israel on Wednesday night, we are pretty certain that any one of us could give you a question-by-question description. Suffice to say that we felt very secure in boarding a place in Tel-Aviv.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008 – The Memory of Israel’s Founders

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Our last tour this day was an excursion to the Israeli Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl. We visited the graves of Itzhak and Leah Rabin, Golda Meir, and the other Prime Ministers, presidents, and speakers of the Knesset who are buried there. (Menachem Begin and David ben Gurion requested to be buried elsewhere, and the State complied with their wishes. We also saw the burial site of Theodor Herzl, the one who is credited with pushing for the establishment of a Jewish state in Israel.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008 – Yad Vashem

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A hand and a name – the translation of the name of Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Authority. This was our first and only stop for today, and perhaps a fitting end for our journey in Israel. This institution has as its goal the archiving of the victims of the Holocaust, and in so doing, has created a large and moving set of exhibits that are interactive and inspiring. From the initial entry into its museum (where no photos were permitted, unfortunately), we knew we were in a special place.

The Holocaust is, perhaps, THE defining event in the life of the Jewish state, as Israel’s creation was accelerated by the horrifying events of WWII, where six million Jews were systematically killed, along with five million other innocents.

First we toured the museum which told the story of the Jews of Europe, who were degraded and dehumanized by the growing Nazi machine. From the imposition of disabilities to the herding of Jews into ghettos, and then into cattle cars destined for death camps, the museum documents the horrible story of the deaths of six million of our family members.

We then went to sit together in the synagogue of Yad Vashem, where we learned a bit more about the heroism of one particular Jew who, under threat of death, preserved the dignity and importance of the Jewish New Year by copying onto a paper cement bag the words of the High Holy Day prayerbook, so that he and his fellow prisoners could worship in the camp where they were imprisoned.

Walking down the Avenue of the Righteous, we saw names the like of Raoul Wallenberg and Ichiro Sugihara, those non-Jews who are memorialized for their heroic saving of Jewish lives through their defiance of Nazi laws.

Finally we arrived to the Valley of the Communities, large granite and sandstone sentinels upon which, over a vast complex of valleys and cliffs, lovingly preserves the names of the shtetls that were destroyed in the Holocaust. We held a service of memory in the name of the Six Million who perished in the sanctification of God’s name.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Independence Hall at night

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Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Independence Hall at night

Independence Hall is the site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence signed by 27 members of the Jewish coordinating council. You may be familiar with this photo that is made famous in books and articles, but to sit in this place of history was truly inspiring as we learned about Herzl, his mania-like passion for the establishing of the state of Israel, and how some of the signatories of the declaration had to sign it later as they were trapped in Jerusalem by the Jordanian blockade of the city.

We left Tel-Aviv at about 9:15, and arrived home very late, too late for us to post that night. So too the next night, so this post is actually written after our arrival back into the United States. More on the next day’s activities in the next post.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Dinner at Maganda in the Yemenite Quarter

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Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Dinner at Maganda in the Yemenite Quarter

We had dinner at Maganda Restaurant in the Yemenite Quarter, just a three or four block walk from the Carmel Market. We were stuffed with multiple salad courses, lamb and chicken kabobs, and coffee and baklava for dessert. Wine also came with our meal. We were stuffed, but not too full to head on then to Independence Hall.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Shopping in the Carmel Market

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Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Shopping in the Carmel Market
As if we had not had enough time to shop, Daphna let us loose in the open air Carmel Market, a Jewish market in the southern part of Tel-Aviv. For two hours, we bought and bargained our way through about four square blocks of shops and artist street fairs, and we saw some amazing sights along the way.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Tel-Aviv – Jaffa

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Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Tel-Aviv – Jaffa

Our journey took us to Tel-Aviv / Yafo (Jaffa), the largest (geographically speaking, at least) city in Israel. We headed into Jaffa with rush hour traffic, to visit the old port city. Our guide Daphna mentioned that they had just uncovered part of the old Byzantine port (within the last ten days), so the archeological finds are going to be expansive here as time goes by.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salaam

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Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salaam

Neve Shalom means ‘oasis of peace.’ It is a village located near Latrun the site of a famous battle of the 1948 Independence War, and is actually built upon a site of the abandoned Arab village Deir Yassin. (Read history of the pre-independence days to learn of the significance of that name.) Neve Shalom started in 1979 as an experiment in communal living of Arabs and Jews in Israel. Intended to be a community of 150 families, it still has only about 50 residents, one-third of whom work in the community (see below), and the other two-thirds work in conventional jobs in near-by cities.

Neve Shalom’s primary work has been on Jewish-Arab cooperation and coexistence, through programs for high school and adult populations in Israel. The subjects range from language and holiday celebrations, and similar cross-cultural subjects, to conflict resolution and management of problems that appear in the diverse religious populations of Israel.

This visit proved to be quite controversial, for our presenter (a resident of the community since 1984) suggested strongly, and then confirmed definitely through the Q and A, that he would like there to be a completely secular society in Israel, that there should be no distinctions between Jew, Christian, and Muslim. The main question in our group, especially after hearing from Colonel Gruber earlier in the day, was why this Neve Shalom presenter was willing to remain in Israel, or what made it a special place to be in any case? Why did he not live in America?

This set of questions gave us much food for thought as we made our way to Tel-Aviv, the significant metropolis of Israel.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Ammunition Hill

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Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Ammunition Hill

We departed the hotel for a 9 AM appointment at Ammunition Hill, a series of bunkers and ammunition depots originally built by the British during the time of the British Mandate, but then turned over to the Jordanians during the years of 1948-1967. This spot was located at the highest elevated point in the region, commanding a view of the surrounding hills and looking down into the Dead Sea Valley. Today there are high rise apartments overlooking this spot, but as our tour guide would say with some frequency, if we had come there in 1967, we’d only be able to do it riding on camels.

We watched a film on the military significance of this location during the Six-Day War, and then also met with Colonel Ben Tzion Gruber, a reserve colonel and computer consultant who spoke to us about the modern-day task of apprehending potential terrorists / suicide bombers before they strike. Using a sophisticated system of informants, night-vision airborne drone planes, and ingenuity, they have been able to arrest over 98% or more of terrorists before they strike. He showed a film depicting these methods using actual footage and real-time intelligence.

The Qumran Community and the Dead Sea Scrolls

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The Dead Sea community was a social experiment that lasted only 15 years, yet represented one distinct sect of our people that lived each day with the notion that the messiah would arrive during their lifetime. No account is certain when they existed there, but it was between two thousand and 2,230 years ago. They wrote the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, which contained both Jewish and cultic materials.

New Year’s Night – St. Sylvester’s Day

New Year’s Eve is called “Sylvester, and is becoming more popular as a time to go out to dinner, have a party, and generally to relax and bring in the New Year. At this writing we are about three hours before the start of the New Year, but restaurants are full and many Israelis are celebrating. We will throw ourselves a party in about an hour, and then it’s off for another full day of touring tomorrow.

The Dead Sea -- Muddy the Waters!

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As we said earlier, the Dead Sea is ten times as salty as our oceans, so the water is not potable. However, there seems to be some medicinal benefit that one can derive from bathing in the water, rubbing mud all over one’s body, and dipping in the hot spring near to the hotel. The rocks on the shoreline are very sharp, and Jennifer left some of her DNA on the beach there. Seriously, however, some people cut themselves but the salty nature of the water helped to keep the wounds clean enough so that they can make it home to create a proper bandage. Here are some photos of our experience there.

Monday, December 31 - First Stop – The Ahavah Factory at the Dead Sea

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Masada was the last fortress holdout of Jews during the first Roman revolt in the year 70 CE. One thousand Jews had taken up residency there, yet the order came down from Rome that the city must be razed in order to put down the Jewish revolt. Yet when there seemed to be no alternative, the Jewish residents of Masada committed mass suicide rather than be taken into captivity. According to Patricia Litscher, regarding her trip on the cable car up the summit: “The experience of something so spiritual is worth it, so as to conquer one’s biggest fears. (It always helps to have a Rabbi in your back pocket.)”

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

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While others went to shop, others visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional location of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. Each Christian denomination has assigned a certain place within the church building to the “the” place where, accdording to their tradition, the Crucifixion took place. This church was crowded with pilgrims, local celebrants, and normal tourists like ourselves.

We then returned to the Cardo for some additional shopping for those who had not had the chance before, then came back to the hotel for rest and evening activities.

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Some of us shopped in the Cardo (the ‘heart’ of the walled city), and some of us visited the Southern Wall excavations that have recently been unearthed. It was at this location that pilgrims coming to Jerusalem would stop to purchase animals for sacrifice or to exchange money to make their payments of the half-shekel head tax that was paid each year. In the Davidson Archeological Center they showed us an interactive 3-D simulation of the Old City history.

The Western Wall Tunnels

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Then we walked underneath the Muslim Quarter for a walk along the newly-excavated tunnel that abuts the entire length of the Western Wall of the Temple precinct. It was a warm, narrow, confining walk along the almost 300 meter perimeter wall. Above us was the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, and below us through Plexiglas floors we could see the original street outside the Wall from more than 2,000 years ago.

The sign here reads "danger, entry forbidden."

The Kotel – The Western Wall of the Temple

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We walked through a security checkpoint and arrived to the Kotel Hamaaravi, the Western Wall of the second Temple precinct. As you may know, the Western Wall is only the wall that surrounded the Temple and not the Temple itself. To the west of the Wall is a plaza where tourists, worshippers, and others gather at every moment of each day. They approach the Wall, engage in meditation and prayer, leave notes in the Wall to be read by God, and offer Tzedakah to enable the religious authority at the Wall to perpetuate its synagogue. It can be said that it is the most holy locale in the Jewish religion.

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Views of the Old City from French Hill and Hebrew University, the Mount of Olives
From the Knesset we traveled to French Hill where the Hebrew University is situated. We circled the city, ending up on the Mount of Olives for a view of both the OId and the New city of Jerusalem.

Sunday, December 30 -- The Knesset

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We left the hotel on a busy Sunday morning, Sunday being the first day of the week here in Israel. Through snake-like morning traffic, we arrived at the entrance of the Knesset Building, the seat of Israel’s government. We were not permitted to photograph inside the building, so we have no photos of our own. We were led into the main hall of the Knesset, that is, the chamber where 120 members of Knesset decide policy and direction for the country. We sat in the VIP section, alongside the President’s box, and where many foreign dignitaries have sat. Our Russian-born guide explained about the seating locations of the Prime Minister and his cabinet, the Coalition members and the opposition members. The president, in Israel, is only a figure-head, the Prime Minister being the leader of the country. The PM is not elected directly these days (There were experiments in the past few elections to do this, but they were not successful.) but rather is the leader of the party that gets the highest percentage of votes.
We also saw the Members’ Entrance, beautiful Chagall tapestries, and his mosaics that adorn the floor of a large ceremonial reception hall.

SHABBAT SHALOM AND SHAVUAH TOV!

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We traveled to Jerusalem yesterday, and because today was Shabbat, we took the evening off. Here below are posts for yesterday and today (because today we saw wonderful things and participated in great activities), beginning with how we ended our day, at a wedding!

We went out to the veranda of our hotel and observed Havdalah in the colder temperatures that made themselves evident tonight. The veranda overlooked the south-western portion of the wall of the Old City, with its beautiful illumination and mosques with their characteristic green lights. With fondness for Shabbat, and reluctance to bid farewell to our celebration, we immediately adjourned to a . . .

Wedding Ceremony

Ken and Laura Felz wanted to renew their wedding vows, and did so here in the Holy City. With our group looking on, Rabbi Biatch helped them to renew the vows they took three years before, and everyone celebrated!

Free time to . . . walk, buy, relax, etc.

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We had a fine lunch at an authentic Middle Eastern restaurant called Nafoura, just inside the Jaffa gate of the Old City. From there, some returned immediately to the hotel, some ventured down into the shuk (open air market) of the Old City. We bargained with the shop owners, sample sachlav (the thick, rose flavored beverage that is sold on the street), and saw and got jostled by every passerby in the vicinity.

Old City and David’s Tower Museum

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Some slept in today and did not go to services, but we all met up at 12:30 this afternoon for a walk to the Old City of Jerusalem (the walled city), and a visit to the David’s Citadel Museum of the history of Jerusalem. From high atop the museum built into the Old City walls, we could see the quarters of the walled city (Christian, Muslim, Armenian, and Jewish), and get a sense of the enormity of the city, even though it does not encompass that much land. The Old City displayed its beauty for all to see, with its variegated colored rooftops, open air markets, satellite dishes (more viewers than cable), and the ever-present gold cupola of the Dome of the Rock.

HUC-JIR services and campus tour

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Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) is originally an American institution, serving as an Israel-based anchor for American Reform Judaism in Israel. As a sponsor of archeological excavations in Aroer and Dan, HUC-JIR achieved a very high reputation for quality work, and the antiquities authority of the state of Israel has worked very closely with them since 1963. You can learn more about the work of HUC-JIR if you wish to see their website at www.huc.edu.

Shabbat morning services began at 9:30, led by the director of the Israeli cantorial program, Dr. Professor Eliyahu Schleifer, and the dean of the rabbinic program, Rabbi Na’aman Kelman. Jane Taves had one of three aliyot on the pulpit this morning.
After services and a lovely Kiddush and motzi, we briefly toured the HUC-JIR campus, seeing the library, the archeological center and the classroom building.

Shabbat at Kehilat Tzur Hadassah and home hospitality dinners

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We rushed to freshen up from our long day, and then set out for Kehillat Tzur Hadassah (KTH), the small synagogue belonging to the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism with which we have established a special relationship, and with which we will be increasing the amount of contact between Israeli and American Jews.

Shabbat evening services and Kabbalat Shabbat lasted about 90 minutes, after which we divided our group into small 2’s, 3’s and a few 4’s, and were invited to dinner at homes of KTH members. It was a very enjoyable evening, as Galit, the ‘programs director’ of KTH, had asked about the professions of the group members and matched us up according to interests, professions, and other criteria. This was a two-hour experience, which made for a very late night, which is why we did not write yesterday evening.

Group members came away with a heightened understanding of the connection between American and Israeli Jews, and a great amount of enthusiasm for strengthening the connection between our two communities.

Arrival into Jerusalem

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From Beit Shean, it was an easy (most of us were asleep, save for the driver, of course!) 80 minute drive to the outskirts of Jerusalem where we encountered traffic. Then within the city limits, it took us another fifteen minutes to travel the last three miles in pre-Shabbat traffic.
We assembled on the roof of the hotel for an arrival ceremony of new pilgrims to Jerusalem, and enjoyed a small ‘lechayim’ toast for our accomplishment.

Beit She'an

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Founded more than five millennia ago, the city of Beit Shean has been the home for more than 28 civilizations. Most recently, and most importantly for archeologists, there is a gigantic Roman settlement that survived under dirt and rocks, and about 33% has been excavated and exposed. Beit Shean is one of the ten ‘decopolis cities’ of ancient Rome, and the only one in Israel. You can see from these photos something of the beauty of the reconstructed city, the size of the site, and the many kinds of buildings that exist there. See if you can recognize what is the market street, the bath house, and the public latrine.

Tzfat

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Tzfat is a city where the Jewish tradition of mysticism began. Not the Cabbalah of Madonna, as our tour guide likes to remind us, but rather the true mystical tradition of Joseph Caro and those rabbis who chose to live there in the sixteenth century and thereafter. Today many artists have made their homes and established studios there, though some of them have decided that because of the influx of the many new religious Jews in town, it was best to move to another place (Rosh Pinah, see below).

There are two synagogues we visited, each one dating back from four hundred and more years ago. Here are some pictures of those synagogues and our group visiting and learning about the presence of the mystics there.

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Hula Valley (Not a dance from Hawaii) Nature Preserve: Migration of Cranes

Our final stop of the day – for touring, that is – was at the Hula Valley Nature Preserve. This is a former-but-also-current swamp through which more than five hundred billion birds migrate each winter. We rode on a specially equipped tractor (that seated forty!) that allowed us to get a great view of about 19,000 migrating cranes.

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Tzfat and Avraham Rosenthal – Kabbalah Received

We then traveled to the town of Tzfat, birthplace of Jewish mysticism, and as Daphna says, it’s not the ‘Madonna type.’ We met with Avraham Rosenthal, a Michigan native who went to Israel to study Kabbalah from the masters in Tzfat. He also has an art studio and produces art based upon kabbalistic themes.

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A Walk Through the Banias

We then drove another ten minutes east and arrived to Banias, a site at one of the headwaters of the Jordan River (It is the beginning of the Dan River, but that is a later story!). Daphna reminded us that it would be a “hike” to explore this site, ending up at a waterfall. The day was clear, cool to moderate temperature, and we set off.

We first encountered a temple site dedicated to the god Pan. The site is also holy to the Aliwite Muslims who believe that Mohammed ascended to heaven from this spot. (As there is no “P” sound in Arabic, they call it Banias instead of how it may have been pronounced in the past, Panias.)

Here you can see sacrificial altars that were found on this site that is more than 2,000 years old. Most of what these folk sacrificed were small animals, human sacrificing having been abolished many years before the era of this site.

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We then drove through the northern part of the Hula Valley, and we arrived at the security border with Lebanon. This border area (see the photos of the security road and fence) is patrolled each half hour by three army jeep patrols, as well as monitored electronically by sensors in the ground and on the fence itself. Daphna told us that she probably will be told to leave, but that until then, we could see the border and examine the road for ourselves.

The road we stopped on ran to Ajar, a city divided between Israel and Lebanon, primarily inhabited by Aliwite Muslims, who because of kinship would rather live in Lebanon and because of the economic benefits, would rather live in Israel. It is most likely that the town will soon revert to Lebanese sovereignty.
And wouldn’t you know it? A patrol of Israeli soldiers came by, not to banish us but to ask that we not stand on the security road as it disrupts their instrumentation and calibration of the security equipment.

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A Ride to the Border – Unauthorized Entry?
Today our Tour Guide Daphna let us sleep in (we had ‘til 8:30 AM to appear on the bus), so our breakfast was leisurely and plentiful as always in an Israeli tourist breakfast.

Rosh Pinah

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Our day ended at dinner and strolling through Rosh Pinah, a town in the north which has become an art colony following the exodus of artists from Tzfat (where we will visit tomorrow) when the ultra religious community enlarged to what was, to them, immense proportions. We walked up and down the foothills of the town, and then ate a leisurely dinner at various restaurants and ice cream parlors. We returned exhausted but happy from our day!

Capernahum and Tabghah – Church of Simon Peter and the Sermon on the Mount

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Two important Christian sites were on our itinerary today, Capernahum and Tabghah. Capernahum was the town where Jesus lived and preached, and there today are ruins of a small town dating from the early years of this era, including residences, a synagogue, public meeting places, and a church from the Christian community. On some of the Roman columns and capitals were Jewish iconography, including a six-pointed star, a shofar, and menorah.

In Tabghah, there is a fourth century church that was reconstructed to accommodate modern use by monks. This place was the location where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed the five thousand attendees of his ‘Sermon on the Mount.’

Lunch at Capernahum Vista Olive Farm in Katzrin

2007-12-26T14:03:00.000-06:00

Katzrin is an ancient site in Israel, which had been a center for the olive oil industry in the years of the first centuries of this modern era. Following the Israeli take-over of the Golan Heights, settlers have reestablished their residences in Katzrin, and the town is growing again. The restaurant where we ate sat above a modern iteration of the ancient oil manufacturing process. They have even found a way to recycle the left-over olive fruit and pits that remain after being pressed: they are made into soap and facial products (which were on sale to take home, of course!).

The restaurant was architecturally unique, allowing a lot of light into a warehouse sized room where we partook of a nice lunch buffet. The building’s walls were formerly Syrian stone walls, which were added to, in order to make them suitable for the restaurant and olive oil factory. The owner’s husband came around to our luncheon tables, orienting us to the uniqueness of the place and the availability of olive oil tasting below, on the ground floor, which we diligently investigated.

Ga’ash Army Base and Tanks

2007-12-26T14:00:00.000-06:00

Next we transferred to the Ga’ash army base where we ‘inspected’ some of the Merkava tanks that were used in the 2006 war with Hezbollah inside Lebanon. Here is a photo of one of them.

2007-12-26T13:52:00.000-06:00

On the eastern most portion of the Golan Heights that Israel controls is the kibbutz called Merom Golan (‘heights of Golan’) and an overlook/coffee shop operated by the kibbutz. (The coffee shop has a name of “Coffee Anan,” which they insist is not named after the former UN Secretary General but rather the words kaffee (coffee in most languages, including Hebrew), and anan, a word here which translates into “cloud,” perhaps signifying that we were high on the Heights.

There was an Israeli bunker emplacement that we visited there, and we could see the distant Syrian town of Kuneitra, as well as the cease fire line from 1973. In this photo you can see the distance in kilometers it is to various important places in the Middle East.

Ascending the Golan Heights Even Higher

2007-12-26T13:44:00.000-06:00

Following our jeep ride, we ascended the Golan Heights toward Kuneitra, the abandoned Syrian city on the border. At Kibbutz El Rom, we viewed a film on the ’73 Yom Kippur War battle that raged about 1.5 miles from where we sat, called the ‘battle for the Valley of Tears.’ The story of the film was one of a battle when the Israelis were almost outmaneuvered, and the tanks actually were no match for some of the Russian technology that the Syrians used in those days: The Israelis had no night vision gear, where the Syrians did. The plot of the film was told through the remembrances and vision of the driver, the gunner, and an actress portraying all the widows who lost husbands in that battle.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

2007-12-26T13:33:00.000-06:00

Jeep Rides in the Golan Heights

We departed our kibbutz guest house precisely at 7:50 AM in five Land Rover jeeps (each sitting seven people), each headed up toward the Golan Heights. The day dawned a bit hazy but essentially without a cloud in the sky. The view of the Golan Heights from below was awesome, but the view from the top of the Heights looking down was even more impressive. The photos above show some of our group standing on top of a Syrian bunker emplacement that was evacuated during the Six-Day War, the view from the Golan Heights looking up toward Mt. Hermon, the jeeps we rode in, a view into the northern valley of Israel (called the Hula Valley), and some of the wildlife that exists on the Heights.

2007-12-25T14:54:00.000-06:00

December 25, Continued (Your poster, your Rabbi, that is, will try to learn better how to manipulate the photos and text in this program. Please excuse the inelegant layout!)

We traveled from the center of the country to the north via the only toll road in Israel, Route 6, named after Yitzhak Rabin. The road has no toll gates, only the electronic monitoring system like our “Smart Pass.” So our journey tonight was rather swift.

This road is routed close to and along the ‘seam line,’ the fenced security border that represents Israel’s defense against terrorism. From the lighted highway, it appeared as a long, low wall topped by barbed wire, alongside of which was a security road that patrols cover each hour of each day. Any breeches in the wall are known almost instantaneously by the electronic devices embedded in the road and the wall. More on the political implications of this barrier another day.

We arrived to the guest house of Kibbutz K’far Blum. Many years ago, a few of the local kibbutzim, to supplement their income flow, opened up hotels or guest retreat houses. The guest house here is an old institution, rustic but beautiful. We are located in the ‘finger’ of Israel that extends north and is surrounded by Lebanon on the west and Syria on the east. The proximity to these nations, one time in active conflict with Israel and now always in a tenuous state of cease fire, makes us feel as though we really are at the center of the world. At least when there is a slow news period in the States, as there typically is at this time of year, there is always news here in the Middle East.

As we arrived at the time of dusk here, we don’t have too many photos of the scenery quite yet. But above are some photos of our group going through the airport and on the plane:

Also, the group of twenty-two travelers who arrived today were divided into one group of five (who dubbed themselves “The W’s – because all their last names began with W) and one group of 17. While waiting for we 17, The W’s composed a special song to greet us when we met in Atlanta for the long flight to Tel-Aviv. Here it is:

(sung to the tune of “Dreidle, Dreidle, Dreidle”)

Travel, travel, travel,
The W’s have prevailed.
Two days we have survived.
The W Chavurah has arrived.

Travel, travel, travel,
Pilgrims to the Promised Land.
Our hopes were ever so high
To turn fog ‘n snow to sand.

Travel, travel, travel,
Patience we have not.
Flexibility we have practiced,
Punctuality sure is shot.

Travel, travel, travel.
We W’s now have a song.
We expect to hear from you
A better creative endeavor.

2007-12-25T14:41:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, December 25, 2007
From K’far Blum, Northern Israel

Dear Friends,

Sitting in the hotel lobby here, we are listening to a two-man Beatles music retrospective, and writing to you, our Temple Beth El community. We are glad to be landed at last.

Tonight we all arrived to make our tour 32 strong! As we pulled away from the Ben Guiron International Airport, we had a two-and-a half hour drive ahead of us to arrive to our hotel here, but the drive was made much more comfortable by the 60 degree temperature and the cogent and welcoming description of some of the scenery by our guide Daphna, as we were driven by our driver Menachem (who likes to be called Manny).

Before the arrival of us twenty-two today, the four-then-ten visitors had some sightseeing in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, and were able to visit the Christian and Muslim quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock, and Here are some photos of their journey today and yesterday. Some of you might recognize Jane and Molly Taves, Allen and Mona Paschen, Seth Center and Maureen Monaghan, Jane and Anne Armstrong, and Aaron Gooze and Gillian Schauer.

We traveled from the center of the country to the north via the only toll road in Israel, Route 6, named after Yitzhak Rabin. The road has no toll gates, only the electronic monitoring system like our “Smart Pass.” So our journey tonight was rather swift.

This road is routed close to and along the ‘seam line,’ the fenced security border that represents Israel’s defense against terrorism. From the lighted highway, it appeared as a long, low wall topped by barbed wire, alongside of which was a security road that patrols cover each hour of each day. Any breeches in the wall are known almost instantaneously by the electronic devices embedded in the road and the wall. More on the political implications of this barrier another day.

We arrived to the guest house of Kibbutz K’far Blum. Many years ago, a few of the local kibbutzim, to supplement their income flow, opened up hotels or guest retreat houses. The guest house here is an old institution, rustic but beautiful. We are located in the ‘finger’ of Israel that extends north and is surrounded by Lebanon on the west and Syria on the east. The proximity to these nations, one time in active conflict with Israel and now always in a tenuous state of cease fire, makes us feel as though we really are at the center of the world. At least when there is a slow news period in the States, as there typically is at this time of year, there is always news here in the Middle East.

2007-12-23T19:58:00.000-06:00

Dear friends,

Welcome to another post. While our group assembles in Israel, as we're arriving in waves based upon the number of seats that we could get on already crowded planes, here is an essay by one of our travelers, Joanna Berke, on her feelings and reactions as she prepares to leave Madison for her journey to Israel:

"Whenever I’ve spoken to someone who’s been to Israel, and mention this trip, I’ve invariably heard the same response: “Oh, you’ll love it; you’ll feel so at home!” I’ve been thinking about this trip to Israel for some time. I've been wondering how I'll feel when we land there. Will I feel as if I’m coming home?

"A few nights ago I was in a store paying for some purchases. As I was leaving, the clerk called out to me, as has happened very often, “Merry Christmas!”. I responded as I often do, “thanks, same to you!”, and left. I would not consciously have thought another thing about it except I wasn’t alone in the store. A very dear, empathetic, friend of mine who happens to be Christian, asked me, almost immediately, “how did you feel when she said that?” This is my answer to her: I felt alone and I felt marginalized. As a Diaspora Jew I have felt alone and marginalized a good deal of my life. I know I’m in a minority: I know I belong to a group which is frequently open criticism and judgment. I know that via the media I’m privy to the non-Jewish world in ways unavailable to them; that the non Jewish world, therefore, knows little about Judaism. In other words, I know, always, I’m in a minority.

"So, how will I feel when I land in Israel? I believe I’ve been “coming home” to Israel for a long time. (Due to the fog we won’t be taking off until tomorrow. To be continued........)"

AND IN ISRAEL TODAY:

For Israeli news in English, be sure to try the website for the Ha'aretz newspaper. You can access this website at http://www.haaretz.com/, and you will find out what is happening there while we're visiting, and anytime.

Today was better weather-wise, and because of back-logs of other stranded travelers, we were able to send off only six Madison-based Beth El-ites to Israel. At this writing (Sunday evening, 8 PM), they have landed in Atlanta and are waiting to board their Tel Aviv bound flight. Today in Israel, four of our travelers -- children of our members who are traveling with us -- arrived in Israel, and are awaiting a welcome few days of travel in the central part of the country, primarily Tel-Aviv.

What will they encounter? They will see Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed on May 14, 1948. They will also see an underground "laundry" (located at a kibbutz) that served as an ammunitions factory during the Independence War. Tel Aviv is a bustling city, and is a very exciting town for eating, nightlife, and is very much like cities here. By the way, the high temperature in Tel Aviv today was a cool 64 degrees. And sunny and clear.

Thanks, again, for visiting our blog about our trip to Israel. Tomorrow, Monday, we board the plane in the evening, and probably will not be able to post again until late Tuesday Israel time, which is eight hours ahead of Madison. But look for more posts. Be well, and shalom.

Our Journey to Israel:The Fog Overcomes: Socked In on Shabbat

2007-12-22T16:55:00.000-06:00

For my first blog entry for our journey to Israel, I was not expecting to show you the frozen landscape around Dane County Regional Airport. However, for many of our travelers, this was all we were to see today as our planes were, for the most part, cancelled, and our trip postponed. We will be starting out to try again, both tomorrow and the next day, as some from our group will travel on each of the next two days.

For the children of some of our members who live elsewhere, they will apparently continue with their trip and have a wonderful journey to Israel even though we are not going to be with them. They will certainly get an excellent panaroma of the land!

It certainly took an extraordinary amount of patience and flexibility for our travelers to accept the reality that our trip was not going to start out as they anticipated it, but the many hours in the airport today were spent in camaraderie and ease, as each person helped the other deal with what were somewhat frustrating circumstances. This is a short post for now -- more will come in the days ahead.

Temple Beth El Sends 39 to Israel

2007-12-08T06:41:00.001-06:00

This winter, 39 intrepid travelers will depart for ten days of touring, enjoying, exploring, and relaxing their way through Israel. Departing December 22, we will investigate the ancient and modern aspects of Jewish life and heritage, and you, too, can be a part of it. Simply return to this site each day and catch our blogged posts and photos from Israel. We welcome you to come along and enjoy!

Hopes for Middle East Peace After Annapolis

2007-11-29T11:00:00.000-06:00

(This is an opinion piece that is authored by me and my wife, Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, that appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal on Thursday, November 29, 2007.)

In this month of November, the world will observe the 60th anniversary of the 1947 declaration of the United Nations’ Partition Plan for Palestine. This proposal originally called for the establishment of two new countries, both a Jewish and a Palestinian nation.
Accepted by the emerging Israeli government, this plan was rejected by the Arab League states and Palestinian Arab institutions, who simultaneously promised to push Israel into the Mediterranean if it ever declared independence. In fact, in December of that year, Arab military forces began to infiltrate into Palestine to prepare for the inevitable confrontation, thus setting the stage for the next 60 years of unrest and violence.
This month will also see a new chance for peace, as negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians will begin yet again. Convened in Annapolis, MD, by the United States, representatives of Israel, Palestine, and now other Arab governments of the Persian Gulf will begin to debate how to achieve peace in the region, providing the best opportunity for success that we have seen in a long time.
The Annapolis conference represents a chance at new beginnings, despite failed attempts in the past. And for these negotiations to form a basis for a future peace agreement, they require our vigorous support. This is especially so in the face of the radical pessimists and the reactionary naysayers whose only contribution to the debate has been to criticize every compromise solution brought forward.
There are, indeed, many difficult challenges that the negotiators will confront, including threats by Iran and the weakened political position of Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert. But these challenges must not hinder the efforts of any of these assembled leaders to find compromises that will lead to peace:
A two-state compromise would finally force Israeli West Bank settlers to give up on their territorial claims, and would call on Palestinians to end their hope for acquiring land inside Israel.
A two-state compromise would require from Palestinians the recognition that those refugees from the 1948 war choosing to return will largely do so to a new Palestinian state rather than to what is now Israel. There will be a concomitant Israeli recognition that a right to settle in the West Bank will, in actuality, be either in a Palestinian state or as part of a negotiated West Bank land swap.
A two-state compromise would require complex formulae to both divide and share the city of Jerusalem, as the capital of two states, and as the home of religious shrines for many faiths.
A two-state compromise would require recognition from both sides that they must share and preserve natural resources.
And most importantly, a two-state compromise would require a complete disavowal of violence and destruction as ways to find justice for past, present and future grievances.
Yes, a two-state solution would mean a complex and unprecedented set of compromises, yet public opinion polls consistently show that a majority of Israelis and Palestinians are in favor of this outcome.
The coming conference in Annapolis should not be viewed as a panacea or an easy fix. On the contrary, nothing could be more complicated at this delicate time.Yet there is much room for optimism as the negotiators head toward Annapolis. If that process has integrity, and if the nations represented negotiate with seriousness, this conference will mark a good beginning and the peace process can be launched anew. The world will not know the results until the weeks ahead have passed. But, possibly, the dream that emerged out of that historic UN vote in 1947 may soon be realized, and peace between the Palestinians and Israelis may be on the horizon.