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

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

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

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

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!

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.