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.