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!
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