Thursday, October 29 - From the Galilee to Jerusalem

This morning, we were all woken up early with the pounding of thunder and the sound of torrential rain falling in the north of Israel.  When you hear loud "booms" in Israel, especially when you are woken out of a deep sleep it takes a moment to realize what is happening.  This is especially true after visiting the border with Syria.  Opening up my window and looking out the sky looked angry, a dark, dark grey color moving and swirling.  With storms like this it is easy to see how the earth could have been flooded during the story of Noah.

We enjoyed one more amazing breakfast at Kfar Blum, where each and every item is fresh and hand made, before boarding our bus and heading up, up the mountains to one of my very favorite places, Tsfat, a center of Jewish mysticism for hundreds of years and a contemporary artists' colony.  When we arrived Ron sat us down in a public square to explain a little bit about mysticism and Kabbala.  

While it is a beautiful tradition, mysticism is very hard to grasp, especially because everything has double and triple meanings, and some meanings are hidden deep within the texts or even in the space between the letters of words.  People spend their whole lives studying this in order to gain deeper understanding.  Mysticism is outside of language, and one works to ascend up through different levels towards infinity.  Ron explained that mysticism is beautiful, rich and nonrational.  According to the Mystics purity is non physical and sin is physical.  We are living in a shattered world and our job is to collect the many pieces and try to put it back together again, finding the light and recreating the perfect state of being where sin is not possible.  This is obviously a difficult idea to grasp in a five minute conversation with our educator, but there is something mystical about Tsfat.  There is a feeling there that is indescribable, but it is recognizably different than at any other place on earth.  There is a calm and serenity there, and a beauty that is not matched.  

After our introduction to Kabbala and mysticism we went and spent a few minutes learning about the artwork of David Friedman, a Tsfat artist inspired by Kabbala.  David share with us many of his pieces of art and explained the meaning behind his choices.  He explained gematria, which is a system of numbers assigned to certain Hebrew letters that can link words to numbers.  We loved his explanations so much that many of us bought artwork there following his presentation.  Feel free to ask us for the interpretation of the art we purchased.  We would love to share!

Following our art lecture by David Friedman we made our way to visit the Ari synagogue.  On the way we were able to peek in and see these cute kids during their studies at a local yeshiva. They looked like mini rabbis, but acted just like kids from Thousand Oaks waving and yelling "shalom shalom" to us as we walked by. I think they were more interested in the strange looking Americans walking through their town than we were in these cute mini rabbis studying mysticism and Judaism.  

The Ari synagogue is an important synagogue in Tsfat.  It is also really beautiful to look at.  We all went inside and were in awe of the Ark and Bima, and we couldn't wait to hear more about this important place from Ron, who seems to know everything about well, everything.

But just as Ron was getting into why this was such an important synagogue, we began to hear music. It got louder and louder and finally a large group of people came into the synagogue to celebrate the bar mitzvah of a young man.  I noticed that the only people coming in were men...  When I turned and looked up at the women's section and saw all of the women up there I knew we were in an orthodox synagogue, which posed a problem since all of the women touring with us were in the main sanctuary.  We stayed and enjoyed the music, clapping and singing along as we carefully and respectfully exited the sanctuary.

We then had some time to walk around this amazing place and shop, shop, shop.

I think we supported the local economy in a big way!

As we were leaving Tsfat and heading down the mountain we all felt the same way, which is how everyone feels leaving this great place, that we just did not have enough time to spend there.  Next time...

We went to a food court for lunch where we were dining with many special guests...

It's funny, in America the sight of a gun like this would give us pause and make us uncomfortable, especially when being held by a young man or woman.  In Israel, it is part of the culture and actually is reassuring that we are being kept safe.  Seeing all of these soldiers makes me feel so grateful for the sacrifice that every Israeli family makes, doing the unthinkable and sending their child, their most prized asset off to possible war.  It is a sacrifice that I would have a terribly hard time making.

After lunch we all used the restrooms before going back on the bus.  You may be king yourself Shyam talking about going to the restroom.  Here is the door to the men's room at the food court...

It seems like every building has a safe room or bomb shelter, and the food court's bomb shelter just happens to include the men's restroom.  I guess when you are locked in the safe room you still might have to use the restroom...

Here is the view of the Kinerret as we were coming down the mountain. Just beautiful, especially after a rain shower.

Our next stop was Yemin Orde, a youth village which is one of Israel's most innovative educational institutions, specializing in integrating new immigrant youth into Israeli society.  While on the way we got caught in terrible traffic, virtually at a stand still for an hour as we waited for workers to blow up part of the mountain where they are expanding the road we were driving on.  This made us extremely late for our time at Yemin Orde.  To be quite honest, I really wanted to get to Jerusalem, and I was considering calling and cancelling our stop at Yemin Orde in order to get to Jerusalem at a reasonable time.  

Boy am I glad that Ron kept this stop on our itinerary.

Here, we crowded in a small hut, reminiscent of the huts some of the Ethopian immigrants would have lived in before getting to Israel.  We heard the story of an immigrant who came to Israel.  She very honestly share with us her journey and the difficulties coming to Israel with a skin color that is different than "normal" Israelis.  Immediately I thought back to our time in Poland where we learned that Jews were always treated as others and different.  She explained how now, after many years she feels like an Israeli and at home.  Her sense of pride in being an Israeli was inspiring to all of us, and many in our group left this talk with tears running down our faces.  

Yemin Orde takes kids who are in need and have no means of being taken care of and gives them what they deserve, a great education, a place to learn about life and a place to call home.  Racheli, the woman who guided us through the faciility put it best when she said that all Yemin Orde does is to show the kids that they aren't needy, but needed.  WOW!  They aren't needy, they are needed.  She said that when she gives a graduate a hug, she could be hugging the next prime minister, or chief of staff.  Yemin Orde allows their students to reach their potential, or even reach beyond their potential.  It is a very powerful and important place, one that we need to support.  We shared some klezmer music with a group of graduates who were having a reunion of sorts in order to act as mentors to the current class of seniors.  Our music led to a spontaneous hora where our travelers and the graduates of Yemin Orde joined together in a pure expression of joy.

There are so many lessons from this experience, one being how lucky we all are to have Israel, and her loving arms opened wide to us whenever we need her.  That at a moment's notice we can come here and be home.  While this is not such a big deal for us in the United States where we are given our freedom, for people like this young lady we met today, Israel is truly the promised land, paradise, the land of milk and honey.  If only there were a place like this to accept immigrants before the madness of World War 2 broke out, perhaps that story would have ended differently.  Perhaps Sophia would have been able to find her home in Israel.  Another lesson for us all is to be sure that we are caring for the strangers in our world, both in our community and beyond, to be sure that we are not making anyone feel other again.  A huge challenge, and a huge responsibility.  

We boarded our bus and began our ride home to Jerusalem.  On the way we were greeted by a motorcade of Prime Minister Netenyahu's vehicles as well as two Palestinian ambulances.  We think that perhaps they were transporting the brother of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas who was being treated in an Israeli hospital.  Think about that for a moment...  The brother of the Palestinian leader was being treated in an Israeli hospital...  Was this reported in the news in the United States?  This could be a huge building block towards trust and peace...

We sang our traditional Shehechianu prayer as we entered Jerusalem for the first time and toasted with a kiddush.  Even the grape juice in Jerusalem is sweeter.

Upon arriving in Jerusalem, Marcia and Harold Gordon and I had the pleasure of dining with Rachel Dubowe, currently in her first year of her masters degree program at HUC in Jerusalem.  It was so terrific to get to dine with her and hear all about her adventures.  She truly is a remarkable young woman who has made and will make a significant difference in our world...  Like mother, like daughter I guess!

In front of our hotel is the BIG welcome sign...  

We have done some amazing things on this trip so far, but without question my favorite place in Israel is Jerusalem.  I cannot wait to share my love for the Old City with our travelers and watch as they experience all Jerusalem has to offer.  We are going to interact with 4000 years of history, climb through ancient tunnels along the extension of the Western Wall, sit on the southern steps of the ancient Temple, lay our hands on the stones that we face during each and every service we do and explore the Jewish Quarter.  I would love to share this city with you, too.  TAE is starting to plan our next Israel adventure in June of 2017, and you should be a part of it.  Come home to Israel with your communal family and discover a connection deeper than anything you could have ever imagined.

Wednesday, October 28 - Serenity and Security in the Golan

What an amazing day we had in the north of Israel today.  We began our day of touring with a lovely walk through The Tel Dan Nature Reserve.  We all felt the energy and excitement of Ron who was so excited to show us the local flora and fauna.  Walking through this breathtaking nature it is hard to believe we are in the Middle East!  I think we all love bird watching now, too!

Ron helped us to identify wild raspberries that we could pick and eat and he pointed out each and every plant we walked by as well.  What a wealth of knowledge he is.

Walking through tunnels made of trees and bushes was a perfect way to start the day.  A couple of days ago this activity would have made me feel guilty, but this renewed sense of responsibility to be present and enjoy life allowed me to truly take in and enjoy this beautiful place.  I was careful to remember how it smelled, tasted and felt to be there.  What a blessing.  I think I need to take more walks like this in Thousand Oaks.

Here we were able to see the largest tributary to the Jordan River.

We stopped at the same wading pool that our June travelers stopped at...  This time, we did not take the time to take off our shoes and socks and go in the water.  

Instead, we continued on to see some ruins from the great biblical city of Dan, ruins that were 2900 years old!  

How incredible to see this ancient city and walk in the square in front of the front gate.  

This site was exciting, but what we didn't realize is that we would be experiencing an archeological site that was 4000 years old, Abraham's Gate.

This is one of the earliest arches found anywhere in the world, perhaps the oldest.  Ron read from Genesis 14:14 that describes Abraham's journey to Dan to search for his brother.  It was incredible to connect this location to our Torah text in such a concrete way.  Our collective breath was taken away.

From Dan we boarded our bus and drove up into the Golan Heights to begin our tour of one of two wineries we would be visiting today.  It is quite an experience to be sipping wine along the Syrian border, especially thinking of all the craziness that is happening with the numerous conflicts there.  Our first stop was a large winery, the Golan Heights Winery.

Here we learned a little about the wines and then went into a tasting room to sample three different varieties.

Our guide then took us for a short tour of the winery and explained how the wines were created.

When we got back to the bus, our replacement bus had arrived, making this the third bus in just two days...  Here is the mandatory bus shot.  Notice the color of the seats, we weren't sure we liked the red seats more or the blue ones...

After a brief stop for lunch in a small Golan Heights town (more DELICIOUS falefel) we went to our second winery of the day, the Assaf winery.  This is a much smaller winery from before, and they describe themselves as a family owned and run boutique winery.  The vintner took us on a tour of the facility before we tasted the wine.  Again, we acknowledged how strange it was to be drinking wine along such a dangerous border.

Below is an interesting shot... Above the wine bottles you can see the ruins of a Syrian outpost used during the 1967 war.  Amazing that in the shadows of this bunker is a facility cultivating the land to make some delicious wine.  

We bought many bottles of wine from each of these wineries as we wanted to support these businesses who had built facilities on land that used to belong to Syria prior to 1967 and who live so close to the conflict.  

After we had our fill of wine, we went to the parking lot to find our original bus, the one who's tire blew out the night before had returned to us along with our beloved Shlomo, our fearless driver.  In case you are keeping track, this is the fourth bus in less than 24 hours.  Here is the required bus picture...  I think we were all happy to see Shlomo and return to our original blue seats.

Our next activity was to drive to the very top of Mount Bental and meet Major Sarit Zenavi, a retired major who served in the IDF as a senior intelligence officer on the northern boarder.  Mount Bental houses a bunker that was used during the 1967 war and now offers unbelievable views into Lebanon and Syria.  We would be focusing on Syria and we got quite the education and insight into the conflicts that are occurring there.  

This was an incredible experience.  First of all, Major Zehavi is without question, the toughest woman I have ever met.  She commanded respect from the beginning and it was easy to see her intelligence and how she was a huge asset to the Israeli military.  

As she spoke, we all were looking into the valley below, at the boarder between Israel and Syria.  We could hear an explosion in the background.  Immediately we all were uneasy, thinking that an ISIS attack could be happening across the boarder.  She calmed our nerves and assured us it was only thunder and commented "I am used to a different kind of explosion."  We could see the rain heading in our direction and she assured us that the rain would wait until she was done.  We believed her, and she was right!

Being on top of the bunker at the top of Mount Bental is amazing, but it is a little far away from Syria.  She showed us buildings like the UN base that watches what is happening in Syria and the abandoned Syrian Headquarters for the Israeli front.  She also pointed out the city of Koneitra, a destroyed city that is now overrun by terrorists.  It was hard for me, even with the binoculars she provided, to get a true sense for the border fence that separates Israel from Syria.  I asked her how the fence was constructed and her reply to me was "I'll show you when we go down there."

My jaw dropped and I went to Ron, our educator and asked if she was serious.  

She was serious.

We boarded our bus and followed Major Zehavi down a small road towards the conflict.  As we got closer we could see a destroyed old Syrian outposts that had been abandoned.  The only cars on the road were Major Zehavi, our bus, and a UN vehicle going to the UN base that was right by where we were going.  

We turned into a dirt road and approached an abandoned building.  It was the abandoned Syrian Headquarters for the Israeli front that we saw from atop the mountain.  It served as these headquarters until 1967 when Israel took the land during the war.  While it is in the Israeli part of the land, it is about .5 miles from the Syrian boarder and the destroyed city of Koneitra now overrun by terrorists.

.5 miles!!!!

We heard some stories about the 1967 war and how the largest battle was in the Valley of Tears, which was just beyond the building.  I have looked into Syria 3 times now, and have NEVER been anywhere near this close.  

After these stories, she asked if we wanted to go inside the building.  DO WE WANT TO GO INSIDE THE BUILDING????????

It was like walking into a war zone, heck, this WAS a war zone.  It was amazing to be inside there and to imagine both the headquarters working towards the destruction of Israel as well as the battle that destroyed those headquarters.

We walked down the hall and up stairs to the second floor.  I couldn't believe my eyes.

While it is hard to see, the picture below is of some of there's of the city of Komeitra.

In the background of this picture you can see the anti-tank ditches dug by Israelis following the war in case of a tank attack. 

As if planned, while she was speaking we heard an explosion.  Only this time, it wasn't thunder.  It was an artillery shelling going on just beyond the border.  We were nervous and she tried to calm our nerves...  "If it gets any closer, we'll leave."  Hardly reassuring, but incredible to experience.  We then heard the roar of what we believe were F-16 jets from the IDF.  While they were probably just doing a training run, I like to think they were protecting their most important VIP visitors from Temple Adat Elohim.  

As we were leaving the sun was setting and it was getting darker and darker.  How eerie to be there in the twilight of the evening.

As we boarded our bus and headed back to safety, we joked that now we would go to another winery...  In reality, this experience gave us a small sense of the madness happening in Syria.  We had a better understanding of the reasons for the conflict and the realization of just how important the Golan Heights are for Israel's security.  We left understanding that Israel is a small country surrounded by petty nasty neighbors, a reality we could not posibly understand.

We returned to the hotel and went to dinner and enjoyed some of the wine we purchased at the local wineries.  And we discussed how it felt to be standing only a half a mile from the terrorists who are fighting in Syria.  Only in Israel.

After dinner we went and met with Nancy, a second-generation kibbutz member who lives at Kfar Blum, where we are staying.  We learned about how kibbutz life has changed over the years and some of the struggles they face.  It was interesting to hear how the traditional kibbutz had to adapt in order to survive, and it made me think of those fighters in Syria, who refuse to adapt their way of thinking and are killing because of it.  

Today was incredible.  You really have to come here and experience this amazing and diverse country.  From the simple beauty of nature, to the ancient cities that connect us to our ancestors, from the fear and weight of standing so close to Syria to sipping wine along that very border.  I am so grateful that while I enjoy our trip there are people like Major Zehavi who are keeping us safe.  I am grateful for each and every member of the IDF who serve Israel proudly.  It makes me think of America...  While I do not think that every child should have to serve in the armed forces like in Israel, I do think that perhaps a year of civil service should be required.  Perhaps a year of social action, geared to strengthen the ties of our youth to our great country might be a wonderful thing.  In Israel you can see and feel that sense of national pride, a pride that I think is sometimes missing in America.  Many in the USA take their freedom for granted.  I know I do...  Perhaps we all should do more to express our gratitude to those men and women who serve their country on our behalf, giving us the freedom to pursue our ambitions to better our world.