The trip started Tuesday morning with a 6:30am meeting at the bus to load our bags on and hop on board. Our first short drive was to pick up the Tel Aviv crew and staff. Most of us had two seats to ourselves, so we tried to nap, mostly unsuccessfully from all the stop and go traffic on our way. A few Tel Aviv participants hopped on our bus and the rest had a mini-bus to take. We made our way up north to Nahal Kziv, a hiking trail that crosses a stream a number of times, so it was fun and a little nerve wracking (don't fall in!) and really beautiful for taking pictures. Lunch was provided for us in advance so we loaded our backpacks, and midway through the hike, we stopped at a part of the stream where there was open rock for us to sit and enjoy. Our tour guide stopped in a few locations to tell us about the Golan Heights, the history of the land, and the different groups of people that have lived and still live in this region today. I spent most of my time hiking in the front of the group with Ethan, Marlowe, and Josh, but toward the end, I found Rachelle and we spent the rest of the hike together. I know, we're cute.
After the hike, we drove to the Druze Village of Peki'in and toured a little bit, sampled some food from local shops, and hopped back on the bus to continue our day. The Druze are an offshoot of Islam but a fairly secret religion/culture so no one fully knows who they are except themselves. They live in many Middle Eastern countries including Israel, particularly in the North, and they are loyal to their country, so much that they serve here in the IDF and elsewhere in their militaries. Family members have fought against each other in war because of their national loyalties. They are completely recognized as citizens of the State of Israel and give back to the country in many ways. They have certain foods which are unique to Druze culture, and some that are not so much, so a bunch of us spent our shekels on some yummy Druze food while we were there (baklava for me!). They were so happy to have us - either to show us their culture or to make a profit (or both!).
After our tour of Peki'in ended, we boarded the bus once again to head to our kibbutz accommodations for the night. After a short drive, we arrived at the kibbutz, the staff handed out our keys and Rachelle and I went to our room to settle in. The rooms were SO nice! Much nicer than our apartments. We had dinner in the hadar ohel (dining room) which was a nice buffet of hot food and some cold spreads. Although the meal was a meat meal with chicken schnitzel, they gave me a vegetarian soy schnitzel, because I told them I was a vegetarian. Apparently I am now the only one - no one else asked for one so I had as much as I wanted!
After dinner, we had the option to go to a movie in one of the lounges at the kibbutz, but I started coming down with a cold so I wanted to just relax, drink some tea, and have girl chat with Rachelle until we decided to just call it a night. At about 2:30am Shoshana (one of the Israelis living with us in the building) came in, as expected, and I woke up just to the sound of the door opening, but fell right back asleep and waited until morning to say hi. She and Dani and Elazar (the two Israeli boys who live in our building) all took a bus up to the kibbutz that night so they could join us for the second day.
The second day began with breakfast around 7am in the hadar ohel (dining room) including packing a lunch. Since it was all sliced meat and vegetables for lunch, I went ahead and took dairy from the breakfast spread, to make a cheese and veggie sandwich, cause, you know, that's how I roll. We drove to one of the trails on Mount Merom, one of the highest points in the north of Israel, and started our short hike. The whole hike was only around an hour, with a couple of stops here and there, including one stop where we could view the Hermon, the highest mountain in Israel where they even have SKIING! There has to be enough snow for that to happen but there is snow in Israel. Sometimes.
After the hike we boarded the bus again and drove to the ancient mystical Kabbalistic city of Tsfat (which is sometimes written as Safed but that just looks dumb so I'm gonna all it what I wanna call it). We did a short tour in Tsfat, most of which I had seen before. I didn't even bother going in to the synagogue on the tour because it was so crowded, and, I've seen it 7 times. No need to see it again and fight through the crowds. We got to see Avraham Lowenthal, an American who made aliyah after starting his journey and discovery of Kabbalah and spirituality and Judaism and how it all comes together for him. He is an artist and sells his work to the visitors to his shop. I had no idea we'd be going but I've met him a few times from Birthright trips. They arranged the visit with him because he was on the arts track of WUJS back in the day! Who knew! A fellow WUJS participant. Everyone really enjoyed what he had to say about his journey and artwork; some made purchases including Rachelle who had wanted one particular piece for a while. Worth dishing out the shekels when you appreciate art that much!
We were given about an hour of free time to walk around, have a bite to eat, do some shopping, etc. All of the shop owners were pretty antsy about selling, as usual, especially for Hanukkah and pushing gifts. "You can take this home as a gift to your friends, your family." OK yeah buddy not taking home all this stuff that's gonna break in my suitcase. Nice try. But they were sweet and I wished them all a Hanukkah Sameach (Happy Hanukkah).
Our next stop was to Rosh Hanikra, the northernmost part of Israel on the coast, where it borders Lebanon. The water has created these beautiful and amazing natural cliffs and rock formations from erosion and wind and weather. We took a cable car down from the top of the cliff to the caves and did a short walk through them. We didn't have enough time for the video unfortunately, but I was OK with that because I'd rather have walked through the real thing myself instead of drive all that way to see a video about something I'm right next to. Would have been silly. The sun was starting to set over the water and it just sparkled. It was beautiful. I miss the water being in Jerusalem. I'm so used to seeing water everywhere back at home. It was so nice to see the water even just for a little while.
We all got back on the bus and drove through half the country on our way to Tel Aviv to drop off their group, and then made our way to Jerusalem to call it a night. One of the greatest things about being in our Jerusalem group is that we are a group that makes things happen. So after about 5 minutes of having returned to the building, barely unpacking, we all got together in the lobby of our building to light Hanukkah candles together. After all, it was the first night of Hanukkah! Since Josh had scored a box of free menorahs from some Chabad rabbi in Tsfat (I guess Chabad rabbis do have their pluses too!), we lit as many as could fit on the small table we put in the lobby. It was really nice to light together, sing the blessings together (including the shehechiyanu blessing said on the first night of the holiday) and some songs. Hanukkah for me is such a time of family and tradition, that, just like my birthday, and Thanksgiving, and other moments of this year, I was a bit worried about how I'd feel being so far from home and away from everything familiar. This really comforted me and made me realize how much of a family we have become. Sure it sounds cheesy, but somehow, amazingly, it's happened! When all of us are in the same position of being away from home and missing our families, it's nice that we can come together in such a positive way for a fun holiday.
Now it's time to unpack, do some laundry, and re-pack, because I'm going to Turkey tomorrow!!!
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