We are sitting in the living room of a Druze family that takes in groups like ours as their family business. We are learning about he history and differences of the Druze religion. What was most interesting ( to Matt at least ) was their observance of both secular and religious Druze where both are […]
Archive | Israel Trip 2012
Leaving Northern Israel – Tzippori
We had a very different dinner last night at a goat farm named Ein Kamonim with soup, salads, goat milk cheese, goat milk yogurt, breads with goat milk butter, and for dessert, naturally… Baked apples (sorry, no goat milk) This morning we begin a long day starting with leaving our home at K’far Blum and […]
Our Israeli driver Moti
Moti is expressing the feeling that most of us share. But there’s so much to see, so onward we go!
Safed in the rain
Safed / Tzvat is a mystical city, the seat of Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. We came to view the Caro and Ari synagogues and learn about the origin of our prayer welcoming the Shabbat – the Lecha Dodi we say on Friday nights. We also of course had some time to pick up some food […]
Lunch in Katzrin and Na’aman winery & Architecture
Now that we’ve gotten our dessert, it’s time for lunch! We stopped at a small shopping center in Katzrin for falafel or shwarma. The falafel seller was a particularly outgoing person. As tourists (and American tourists at that) it’s easy for us to believe that the entire country is working for our enjoyment. However, Mike […]
Exploring the north – Golan Heights and De Karina
After dinner at the Kibbutz, a good nights sleep (9:30p for Matt and 10:30 for Rabbi Cohen) we had another famous Israeli hotel breakfast and then we were off for another day of touring. Our first stop was in the Golan Heights where we visited a memorial from the 1967 six-day war. We learned the […]
Hula nature reserve and NAOT factory
Beyond the politically and historically related stops on our travels, we now stopped at an environmentally important area : the Hula Valley Nature Reserve. Originally much of Israel was swampland and was drained to make it habitable for the settlers. What was not known at the time was that this area is an important migratory […]
K’far Blum – our northern home
We left Jerusalem early this morning. The new light rail, (that Matt got to ride and I didn’t…not that I’m bitter, but I guess I’ll leave that for next time) wrecks havoc with the Jerusalem traffic. But finally, we made it out of the city only to go south in order to go north. We […]
Kinneret Cemetery
On the shores of Kinneret is the cemetery where many of the pioneers of Israel are buried. Here on the Kinneret are the first kibbutzim. This was where the true pioneers drained the swamps and built the farms that would feed the people. During our stop we met some of these pioneers, read their poetry […]
Driving up north – Beit She’an
This morning we packed our bags and said a teary good bye to Jerusalem. We drove up north through the West Bank and reviewed the differences between areas A,B, and C. Our first stop was then the cities (both modern and ancient) of Beit She’an. But first, we have to take the tram. Beit She’an […]