Day 8, ISRAEL NORTH, Tzippori, Tzfat, & The Golan Heights, posted by Mark Bello

Posted by Mark Bello

What a day; I have much to write about! We leave Jerusalem and travel north. Our first stop is the Zippori Ancient Synagogue in the ancient city of Zippori. This is the site of the codification of the Mishnah, by Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi. The floor of the synagogue has been archeologically excavated and a protective pavilion has been built around it thanks to a donation from a family from Detroit. The floor is amazingly intact and contains mosaic artistry. The floor at the sanctuary entrance contains a “dedication aisle”. On the left is a dedication to Tanhum, son of Yudan and Semqah and Nehori, the son of Tanhum. The right side is dedicated to Yudan, son of Issac the Priest and Paragri, his daughter. Whatever they paid for these dedications, they sure got there money’s worth; the synagogue is almost 2,000 years old and people are still paying their respects!

We enter what was the (small) sanctuary and don our Talesim and Tefillin. We daven Shacharit in this place where people davened 2000 years ago. This is one of the wonders of Eretz Yitzrael; like yesterday on the Temple steps, we are conducting services where Jewish ancestor conducted services thousands of years ago!

This particular synagogue was built in 500 CE. The chapel mosaic floor contains scenes depicting daily bread and fruit offerings, signs of the Zodiac, Hebrew months, the four seasons, the binding of Issac, and the angels visit to Abraham and Sarah. Certainly, there are missing tiles, but the imagination can reconstruct. The curators have assisted with this, providing rendered drawings of what each scene must have looked like. There is also an artist rendering of the full structure; one can look at the pieces present and missing, and reconstruct the pieces in one’s mind. The other very interesting piece of trivia we learn is that this synagogue does not face Jerusalem. You see, this synagogue was built before that custom entered Jewish life. As we depart, we can see the excavations of the ancient city and envision the streets and structures in rather graphic detail. Zippori is a remarkable archeological site.

We return to the bus and take a short ride to Peki’in, primarily a Druze village. The Druze are Israeli Arabs (citizens of the Country). Our first stop is the Rashbi Cave. Legend has it that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son, Rabbi Elazar, hid in the cave when the Romans issued a decree that Jews were forbidden from Torah study. According to legend, a miracle occurred and a carob tree and spring were miraculously created providing the two scholars years of nourishment while in hiding. The cave is a heavily visited and “West Wall type” notes and candles adorn the cavern.

We descend some nearby steps (steep and long); I have climbed more steps in the past two days than I can count! At the bottom is a natural spring, the same natural spring that acts as the principal water source for the region. Yesterday, when visiting the City of David, we had to stop half way to the Jerusalem spring and return. Not this time, though, and I reach in and grab a handful of the clear, clean, cool water.

It is time for lunch, and Muki leads us to a set of doors that leads to a beautiful stone restaurant. The atmosphere can only be described as dining in a finely finished cavern; the walls are of carved stone and there are several rooms with natural stone archways leading to each section of the restaurant. We are treated to a Mid- Eastern style feast capped off with Arabic coffee and, of course, Baklava. During lunch, we are introduced to a young Jew from Baltimore, MD, who has made aliyah and has been “adopted” by the Druze restaurant owner. He engages in a discussion of Arab-Israeli relations from a “village perspective”, and angers most who listen when he suggests that the Jews do not respect the Arabs and do not negotiate with good intentions.

After lunch, we retire to the “lounge” (it looks like an Arab living room), and are treated to a presentation by the owner about the Druze religion and customs. We discover that everything we ate is home made by the owner’s wife (who never leaves the kitchen and is not introduced to us). Toward the front of the restaurant is a little “food shop” where several of us buy different bottled delicacies. It is time to say farewell to our new Druze friends, and we ascend the stairs (there are always more on the way up, aren’t there!?) and board the bus to Safed.

Safed is the home of the Contemporary Artists’ Colony and has been the center of Jewish Mysticism for centuries. We discover that on a clear day (unfortunately, this one is hazy), one can look one way and see the Sea of Galilee, then look the other and see the Mediterranean. The first stop on our visit is the Caro Synagogue, a Orthodox-Sephardic synagogue painted sky blue, throughout. We learn that it is named for Rabbi Josef Caro, who wrote the Shulchan Aruch, the authoritative text of modern Jewish Law. The interior is fascinating for its volumes of ancient texts, many of which are now banished and contained behind glass because they cannot be discarded, under Jewish Law (because they contain G-d’s word).

Next, we visit the Ashkanazi Ari Synagogue, named for the Rabbi. This synagogue is the birthplace of Kabbalat Shabbat. We learn that a very interesting incident occurred at this place. In 1948, during Israel’s War for Independence, the synagogue’s door was wide open and the congregants were inside the chapel, praying. An Arab attack on the city occurred and a piece of shrapnel was shot into the sanctuary. At the precise moment the deadly shrapnel entered the building, the congregants reached a point in the service where they were required to bow. They bowed and the shrapnel flew over their heads and struck the bima instead of a human target. The bima bears the scar of the attack, to this day.

After our visit to the synagogues, we take a leisurely stroll through the Old City (yes, Safed has an Old City, too, with narrow streets paved in Jerusalem stone, but it is not Jerusalem, not even close) and visit the art galleries and their beautiful works of art. Surprisingly, Tobye buys nothing, chalk one up for my bank account!

It is now late afternoon, and we leave this beautiful place and return to the bus for the drive to the Upper Galilee. We drive over the Amoud Valley via the Amoud Canyon Bridge, the highest bridge in Israel. We pass between the Jordan River and the Mountains of Galilee and stop at the river for a guided Jeep tour of the Golan Heights. Bonnie, Joyce, Leonard, Susan, Sharon and I climb into the back of a Jeep which has been altered to provide bench seating for six passengers along each side of the Jeep. Tobye, the queen, sits in the front passenger seat because of her motion sickness (good luck, driver!). Our other travel mates are loaded into two more “Jeeps” (one is a more luxurious Land Rover). The trip starts at a very rickety bridge over the Jordan, then up a paved road which inclines, slightly, along the base of the hill. We are advised by our very friendly driver that the road is a pre-1967 IDF road. I am thinking: “Will we be shot at?” Then: “This isn’t so bad; Tobye will be fine”. We turn right and, suddenly, we are on a roller coaster ride on a dirt and stone road, going directly up to the top of the Golan Heights. The climb is very steep and we are rockin’ and rollin’ up the side of the mountain. Tobye pulls out her Lott Airlines barf bag. About half-way to the top, Leonard inquires whether the driver has enough gas to get us there and back; not funny, none of us want to walk back down.

We reach the top and stagger out of the Jeep. We look out over the valley toward the Mountains of Galilee (toward Lebanon, behind us is Syria). The site is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The sun is setting on the mountain; the valley is multicolored, manicured, lush and green. I can only describe it as true G-d’s country.

Our Jeep guide (not Muki), provides a lesson in border war and how the borders have changed with the various wars the area has experienced. I must confess, I have difficulty with his dialect (he certainly speaks better English than I speak Hebrew) and I don’t catch all he has to say. It suffices to say that the spot we are standing upon was once Syrian land after Syrian forces pushed Israel back during the 1948 War for Independence. After the 1967 war, and since, the land has belonged to Israel. The sun is disappearing over the horizon and I can certainly understand why such beauty is fought over (there are also strategic resource and defense issues that are far more important than scenic beauty). But, Israel has it, now; let’s hope she retains it without further bloodshed. (We learn that the site was also the target of Lebanese bombs in last year’s war.)

As the sun disappears, we return to the Jeep for the descent down the mountain. The trip is quite eventful. Aside from the usual “rock & roll”, we encounter a fox, a second large unidentified four legged animal, two baby kittens in the middle of the road (causing a short and appreciated stop) and a sweet pea stop (Our driver stops to pick and hands us a few delicious samples as an appetizer to dinner). When we reach the bottom, we encounter a locked gate, which requires us to double back over the same last couple of miles of back road to our dinner destination. This ride is no place for a bad back; I will certainly be sore tomorrow.

We reach our dinner destination, a large picnic table, set under artificial lighting adorned by huge palm trees and deep woods and the moon and the stars. It is just beautiful. I discover that we are on picnic grounds of the Hagoshrim Kibbutz. We feast upon a barbequed Greek style meal consisting of several appetizers, chicken kabob, steak, hot dogs, lamb burgers, potatoes, egg plant and coleslaw. There is too much food, but, of course, we can handle it! Dessert is home grown fruit; peaches, plums, apples and a local fruit called “loqat” (delicious). We are told that we cannot leave until we have tea, so we wait and are served a delicious hot tea with a touch of mint flavor. After dinner, we thank our hosts; we are all stuffed and return to the bus for the short ride to the hotel. It is nestled in a beautiful area on the grounds of the Kibbutz. Unfortunately, we will not get to enjoy it much and we must rise in the morning and leave, immediately, for visits to Kiriat Sh’monah and the Tel Dan Nature Preserve. It is late and I am tired. I will try to write more, tomorrow.

With respect, Mark

Here is a link to pictures from today: http://picasaweb.google.com/jonberkun/Day8IsraelTzipporiTzfatGolanHeights