3 days in the Golan and Galilee

This week all of the first year students went on a Tiyyul to Northern Israel. The theme of our week was "In Search of the New Jew" and we spoke a lot about the 3 big waves of immigration to Israel beginning before the State was established.

The first stop on our Journey was a city called Zichron Yaakov which was one of the first settlement cities in Israel during the First Aliyah in 1881 (for more info on the First Aliyah- here's the wiki site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Aliyah). We spoke about their difficulties in turning that region of Israel from a swamp land into a viable and thriving place for people to live. For more information about Zichron Yaakov, visit this website: http://www.gemsinisrael.com/e_article000004384.htm. It is now a very quaint city with shops and restaurants, I would definitely recommend that if you are in Israel to visit Zichron Yaakov!

We left Zichron Yaakov for the springs in Sachne. While most of Israel is dessert, the Galilee and Golan areas have much more running water and springs. Sachne is a beautiful site with cold water springs and waterfalls. We spent a lovely afternoon swimming in the springs and enjoying the cool weather and water!

In the evening we met with our Modern Israeli History teachers Paul and Jeremy. Jeremy showed us clips of movies about several different periods in Israel History during the major immigration periods. These discussions were very interesting to me and I am looking forward to learning more about Modern Israel history during this year. Israel is a very old place, and at the same time it is a very new place. The ways in which it is ancient are mostly obvious. However, it can be difficult to see Israel as a new country, especially when we spend so much time in Jerusalem which hasn't changed all that much in a while. During our sessions on this Tiyyul, we spoke about the "New Jew" and the Aliyot (immigrations) to Israel which happened BEFORE it became a state in 1948. Before these immigrations Israel was barren and swampy, and the first settlers worked the lands to make it liveable and beautiful as it is today. This Tiyyul helped me to understand the work that went into creating the Modern State of Israel, which helps to explain the pride that Israelis feel for the land itself.

In the morning on Day 2 we travelled to Tel Hai, which was another early settlement town. Tel Hai is in the Upper Galilee in an area disputed between Israel and Syria. There is a very interesting story about a battle that took place at Tel Hai which left 8 Settlers Dead including the famous Soldier Joseph Trumpledore. For more information, here's the wiki site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Hai. At the end of the battle, the Settlement was burned to the ground, but archaeologists have reconstructed it as a National Monument to the first Settlers of Modern Israel. Below is a picture inside the Settlement.

After Tel Hai we visited the city of Metullah, which is the northernmost city in Israel at the border between Israel and Lebanon. At this stop we spoke about the security issues in Northern Israel and the Golan Heights. Today, these borders are relatively quiet, and I was surprised to see that at this point in the border in Lebanon there is not even a fence or border crossing. However, there is not a peace agreement between the two countries and nobody is allowed to cross these borders. The picture below is taken from Metullah, and it is looking into Lebanon. Looks like a fun place to visit, I hear the food is fantastic! I hope that one day soon a peace agreement will allow people to travel between these two great countries.

We departed Metullah for the Golan Heights and the Israel-Syria border. While only a 15 minute drive, the landscape of the Upper Galilee and The Golan Heights could not be more different. The Golan Heights are beautiful and almost Pacific Northwest-esque with thick green trees and a lot of wind. So much media attention is given to the conflict in the West Bank and Gaza, that it is sometimes easy to forget that the Golan Heights has also been a heavily disputed area. The borders were redrawn in 1973 after the war, and while the border is quiet today, there are many remnants of war in this area. We sat in an old Syrian Army Bunker and heard the story of Eli Cohen, an Israeli spy who helped Israel during the war by reporting on the location of Syrian troops in The Golan. Our teacher, Paul Liptz, told us stories about his army service in the Golan and Upper Galilee during the War. He told us one story about a mine field he encountered: a cow walking a few meters in front of him stepped on a mine which exploded at which point Paul and his fellow soldiers realized they were standing in a live mine field and they had to walk very carefully to safety, not knowing which step may be their last. These mine fields still decorate the Syria/Israel Border in the Golan Heights, although they are well marked today.

A tank left over from the war. Now it is a chilling reminder of the war and the conflict that still exists.

A sign blocking off a mine field- we saw a lot of these signs and barbed wire fences blocking off the fields.

On day 3 we visited Tel Dan, one of the most archaeological sites in Israel. We had the distinct pleasure of spending the day at Tel Dan with David Ilan, our professor and one of the archaeologists who conducts excavations at the site that has been excavated by HUC for a long time. Tel Dan was a very interesting site to visit because it shows an entire city including a Temple for worship and sacrifices. Most recently at Tel Dan, they have uncovered a gate dating to the Bronze Age that they are calling "Abraham's Gate" because it is mentioned during Abraham's travels in the Torah. Below is a picture of the gate. Archaeologists are still deciding the vailidity of whether or not Abraham stood here, but it is pretty cool to think that I could have stood at that same place where Abraham stood!

After visiting the archaeological site at Tel Dan, we walked through what has been made into a nature reserve. It is a beautiful and lush area with running spring water! For about 15 minutes, I felt as though I was back in the Pacific Northwest in Marshal Park!

Milah Monday!

This week's words are related to the recent change in temperature in Jerusalem!

Word #1
מזג אוויר
Pronounced: Mezeg Avir
Sentence: This week, there has been a change in the מזג אוויר in Jerusalem.

Word #2
חם
Pronounced: Cham
Sentenced: Usually, it is very חם in Jerusalem.

Word #3
סתיו
Pronounced: stahm
Sentenced: The מזג אוויר in Jerusalem this week changed from חם to פחות חם (less hot), I hope it's a sign that סתיו is here.

Haifa

This past week we have been on vacation between Summer Hebrew Ulpan and the Fall academic semester, and it couldn't have come at a better time! I already wrote a bit about our camping trip in the Jerusalem foothills, which was a great way to start my vacation. On Sunday, some friends and I decided to go to Haifa (a city about 2 hours north of Jerusalem and on the coast) for the night. Haifa is known for being a very secular city, meaning not very many kosher restaurants, etc. Basically Haifa is the opposite of Jerusalem, and it was the perfect place to go on vacation.

Usually when travelling between cities in Israel we take either a sheirut (10 person taxi) or the bus. The bus is the cheapest way to travel but the central bus station is a balagan (chaotic mess)and can be very difficult to navigate. Plus, you have to deal with the scary driving on Israel highways. For this trip, we traveled by train, and it was a great experience! this was my first time on a train besides the mini-trains at the railroad park by my parents' house. There are trains between jerusalem/tel aviv/haifa every half hour or so. The train station is very easy to navigate and the trains themselves are much nicer- there is air conditioning, comfortable seats, a bathroom, and you can get up and walk around. It took about an hour longer to get to Haifa, but we put Planet Earth on our laptop and had a blast!

We arrived in Haifa in the afternoon and headed straight to the beach. All due respect to the beautiful Oregon Coast, the Haifa beach is amazing. The weather was perfect, not too hot or humid, and the water was beautiful. I channeled my father for a couple of hours letting the waves bang against me and push me around the water, soaking up the warm saltwater and sand. We had dinner at a restaurant right on the beach, and I was able to snap a few pictures of the beautiful sunset.

After dinner, we made our way to the top of Haifa where we heard there is an incredible view of the city and the bay. It turns out, they are right about the view. It was so beautiful! People there say that the view of Haifa at night rivals the view of San Francisco at night, and I can see where they get that idea from. From Haifa you can see into Northern Israel cities as well as the bay on the Mediterranean sea, definitely a sight to behold.

The next day we made plans to see the Baha'i Gardens. I'm not an expert on the Baha'i Gardens, so if you'd like to learn more about their history, go to this website: http://www.ganbahai.org.il/en/. and I strongly suggest that you do read up on the Gardens, it is fascinating! It is very interesting for me that the strongest religious presence as far as land/property in Haifa, is not Jewish, but Baha'i. The Gardens start at the top of Haifa, and there are 17 (I think, it could actually be 19) beautiful terraces going down the hill. From the top of the Gardens, you can see most of the city and the coast. Here are some pictures!

After the Baha'i Gardens we were supposed to get back on the Train and head home, but we were having such a good time that we decided to stay another night in Haifa! We mostly relaxed the rest of the day at the hotel and the beach! It was a fantastic vacation!

Hiking and Camping in the Jerusalem Foothills

**Still having formatting issues. Sorry again!

This past Shabbat, I joined a group of HUC students and former HUC professor to hike and camp in the Jerusalem foothills. We spent Friday afternoon on a couple of different hikes, camped out friday night, and hiked most of the day on Saturday. it was a fabulous weekend and a great way to see more of Israel!

The view from the beginning of our first hike!






















Our group uncovering hidden mosaics in a Crusader Temple. Ok, so the mosaics had already been discovered, but in order to protect them archaeologists cover them with sand.














Our campsite!
























There was a gorgeous sunset. multiply the beauty in this picture by about a million!

Inside an ancient cave used to house pigeons!

Another Beautiful View in Israel

Milah Monday!

Special Milah Monday Vacation Edition!

First word is a picture:

Pronounced: Mah-loan

Meaning: Hotel

Sentence: This is a picture of the sign outside our מלון in Haifa!

Word # 2

רכבל

Pronounced: rah-che-val

Meaning: one of those cable cars that goes up in the sky

Sentence: When in Haifa, we went on a רכבל to see the beautiful city from the sky.

Biblical Archaeology Tiyyul #2

***DISCLAIMER. I cannot figure out why the spacing on my posts with pictures keeps getting messed up, so I apologize for that. If anyone is a blogger expert and knows how to fix this, let me know!

Last week my Biblical Archaeology class went on another Tiyyul to Megiddo and Ceasaria.



Unfortunately, in pictures Megiddo just looks like a pile of rocks so it was hard to capture how cool it really was. So here is a picture of me at Megiddo.




This picture is for everyone who made a donation to the Jewish National Fund for my bat mitzvah. Those trees were planted by the JNF!

Caesaria goes down as one of the most beautiful places I have seen. The water was so blue!

This one is for my mom! a heart Mosaic floor in Caesaria.

A view from inside the city of Caesaria. Not too shabby.

Elul has arrived

The month of Elul is the month that precedes the High Holy Days. In the Sephardic Tradition, a daily prayer service is held before sunrise during Elul called Selichot. In the Ashkenazic Tradition, selichot is held on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah. Basically speaking, Selichot and Elul get us ready for the High Holy Days by getting us in the right mindset to seriously evaluate our year and our relationship with others and with Gd.



In America, Elul seems to be more like a week than a month. However, in Jerusalem, it is difficult not to feel the spirit of Elul every day. At HUC, Rabbi David Wilfond has been blowing shofar every day for students along with several HUC Rabbinical Students who are taking part in this wonderful tradition. The first time I heard the shofar blown this year was a powerful experience, and there is something very meaningful about hearing it every morning.



This morning, we had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Sephardic Selichot service. Now remember how I said that it must take place before sunrise? I may be a morning person, but I think waking at 4am for a 5:30 service was a bit too early. However, I am grateful to have had the experience to Daven in a Sephardic Synagogue for the first time! When we left home to head to synagogue, we heard various communities around us praying and blowing the shofar, it was a pretty cool experience.

All feminist issues aside (davening at an orthodox synagogue is a difficult experience for me, more on that later) it was a great experience.

Shanah Tovah!