There was an optional trip to Tzfat/Safed and Mt. Miron in the Golan Heights today. Tzfat is the highest city in the Galilee and one of Judaism's "Four Holy Cities" along with Jerusalem, Hebron, and Tiberias. It's been the center of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, since the 16th century.
There is blue, blue, blue everywhere, to ward off the evil eye...
There is blue, blue, blue everywhere, to ward off the evil eye...
(pomegranate trees galore!)
(an alley where a grandmother by the name of Yocheved Rosenthal sat with two cups of tea in anticipation of the Messiah)
(orthodox Jewish man walking home)
(man on a bicycle!)
("Adventure Maria" ^_^)
(an olive tree and the evil eye)
Ashkenazi Ha-Ari Synagogue (founded by Spanish exiles):
(ten sefirot of Kabbalah)
(altar)
(yay for Hebrew that i can read!)
a few Artists' Colony findings (it was mostly shops otherwise):
(hehe)
a pleasant 3.5-hr hike up/around/down Mount Meron:
(view along the way)
(you can see Lebanon in the distance!)
Added 8.19.12: I wasn't going to include this note, but I really feel a need to now. Somewhat briefly: Whenever I hear about the Arab-Israeli conflict, my heart hurts. It was particularly painful to hear our Jewish tour guide give such a one-sided and simplistic portrayal of the conflict as we looked at Lebanon in the distance. In a sighing voice, he said he didn't understand why the Arabs bomb Israel when it's just simple people on this side. He continued to lament how the Arabs attack "us in our land" for no good reason. I wanted to pipe up and say, "well, it's really not that simple, is it? ..." but I was mostly surrounded by Jewish Hebrew ulpan students who solemnly nodded their heads and I, for better or for worse, kept my mouth shut. I decided against stirring something up in that time and space, especially when I didn't think I'd be able to respond to all the possible retorts, upset, and questions.
As we looked down, the tour guide also pointed out the difference between the "organized" and "clean" housing complexes of the Jewish people and the "disorganized and scattered" Arab houses that illustrate how they "don't plan out their living situation like the Jewish people do." Sigh. Obviously an underlying narrative there. Earlier, he told us about how Tzfat used be an Arab town, but with the loud Davidka weapon, the Jewish people "heroically" scared the Arabs out of Tzfat. He hailed this as a grand victory, and we took several group photos in front of the weapon. I didn't want to be in the photo--I didn't necessarily see that as a "victory."
(a cousin of the pistachio, according to our tour guide... the guard with us ate some of the berries and passed them around... they were hard, tart, and smelled kind of like sage... sticky juice)
(dried-out moss)
(an amazing peeling tree with red bark!)
(the Lebanon Cedar!
according to our guide, this area is the only place where you can find these trees in Israel)
The trees were used by the Phoenicians for building commercial and military ships, as well as houses, palaces, and temples. The ancient Egyptians used its resin in mummification, and its sawdust has been found in the tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs. The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh designates the cedar groves of Lebanon as the dwelling of the gods to which Gilgamesh, the hero, ventured.
Hebrew priests were ordered by Moses to use the bark of the Lebanon Cedar in circumcision[citation needed]and the treatment of leprosy.[13] The Hebrew prophet Isaiah used the Lebanon Cedar as a metaphor for the pride of the world.[14] According to the Talmud, Jews once burned Lebanese cedar wood on the Mount of Olives to celebrate the new year. Foreign rulers from both near and far would order the wood for religious and civil constructs, the most famous of which are King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem and David's and Solomon's Palaces.
(from Wikipedia)
(me and Maria with the Cedar)
(i just had to... it was a big olive tree with a nook for me)
(a not-too-happy guy in our bus)
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