Weekend up North part 3

We went through the Templars tunnel

Saw some nifty benches at the treasure wall

Explore the promenade along the top of different Baha'i gardens,

and had dinner in a lebanese restaurant in the german colony in Haifa. Food was excellent, I chose to highlight the green from the lemonade-nana (mint) that we were drinking, which was quite refreshing.

Weekend up North part 2

At some point, I discovered a whole slew of features on my camera, including one that makes everything grayscale, except for a single color that the photographer selects.

After the Grotto, we returned to Acre, for the Bahai'i gardens, which are beautiful. Unfortunately, we missed the tour of the shrine.

Lunch was in Acre in the market.

I would love to find a Hamam that is still working here in Israel. The movie on the tour was amazing, I should have video'd the movie in retrospect.

Weekend up North

I was invited on a trip up north, so only a few hours after returning from the Golan, I woke up, and headed to Rehovot to pick up a rental car. Our first stop: the aquaducts, pictured below, near Cesaeria.

Then, it was off to Zichron Ya'akov, which was unfortunately closing for shabbat. Still, we enjoyed exploring little village and took a nice walk out to the Baron von Rothschild's grave, which was closed, but beautiful from what we could see.

One of the rooms had a red "mood" light over the bed. We were joking how someone probably requested it - so this morning, I asked Zipi, the owner about it. People always request random things she told us, like the red light. Somebody wanted it!

At the most north western part of Israel, only a stone's throw from Lebanon, we went to see the Grotto's. In order to get there we had to take the shortest and steepest cable car in the world. Israel is a small country, full of superlatives.

Look at the beautiful water in the Grotto!

Weekend in the Golan

After an early departure from Ramla, with Nick and his peers from Ness Zionya, we headed up to the Golan. Our day was spent exploring different areas, and seeing some beautiful waterfalls. Most of the day was spent hiking, without much discussion of what we were seeing.

Above is one of the waterfalls that we saw. I hope to return in the summer for a dip (some decided to swim anyway, and their screams from the cold are still with me even now, as are their grins which stretched from ear to ear once they swam out and stood underneath)

It was here that the most memorable part happened. This bunker, overlooking the Syrian border, is a classic Taglit stop. So, I was surprised when we went down underneath - the trip I lead had missed that portion of the bunker, yes, the bunker itself entirely. Deep below the ground were a series of rooms where soldiers lived during the time they were responsible for the bunker.

It was here that our guide began his personal story of being on patrol to ambush syrians crossing the border. I will do my best to capture his words below.

He begins:

It was part of the duty of each patrol to go out and spend 36 hours on ambush patrol. It begins with getting dressed, because of the danger, 'death pictures' are taken since it's never clear who will return from these trips. This night in particular, the intelligence had warned that the area would be hot.

The patrol left, and it was a perfect night. It wasn't so hot or so cold that it was at all uncomfortable in spite of their heavy bags, the sky was clear and filled with bright beautiful stars.

The patrol arrived to the road where intelligence had told them to wait, and set up their ambush. They lay down to wait for any activity. Time wore on, and accidentally, one by one, including the commanding officers, the entire group fell into a deep sleep underneath the stars.

Suddenly there was screaming, howling, yelling, bleating!

The sounds were definitely not Hebrew, nor Arabic. The entire patrol awoke together, and leapt to their feat, rifles and machine guns raised, fingers on the triggers pointed towards where the terrible noise was coming from, just a few meters from where they lay in ambush.

And there, right in front of them, stood a man getting to know his goat, biblically.

Here the story ended. I apologize for not doing it justice, but if my peers write about it in their blogs as well, I will be sure to link to it, so you can read other renditions.

Back to the bunker: At this point, the room was in chaos, half of our group was trying to understand what exactly was going on, the other half was laughing hysterically or quietly chuckling to themselves. We never did find out what happened to the man and the goat, although, I imagine the soldiers didn't interrupt him and silently disappeared.

Our Guide, Yair, talked about how frightening the experience was then, but looking back, him and his buddies laugh about it now. I am sure there is a lesson to be learned here, although I need to stop laughing about it first.

Stopping for a coffee.

There is a deal with a croissant if you want I am told. Sure, why not?

A little history on the cappuccino:

(According to wikipedia)

A cappuccino is traditionally served in a porcelain cup, which has far better heat-retention characteristics than glass or paper. The foam on top of the cappuccino acts as an insulator and helps retain the heat of the liquid, allowing it to stay hotter longer

Which begs the question, do you mix in the sugar sitting on top of the foam, or does that defeat the purpose?

Deep thoughts and no one to share them with.

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Basel in Tel Aviv

I found a lovely little area in Tel Aviv called Basel with a nice little cheese shop run by a man named Rubi. He let me try many many cheeses before I selected one or two to purchase. Now to hunt for a nice red to pair with them.
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Falafel and Humus in tel aviv

Returned to HaCarmel market for lunch, heading to the vegetable market after and then towards the beach. I hear there is an excellent cheese shop in north east tel aviv that I want to check out as well.

After reviewing the speakers for the Jerusalem conference, I decided not to go for the afternoon. I wanted to hear the PM and Lieberman, but neither are today.

Last night Aviva came to speak to the group so we went for coffee after. I really enjoyed catching up and talking about things, life, etc. 5 years almost and yet it was like we just hopped into a conversation that was still warm from yesterday.
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Shabbat with Family and volunteering

Sherut to the Ramla Bus Station, Bus to Jerusalem, Bus to my family.

They live right outside of Jerusalem, in a small beautiful community of mostly orthodox jews.  They have a beautiful temple, and amazing views of valleys and fields, and in the distance - Jerusalem.

I arrived a bit before sundown, and was treated to a quick tour around the community, and a brief history lesson - then back to the house to prepare for shabbat.

Lights set, dinner set, everything prepared and we headed to the Shul to davon.  The sermon was in Hebrew, so my oldest cousin (we tried to figure out exactly the number of removals and what type of cousins, but eventually I was just introduced as "Jonathan - He's Family") Avi and I went outside, and talked for a while about life in Israel, the army, etc.

I can't imagine a more wonderful shabbat or more wonderful company to share it with in a more beautiful place.

After services, we went back to the house where we sat down and had a feast.  Each dish was more spectacular than the preceding course.  Conversation was stimulating, and towards the end my Uncle shared his thoughts on this week's portion.

Avi invited me to join him after and we called on a few of his friends, which to me is the second half of Shabbat.  The first of course is family, a time to reconnect (everyone thinks it's about disconnecting with the world, and it can be as you turn off electronics, but it also is about reconnecting with the people who are right there, in the immediate present), but the second is community - perhaps why shabbat is so hard to keep in America when geographically Jewish families are spread out all over town instead of in small clumps.  We walked from house to house, always eating and drinking water or coca cola, I met parents and siblings and friends.

I slept deeply through the night, waking up to my youngest cousin shaking Avi awake, with whom I shared a room.  My youngest cousin is five and is adorable; in preparation of Purim she spent most of shabbat changing back into her costume, a precious blue dress.  When the family sang, she danced in the living room, the whole experience was quite magical.  I decided to sleep through services.  It's a beautiful shul, but with a service entirely in Hebrew, I still find it hard to connect, even with a Siddur that is translated.  I hope as I learn more hebrew, that changes.

For shabbat lunch, Moshe came, my uncle's brother.  Another amazing meal and then some backgammon.  I didn't play well the first game, I ended up with pieces in his board at the end of the first game.  I think it is called a double backgammon.  The next game, however, I won, without him getting any pieces off the board.

Havdallah, the closing service of Shabbat, was an awesome finish to my weekend.  Guitars came out, voices sang, and dancing ensued.  Then, Avi was going to Holon and his friends offered me a ride with them.  I had a little trouble finding my way, but eventually made it back home.  Hungry, I went out searching for food only to discover the place that I like was closed.

Yehoshua, my uncle, before I left, gave me two books to read - one written by Phillip Goodman, our shared ancestor (we think), his great great grandfather - don't quote me on the number of greats - and another for my own edification.  I need more time to study, to read, to experience... maybe I will just have to sleep less!

I ended up in bed around 3AM this morning and woke up for volunteering, but missed Nir's calls and knocking, so I went a few minutes late after coming back and checking my phone, and seeing missed calls.  Volunteering was with Jackie and Lindsay, at the retirement home for Alzheimers patients.  It's very sad, I spoke with one woman over and over again, her memory lasted maybe 30 - 45 seconds on average, sometimes up to a minute or two, and then we would have the same conversation over and over again.  Then we danced with them - though it was mostly for them.  It was an interesting experience.  I have Arab Kadima today, and then Jewish Kadima tomorrow, which is new for me.

For a perfect ending, as I was on the way to Jerusalem, I got another email from more family that Fani sent a letter to telling them of me being here in Israel.  I am very excited to continue meeting everyone.

Thursday evening

Thursday evening was a valentines day party in Ness Tsionya.  Ben, Stephanie and I shared a taxi there and back.  It was a good time.  I had a chance to speak with Nick and make a few new friends as well - Israeli and others on a similar program, which is ending soon.