Our Journey Continues
by Rabbi Knopf
Friday, June 22
Our time in Tel Aviv reminded us that the miraculous existence of the state of Israel is a testament to the power of a dream and the impact of vision. The next few days of our trip were an opportunity to explore what happens when dreams become reality, for better and for worse. So, after another belly-busting Israeli breakfast, we bade farewell to Tel Aviv-Jaffa and departed for the northern part of the country. Our first stop was the kibbutz of Givat Haviva, a community founded by the socialist Zionist movement Hashomer Hatzair, which is dedicated to fostering coexistence between Arabs and Israelis. Our guide, Lydia Aisenberg, explained the dynamics of Arab-Israeli relations from the founding of the state until the present, focusing on the so-called “Green Line,” the armistice line set at the end of the War of Independence, which marks the original borders of the State of Israel. During the Six Day War in 1967, Israel captured several new territories, including the land between the Green Line and the Jordan River, known today by some as the West Bank, the Palestinian Territories, or Judea and Samaria, depending on one’s point of view. Approximately 2 million Arabs live west of the Green Line in Israel as Israeli citizens. Another 2 million Arabs (give or take) live under Israeli military control in the West Bank, a region they hope will form the bulk of a future independent Palestinian state. The relationship between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and between Israelis, Israeli Arabs, and Palestinian Arabs is, to put it mildly, complicated, and Lydia vividly showed us the complexities by taking us on a tour to West and East Barta, an Arab village literally divided in half by the Green Line, with Israeli Arabs living in the west, and Palestinian Arabs living in the east, with very different lives and living conditions. A member of our group, Lexi Pasternak, described her experience this way:
It was bright and early when we left our hotel in Tel Aviv. After a buffet breakfast (to which America barely holds a candle), we set out towards our next destination: the campus of an organization called Givat Haviva.
Driving, merely a few minutes out of town, we could see the Tel Aviv skyline and the tan expanses of land that was Israel. But we soon learned that we were driving next to a wall, and that this wall was the divider between the Israeli and Palestinian territories. There is a long history of fighting and resentment between the two groups- even the terminology for the area is messy. The same is to be said for the politics and complexity of the conflict as a whole. When we arrived at Givat Haviva, we were going to learn more.
Our group was greeted by a charismatic guide, Lydia, who introduced herself and her organization, Givat Haviva. Givat Haviva works, with programs, forums, and workshops, to bring together Arab and Israeli people. Their work is truly inspiring, especially when we were shown how real and tragic the situation has become. After this discussion, we went to the Arab-Israeli town of Barta where we saw this firsthand. It was a world that before, I had only seen in the news, with cement-brick houses and vivid storefronts. But an armistice line between Israel and the West Bank, known as the ‘Green Line,’ runs down the middle of the city. In Barta, the Palestinians on the north side of the Green Line (which is quite literally a ditch that cuts the town in two) can’t cross over it without a permit, but the Palestinians on Israel’s side can cross freely. Many thoughts of injustice ran through us all when we learned about these peoples’ way of life. And as we were leaving, our guide said something that really struck home. “Mothers on the other side of the line can see the Mediterranean Sea (which is just a few kilometers away) but their children will never be able to swim there.
After leaving Givat Haviva, we travelled north, past the Sea of Galilee, stopping for a photo op in the ancient Roman resort city of Caesarea. After snapping some selfies at the Roman aqueduct and dipping our toes in the pristine blue Mediterranean, we drove to Tzefat, the mystical city in the mountains, where we toured synagogues belonging to some of history’s greatest Jewish mystics, and had an opportunity to explore the city’s magnificent artist’s colony. That evening, we checked into our hotel at Kibbutz Lavi near the Sea of Galilee (a commune with a mix of the rustic, like a large dairy farm, and the luxurious, like our well-appointed hotel), ate a delicious buffet dinner, enjoyed a glass (or two) of Israeli wine together, and turned in for the night.
The next day was a full day of touring Israel’s northern regions, the Galilee and the Golan Heights. We learned about the development of biblical religion at Tel Dan, an extraordinary archaeological site containing the ruins of civilizations dating back to the Bronze Age. Tel Dan is also a beautiful nature preserve. It is the source of the Jordan River, and is lush with mighty streams, vegetation (like naturally growing wild fig trees), and wildlife. We were grateful to stroll through and enjoy the exquisite scenery.
Leaving Tel Dan, we drove a short way down the road to the banks of the Jordan River, where we boarded rafts and headed downstream for a sometimes peaceful, sometimes wild, and sometimes wet ride. The Jordan is no longer the mighty river of legend, but we nevertheless had a good time floating and splashing along the way. Many of us marveled at how the river seemed to be a recreation spot that attracted all walks of Israeli life: Arab families on summer holiday, ultra-Orthodox families on a day off, secular Israelis out for exercise, and American tourists galore. After drying off, we stopped for a food court lunch of shawarma or burgers at a mall in Kiryat Shemona in the Golan Heights, before driving to the attraction we had all been waiting for: the chocolate factory and boutique winery. Half of us tasted the locally made wines at Bahat winery, and half of us toured the De Karina chocolate factory, even making our own candy bars. Full of chocolate, happy with wine, intoxicated by the mountain air, and high on life, we drove on to Mt. Bental for a lesson about the Golan Heights and a view across the border into Israel’s northeastern neighbor, Syria. There, we could feel both Israel’s power and its vulnerability, and had interesting discussions about what it meant for Israel to hold both power and powerlessness simultaneously.
These discussions continued into dinner at Havat Jilabon, which we enjoyed with two Israeli soldiers from a local unit. They told us about themselves, life in the army, and their thoughts on current events in Israel, while we all devoured a feast of grilled meats, Middle Eastern rice, roasted potatoes, bread, and salads galore. Some of us also continued to enjoy the wines we bought at Bahat earlier that afternoon (the soldiers, who were armed and on duty, sadly couldn’t partake). Full in mind, spirit, and body, we bade farewell to our new friends and headed back to Kibbutz Lavi to get a good night’s sleep. The next day, we would depart the Galilee, and begin our journey as pilgrims to Jerusalem.
Tuesday, June 26
It’s only been a few days since the last update, but in the experience of this trip, it’s felt like a few weeks! On Friday, we began to make our way out of the Galilee region, stopping at Tzippori (Sephorris) to explore what life was like in the time of the rabbis of the Mishnah, seeing the exquisite remains of a Roman city and a magnificent Byzantine-era synagogue with beautiful mosaic floors. After a quick stop for lunch at a mall in Yoqne’am, we were finally on our way to Jerusalem!
We arrived in Jerusalem in the mid-afternoon, and went straight to the Machane Yehuda market. If you’ve never been to “the shuk,” as it’s affectionately called, and especially if you’ve never been on a Friday afternoon before Shabbat, you are missing a truly unique and incomparable experience: throngs of people packing streets lined with vendors hawking everything from the freshest produce you’ve ever tasted to halva of every imaginable flavor to the latest in Middle Eastern fashion (made, of course, in China). We girded our loins and went in, braving the wall-to-wall crowds. Some of us spent our time sampling Israeli craft beers, noshing on some of the shuk’s delicacies, or simply wandering the streets and alleys, people-watching and shopping for snacks to enjoy over Shabbat.
We quickly dropped our bags at our hotel and went to the First Station for a unique Kabbalat Shabbat experience. The First Station was Jerusalem’s original train station, dating back to the Ottoman period, which has been repurposed in recent years as a gathering place for food and culture. Most Friday evenings, especially during the summer, they host a lively musical Kabbalat Shabbat service geared toward Jews of all ages and backgrounds. Israelis and tourists of all walks of life flock to Kabbalat Shabbat at the First Station, and we all enjoyed seeing this diverse cross-section of Israeli society while rocking out to the incredible worship band, Nava Tehilla. Some of us even marveled at being able to take in a Shabbat service while sipping on an Israeli microbrew, and all agreed that this Kabbalat Shabbat was a highlight.
We went back to our hotel, the Mt. Zion, to wash up and relax before Shabbat dinner. Our hotel itself actually has an amazing history: it was built by the British as a hospital for eye diseases, and in Israel’s War of Independence, it was used by the Palmach to send supplies to the besieged Jewish community on Mt. Zion, which lies directly across the Hinnom Valley, via a makeshift cable car, which you can still see in the hotel’s top level. Many of us also discovered that our hotel had a Turkish Bath and a wonderful pool! A little later, we gathered for a group Shabbat dinner at the hotel, and we ate good food, drank good wine, and enjoyed each other’s company until, finally, it was time for bed.
The next day was Shabbat, and we took advantage of the opportunity to get up late and take it a little easier. Some of us went to Shabbat morning services at Kehillat Zion, an unique emergent community affiliated with the Conservative/Masorti movement and led by the inimitable Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum. Others of us hung out at the pool or went out exploring on our own. We gathered for lunch and rested, hung out at the pool, or toured on our own for most of the rest of the day. In the evening, some of us joined our tour guide, Shira, for a short excursion to Ketef Hinnom, an archaeological site in which the oldest known example of a biblical text was discovered. Then, the rest of the group joined us for a tour of Yemin Moshe, the oldest Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem outside the Old City, established by Moses Montefiore. As Shabbat concluded, we had a beautiful Havdallah service together at the Montefiore windmill overlooking the Old City.
Sunday was our opportunity to explore and learn about ancient Jerusalem. We started out bright and early to tour the City of David, an archaeological excavation site that unearths thousands of years of Jerusalem’s history. After seeing the sites of King David’s and King Solomon’s palaces, we went underground to see the layers of ancient Jewish civilization in Jerusalem. Our City of David tour concluded with another highlight: a trek through the pitch-black, wet-and-wild Hezekiah’s Tunnel, an ancient waterway which diverts water from the Gihon spring to a more easily-defended part of the city.
From the City of David, we made our way up into the Old City, entering by way of the Dung Gate, passing by both the Western Wall plaza and Ezrat Yisrael, the platform built off to the side of the Kotel for egalitarian worship. Though it was lunch time by then for normal people, we powered through, for we were not normal people but pilgrims encountering the sacred. We toured the Western Wall tunnels, uncovering thousands of years of Jerusalem’s history and touching the space closest to where the Temple’s Holy of Holies once was. We wound our way through the tunnels, emerging in the Muslim Quarter on the Via Dolorossa, the path that Jesus is said to have taken to his crucifiction. We took the path to lunch, because in Jerusalem, ancient and modern, sacred and secular meet, always in interesting ways. We ate in the Jewish Quarter, some of us munching on shawarma and falafel, others of us noshing on bagels. Some of us got to see our first heated Israeli dispute, this time between me and the guy at the shawarma restaurant over whether he would put French fries in my sandwich. In case you were wondering, we both lost. After lunch, we toured the Cardo, the excavated ancient Roman thoroughfare now located in the Jewish Quarter, and then took some time to shop and explore the various Old City markets. Later in the afternoon, Shira took some of us on a tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is said to be the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, enabling us to round out our understanding of Jerusalem as a city sacred to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Our day ended with a feast at Luciana, a delightful Italian restaurant in the Mamilla district adjacent to the Old City, which, according to locals, has the best Italian food anywhere in the world, including in Italy. After dinner, we relaxed together at the hotel bar, and went to bed after another very full day.
To see more photos from our trip, click here.
